Friday, July 22, 2011

downsizing

'Ello all. I just want to thank everyone who participated in my two draft breaks. It is a lot of fun and I'm trying to see what I can do to get another one going. They do seem to generate a good deal of interest and that's great! I'm not sure what happened to day but I came to a thought that I want/need to downsize my accumulation of cards here. I just have way too many and other things are starting to take priority over here. So that's two things going for the need to downsize. I think essentially I want to keep my collection to 2009 to now and only Topps stuff. I'm really not collecting anything else, so really it is just taking up space. Now, I am not including anything pre-1980 here. I may do another break featuring mainly stuff from before 1980 (let me know if this is a good idea), so pretty much everything that isn't 2009 Topps made stuff is going to go. How do I do it though, is the question. I don't want to give away 4000 or so cards to the local shop, nor do I want to ship someone that many cards (imagine how much shipping would be??). What to do. I know a few other bloggers put together clearance lots and shipped 'em out for a couple bucks to cover shipping. What can I do though?

Some ideas that I just kind of thought of:

Name off sets and see if someone wants those by set/year/brand/whatever.
Put together team lots.
Random X amount of cards.

Any ideas? If you have some, I'm definitely open to them. A couple bucks to cover shipping and supplies would be great due to the still current lack of work (we had two weeks of 40 hours, now next week is back to 25 and probably August too :\ ). So I guess where I am now is taking ideas on what to do with all these and thinking of a good/fun way to get them out there. Here is what I am working with:

Very little over production era (anything 1986-1994).
Mainly Upper Deck, 2007 to 2010 but some 1989-1992.
Some Bowman, 2007 to 2011.
Not too much Donruss, Fleer or Score and if they are present, it is relatively newer stuff or older stuff (like I said, not much OP era)
Duplicates of whatever I have duplicates of. This does include Topps stuff.
The Topps I do have from before 2009 that isn't base, is Chrome, A&G and Heritage from 2008. A few before 2008 but not much.


Ideas? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

10 comments:

  1. I sent you an e-mail. I'd think breaking down by teams would be your best bet to get things moving - but I realize a couple of teams would surely be tough to move. Hmmm.

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  2. Isaac is taking his school principal's (and part time LCS owner) advice and is filling a 5000ct box with dupes and unwanted cards that he'll donate to the St. Louis Children's Hospital for them to give to the kids seeking treatment.

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  3. Well, that beats my idea!

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  4. I heard Ferris had the flu. Sorry.

    I have to agree that donating to a children's hospital is a good idea. If you want to offer cards to us, team lots seem the best way to go. If you have a lot of cards from certain sets you may want to offer set lots first and then do a second round of team lots. Or donate the set lots to your local kids charity deals. And/or donate the local team extras you have, which will probably be more-loved than some random Diamondbacks and Royals cards. No love for the Royals.

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  5. For the bulk of it, Mark Aubrey has this site that may give you some pointers on where to direct it if you choose to donate: 1,000,000 Cards for Kids. I'm still not sold on there being an established protocol for putting cards in the hands of kids, but given that you've got a lot of recent stuff, at least you won't get many "Where's Jeter/Pujols/etc.?" out of it.

    Back on the totally selfish front, if there's a few Ginters n' Heritage, I've actually got an up-to-date list of what I need on my want list now.

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  6. If you do decide to lump together years/sets, I'd be willing to pay for shipping, supplies, you time, etc. on any Ginter that isn't already spoken for.

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  7. Iwould say if you don't go the donating to children route, team lots would be the easiest and most effective. I am certainly interested for Mets and Yankees and am game to cover any costs of course.

    You could the go the ebay route with any leftover teams. even if you cleat a couple of bucks after shipping it's more then you had before.

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  8. I hadn't thought of the donation idea since I thought of it last year (plus I checked out the million cards for kids site too). I didn't have much luck finding anywhere to donate them to, so I ended up giving them away on here. Plus I assume kids are going to want current stuff (what is a kid going to do with 1992 Upper Deck of guys that don't play anymore?) to go along with the current season. I do have plenty of 2011 that I could donate, if I end up finding somewhere. For now though, and with these I'd like to do something on here for you guys. Maybe team lots after set lots is the best idea.

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  9. Ted -

    For any of the older stuff ( 80, 81, 82, 85 and 86 Topps, specifically), I know I would be interested in any base duplicates for starter set purposes. I am on a personal quest to fill every year from my birth (79) until I began with the 87 set as a kid. Along with my fellow NY fan Benny, I'd also be game for any Yanks and would be glad to cover the shipping.

    For the newer dupes and assorted that you don't want, I would look into teaming up with a local business ( a local LCS would be ideal for their future business potential, and the future of our hobby in general) and asking thatthey ( the businesses) supply binders and pages while you supply the cards and make up some goodie binders ( I am guessing no more than a couple pages in each binder of random cards) to distribute to local little leaguers. I have heard of this done before along w/ first hand accounts of watching the 'magic' happen as kids tear through the binders an begin to swap this for that, without a Beckett given a second thought, as the kids chase favorite teams, or favorite players or even a 'cool picture'.

    I would only suggest giving the young kids more recent cards so that they might recognize some of them and perhaps Stand a better chance of holding their attention and interest.

    This way, you can use why you've built through your love of the hobby to both share with others and also, God willing, create a brighter future for this shrinking hobby that we all love so much. Reinvest, in a way, yes?

    Good luck!

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  10. The LCS, of course, could stick their business card or something in the binders - that way it is an easy direction for the parents when more pages are needed or (gasp) they catch the bug and want some more crinkly wrappers to rip open!

    Forgot to add that.....

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