If a collection is complete, but the quality or PSA rating of the cards is varied, is it still worth a certain value?
Specifically for myself I’m trying to complete the shadowless base set (and I’m close!) but wondering if this is worth pursuing (in a monetary sense). Obviously a completed set where the cards aren’t in great condition isn’t going to be worth as much as one where they are, but does it end up defaulting to the individual value of each card?
Say for example I have all 102 shadowless base cards, but the Charizard is a bit beat up. Is it still worth more money than a set with no Charizard at all? Or 6 of the cards are a low PSA grade…is it still better to have them than to have all the cards be 9’s and 10’s but the set be incomplete?
Maybe there’s a little relative drop off to have varied grades. Most people shoot for consistent grades. But what you can do is when and if the time comes, you can always sell individually which could lift the final price up higher.
This makes sense, thank you. I’m trying to decide whether to purchase a shadowless 'zard in any condition for the sake of completion (and not spending a fortune) or just try to sell an incomplete set of cards without it. Similarly I’m contemplating replacing my damaged cards with better ones, or just trying to sell a shadowless set as is.
Yeah that’s what I’m thinking/hoping. I checked sold ebay listings and it seems I can potentially get one for under $50 that still looks pretty good. I’m gonna lean into that option, it’s not time sensitive anyway.
I’ve sold complete sets recently for more than I would parting out, and faster than parting out. This is my personal take so far pertaining to Base Unlimited, Jungle, Fossil and working on selling a complete unlimited Gym Heroes set in NM+ condition overall. Shadowless will have it’s own considerations though.
I believe a complete/master set is worth more and should be sold for a premium since you did all the work, and the sold listings on eBay pretty well back that up. Condition means everything though. First use eBay sold listings for a base idea on pricing, and it’s good to check the lowest sold and highest for what conditions the cards were in when they sold for that price.
The way I view it is there’s two kind of buyers that will look at your set to buy.
The E4 type cats who are looking for cards to be able to grade for their collection or to flip - then sell the others as singles to recoup the initial buy. And the casual collector that’s happy to just have a complete binder set in decent shape.
To appeal to both I try to have all holos in NM/PSA 8 conditions. Even more so the money cards like Zard, Venu, Blastoise. It’s more of a challenge to find the balance on shadowless though as graded 8 and 9 holos tend to have a large value difference. I def don’t use any I think are certain 9s, but like the ones that look like they could be 9s, but realistically strong 8s, or harsh 7s.
The better looking the money cards are the more you can add to whatever market pricing you find as your base. Make the grader chasers pay the premium for the chance to grade a clean card, and the binder collectors happy at the condition for the binder stuff. GL!