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For sale


I collect cards for my own amusement. It's been that way for 40 years. There is nothing to this hobby besides accumulation for me.

Except for a few fits and starts, I have rarely considered selling cards because I think this hobby should be as free of real world problems as possible. The formula should be simple: Have a little extra cash for cards? Buy cards. Enjoy cards. Repeat.

But after 40 years, that formula becomes less and less practical. I have lots of cards, but the space for them is shrinking by the year. I also have lots of cards that are practically useless to me. They don't fit in my collection and they're not easy to trade. And, of course, any kind of extra money would be helpful.

So, I'm considering again selling cards. Only a bit more seriously this time.


There has to be someone out there who is a Rays collector or a David DeJesus collector. If the blogs won't take care of my excess parallels then maybe ebay or COMC will.

I have resisted selling cards in the past not only because I want my hobby to be 100 percent pure enjoyment, but also because I've heard the stories about how selling cards online (particularly on ebay) has become more and more of a hassle.

So I'm asking for a little advice here.

Those of you who sell cards online, particularly on ebay or COMC, what kind of tips do you have for a newbie seller? Are there any obvious dos and don't?


I don't have a ton of cards that I think are worth selling. Besides some stray parallels from the unpopular teams among the card blogs (Marlins, Rays, Mariners, A's, Twins) there are abundant Dodgers that I believe I've circulated among the many Dodger collectors already.

So this will be a sporadic venture at most. I don't have the time and I don't want the hassle. But I do want the space and, oh, yes, I do want the money.

So if you've got tips, I want them.

And if that tip is "don't sell" then so be it.

I'm happy sticking with accumulating until the house explodes.

Comments

Zippy Zappy said…
If you want to go ahead with selling them more power to you, but I'd be willing to take any retail parallels (Walmart Blues, Target Reds, orange refs, purple refs etc...) that you don't need off your hands.
I know people overseas who don't have Targets or Walmarts that could use them.
Tim B. said…
I've been meaning to contact you about trading anyway. I will take any Rays that may have played in Durham. I'm sure that I've got some Dodgers that I can send you.
Stubby said…
I think I've sold one card in my lifetime. Also sold a few big storage boxes of junk wax commons before I moved. I didn't need the cards and, like you, I needed the space (the money was mostly an afterthought). Even in the case of junk wax commons, I have lingering regrets. Its not the cards, per se. I have probably 20 of each card from the inaugural Hoops set and I don't even like basketball. So I sold cards 21-28 of each of those Hoops card on a dealer happy to have them for grab bags and got a few bucks in return. Why the lingering regret? I don't know. But I do know that I have given away tons of cards...to friends, friends of friends, children, whomever...and, on those, I have no regrets. At all. Some of those were even "valuable", whatever that means. I don't even give them a thought. The ones I sold--that were about as useless to me as could be--haunt me a little. I don't entirely get it, but its something to think about.
Mark said…
The best is probably just putting them up in a lot (maybe broken down by parallel type or team) on ebay. COMC isn't a great route for super low end parallels - numbered stuff, low end autos are great. But stuff like the Emeralds will sell at $.15-35 range for commons. So after the $.25 submission fee and the cost of shipping them there, you might be looking at a dime a card, or even a possible loss.

Unfortunately a lot of the players/teams that aren't easy to trade off are just as hard to sell. I have trouble selling Topps Black parallels for a buck or two for some of the less popular teams, while team set builders will bid common guys up to $5-10 for other teams. If you're just looking to clear the space and maybe net a few extra dollars, your best bet is finding somebody locally who sets up at shows or listing lots on ebay. But even then it may be tough to find set builders looking for large lots a year or two after a product went live, since they've already completed the set or are down to the last few cards.
Zippy Zappy said…
Note: I'll even take the lame teams nobody even knows exists like the Rays, Indians and Marlins.
Bo said…
Remember that not everyone is a team collector! There are people like me who will happily take cards from whatever team. In fact, see my post that I am putting up in a few minutes, in part of it I address that very topic...
night owl said…
I honestly don't have time to track down everyone's mini-collections. Sorting cards by team is much easier and fits within my time constraints. This is a future post of mine as well.
Josh D. said…
I am a David DeJesus collector....sort of. "Sort of" means that if I get them somehow, then I like having them and will put them in the binder, but I don't actively search them out or buy them.

I don't remember if you've tried Listia in the past. Maybe you could see what some of your cards could fetch that way, and then you could turn those points into other cards you do want.
BobWalkthePlank said…
The first person to start a Marlins blog would be in business.
Twitch said…
There used to be one, but he got out of the game awhile ago.
carlsonjok said…
I am an occasional EBay seller, but with all the horror stories of dishonest buyers, I am considering only selling at Net54. It uses community reputation as a mechanism to keep dishonest sellers and buyers in check. I would think either selling there or COMC would probably be the best way to go, since EBay can turn into a nightmare fairly quickly.
Chris Mays said…
eBay - A potential horror story. A dishonest buyer can make your like a living hell no matter what you do.

COMC - It's really only worth it for higher dollar cards. If your lower priced cards don't sell, you'll lose money fast.

SportLots - The only way to make real money here is BULK and then, it's a ton of work. I think this is the best place to unload low priced common cards, but more work than I'll ever do again. Plus, you're responsible for all the individual shipping, etc.

I agree with whoever above recommended selling on eBay in lots. Just be prepared to deal with the evil.