Listing Badly: Big Scores on eBay and the start of a 1971 Project

Even though my posts do not reflect it, I have been a pretty busy collector as of late. I’m in the midst of a pretty significant re-org of my stuff and, having joined a team collectors trading group, I am shipping much of the “dead” parts of my collection to those who will enjoy it more. I’m getting streamlined and more focused. It’s a hell of a nice feeling.

My Topps sets, for example, have received a significant boost lately, thanks to a go-to seller of mine on the blowout forums. I recently purchased over 3,000 1998-2009 Topps flagship cards for the incredibly reasonable price of 1.5 cents per. He turned a few mediocre piles of mine into nearly-completed sets. Just take a look at my wantlists… look how damn neat and tidy those last entries are! Sometimes I just look at my wantlists, just to see how far they’ve come.

But I’ve also had an inkling lately to start a BIG project. A challenge I can really focus on. And, thanks to Gavin’s recent trade, I’ve finally found one: the iconic 1971 Topps baseball set.

Hot damn, those are gorgeous cards! Gavin’s package contained about 200, which got a good ways into starting the set. But I felt like I need another big bundle before I could really start into this thing. I had been watching a few lots on eBay and managed to scoop up a 380-some card lot for just under a hundred bucks. Like most lots, they had a picture of the stack and of a few key cards, with no complete list of what was included. Even with most of the cards coming blind, I felt like it was a pretty good deal. Here is what was showing:

Reggie! A beautiful card and one of the key early cards in the set… just two years removed from his 1969 RC.

Hit king! Always a pricey guy to find for these vintage sets.

Pops! The Pirates in this set look great with that black border.

Johnny Bench. Another top name in 1970s cardboard.

Joe Morgan’s final card as a ‘Stro. I already had this one in my collection, but it’s such a pretty damn thing, I’ll find use for another.

And Hammerin’ Henry! This came in an unfortunate run of less-than-stellar cards of the homer king. Remember his 1970 Topps card? What a woofer. And that came after two years in a row using the same picture. There’s nothing wrong with it, I guess, it’s just kind of bland.

Anyway, this is what I had bid on. A big chunk of the set, with a few key players included. But when I actually got the cards in the mail, I realized that the seller had left a number of really great cards in the stack when listing this lot.

McCovey and Maz! I definitely would have mentioned these if I had listed this item. HOFers are always a draw.

And as it would have been with these two. What a great-looking card of Lefty, too.

And another pair of mystery HOFers! And man, dig Santo’s arms. No wonder dude could mash the ball in a pitcher’s era.

And more Hall of Famers! The odd thing is, the listing came with lots of photos of the more mediocre cards. Why not snap a pic of these guys?

Or these guys?

OR OF THE ONLY HOF ROOKIE CARD IN THE SET??? This card has more value than anything included in the images but for Reggie and Aaron. Why keep it a secret?

Or this guy? The other big RC in the set.

Man, I hate to knock someone’s eBay technique when it works out in my favor, but damn, dude, get it together.

And if this wasn’t enough, check out what I picked up just a few days ago for the price of blaster at Target…

Not a bad deal at all for the priciest single card in the set. And it’s in passable condition, too. But this was also a weird listing, definitely from someone who didn’t really know cards. It was listed as “1971 Topps Nolan Ryan plus another 70s Nolan.” Hmmmm. What I paid overall was about what I wanted to spend for the ’71, so what is this other “70s Nolan?”

Oh.

Yeah, that’ll do.

So I’m on my way with 1971. If anyone else is doing this, please let me know. I’ve got a stack of 150 or so dupes that I’d gladly deal for my needs. Head back to my wantlist tab to check them out.