Online Cost Efficiency: Buying Hand Collated Sets vs Vending

Lets face it, we as collectors, when we want to sell something, want as much as possible. i think thats normal.
On the other hand, when we buy, we want it for as little as possible.

What i am currently putting together are pre-86 Topps Raw Sets in sheets/binders. Not just complete as in i have all
the cards on the checklist, but i have them with perfect centering and registration. i realize this is a difficult task, and
that i am going to have to have patience and go through a LOT of cards to find the one that makes the Final Cut.

Heck, its as easy as hitting BINs or bidding high to just go ahead and have a whole run of Topps Sets from just about
any year, but thats not what im after.

Why stop at 1985 you may ask? great question. Reason being is because 1985 was the last year that MASSIVE MASSIVE
MASSIVE overproduction did not occur. when cards are readily available for a penny a piece (or less) delivered, there
are a lot of them out there.

Once you get earlier then 1981, all forms of unopened material get costly. when it comes to those years, i think i
will be better off trying to buy full sets or bulk lots of singles, and piece them together like that.

From 1981 to 1985 there are a number of options depending on what you want to spend. Naturally, i want to
spend as little as possible! lol That being said, Vending is the most cost efficient. i realize buying a hand collated
set MAY be cheaper per card, but with them you have a few things going against you... the set has been handled at
least a few times... the cards will not be properly packaged when they are mailed to you... the "better" cards were
not included in that particular hand collated set ar ethe things that come to mind immediately.

Sure, wax is great, but the cost per card goes up quite a bit. id love for rack packs to be an option, but sealed cases
of those years are not easy to come by, and when you do, they aint cheap either. Cellos are so hit and miss.

i realize the downfalls that vending entails. But i am really wondering if all-in-all, that they are the way to go.

As a set collector myself, and roughly from the same collecting era of late 70's mid 80's vending is the best. Plus, I love to open that vending box and see the cards in there is such a way you know not one card has ever been pulled from the box. If you've popped the lid on one of those blue beauties, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you're missing out.

If you are going the cost effective route then buy sets.Start with 2 and combine them to make the nicest set.Sell the extra,rinse and repeat.
Mike

hofmichael said:

If you are going the cost effective route then buy sets.Start with 2 and combine them to make the nicest set.Sell the extra,rinse and repeat.
Mike

Click to expand...

see, the problem with buying hand collated sets is that with the winning bid + S&H, there is a small chance at it being worth it to find the 5% or so that i could use.

now if i can find some good full set prices at a show, thats a different story

ThoseBackPages said:

hofmichael said:

If you are going the cost effective route then buy sets.Start with 2 and combine them to make the nicest set.Sell the extra,rinse and repeat.
Mike

Click to expand...

see, the problem with buying hand collated sets is that with the winning bid + S&H, there is a small chance at it being worth it to find the 5% or so that i could use.

now if i can find some good full set prices at a show, thats a different story

Click to expand...

Eric you would surprised.Plus you resell the extras for what you have in to them or better(depending on how good of a deal you get).I have built almost all of my sets like this and many of them ended up being free by the time I was done.

hofmichael said:

ThoseBackPages said:

hofmichael said:

If you are going the cost effective route then buy sets.Start with 2 and combine them to make the nicest set.Sell the extra,rinse and repeat.
Mike

Click to expand...

see, the problem with buying hand collated sets is that with the winning bid + S&H, there is a small chance at it being worth it to find the 5% or so that i could use.

now if i can find some good full set prices at a show, thats a different story

Click to expand...

Eric you would surprised.Plus you resell the extras for what you have in to them or better(depending on how good of a deal you get).I have built almost all of my sets like this and many of them ended up being free by the time I was done.

Click to expand...

i hear you, but are your standards as high as mine are? lol

this carew is too OC for my set