How to Buy Garbage Pail Kids

Garbage Pail Kids were trading cards produced by Topps in the mid-1980s. They were meant to spoof the popular Cabbage Patch Kids craze. When sued by the Cabbage Patch artists, Topps stopped producing the cards, but now they are back and gaining in popularity all over again. Since 2003, six new sets of Garbage Pail Kids have hooked a new generation of collectors and caught the attention of their earliest appreciators. Read on to learn how to buy Garbage Pail Kids cards.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Start with any pack of Garbage Pail Kids if you are interested in becoming a collector. You can sometimes find new series packs where comic books and other collector's items are sold. The cost of a pack of cards varies by retailer and the series of the cards. Packs are also available online.
2. Buy an entire series to expand your collection. Box sets are also available for order online.
3. Organize an established collection to find the gaps. The 1980s-series cards were numbered and given "a" or "b" rankings. Organize cards by numerical and alphabetical order. With sets from 2003-2007, Topps started the numbering from 1 again. This is why you will often see sets for sale that say something like "(Series 19) Series 2."
4. Hunt to find what you need to complete a collection. There are several online retailers and card collectors. You can also find an occasional card on eBay. Individual cards can be very inexpensive, sometimes less than 20 cents, but the cost of collecting varies widely. You can end up spending more than $100 for rarer items.
5. Be aware that in addition to the Garbage Pail Kids series, there were also two "Giant" series and one adult series done in conjunction with MAD Magazine. Also, Topps produced several spin-off items like figurines, movies and T-shirts. Depending on how invested you are in your Garbage Pail Kid collection, you may want to consider purchasing some of this unique paraphernalia.