OT: Selling Baseball Cards

[ttyh]

I recently emptied a storage shed I had that was filled with my sports card and memorabilia collection from when I was a kid. Most of the cards are from 1978-1990 with several star and HOF cards from the '50's and '60's. When I was a collector I was very meticulous with how I handled the cards and the high value star cards pretty much went straight from the wax pack and into plastic cases or pages in a binder, so they are in pretty damn good condition as they have only been handled once or twice.

I have been researching the current state of the hobby and I'm blown away at some of the values these cards are selling for in either online markets or at card shows. Something new to the market that wasn't really in existence when I was a kid are the grading services. In order to garner top dollar for your cards, buyers want the card to be graded by one of the big 3 grading services. I have zero experience with this and am looking for tips on best practices to go about this. It's a little unsettling to me to just send them away in a box and wait for my cards to be returned graded, and that process is evidently backlogged for close to a year on the turnaround anyway.

TL/DR

Anyone have experience with the grading companies and how best to engage them? Will they come to your house if you have a large enough collection and are willing to pay? Or are the only options sending them away or going to a show where there is a grader?

Has anyone ever dealt with the online consignment houses and/or online marketplaces like eBay? Has anyone sold a large collection themselves?

Any guidance is appreciated.

 

[ChicagoFats]

M business partner had somone come to his house and grade his cards. They charged him like $50 a card to grade it or something like that. This was in Chicago, and it just so happened he had a the grader was a mutual friend. Not sure if its a service or something national.

ANother good option might be to visit a card show?

 

[ttyh]

Yeah, I think my first pass at getting a card graded or an autographed ball authenticated will be at a card show. I just don't feel comfortable dropping cards in the USPS system and crossing my fingers.

 

[ChicagoFats]

Yeah, I think my first pass at getting a card graded or an autographed ball authenticated will be at a card show. I just don't feel comfortable dropping cards in the USPS system and crossing my fingers.

My partner is into it. He gets back from vacation Monday and i can ask him more about it.

 

[Taggart]

I just don't feel comfortable dropping cards in the USPS system and crossing my fingers.

Why not? They facilitated the most secure election in US history.

 

[ttyh]

My partner is into it. He gets back from vacation Monday and i can ask him more about it.

Please do. Appreciate it.

 

[ttyh]

Bump

 

[TJHall1]

This guy posts a ton of cards on Twitter. I'd message him:

 

[TJHall1]

 

[racernhra]

Yeah I just ran across some 80-83 football cards that had in card boxes. Mostly complete sets minus a couple. Online value shows some to be worth several thousand but I also know that condition is huge. Still, some are in darn good condition. Will be watching this thread.

 

[imprimis]

My Dad tossed out 2 shoe boxes of mine from the 50s-60s when I went to boot camp. Included was an 8 x 10 signed of Mantle, Ford, Berra and Billy Martin I got when Mantle opened a bowling alley in Dallas. They charged nothing for signing.

 

[imprimis]

@TJHall1 not funny!

My grandmother tossed out my Uncle's from the 30s-40s after he died in a plane crash. Of course, nobody knew values then.

 

[TJHall1]

@TJHall1 not funny!

My grandmother tossed out my Uncle's from the 30s-40s after he died in a plane crash. Of course, nobody knew values then.

I think I would have legitimately beat the shit out of my dad.

 

[imprimis]

He did this in 1969 before the values increased. I gave his Eulogy and told everyone he tossed out my retirement. The bottle of Gin I had hidden was also gone. Turned out my sister and a friend found it.

 

[ChicagoFats]

Yeah, I think my first pass at getting a card graded or an autographed ball authenticated will be at a card show. I just don't feel comfortable dropping cards in the USPS system and crossing my fingers.

So my friend had a grader dude come over to his house and give his opinion of a cards grade. The ones that were close to being perfect cut (say 10% or so) he sent off to PSA to get officially graded at a cost of somewhere around $20 a card. Once you send them to be graded it may take 2 - 6 months to get the cards back.

 

[ttyh]

So my friend had a grader dude come over to his house and give his opinion of a cards grade. The ones that were close to being perfect cut (say 10% or so) he sent off to PSA to get officially graded at a cost of somewhere around $20 a card. Once you send them to be graded it may take 2 - 6 months to get the cards back.

Thanks. Any idea how he connected with the grader? Was he an acquaintance or is this a service he was able to locate?

 

[ChicagoFats]

Thanks. Any idea how he connected with the grader? Was he an acquaintance or is this a service he was able to locate?

It was a friend of a friend type deal that came to his house.

He said mailing them off to be graded is probably the best way. It’s kind of expensive so you only want to have your better cards graded.

I think he used PSA for the grading service.

 

[ChicagoFats]

I recently emptied a storage shed I had that was filled with my sports card and memorabilia collection from when I was a kid. Most of the cards are from 1978-1990 with several star and HOF cards from the '50's and '60's. When I was a collector I was very meticulous with how I handled the cards and the high value star cards pretty much went straight from the wax pack and into plastic cases or pages in a binder, so they are in pretty damn good condition as they have only been handled once or twice.

I have been researching the current state of the hobby and I'm blown away at some of the values these cards are selling for in either online markets or at card shows. Something new to the market that wasn't really in existence when I was a kid are the grading services. In order to garner top dollar for your cards, buyers want the card to be graded by one of the big 3 grading services. I have zero experience with this and am looking for tips on best practices to go about this. It's a little unsettling to me to just send them away in a box and wait for my cards to be returned graded, and that process is evidently backlogged for close to a year on the turnaround anyway.

TL/DR

Anyone have experience with the grading companies and how best to engage them? Will they come to your house if you have a large enough collection and are willing to pay? Or are the only options sending them away or going to a show where there is a grader?

Has anyone ever dealt with the online consignment houses and/or online marketplaces like eBay? Has anyone sold a large collection themselves?

Any guidance is appreciated.

My buddy just got his cards back from being graded. He sent them in to PSA and had about ~100 cards graded. Ended up paying avg price of $25/card (not sure if that was per card or just average among all cards)

He said the grades came in much worse than expected. He is into cards and thought he had a pretty good idea of what the cards should be graded. Almost all the cards came back a point lower than he expected and what the "expert" he had come over to his house expected.

Said he paid about $1800 to have cards graded that were worth $2000. He was pretty disappointed.

He is not sure what caused the scale to change but thinks if he had them graded a year prior they would have come in at higher grades. He feels like going forward people may start to ask when a card was graded and assign older grades less value.

Just passing along some info for you, take it fwiw.

 

[BurntJ]

 

[ttyh]

My buddy just got his cards back from being graded. He sent them in to PSA and had about ~100 cards graded. Ended up paying avg price of $25/card (not sure if that was per card or just average among all cards)

He said the grades came in much worse than expected. He is into cards and thought he had a pretty good idea of what the cards should be graded. Almost all the cards came back a point lower than he expected and what the "expert" he had come over to his house expected.

Said he paid about $1800 to have cards graded that were worth $2000. He was pretty disappointed.

He is not sure what caused the scale to change but thinks if he had them graded a year prior they would have come in at higher grades. He feels like going forward people may start to ask when a card was graded and assign older grades less value.

Just passing along some info for you, take it fwiw.

Great information. Thanks for sharing. I suspect that would be the case if I decide to send some off, which is why I have been a little reluctant to do so.

 

[LVRebel]

Great information. Thanks for sharing. I suspect that would be the case if I decide to send some off, which is why I have been a little reluctant to do so.

I had a couple of cards graded back in the day and had a similar experience. They graded much lower than anticipated. I don't know how they go from a 10 to an 8 or 7, but it seems like a card with no scratches, dents, edge or corner problems, and is centered would be close to a 10. Then again, apparently their criteria is much stricter than what the naked eye can see. IDK

So yeah, unless it's a valuable card either way, and it'll be worth it to know if it's a $500 card, or a $1,500 card, I'm not sure if it's worth it to pay that much for grading them.

 

[racernhra]

Talked to a family member that has nearly 40,000 cards. He has never had any graded and said some people prefer to buy not graded.

He did put me onto a site www.tcdb.com that is a huge database of cards. Seems to be a lot on there and thought some of you might be interested if you haven’t already been there.

 

[ChicagoFats]

Talked to a family member that has nearly 40,000 cards. He has never had any graded and said some people prefer to buy not graded.

He did put me onto a site www.tcdb.com that is a huge database of cards. Seems to be a lot on there and thought some of you might be interested if you haven’t already been there.

Can't see the benefit of not buying graded other than you want to pick someone off when buying the card. i.e. they don't know what they are selling. Is there another reason i am missing?

 

[thenick_ttu]

Talked to a family member that has nearly 40,000 cards. He has never had any graded and said some people prefer to buy not graded.

He did put me onto a site www.tcdb.com that is a huge database of cards. Seems to be a lot on there and thought some of you might be interested if you haven’t already been there.

IFL. Thanks!

 

[racernhra]

Can't see the benefit of not buying graded other than you want to pick someone off when buying the card. i.e. they don't know what they are selling. Is there another reason i am missing?

That was my first thought also. I think some people prefer they aren’t in a case or something. I think that’s what he said.

 

[catfishpunter]

These grading services have the right idea. Wanna make money in a gold rush? Sell shovels.