Can You Make $ Buying Raw Cards for Grading?
 

I've always been gun-shy about buying raw cards, but I did okay.

My latest post for Forbes.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidsei...ds-for-profit/

Thank you for looking.

David

Collecting
 

Enjoyed the article. I have been collecting since 1957 and have a fairly large post war collection of full sets. It is almost exclusively ungraded ( not raw, but cards in their natural and intended state), in sheets and binders for easy access. It is just a hobby for me. If I was in it for business, profit or investment, I would likely be required to get into graded cards. Glad I am not.

But, I am sometimes sad that I will never experience something called "poppage"

Poppage...one of the most annoying words in the hobby.

That's what Viagra is for :D

Nice article.

It would be nice if I could earn a little extra money each month for my hobby by doing this. I'll be reading this.

I am with Al on this one. I have an extensive post-war, and growing pre-war, collection and the number of slabbed cards that I own is less than 20. I prefer the eye appeal on cards and don't get hung up if one or more of the corners is a little worn. I do try to avoid damaged cards (holes, creases, markings, etc.) but as I pursue increasingly older cards I almost prefer that they look the part. For example I love the 1940 Play Ball cards that have yellowed with age.

I think you went about it wrong...
 

aka, had the wrong premise. Taking low grade Mantles and breaking even on them isn't really what card grading/flipping is for. Sure, there's some premium tacked on to having it already sealed in a PSA holder: it can immediately be added to a set registry.

But you're doing at least three things wrong:
1) Focusing on issues that everyone collects, so everyone's been scouring for those players. Most people can spot the difference between a VG and an EX+ and know that there is not much upside in those cards you picked.

2) Buying at the low-end tier: card grading works the best when you can find $5 raw cards and turn them into $50 or $100 or $1000 PSA 9s and 10s. Why do you think that the collector here flipped out when his Nolan Ryan 1976 or so popped GEM MINT? Because his raw card became a card he could sell for $2000. Look through SMR and select some condition sensitive series and then try to find the cards that would grade high in those to interest the moneybag collectors. The ones with the exponential ramps like PSA 5: $30, PSA 6: $40, PSA 7: $80, PSA 8: $200, PSA 9: $1000, PSA 10: doesn't exist yet.
That's why a 1986 Topps Ryne Sandberg sold at auction recently for $2300. Seriously, 1986 Topps...

3) You're buying from a dealer at a convention. Browse through the online selection of 1969 Topps Reggie Jacksons on comc.com or ebay. Odds are, you'll pay much less and get a nicer card than you would have gotten at the show. I scour the eBay bulk lots for cards; lucked into a nice 1969 lot containing Mantle, Aaron, Rose, Killebrew, Carlton, Gibson, Carew, Kaline, all for a paltry $35. All I saw in the pictures was a sliver of the Mantle card, which I recognized. If all of those cards come back as 6s or better, I'm looking at a major profit.

Those are my suggestions. Your mileage may vary. There's a good book that gets hyped on Sports Collectors Daily that helps spells out how semi-vintage investing by grading should work, as well as which cards to send to PSA and which to BGS/BVG, based on centering and edges/corners. Mainly, it suggests focusing on Key Rookie cards of Hall of Famers like 1982 Topps Traded Ripken, 69 Reggie Jackson, etc.

Article in Forbes
 

Interesting article, even more interesting that it was in Forbes.

This one...
 

Beauties

This would have been a great lot to send in for grading. I think whoever got this lot will do very well if they want to piece it out.

John is right. If you are looking to profit you need to scour junk for hidden high grade examples from tougher sets. One of the best deals I ever made was to pick up a stack of Callahan HOFers out of a dollar box. Most came back 8.5's and 9's. And two raw 1971 Munson cards both came back 8.5's. Turned $40 plus a grading fee into $800. One or two hits like that and non only will you pay for a lot of collecting, you will be addicted.