General Forum

Where does one buy these lots I hear and read about from some of our members where you have hundreds of cards that you're sifting through and finding gems? The closest I've ever gotten is from a friend at church who said he'd bought a lot of packs for his grandson but that he wasn't interested in them so he offered them to me. My excitement ended when he told me he'd forgotten that he donated them to our local thrift store.

Another member told me they just bought out a card owner's inventory when he was going out of business. I just want a couple of boxes of mostly commons with a star player's cards, possibly an RC here and there stuck between a punter and a manager.

I'm just curious.

It's really just being in the right place at the right time. And finding the right hobby shop! I used to have 4 local shops that sold mixed lots of cards, in either 200 or 650 count boxes...Two of those shops closed, one transitioned to games only instead of cards, and one is still going but I have not gotten to since 2014 due to lack of a car and ability to travel due to health problems. (It's not in my state, but close to the border in Connecticut). The majority of my collection came from being in the right place at the right time.

You can find cards as low as $0.18 on Sportlots.  Some sellers charge less than $5.00 for S&H.  I find "handpicked" lots of vintage this way.   

So when you say the card shop sold lots, were they handpicked or randomly filled? What's a good rule of thumb for spending on a such a purchase. I mean, say normally a common sells for 25 cents, you're not paying that for a lot of 600 are you?

Have you looked on Craigslist? I've scored some decent finds there before....

Thanks for the info. I'm behind the times using all the online resources that are available. Had not thought of Craigs List, nor have I ever heard of Sportslots. I knew you were the guys to ask and as usual I wasn't let down.

I check yardsales.net and estatesales.net and search for sports cards in my local area

most of the time it is junk era stuff, but sometimes good stuff

either way it is fun to go find out and see what they have even if you don't buy

mark 

My big lot pick up was off kijiji which I still check on occasion. Advertised as 15,000 assorted cards for $70 (again, just right place, right time) - story was it was a storage unit pickup and they wanted to get rid of the cards instead of storing them.

I always look for organized but scrambled (meaning kept in decent order, like card boxes, and not just dumped in bags, but not in obvious sorted sets which would hint at really being looked through).

As for price, big Lots can go as cheap as a penny a card, but depends on what the makes up is of course.

I traveled throughout the USA when I was in the Canadian Forces and found plenty on Craigs List.  Here in Canada, Kijiji is the favoured ad site. Sometimes the ad is ridiculous and not worth asking about but usually there would be 2 or 3 that would be worth a look see. Many on there just want to get rid of what they have.

I always get a laugh when I see an add like "Vintage old 1990 Donruss baseball cards---super rare! Shoebox full $100" on Kijjijji.