What are best strategies for collecting complete sets from the 1960s/1970s? Mostly interested in Topps baseball, but all sports. Any tips? Best practices? Mistakes to avoid?

Welcome to the Database.

Good question. I'm not sure what the best strategy for a complete set would be. A big decision is to decide what limits on condition you will accept. Do you want the best possible condition? Or does condition not really matter? How much are you willing to spend for a complete set? If you are limited in finances you might have to accept lesser conditioned sets, or mixed condition sets.

I'm no set builder, but you'd probably run into similar situations like me when seeking cards for my personal collection or team sets. Some sets from those eras have higher end cards toward the end of the set. And that's true only of many, not all. That makes even common players expensive. Depending on your resources that may determine your decision. 

One way I've accumulated older cards is to find lots for sale. Then you can trade with others here on TCDB.

I would say to decide on a few sets to focus on and go from there..I had multiple sets I was trying to complete about a year ago and realized I was going to be an old man by the time I was done.. 

eBay may be your friend at times too..About a year ago, I found an eBay seller who was mis-spelling Topps in her listings and I was scoring lots of 1974 Topps Baseball cards for less than $5.00 for 200-300 cards and the cards were in super nice condition..One time she had a missed listing of 1973 and 1974 Topps cards and I still got a great deal on them..I bought quite a few other cards from her super cheap to that point that I felt bad about it.. This ladys father had passed away and she was trying to sell his card collection but she really didn't know what she had nor what she was doing..

Another option may be to buy starter sets which are X amount complete..

While it is fun, it can be time consuming to try to complete sets one or a few cards at a time by trading..

Hope this helps..

Bill

most important is to have fun

now matter how much you spend, how little you spend, or how you collect, have fun

mark

After fully jumping back into the hobby this year I set out to build my sets that I had given away years ago. For me that meant starting with 74T, wanting NM or better. I bought the 74-80 complete sets off a member here who happened to be local. After going through the sets they needed more upgrading than I was led to believe. I happened to find a local cards show that had a lot a great vintage. I met a dealer there that had great looking commons going all the way back to 53. I worked on the upgrade but kept eyeballing the great looking 70-73s he had. Late this summer I said sc*** it and dove in on building those sets, ExMt or better. He gave me a great deal on the commons and minor stars with none being no more than 1/2 "book". The more I bought the lower the per card price. Other dealers there had the major stars floating around and I've been able to pick those up at 1/3 "book" (i.e. $55 for a NM+ 71 Ryan). I've also gotten some great deals off eBay with getting the same 1/3 or less deals. For the high numbers I've been trying the eBay route with a lot of luck. I already know what I'll pay at the shows so if I can get it for below that then I'm good. As mzentko references have fun with it and don't feel pressured to spend just because it's there. I've walked away from a few cards because I wasn't feeling it price wise or with the dealer. I've done a few deals for vintage through other emembers here with mixed results. Mostly I've gottent great looking cards back, but a few times I got lesser conditioned cards below my desire. Their condition wasn't properly annotated in here. Thankfully they wer commons, but just a reminder that if you can't see it then ask the questions. Know what your condition limits are, look around and enjoy. The travelling dealers I work with are great and willing to go a few extras steps to find what I'm looking for back at their homes. 

appreciate all the comments and ideas. 

i'm sure i'll have more questions. thanks. 

If the set is under $100, just buy it outright (77-79T BB), probably up to $200 even (76T BB?).  Otherwise, you'll spend more on shipping than cards.

For others, pick a favorite set from each decade (in my case 60T & 72T BB), get a large lot/starter set, and go from there.  A decent sized lot of high/semi-high numbers is also a good idea if the starter set is weak on them (most are).  After that, COMC, trades, and set-break listings are your friend.

Once you complete a set or are getting really close, pick your second favorite from that decade and keep rolling.

although there is no 'wrong' way to collect, my approach is different than kyle is suggesting...

I built some second sets card by card, small lot by small lot in 70s, and probably spent more on postage than the set is 'worth', but many were given to me, and I had tons of fun building, chasing, updating lists, etc....it was the process that was the fun part to me, not the book value...

if you want to buy complete sets, I am not mad at you, I just like a different path. To each his own.

mark 

(I would have made the "Thumb's Up" alot bigger if I knew how.  Find the fun in collecting within what you can afford.)