General Forum

I think they've rebraded under samantha.saints.sportscards

I have bought from both newenglandsportscards and tntnorthnj numerous times and have never had issues (knock on wood).

As for COMC sellers, I collect a star player, not superstar mind you, and often times sellers will price them as if the player was Mike Trout. For a star player who is not collected by many, I think a printing plate shouldnt go for more than $20, and a non-serial on-sticker auto, no more than $25. Also, I dont think relics should garner the premium some sellers put on them.

Questions for others, I imagine the player makes a difference but do any of you have prices in mind for specific serials (/25 /50, /100, etc.) when you're buying/selling?? 

I don't have a specific criteria. If it feels right, I buy it, if not I move on. Collecting entire sports rather than specific people or teams gives me much more leeway. 

When I go through the listings of things for sale, I will buy stuff because of the price. For example if I see a card sn 15 or below for sale at a dollar or less, I buy it. Don't have to think about it or try to justify it to myself. It's rare but it has happened.

That's the thing with me..I have to try and justify every single purchase. I don't have enough money to just go and buy whatever I want, everything has to have a purpose. 

I do not buy from E-Bay much any more.  We all have our reasons.    Only used the best offer twice and both were accepted but toke a few days.

COMC on the other hand I have 2 sellers that I get frustrated at.     They both have a lot of cards I need.   Cards I need are priced high and ones that I have are real cheap.   I make offers and they reject and rise prices or they let the offer expire.     They each have a card that I have been watching for years.   Both cards BV is $12 to $15.    Both are no namer  one do not play a full year and the other played for several years but not even listed as a semi star.  Both cards have sold for under $4  but now they are the only ones on COMC.

Card 1     He keep lowering his price until his min offer was my max offer.   He rejected and raised it ( $15) and a few months later he lowered it and I made a higher offer (more then what I though it was worth) and he rejected and raised it to over $20.    Has been setting at that price for over a year

Card 2    Buyer rejected my offer then a week later he lowered his price  (lower then I offered)  I tried to purchase and it would not allow me to.  After 15 minutes of trying it stated it was purchased but do not go to my account.   A few days later the price went to $50 (same seller).  It may have been a miss price  $5 to $50.    Has been setting at that price for over a year.  Both cards have been setting on COMC for years. (maybe over 10 as both are in the early 2000s.)

Like Billy I'm on to the next one but I do keep an eye on them along with others.  Just frusrating to have 2 sellers that I would buy a lot from keep their prices high and not willing to take offers.  IMO my offers are reasonable but it appears they do not.

I’ve never tried to buy an older set piece by piece. But I started collecting 1971 topps and got my first 23 cards. The eBay ad said the cards were in excellent condition but most of the cards to me look good at best when I got them. Then to add salt to the wound the seller without contacting me removed two cards and gave me a dollar off. However the cards cost 60 cent per when factoring in shipping. Is this the kind of crap I should expect when dealing with eBay or is this just a bad transaction/ listing / seller? I don’t live close to a hobby shop so I was hoping eBay might be a substitute but this wasn’t good so far. Advice?

Comc and sportlots are my main buying sites for vintage singles 

You can find lots of forum posts about both by searching the  forums

Good luck,  black beauties are one of my favorites.  I am working on a lower condition second set now

Mark 

I'm working on the '71 set also. While I've hand built the vast majority of the set I have sought out some of the stars and SPs via eBay. I'm shooting for Ex/Mt or better, but not a complete stickler when it comes to the chipping issues that pop up with this set. I use the zoom feature to take a good look at the card(s). If the listing doesn't allow the zoom feature or they put a lot up without a look at individual cards (i.e. a stack shot from a distance, scattered about or blurry image [really, who does this nowadays!]) I bypass it. I've had great luck getting great looking SPs and stars about 1/3 of "book". Heck, better than what I'd get off my vintage dealer (monthly card show that he travels quite a distance for) whose given me great deals. I've come across a few good dealers so far. I've gotten lots off eBay of that were better than advertised, but that's just me. I avoid listings that are devoid of information or you can't see what you are purchasing. 

Thank you. The listing I bought from would have been passed over if I would have used your suggestion. I definitely will make sure that there is a photo. This one I bought from just had list of card numbers. I see that as a red flag now. 

I really appreciate your help. I’m hoping to build a set at Excellent level since my pocketbook isn’t really that deep. 

I lucked out on the commons/minor stars of the lower numbers and its spread out over 7 shows now. The dealer I mentioned was selling them to me at .25-.50, team cards at least 50% off, etc. Other dealers had star cards at 33% off. So it wasn't so much a pocketbook thing for me, it was a great deal thing. Of course, I don't have the Ryan, Clemente, Arron, Mays, Munson, etc yet so we'll see how that goes.

I finished the '71 set not too long ago -- maybe only a year. I got much of it from eBay. I have had very few problems with sellers. I always look for experienced sellers and much prefer to buy lots with close up pictures (not just a stack of cards) and a full list of what I'm getting. My expectations are never high, and I've been satisfied. If I were buying a lot from a newish seller, without pictures, my expectations would be very low. Cards I've received have never been off my more than about one grade, which I can live with. And sometimes they're better than expected. Just read carefully, use common sense, and I've found eBay a great way to make big progress on old sets. And if you keep buying lots, many of the cards will get upgraded as you go. Then you trade or sell the duplicates. 

I love building sets this way. Hoping to finish 1969 shortly. And there are no parallels!

Enjoy. 

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