Selling Baseball Cards

[Chiboy]

Good morning everyone! I used to collect baseball cards, but lost interest after the 1992 strike. I believe I have all Topps sets including those mini update sets from '80 - '92 as well as Donruss, Fleer and Upper Deck. Not sure as I haven't looked in a long time. I have the previously "valuable" ones in plastic cases and the rest are just in their respective boxes. Any idea of how best to get reasonable value for these or the best place to look to even determine reasonable value? I think about doing this once every five years, but never bother. With good advice, this time may be different!

[Fleetlord]

Ebay has almost completely taken over the market in terms dealing of sports cards.

Unless the cards are professionally graded key Rookie cards in higher grades, the valuation of these will be low due to overproduction .

[Mifune]

you're not getting much if anything...

[brandrea]

If you’re looking to get rid of the motherload, I’d seek out a card dealer.

A bit like dealing with a gray market watch dealer I suppose

[twitch54]

I can speak to the '80 set for it's my youngest sons birth year and he too has one. If the set is unopened and still in the box it is worth some $$ for it contains the Ricky Henderson rookie card

[twitch54]

Originally Posted by Mifune

you're not getting much if anything...

Really ?? check my response above ......

[HHIslander]

Originally Posted by brandrea

If you’re looking to get rid of the motherload, I’d seek out a card dealer.

A bit like dealing with a gray market watch dealer I suppose

Agreed. It's easier than listing each one and doing a bunch of listings, shipping, etc. Ebay is not worth the hassle and potential for drama.

OP, if you're looking to dump them, now is probably a good time.

[AzPaul]

You might get more bang for your buck in trade at a local shop. So if there's some other sports collectable you're interested in, see what you can work out.

[Chiboy]

Thank you all. I'll look into local dealers and eBay potential prices after figuring out exactly what I have.

[Mifune]

Originally Posted by twitch54

Really ?? check my response above ......

not gonna happen.
I knew the art director at Upper Deck when Upper Deck was RED HOT, during it's inception. he always told me 'we're printing money!' and that does NOT bode well because INFLATION sucks... that's what the manufacturers did in the 80's-90's, they inflated away their value.

[Fleetlord]

Originally Posted by twitch54

Really ?? check my response above ......

Topps didn't distribute "factory" sets until 1986, so a set of 1980 Topps was hand collated. With an ungraded Ricky Henderson rookie in raw mint condition and the other HOF in similar shape, that set goes for approx $300.00

If the Henderson is high grade in a PSA holder, then the value climbs as does the interest.

That's where the interest lies in cards of this era. They made SO SO SO SO many that the only way people have interest in them is to collect the graded versions so they can create "scarcity" out of the population reports from the grading companies.

For example there may be less than 100 Gem Mint 10 Graded PSA Henderson Rookies, so it's a $100K card, whereas the raw one sitting in a box somewhere is $90.00...or less.

Local card dealers won't touch this stuff because they don't sell. They sell mostly unopened packs and boxes of packs.

Some guys with an eBay store will BUY cards like this, get them graded and bundle them out for sale. People LOVE to dog EBAY in the watch community and I don't entirely disagree as lots of shenanigans...BUT EBAY is the absolutely dominant platform for selling sports collectibles and comics..it's not even close. They get a much bigger customer base and can sell things the guy on main street could never, ever sell locally.

The entire markets Pricing is all based off Ebay results rather than price guides etc.

Here is an example of one of these eBay guys I am writing about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUtLEj4ZvqQ

[Will733]

Originally Posted by Mifune

not gonna happen.
I knew the art director at Upper Deck when Upper Deck was RED HOT, during it's inception. he always told me 'we're printing money!' and that does NOT bode well because INFLATION sucks... that's what the manufacturers did in the 80's-90's, they inflated away their value.

Haha yeah they totally flooded the market with this crap we all thought had value.

Looks like NFT’s are the new baseball card investment

[PeqFB]

I’m in the same boat. If you can get 30% of the “listed” value be happy.

[Stud Screw]

I have dozens of Ruben Sierra rookie cards. They make great coasters.

[Chiboy]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Topps didn't distribute "factory" sets until 1986, so a set of 1980 Topps was hand collated. With an ungraded Ricky Henderson rookie in raw mint condition and the other HOF in similar shape, that set goes for approx $300.00

If the Henderson is high grade in a PSA holder, then the value climbs as does the interest.

That's where the interest lies in cards of this era. They made SO SO SO SO many that the only way people have interest in them is to collect the graded versions so they can create "scarcity" out of the population reports from the grading companies.

For example there may be less than 100 Gem Mint 10 Graded PSA Henderson Rookies, so it's a $100K card, whereas the raw one sitting in a box somewhere is $90.00...or less.

Local card dealers won't touch this stuff because they don't sell. They sell mostly unopened packs and boxes of packs.

Some guys with an eBay store will BUY cards like this, get them graded and bundle them out for sale. People LOVE to dog EBAY in the watch community and I don't entirely disagree as lots of shenanigans...BUT EBAY is the absolutely dominant platform for selling sports collectibles and comics..it's not even close. They get a much bigger customer base and can sell things the guy on main street could never, ever sell locally.

The entire markets Pricing is all based off Ebay results rather than price guides etc.

Here is an example of one of these eBay guys I am writing about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUtLEj4ZvqQ

Thanks for that. Interesting story in the YT video.

[twitch54]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Topps didn't distribute "factory" sets until 1986, so a set of 1980 Topps was hand collated. With an ungraded Ricky Henderson rookie in raw mint condition and the other HOF in similar shape, that set goes for approx $300.00

If the Henderson is high grade in a PSA holder, then the value climbs as does the interest.

That's where the interest lies in cards of this era. They made SO SO SO SO many that the only way people have interest in them is to collect the graded versions so they can create "scarcity" out of the population reports from the grading companies.

For example there may be less than 100 Gem Mint 10 Graded PSA Henderson Rookies, so it's a $100K card, whereas the raw one sitting in a box somewhere is $90.00...or less.

Local card dealers won't touch this stuff because they don't sell. They sell mostly unopened packs and boxes of packs.

Some guys with an eBay store will BUY cards like this, get them graded and bundle them out for sale. People LOVE to dog EBAY in the watch community and I don't entirely disagree as lots of shenanigans...BUT EBAY is the absolutely dominant platform for selling sports collectibles and comics..it's not even close. They get a much bigger customer base and can sell things the guy on main street could never, ever sell locally.

The entire markets Pricing is all based off Ebay results rather than price guides etc.

Here is an example of one of these eBay guys I am writing about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUtLEj4ZvqQ

yes, agreed and both my boys birth year sets ('79 & '80) were hand collated. As for my Mike Schmidt and Pete Rose rookie cards they are worth a few bucks for sure, just wish I had kept my Mantle cards from when I was a kid !