General Forum

I think that's a brilliant idea.  use postage flat-rate boxes and stuff them!

i'd be willing to request a box.  you could even setup a paypal to collect the money in advance?

Ben

Hi everyone -- glad to see the enthusiasm here. I am still going through everything, putting it all into sets. I have to go away for work all this week so I won't be ready to send anything until next weekend at the earliest.

A few thoughts at this point:

1) Flat rate boxes do seem like a good idea, as long as there are enough cards (200+?) to justify that postage. I get the sense that the medium box will be the most common, which is $13.60. Small won't hold many cards. Not sure.

2) When it comes to yearly base sets, I am NOT separating Series 1, 2 and Update. So someone will get all the 2013 base, for example. Same with Heritage base and high numbers.

3) Some people have asked if I could send them specific teams. I really wish I could, but separating them all out would just take too long. So I'm sorry that won't work. But please keep reading for an idea on that front.

4) Some people have written to me saying they'll take it all, or most, and even offered to pay me some real money up front. That's not the way I want to go. I will almost certainly let people get one set/group apiece.

5) Figuring all hat out will be hard. When I have the sets all separated, I will list which ones they are and roughly how many cards are in the lot. At that point I will ask people to e-mail me their Top 3, maybe Top 5, in the order they prefer them. I'll then try to make everybody happy. Wish me luck. :)

6) And this is important -- some of you have totally gotten the spirit of this and offered to re-distribute cards that you don't need to other collectors. This is perfect, ESPECIALLY GIVEN HOW TEAM COLLECTORS MIGHT BE MISSING OUT ON THIS FIRST DISTRIBUTION. Maybe the people who get cards can, after pullling the ones they need, let others know which set they got and share in all the extra cards. I am NOT going to announce who gets what, because I don't want people to get pressured from others. But let's all pay it forward, huh?

Does all this make sense? Let's work out some of these details and I'll try to start sending stuff next weekend. I will almost certainly want to do all this over regular e-mail (I'm at alan.schwarz@gmail.com), rather than these posts/forums/messages, which are not only public but quite cumbersome. Thanks.

Best,

--alan.

The small flat-rate Priority boxes will hold about 250 cards if packaged right. I've done that many times in the past. There are 2 ways to drop the price for the amount of cards that you think you will need a Medium-sized Flat-rate Priority box to ship out though.

#1 - Try a Priority Mail Flat-Rate Bubble Mailer (9.5"x12.5").  It costs $7.20 to ship one and you can fit at least 2 of the small flat-rate boxes inside of it (or as much as two 500-count cardboard card-boxes). Huge money saver! Generally, you'll have to order those from the usps.com website, but they are free to order. You don't pay until you ship them.

#2 - Go to usps.com and order Priority Mail Flat-Rate "Regional" boxes (A or B - it's free to get the boxes). I sent nearly 5 pounds of toploaders and other storage/shipping supplies to someone several states away with one of those boxes and it only cost me $6.60. You do have to pay for it online and print the label right then though. But, you can arrange for your mail carrier to pick it up OR drop it off at a local PO. Fast and easy, and you have a 15 lb. limit on the package for those boxes. They are a bit of a secret in the USPS shipping world.

I just thought I'd give you some cheaper shipping options here!

........to add to the spaz comment, I have shipped Reg. A and B using the pricing but not their boxes, never a problem, just stay within the limits. ~BOB~

Alan, I am definitely interested. Particularly those high numbers of the 2016 and 2017 Topps Heritage. I am a private collector, not a dealer. Also interested in any Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves.

Thanks,
Mike

I'd be happy with anything. :)

OK, here we go. Please let me make one thing as clear as possible before I list the sets/products with approximate totals of cards:

*******You must send me your Top 5 preferred products, in order, to my e-mail address: alan.schwarz@gmail.com, by the end of this Thursday. No ballots (for lack of a better word) will be considered when delivered through this forum, over TCDB messages, etc. This is the only way for me to keep sane.*********

THE SETS/PRODUCTS (with approx card totals):

2011 Base (30)

2011 Opening Day (200)

2012 Topps Base (600)

2012 Opening Day (600)

2013 Topps Base (700)

2013 Archives (200)

2014 Base (350)

2015 Topps 1951 style (40)

2015 Topps Chrome (40)

2015 Topps Base (800)

2015 Bowman's Best (70)

2015 Panini Diamond Kings (40)

2015 Heritage High Numbers (120)

2015 Archives (100)

2016 Heritage (1200 -- yes, that many. I have a problem.)

2016 Donruss (50)

2016 Allen & Ginter (75)

2016 Opening Day (200)

2016 Panini Diamond Kings (200)

So again, the rules:

1) You must be a collector, and please, please, share the cards you don't end up needing with others -- particularly team collectors who will have a hard time in this first round.

2) You pay for postage, probably in the appropriate flat-rate box.

3) You send me your Top 5, in preferred order, by midnight Thursday night (i.e. as Friday dawns) TO MY E-MAIL ADDRESS: alan.schwarz@gmail.com. Again, these messages/forums are just too cumbersome.

4) Many people are going to choose the same product first, no doubt. And second, etc. I will merely use my math-geek instincts to make everyone as happy as possible. I will do my best; I don't know any of you so clearly I can't play favorites. I seriously doubt anyone will receive two groups, unless they're the only one who lists two that go otherwise unclaimed, I suppose. All decisions are final, obviously.

5) As a math geek, I can anticipate people getting all John Nash and trying to predict what others will want, what might be most valuable, etc. Please don't bother. The more people who choose 2016 Heritage first, the less likely they will be to receive that group, and perhaps anything. Just have fun, even if the lot is small.

6) Winners will PayPal me postage when it's determined (my address is again alan.schwarz@gmail.com).

7) If, after receiving the cards, you feel as if you would have happily paid $X for them, maybe PayPal me half that so I can go out and fill some of my 2017 insert needs and start my 2017 Diamond Kings collection. THERE IS NO OBLIGATION TO DO THIS. IT IS ENTIRELY YOUR CHOICE. But it would be nice, as this is taking me far more time than I'd anticipated! :)

OK, I gotta go. This is fun.

Best,

--Alan Schwarz.

Email sent. You'll know my email addy by my name here, pretty much the same.

Thanks Alan,

   Very nice.....I will pass on the dupes.

Now I have to find a trader for a 2016 Heritage lot to fill in the missing pieces. lol.

Thanks again, ~BOB~

Alan (and fellow collectors),

Bottom line up front: I want to make the same offer as Alan. Here's my story:

This is a great idea. I often get disheartned when buying/selling/trading with other "collectors". Too often, the desire to try and turn a profit overshadows the simple joy of collecting. 15 minutes of reading the over-inflated descriptions of ebay auctions is enough to make me shy away from the hobby. As a vintage collector (I only collect pre-1985 Topps football), the joy of breaking wax is a rare thing, but I do enjoy sifting through boxes of commons in the hopes of filling a hole or upgrading some of my "filler" cards. 

Although what Alan offers does not interest mean in terms of my collection, it has inspired me. Here's my situation. This weekend I was visiting antique shops with my wife. She goes for antiques; I go for the slim hope of finding old Topps football cards. I hit the jackpot this weekend. I came across a huge section of cards in an antique shop we visit near Decorah, IA. There were two boxes (5,000 count) full of pre-'85 Topps football. The two boxes I wanted were mixed in with A LOT of other boxes and binders full of football and baseball (and some basketball and hockey) from 1980 - 2005. 

I was going to offer the owner $75 for the two boxes of Topps FB, maybe go up to $100. They were in mostly excellent condition and I could tell I would be able to significantly upgrade a couple of sets. I didn't have a lot of hope though because I've been through this drill before and many times shops like this want retail price on older cards.

I told my wife what I was going to do and she came over to look. As she was walking in the next aisle (yes, multiple aisles of cards) she lifted up a sign that said "card lot $130". I figured it was for the group of 10-15 binders in that section. So I asked the guy behind the counter what the sign meant and he said it was for ALL the cards. I was shocked, but long story-short, I bought them all. They filled my F-150 Supercab from floor to ceiling. It probably took me over hour to load them into my truck. There are so many boxes I can't even begin to guess at the numbers. The owner told me they were from a guy who used to do card shows but gave it up a couple years ago and just wanted to get rid of them. (I wonder if anyone on this site knows the collection I'm talking about)

All brands were represented with most being base-set commons. Some of the binders had minor stars...I just opened one and it contains John Kruk (never heard of him), Willie McGee, Paul Molitor, and Terry Mullholland. I looked through one last night full of Jose Conseco and Mark McGwire. Just opened another and it looks like a full set of '94 Upper Deck baseball with rookies and at least a couple of the insert sets. Again, I think most of this stuff is common cards left over from a card show dealer who worked the circuit mid-'90s to mid '00s. It looks like he busted a lot of wax and I now have the leftovers. 

What do I do with them? They don't fit in my collection and they barely fit in my storage room. I will gladly give them away in the same manner as Alan. Heck, if you have pre '85 Topps football commons I'll do some trading. Maybe 100 to 1 in your favor. If interested I'm nanglec@yahoo.com. I haven't even started a serious inventory yet. I'm still too excited about the two boxes of Topps Football. I will start listing sets and numbers in the coming days, weeks.....months maybe; as I begin to sort through them.

If your interested, I make the same offer as Alan, you pay shipping and they're yours. If you want to send some old Topps football my way in return, then the world would be a happy place.