Junk Wax taking up too much space…

[todeen]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I signed up on net54 in early fall 2020. One of my first threads was: what do I do with all these complete sets of junk wax from 1980-early90s. There are tons of these cards in a closet at my parents house.



Somebody wittily replied something along the lines of: “you live on Long Island? Drive down to Jones Beach and toss them in the ocean…”



Do I wait 7 years until I retire where I sit down and go through them Card by card? It looks like there are some random bidding contests on eBay for some Fleer sets.

I will buy 1990 Topps.

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[nwfsteve]

Second that. I pull the stars, break them into team sets and commons (10/$1 or similar) and use the proceeds to get something I want. Coveted my costs and then some.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by nwfsteve

Second that. I pull the stars, break them into team sets and commons (10/$1 or similar) and use the proceeds to get something I want. Coveted my costs and then some.

I have 4 sets of every set from 1980 through, at least, 1990. Probably have 1991. I have a million Strawberry and Mattingly Donruss rookies too lol. So, you’d pull the rookie cards? Are they even worth anything? I could sell 4 Rickey’s and make $400?

[Smanzari]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I have 4 sets of every set from 1980 through, at least, 1990. Probably have 1991. I have a million Strawberry and Mattingly Donruss rookies too lol. So, you’d pull the rookie cards? Are they even worth anything? I could sell 4 Rickey’s and make $400?

Yes, early 80s cards are kind of like how 70s cards were 10-15 years ago. There's demand for the stars and actually some set builders putting them together (centering or printing quirks are pretty key for these guys). I do not think the same will happen with the late 80s cards due to over production, but could see their demand increasing over the years ("Junk Wax" is more like 1994-1999 now)

Here's what I would do if I were you - Sell the 1980-85 Sets individually; figure out a flat rate box where you would be comfortable with and charge that for shipping (should be able to fit 2-5 sets in some, depending on size/how you pack it). You'd definitely get bites on a post here and I'm sure they would move on eBay. I would then pick the rookies and stars from the later sets; sell those in lots, low-end has heavy demand right now, so you should have no trouble getting rid of them. Then just stuff the rest in a flat rate and auction it - you'd be surprised at what you get for a picked through box stuffed of late 80s/early 90s commons

[slinger23]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I have 4 sets of every set from 1980 through, at least, 1990. Probably have 1991. I have a million Strawberry and Mattingly Donruss rookies too lol. So, you’d pull the rookie cards? Are they even worth anything? I could sell 4 Rickey’s and make $400?

I personally would screen all the key rookies and if they are "gradeable", send them in yourself to be graded. 10s might be hard to come by, but see what 8's and 9's sell for. Ripken, Boggs, Gwynn, Sandberg, Mattingly, Strawberry, Clemens, Puckett, McGwire, Canseco, Bonds, Bo Jackson and obviously Griffey Jr. I have been pulling stars, HoFers and key rookies from my collecting hey day, which is the "junk era" and I am sure this is frowned upon on this forum, but I am tossing 100s and 1000s of common that nobody wants. Sorry, not sorry.

I will share this example that I did with 1990 Score baseball hand collated sets: I had 10 sets and sent in 9 or 10 of the B & W Bo Jackson cards and 6 came back as a 10. Easy $200+ card. I would have lost lots of money if i would have sold at $10 a set or whatever they go for. Obviously some risk, but also a chance for a nice reward.

[Kzoo]

Originally Posted by slinger23

I have been pulling stars, HoFers and key rookies from my collecting hey day, which is the "junk era" and I am sure this is frowned upon on this forum, but I am tossing 100s and 1000s of common that nobody wants. Sorry, not sorry.

I'm thinking about doing this exact same thing right now with a large collection I'm sorting through (2+ skids full of junk wax era). I have boxes upon boxes of 'commons' left over after pulling the HOF'ers and key stars from baseball, football, and basketball. There are lots of hand collated sets, too. I can dump all these commons at our local recycling center's customer drop-off bin....I plan on saving some of the boxes, though. I don't have the extra storage space in my garage for all these commons, nor do I want them. I guess I could rent a table a show and offer them 10 for $1, but that seems like a waste of time for minimal return. Not sure yet if I'll 'pick' the sets and dump them, as well.

[bnorth]

Sometimes pulling the stars works and sometimes it is a HUGE waste of time. I posted about one of my cleanups a few years ago. At first I tried selling a large flat rate box of HOF rookies with star/HOFer player collections in sheets. After selling the first USPS large flat rate box full of HOFers for less than a dollar in the auction section. I said F it and burned 2 55 gallon barrels of cards including the HOFers and insert cards.

They are extremely fun to look through before you throw them away.

Found an old pic to add of my process.

[Exhibitman]

I'd pull all the stars and RCs from the junk wax sets and just scrap the rest. It is all but worthless, not worth the time it takes to collate and market. It is also all about the shipping, which will just kill any deal for the bulk. The stars can sell. I fill $0.50 and $1 boxes for shows, move them in quantity, and sell the more expensive cards below market so they move, too.

1970-1980 is a different story. You can move those cards in bulk, but at low prices, so your buy prices have to be very low. What I do when I get a collection in of those is pull the high-grade common cards to sell singly to set builders and make cheap partial sets or lots of the rest and blow them out through eBay.