General Forum

I inherited a huge baseball card collection when my husband passed away in 2008. He LOVED this hobby. Children and grandchildren are not interested in it so I’ve decided to try to downsize collection. I am not looking to get more cards, only sell. I don’t know much about baseball cards but I’m reading and trying to learn. So, lots of questions. 

Is this a good site to sell cards?

What is best site to know value/sell price for cards?

Do I include shipping cost in my listed sell price on this site? Or does buyer or seller usually pay shipping?

I have been sorting these cards by player but have lots of sets from late 80’s thru 2007. It’s going to be a slow process of listing all his cards. Any advice from experienced collectors will be appreciated. 

Hello and welcome to the site.

First off this site is great when trying to find information about a card.  I don't know how much selling goes on though this site.  For me personally I sell my cards through a consignment site called COMC dot com.  I like that site better than ebay because I think it gives a bit more reallistic market value for many different cards.

Good luck in your quest and welcome again!

Thank you for replying. I have looked at comc for pricing ideas. How do you do your shipping costs on that site? 

I agree with Gunny that I don't know that this is the best resource for selling but it's a great source for gaining knowledge. The best way to sell might depend on how much time you want to put into it. The trading card market is thought to be deflated so it isn't a great time to be a seller. Generally I would say that a collection from late 80's through the 90's isn't going to have a lot of value and those less valuable cards are probably going to move the easiest by using a local resource such as facebook sale sites, craigslist or a local auction. This is because shipping is a killer for cards not worth more than a penny each. I would probably look at the rookies for that era and identify the best. Maybe you then have a list of names and look through for rookies of I don't know...Mariano Rivera, Mike Trout, Derek Jeter and names such as that. You want to identify those key cards whether you try to move them individually or point them out if selling in lots. Really, outside those superstar hall of fame type rookies I'm not sure it's worth doing much more. I would then set it up in lots of maybe a bulk sale by brand and manufacturer, players names or team names and start selling things off. You could post in here some of the better cards and see if you get interest. Ask any questions of the group. I am sure many will try to help. By the way, I think many of us sense this type of thing is what will happen to most of our collections some day.

First off that site you have to send your cards to their storage facility in Redmond, WA.  For me I usually send in batches of around 1500 to 2000 cards.  The site uses COMC credit in order to process and buy cards.  So if you do decide to send them some cards you will need to purchase enough store credit for them to process them.  Usually the cost is about ¢30 per card.  They will also charge tax now when you purchase store credit depending on which state you are from.  When they process a card, they scan the front and back and place it in your portfolio.  Once the card is in your port, you can then price it accordingly.  They store the card and ship it out when it is purchased by another user.  The user who buys the card pays for the shipping of said card.

The only shipping you would pay for is to get the cards to Redmond, WA.  Also some cards may be rejected, usually I get about 10 to 20 rejected.  You then have the option to have them sent back to you, more shipping fees, have them donated to charity or have them reprocessed for an additional $1.00 fee for each card.  I have done all three options in the past.

I like it because I only ship once and I can ship a great many cards at one time.  I usually fill a large priority USPS box packed safely so the cards do not get damaged.

Hope this helps.

BSwagger, thanks for the advice. I think you’re right about not a good time to sell. Not sure this and future generations will ever enjoy this hobby. 

Gunny, I just read up on comc procedures. I don’t want to get into that because I have no idea what cards would be good enough to send them. 

I think I’ll just list on here as time permits and see what happens. I figure these cards will still be here when I’m gone, then kids and grandkids can deal with them. Maybe grandkids will be sentimental enough by then to remember when they used to help papaw  separate cards and he would say “one day these will be yours.”

Sounds good Kdavis I wish you luck!

There are better places to sell. There is a selling post here and ebay. But you can find the answers about cards here. Information is what you will need. There are rare cards that bring higher prices than most. That involves an inventory of what you have and knowledge. So ask questions.

You can always put them on Facebook Marketplace or put an ad in the local paper. Also, try finding the nearest card shop and they could probably help you out.

Welcome to the site.

There are several options for selling online. Some are good for quick flipping sales while others will take awhile. Some sites are good for selling quickly while others take some time to sell. Also remember no matter where you sell them don't expect to get their full value. To be a bit optimistic you could get somewhere between 25% - 50% If you are lucky you could maybe get about 75% of their value. Even getting about 15% -20% would be be possible.

First off find out what you have. To be brutally honest, If most of it is from the years 1985-1995 (give or take a couple of years) then it is practically worthless due to super overproduction, often called "Junk Wax Years". The actual dates people debate about but Readers Digest version: from about 1984 to about 10 maybe 15 years later there were several dozen card companies each making dozens of card sets per year, overproducing cards by 10s of thousands maybe even by the millions, plus "collectors" back then were mostly "investors" thinking that they could buy out a couple dozen rookie cards of the latest stars and then make money 20 or 30 years later. The end result most cards from that literally go for a dime a dozen, or more often several dozen. Best to donate them to some children's organization, or recycle. Don't throw any away.

The most popular always seems like Ebay. It is the best place to find out the current worth of things by looking at completed sales, not what things are listing for but what they actually sold for recently. (even if you don't sell on Ebay itself it is a good price guide) However it is the most competitive. Unfortunately there are also a few scammers around (both sellers and buyers) who are looking for quick bucks. The scamming seems to be random, some members never have any problems with them while other people seem to be infested with them. Selling on Ebay means you are responsible for everything, researching what you have and seeing what is a "fair" price, you are responsible for everything, the listing, the scanning (I think Ebay nowadays insists on having good quality photos/scans of every listing), setting the price, packing, shipping, everything. There are several sellers fees that turn some people off from selling on Ebay, but it is one of the most popular and better seen places.

There is also Sportlots, which again is a site where you do all the work, and shipping. I think there is also a way to send stuff to them to ship out, they have some kind of deal for overseas sales where the sellers have to ship to a central location that gathers the sales and bundles sales from several sellers together to help people in other countries save on shipping costs. I have not sold there so I don't know all the details or cons of selling there.  One negative for selling is you have to list by card, unless you set up  your auctions for card lots.

There is also (I think already mentioned) COMC (Check Out My Cards or Check Out My Collectibles) you are responsible for setting prices, but you send your stock to their warehouse and they handle the shipping end of the sales. This is one that might take a whle for the cards to actually sell, but if you don't want the cards taking up your space it is a good way to go.

Another option is to try you luck at a local card shop to see if they will buy the entire collection. You won't get top dollar but you might get rid of all the cards. If you are in the US or Canada this site could help find one near you: http://cardshopfinder.com/

Also if your area has flea markets (or a similar type swap meet) you could look into how to set up a selling table and hope you can unload stuff.

As a collector the one thing I absolutely hate in this day and age is when people have given up all hope and just "trash" the cards. I would rather see them get recycled or given to some place that will find a place for them rather than going to a landfill somewhere. Ultimately I would like them to go to an actuall collector that will appreaciate them.