Selling baseball cards

[FreakofSnow]

I have a few boxes of baseball cards that I need to sell in order to raise some cash for the sled I want to buy before next winter. I have almost an entire set of 68 Topps that are in various conditions. This set includes 6 rookie Johnny Bench cards , Tom Seaver, Hank Aaron etc. And I also have some more recent years of Don Russ.

So my question is, who's got the experience to give some advice on how I can easily sell these. Keep in mind I live in Bozeman, Montana i.e. not a whole lot of vendors, convention shows.

Can I sell them on eBay? Do they need to be professional graded?

donka-shane

[CantDog]

dude, keep em and give them to your son if ya have one(or plan on having one). My dads mom threw away all his baseball cards and comics and he is still bitter about it. The sled wont last forever, but those baseball cards are part of your childhood. Its nice to go and look back at old comics and cards, brings back all those fuzzy memories, or those times when your parents beat you with a belt and locked you in the closet.

Sorry that wasnt a helpful post

[CaddyDaddy77]

Go here, http://www.baseball-cards.com/vintage/1968t.htm


Good site, will give you value etc, before selling to a shop. Never sold any on e-bay, really think you might get a better value for multiple cards sold alone, but for a lot sale, maybe a dealer would be better???

Oh, and that site says Nolan Ryan rookie for that too, good one.

[CUBUCK]

I have sold baseball cards on ebay before. First if using ebay do not expect to get anywhere near what many magazines say the cards are worth. I would suggest taking the cards to a shop and let them give you an estimate on value. This will help give you an idea what to expect from ebay. It also might give you a heads up on what questions people will ask. Without the entire set it will be more difficult to sell.

[CUBUCK]

After reading Cantdog's response I think I have to agree. I still have the cards that are most important to me. Came home to help my parents move found my Nolan ryan autograph in the garbage pile If you have doubles sell the doubles but it would mean alot to hook a son up with something like that.

[CaddyDaddy77]

Agreed, if you care, don't sell. I sold a handfull of cards needing cash for something I don't even remember, but I remember the cards I dumped to get it.

edit, I'm a hypocrite, give you a site to find value and then tell you not to sell.

I sold basketball cards, couple of Barkley rookies, and some others. Oh well , Charles is a dick anyway.

[cololi]

Keep them. You'll never get as much as you think you would for a card. My dad started collecting cards when he was about 5 years old. Those cards (including whole sets from the 50's and 60's) got handed down to me and will be handed down to my kids when they are old enough to appreciate them. Unless they want to be written out of my will, they won't sell them till I'm dead.

However, if you do sell them, sell the high value cards individually on ebay and set a minimum bid. Dealers still have to make a profit and will not offer you what an individual collector would.

[FreakofSnow]

Cool, good advice. Let me first clarify, its not a complete set and there are a lot of dupilcates that I could off load. The set was passed to me from my uncle who passed away to my Grandpa to my Dad and to me about 10 years ago. My dad had told me that I could sell them to pay for my college loans or other stuff. I really don't want to get rid of all of them, just some of the high rollers.

[shamrockpow]

OK. First off take the high cards and examine them. Is the alignment correct? (is the wood trim even on both sides and top/bottom) Is there any bleeding? (are any of the colors mixing over their own lines?) Are the colors faded? Are the edges in quality shape? (bends, nicks, folds, etc) Any wrinkles in the cards? (age or water damage) Is the back of the card in quality condition as well?

If the cards don't have any of the above flaws then what you need to do is send them in to a proffesional card grading company like PSA. If your cards like the Bench or Ryan rookie cards grade out to 9 or better you will make a lot more money on Ebay or selling them to dealers...

[Steven S. Dallas]

Mint and centered baby, mint and centered.

I have that Ryan rookie card (Mets Rookie Pitchers, with Jerry Koosman and maybe someone else). At the height of the card boom, it was worth some serious cash...Now, I don't know.