Selling Baseball and Football Cards?

[MrLuckey]

I was going through some old boxes and found a couple hundred baseball cards from the early 70's and somewhere around 700-800 football cards from the early-mid 70's. Thought about just taking them to a card shop and selling them but am thinking I'd probably get ripped off lol. Has anyone here sold sports cards and have any helpful info? The cream of the crop is probably a 71 Topps Reggie Jackson.

On a side note, growing up back then these guys were my sports idols (the nfl cards mainly), sure brought back some nostalgia. If anyone has a favorite football team from that era and is interested let me know.

I've thought about that auction site but I've no idea how to sell something there and frankly don't have the time to scan them and post auctions. If anyone likes doing that sort of thing and wants some easy money selling them for me just holler!

 

[Green Horn]

I'm interested in finding out too. I've got like 10-15 COMPLETE Topps football sets from the '80's. Sure would be cool to unload them if they're worth anything.

 

[Okiewan]

I know Lou does a lot of stuff on that site...
Would be interesting to hear how it turns out.

 

[rickyd]

go too a card shop and look for a Beckett magazine/book, should have the values of cards according to condition..

send me a pm with an idea of what you have and what you woill take for it, my brother would be interested..

Rick

 

[MrLuckey]

Ricky, thats part of my issue, with somewhere around 1,000 cards I really dont have the time to make a complete list.

 

[Okiewan]

Okay then. I'll give you $5.00 for all of it.

Dude, it's sounding kinda silly? Don't want to get ripped, don't want to figure out what it's worth, no time to sell it... ????? I'd suggest you throw it back in the box and wait til you have time for it :)

 

[oldguy]

Just a quick example
Eric's godfather is a sport memorabilia fanatic and for years had bought eric sets of rookie cards. A couple years back Eric sold one to a friend for $10 which he was happy as could be until His godfather told him that card was going for $100 to 150

Eric also got a couple autographed by the players and later found out that cost him $$ since they were not untouched. Fortunately Brett Favres autograph added value more then what it devalued the card itself.

Don't jump in and regret it later you probably don't have many $100 cards but you really never know.

If you want I can release them thru that auction place a few at a time if you want to send them to me

 

[Chili]

I spent a bit of time trying to find an article that I read recently without luck. The gist of the article was how the bottom had fallen out of the sports card market. It went on to explain why, and how many of the sports card shops have disappeared of late. Check the auction site and you'll find they have very little value anymore, had you dumped them in the early 90's you could likely own a new bike from the proceeds.

 

[MrLuckey]

:rolleyes:

I have probably the best 200 or so (mostly hall of famers) separated out. Back to my original post I am merely asking if anyone has sold cards en masse to a card dealer and felt they got a fair shake or if they think taking the time to scan every single card and post auctions etc or some other means of selling them is a better deal.

As stated I don't have the time to scan 1,000 cards or even make a list of them at this time...if going that route would get me 40% more then I'll wait and do it later, no hurry to get rid of them, just curious if anyone has sold a bunch and has experience in this arena.

 

[MrLuckey]

Thanks Chili and Dave,

I know the sports card market isn't at all like it was say 10-15 years ago (unfortunately). Just ran across all these cards and am curious IF a guy was to sell them what the best route (ie work to sell them vs profit) might be.

I have quite a handful that were listed in a book from 1993 at $100 or so...probably 80% of them are worth around $1.

Dave - Check your PM's.

 

[Green Horn]

I had heard that too about the bottom falling out, Chili. Worst case, I have a TON of "motors" for my bicycle. :)

 

[biglou]

I go through phases of selling stuff on eboy. I'll purge a bunch of stuff and then go months without selling. You can set a reserve if you want, so if you don't get your lowest price it won't sell. Then you can relist them or take them down. You still have to pay the site for the listing, but the cost is minimal. It's per listing, not per price, to the best of my memory.

Anywho, as for scanning, I'd lay them out and shoot them with the digital camera. Much faster. I'd also break them up into groups, itemize them, etc. Sell them by team and year, or by "rookies 1981" or whatever.

I am a compulsive collector. I have two of every comic book I've ever bought since I started in the mid 80's. I stopped years ago and just buy a couple titles that I like to read. I've got some collectables that I've never even cracked open. They are all individually bagged with an acid-free backer board. I even have 5 copies of some books. But, like Chili said, the bottom fell out big time around 90-91 for comics too. And I'll tell you why: They cut their own throat. There was a particular X-Men issue that got released with the wrong ink color. They forgot one of the pigments in the mix or something. That book went throught the roof and the companies noticed that. So what did they start doing? Releasing 5 different colors of logos on an issue, knowing that people would buy 2-5 of each copy in each color. The only problem was, they made regular production quantities of all of them, so they weren't rare in any way. Long story short, you've seen the stack of boxes in my back bedroom, right? lol!

I do have some gems though. Two each 1st printings of Frank Miller's graphic novel "The Dark Knight Returns" from 86-87 era, and his "Sin City" books from around 90 or whenever.

Anywho, I'll PM with an offer to catalog/price/sell all the cards, etc. Cuz time is one thing I got plenty of...

 

[XRpredator]

. . . I do have some gems though. Two each 1st printings of Frank Miller's graphic novel "The Dark Knight Returns" from 86-87 era, and his "Sin City" books from around 90 or whenever.

industrial strength chick repellent . . .

:rotfl:

 

[bsmith]

Lou, you are starting to sound like the Guy from 40yrv movie :laugh:

Look for an iSold it store Luckey. The sell things on **** for people. No idea if it's a good deal or not.

 

[Green Horn]

industrial strength chick repellent . . .

:rotfl:

LMAO

I bet a dude like that doesn't even fork over the extra coin for a slice of cheese.

 

[MrLuckey]

Very cool, a couple of folks have offered partnerships to sell a couple handfuls and see what happens. I realize probably 800 or so aren't worth much more than a buck or two and may just take those to a card shop. The other 200 or so we'll see.

 

[Kawidude]

It couldn't hurt to take them all to a card shop and just see what they offer you for the decent cards. They may come up with a number that surprises you and you can unload them in one stop!

Hey Lou, any idea what a #1 Web of Spiderman from 1990-ish might be worth? I'll have to poke around the internets and see what I can find out.

 

[Kawidude]

Wow, looks like my Web of Spiderman is worth about $7-$8. I guess it's not bad for a 65¢ investment. I was hoping it would put the kids through college.