I see a full Master Set of the 16 cards up this morning eBay auction: #174301148123, they’re asking $149 or B.O.
Too high, too low, just right?
Topps offers a price break at 10 sets for $135, so around $140-145 after taxes. Out of every 10 sets, you get 20 chase cards. If you're lucky, then you could get a complete set of ludlow and coupon backs along with a Wonky. So that would give you one master set, 9 base sets, and 9 extra chase cards - almost another complete set. If you sold the 9 base sets for $10 each, you'd only need to get back $50-55 to break even for the master set. I really doubt the base sets are going to fly off the shelves, so you'll probably only sell two or three, leaving $110-115 to break even. No one buys and resells to break even, they typically would like to at least double their money. Under that scenario, $150 seems reasonable for a reseller.
My guess is that the seller bought many multiples of 10 since each one almost produces another master set. If s/he bought 10 x 10, then I'm guessing that would produce about 17 master sets, 83 base sets, and 13 extra chase cards that don't make any complete sets. S/he'll probably only be able to sell 10-15 base sets at $10 each, and the extra 13 might sell for $10-15 each for the coupons and ludlows, with the Wonkys probably getting $20. On the low end, that's $100 + $120 + $20 based on one extra Wonky. So to double the investment of $1,400, that leaves about $150 each for the master sets, right where the seller listed it.
Given that it's the first one up, I think it's a bargain if you're looking for a master set. If this goes on for 52 weeks, it's going to cost upwards of $7500 to get a complete master set.
I guess we'll see just how crazy it gets. My guess is that the early master sets and individual chase cards will be really cheap in a year.
The real shame in my eyes is that 70 or so out of 100 of these base sets bought by resellers might end up being clothes pinned to the spokes of their six year olds' bicycles to sound like a motorcycle. What a sad way for a Wacky Package to die. Hopefully they can be given away to the neighborhood kids, like giving away free crack, to get the next generation hooked.