Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

Anyone ever come across large lots of cards on craigslist (cheap) and actually follow up on them?

Likewise there's an ad in a local paper for someone with 50,000 cards for sale. No price but the seller says must sell by December 1st..

Wondering if there's ever any good deals to be had?

You can find some good deals on them. sometimes though you'll come across those type of ppl who will want much more than its worth, either because they are stubborn or dont know any better- other times, people just throw a number out there because they just don't know. you can try FB Marketplace (for your area) too, i found some pretty decent deals there, just haven't had the time to actaully follow through anything

I've checked them out in the Houston area and didn't really find anything worthwhile - too many "vintage" 90s cards for sale.

and with craigslist you have to use common sense with meeting someone in a public place during the day time (depending on the neighborhood) and not make deals in back seat of a car where someone can pull a gun on your etc...

mark 

I used to travel through the USA and Canada regularly.  Every place I went to, I would look up baseball cards on Craig's List (Kijiji in Canada is more popular). Yes, there were a lot of overpriced ads that I would skip over but every so often I would find one or two that were worth meeting for. I often came home with a suitcase full of cards.  That is how I amassed a huge collection and an even bigger For Trade pile.

What I did find is that, for those who were looking to get rid of their collecction and thought it was worth the value of the early 90s, I could talk sense into most of them, being polite throughout. I had several who chose me as the buyer only because I took the time to explain to them why I was offereing the price I was willing to pay.  Most recent was in Ottawa.  I bought a father's binder collection of hockey / baseball from his daughter. I explained that I was buying the binders and the sheets.The cards were all from the late 80s and early 90s. I told her that they had little resale value as most collectors already had the cards but that I would be looking to sell the hockey cards to offset some of the cost of the binders. Because I explained things to her politely, she accepted my offer (many who had contacted her were asking blunt questions that she had no clue how to answer - I took the time to go see the cards in person). This visit then turned into another buy of almost 7,000 cards from the mid-60s to early-90s. I offered her a fair price and her father accepted it over the phone.

All to say, yes there are good buys to be had on online classified ads.  But there are a lot of bad ads and yes, beware where you meet up. We've all heard the sad stories of crime through these classifieds.

So I've been scouring FB Marketplace and Craigslist since this last post and did make a buy from Craiglist. I see a common pattern(s) though of contacting/expressing interest in cards from someone and getting zero responses or the seller has no idea what they have but they still are convinced that their cards are worth a tidy sum (like sandyrusty said). It's nearly impossible to go see a large lot of cards and want to thumb through them all to try to gauge value. I'm still convinced I can come across some good deals but it amazes me to put something up for sale and ignore all contact when there is interest..Ok, I feel better now.. :-) 

Bill, I agree with you that it seems odd when people trying to sell don't respond, but in many cases it's probably overvalued stuff. Still, if you're like me you're hoping to find a nicely priced batch of cards to sort through and do whatever you wish with.

I'vw had some great success and know another guy that had a great find of vintage baseball in my area. Still, you wade through a lot of garbage to find the value. When I had my success I was responding to classified ads maybe 3 to 4 times per week to check things out. More often than not I didn't find anything worthwhile. Yard sales in the summer can be great too, but once again there are many more late 80 and early 90s than anything else.

I have been watching craigslist for the last few years and only gotten one collection.  Still have not made a profit on it.  There are 4 or 5 guys in the area doing it as a business and if it is still up in a couple days they do not think it is worth it.  I have gone  to homes a day or two after posting and find out they sold the good stuff and now just has the junk left.    I have seen posting for the same cards up for over a year.

 Never saw any lots on Craigslist here in south/cenral NJ.   One guy always has ads. "cards $1".   But most of his stuff is not $1 and he has been on there for months if not years.   I did sell a box of almost 200 bobbleheads/nodders of the Burger King "King" in football poses.