The Secret to Completing a Set of Anything Without Spending A Whole Lot of....

I can't sleep, so I thought I'd answer a question that someone messaged me about - that is, how do you complete a set of anything now-a-days without spending a wad of cash.  It's simple and ya'll probably laugh, but it's exactly what I do.  

I wait.

You see, when the new stuff comes out, everyone's in a rush to get out there and try to "get" something good and then if they get shit, they post that up on Ebay before you can wipe your morning eye-boogers from your face.

Guess what? Be patient.  (I'm going to let you in on a hobby secret too in a few seconds)

And buy lots.  Not lots as in buy a lot and a lot of stuff.  I mean, get on Ebay, or Ioffer, or some other auction site a couple of months or so after release and watch - you'll notice a ton of people who don't want to get rid of relics or autos individually and they'd rather group it together and sell them in lots. 

That's how I got a chunk of my relics and auto's for both Goodwin & Ginter.  My largest lot of Goodwin cards that I won was a lot of 21 relics.  For a staggering sum of...anyone want to take a guess?

 

$28 + $5 in shipping.  

 

You would get on average 2 relics per Hobby box of Goodwin - at about $75 per box, the 21 relics would be equivalent to about 10 hobby boxes - or $750.

Not that smart to buy up boxes right? Yeah yeah yeah, you don't have the fun ripping packs - I know.  That's why I buy packs on occassion.

I knocked out a nearly 25% of the relics in one shot.  Had I bought those individually, the shipping would have kicked my ass every which way possible. I've seen one entire relic set up for sale on Ebay - asking price was $1,250.00 which was very reasonable.  However, I'm on the verge of completing the relic set and it's cost me roughly between $200 to $250 (a couple of the more difficult ones made that price go up).  The only downfall to buying lots is that odds are, you're going to end up bipping yourself, or as I like to refer to it as - BIP-icide!  Case in point:

Man, Mr. Alex Hinshaw here better become a Cy-Young winning fool very soon!  And want to hear something funny?  I think I have two more coming.....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr................... I've cornered the market on Alex Hinshaw's from Goodwin....sad sad sad.

I nearly completed the Goodwin mini-set by buying a 120 mini-card lot for.........

$20 bucks, free shipping.  Not bad, not bad indeed.

Oh yeah, the trade secret thing.  You know those uber 1 of 1 cards, like the booklet cards from 2009 Topps T206?  You know, the one with the original Cobby and the cut-auto?  Well, if you read the sell sheet, it tells you the checklist.  If you want even a remote chance of getting that stuff, although I can't guarantee you will get one, but I can damn well make sure that your odds are improved:  Buy hobby boxes 5 to 6 months after release.

I've noticed, especially with Ginter, but several other Topps products as well - when someone pulls a booklet card like the Cobb (I know of two that have been found and both were put on Ebay - Davy Jones and other player that I can't think of ), the card get's pulled much later, when the cards have steadily flooded the market.  Obviously, it's a great marketing ploy - to sell more cards, the super rare 1 of 1's are released in a later date, causing a bit of a dust-up in the market for that particular product, therefore, making take another hard look at the product again.

At least this is my theory - and I'm pretty sure I'm right.

I think.

Hehe - ok, I'm tired - ciao!

Wicked "Your mom looks hot in that booklet" Liquids