How does one go about actually selling baseball cards? Where is the market? I have some cards that I hear are of value...but where in the world is that value realized?
Yeah, I have a bunch of Starting Line-up figures that I'd like to sell. I though about making a list and faxing them to various baseball card shop to see if they would give me a nice price to sell them all at one time instead of putting them on E-bay.
Madmax, I used to work for the company that creates the most adhered to baseball (and every other sports) card price guide, Beckett. Your cards may be of value, but condition will be the determining factor of the actual money you could get in return. Among the things I did was grade, essentially a person who assesses the quality of the cards much like an appraiser. If you have a valuable card I suggest looking into this service. It will allow you to set the card permanantly in holder thus securing its condition while verifying the authenticity of the card (this is especially necessary if you plan to sell on-line b/c people are wary of getting ripped off since they don't have card in hand). Insofar as what you will get, like any collectible you will receive whatever the market will bear. So, unless a player is hot or you find a collector dedicated to a particular player or brand you can usually expect to get about 50% of the "high" Beckett column (allowing the seller to mark it up for a profit- they, the dealers, too will have to sell it at well below the quoted "high" value). You will get a higher percentage usually if its a pre70's card in good condition. Anyhow, I believe there is a collectors show at the George R. Brown coming up soon (it may have already passed), but the collectors in Houston will likely know more details. There you will find a few hundred dealers that may have interest in your cards. Good luck.
You'll never get the value shown in the book. But you can sell easily on ebay to fans and card stores alike. They'll give you fair market value. Probably about 60% of book value. Which in many cases is good. The only way to get book value is to sell like a card company does. directly to the consumer. But obviously, that is hard to do unless you sell at at a show.
Woah, is that chrisjent, like former Houston Rocket Chris Jent? The main secondary market is pretty much limited to ebay and trade shows. If you want to find the value of a card, I'd suggest hitting up either Beckett or Tuff Stuff magazines. For convenience, Beckett has a very nice website that enables you to search for card sets and prices online (sometimes, you can even see an image of the card). However, you have to be a member (i.e. PAYING member) in order to access those features. If you sell the card(s) to a dealer, chances are, you'll only get 40% of the worth of the card back. Not too great, but then again, the transaction is quick and relatively easy (assuming they want to buy). If you sell on ebay, you can get 100% (or more!) of the estimated card worth back, but it depends on how you present the card, the grading, yadda yadda. I'd try to make sure my auction ENDS on a weekend (preferably mid-afternoon to early evening). I find that to be the best time to sell stuff through ebay. Unfortunately, I have zero experience selling cards at trade shows. Heck, I've been to only one in my life. Can't help you there. I would imagine you'd get a price similar to if you went to a dealer (i.e. card store). As far as grading goes, it depends on the card. If the card is not in the greatest of shape, there's no point in shelling out the $10-$12 for grading (per card). If you can't get a 9 or 9.5 grade, it's not worth it. However, if you CAN achieve that grading (or a perfect 10), then your card becomes immediately MORE attractive to prospective buyers. PSA is pretty much the "market" leader in grading. However, there are many companies that now do it (including Beckett). If you think grading is for you, head over to the NFL Experience show at the George R. Brown, as I do believe PSA will have a booth there. You can have it graded right then and there, if memory serves me correctly. At the very least, they can answer questions for you.
I concur with much of what VesceySux says,however I believe getting 40% from a dealer would be somewhat rare [unless you have some really old cards in really good condition,or some brand new cards]. When I worked for a card shop,we sold the vast majority of our inventory at 50% of bv,so we typically looked to buy collections at no more than 30% of bv.Ebay is interesting,you never really know what you're gonna get for something.I've listed stuff that did'nt get any bids the 1st time around,relisted it,and it would sell for $5.There really is no rhyme or reason to it.IMO,your best bet to get the most out of your collection is to sell it to another collector. Maybe you could advertise in your local newspaper....... As for grading,if you have a newer card,ie from say 1990 or newer,it's essentially a waste of money to get it graded if it's not going to get at least a 9,but if you have cards from say 1980 on back,you can usually sell RC's and /or star cards for decent money if they grade a 7 or 8.For cards back through the 1960's+1950's,even 6's+5's can sell reasonably well.
Dirt, only 30% of value for cards? Wow. That's a low number, IMO. Are you talking about Beckett "high" price or "low" price? I totally agree with your sentiments about grading. However, I think old cards are fine by themselves and can sell well without the need for grading. The allure there being that the cards are old, so they're automatically rare, in a sense. The newer cards are not as rare, so the grading gives them that extra edge. I still feel as though any graded card below 9, no matter how old, is a waste. If you think the card is not going to grade well, put the card in a protective case yourself and pawn it off as being "in good condition." Just my humble opinion.
VesceySux, I know that sounds low,but if you have say,some cards from the 1960's+1970's that you paid .5-.10 a pack for,and someone offers you $100 them [even though there's some May's,Ryans,Bretts etc in them],alot of people think that sounds pretty good. Some people come into a shop,expecting to get $60 for a 1968 Willie Mays card that books at $60,than are insulted when you offer them $20,not realizing that you probably won't get more than $35-$40 for it,at best. Totally agree with you about grading the older cards.I'm working on putting the 1972 Topps Baseball Card set together,and I'm not going to pay extra $ for a PSA 8,when I can buy the same card,without the grade for significantly less. Do you collect cards yourself?
I always thought i would be able to buy a new car w/ my 12 ken griffey jr. rookie cards and nine frank thomas 90' leaf rookie cards in the years when he broke the home run record. Well that dream is just screwed.
peleincubus, I can relate to your situation:I purchased a small collection about 5-6 yrs ago that had 2 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey RC's. One of them was extra nice,so I got it graded by PSA + it came back a 9 [which is very good for that particular card]. It was selling for $250-$300 back than on Ebay. I figured it would only go up,so I stashed it away.Now,after his last 3 less than spectacular seasons,I'd be very fortunate to get over $60 for it!!
Ah, now I understand the discrepancy. 30% of the Beckett HIGH ain't so bad at all. Because I usually take the average of Beckett high and low, your 30% estimate actually might be HIGHER than my 40% estimate. I have a nice little collection going. We get EVERY box of competitor's products, so I open quite a few boxes and pocket the valuable cards (and the brand managers don't care at all). Plus, I get loads of Topps boxes (nothing super high-end, though), seeing as I'm on the product distribution list (the unopened boxes are overflowing in my closet). Since I work with football, I naturally have more football cards than anything else. The other day, I pulled a cool SP Authentic Yao Ming Auto Relic (numbered to 50) and a Topps Finest FB gold refractor Byron Leftwich autograph base card (also numbered to 50). Made me happy.
VS, How do I go about getting an application? I'm not that far from Duryea [sp]? I have a relatively nice collection. I had been collecting tons of Charles Barkley stuff,but since his retirement I have'nt gotten a whole lot.I'm mainly working on some sets,and picking up some Willie Mays stuff. I have'nt purchased any boxes in awhile.I got tired of paying $75-$100 for a box and getting crappy RC's or relic cards. If there's something I absolutely feel I need,I'll wait several moths for the popularity to wear out before I buy it.
I thought I was the only one that collected Starting Lineups! I always thought they were great...you get a card...and a figure.
Ugh. You mean Boreyea? That's just the production plant. The REAL fun happens down on Whitehall street in NYC. Relic cards are so passe nowadays. I hate them. If I pull a jersey swatch card, I give it away. Back like 5 years ago, they were hot. But now, EVERY box has at least 2 relic cards in them. Talk about flooding the market. But what ELSE is there? What's the NEXT BIG THING? We've tried a couple of things (as have other companies), but nothing is really cost-effective. Autographs continue to be the end-all be-all of card collecting (... for money).
