5 Tips To Know When Trying To Sell Your Collection Of Sports Cards
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Sports cards are an awesome hobby that has been around for many decades. From baseball to basketball, football and hockey, there are so many different sports out there that also have their own set of collectible cards. It’s not surprising to see kids or even adults collect these cards because they not only offer a fun way to keep track of your favorite teams and players throughout the season but they can also become valuable in time depending on the rarity of certain cards. Whether you’re just getting started with collecting sports cards or you want to sell some of your current collection, there are some important things that you need to know. Here is our list of the top 5 tips when trying to sell your collection of sports cards.
Know Your Cards Before Trying To Sell
When trying to sell your collection of sports cards, it’s important to know what you have and what it’s worth. There are a ton of different sites that have price guides for sports cards. These price guides let you know what certain cards are worth depending on the condition, the year they came out, and the type of card they are (baseball, basketball, football, etc.). You can also refer to a "checklist" for the year and product of each card to learn more about them like pull rates and more, sites like The Cardboard Connection are great for this. As time goes on and you collect more cards, it can be difficult to remember what you have. Keeping track of your collection is important so you know what you have and what it’s worth. If you try to sell a card and you don’t know how much it’s worth, it could lower the price you get for it.
Key factors to know for each card to know before selling:
- Year of Card
- Manufacturer and Product (e.g Panini Prizm)
- Player Name
- Card name or insert set (e.g Emergent)
- Parallel name and print run / pack odds (Purple Pulsar #/35)
Know The Difference Between Card Conditions
As we mentioned earlier, the condition of your cards is an important detail you need to know. Collectible sports cards come in different conditions, and each condition has a different value. The most common condition associated with sports cards is Near Mint. The condition scale for sports cards generally goes as follows: Poor (PR), Fair (FR), Excellent (EX), Near Mint (NM), Mint and Gem Mint (GEM-MT). Most professionals and independent grading companies also have additional levels or "half grades" through the scale, but generally, the list above is a good standard to follow. Depending on how you store your cards, they could go down in value. It is important to keep your valuable cards in penny sleeves and top loaders or you can use magnetic one-touch holders finally, you can send off your cards to one of the industry's trusted grading companies to be encapsulated. If you have cards in poor condition, they likely will not be as valuable as they would be in near-mint condition.
Key Factors for Condition on Cards:
- Surface - are there any scratches, scuffs or stains or creases on the front or back of the card? you should also look for defects from the manufacturer like print lines or dimples.
- Edges - check the four edges of the card front and back (top, bottom, left and right), is there any "whitening" (where the paper stock is chipped or worn revealing the white layer underneath) or are the edge worn down from time and mishandling / improper storage.
- Corners - check the four corners for any wear nicks or creases, this is typically referred to as "soft corners".
- Centering - This is likely the hardest characteristic to assess especially if this is something you don't have experience with. the "centering" of a card is how well-centered the picture is on the card stock on the front and back of the card. The centering of a card is based on the distances of the top & bottom as well as the left & right and how equal they are to each other.
Check For Current Market Value
If you want to know the value of your cards, you should research their current market value. The best way to do this is to use an online sports card marketplace like eBay. Once you login, click on the sports card category and type in the card that you want to check the current value for. Next, you want to filter to only see SOLD listings, this will give a more accurate portrayal of what people are actually paying not just what other sellers have theirs listed at. Another useful way to check prices is with a free tool called 130POINT this will only show you sold listings for whatever you are trying to look up. There are many other tools you can use like Card Ladder and/or Market Movers, these are paid subscription-based tools but they offer an even deeper analysis of the pricing of cards, including historic pricing and more. The most important thing to consider when evaluating your cards, is they are only worth what someone is willing to pay.
Determine If It’s The Right Time To Sell
When trying to sell your collection of sports cards, it’s important to determine if it’s the right time to sell. The best time to sell cards is usually around the time of year when most people are thinking about buying sports cards. This is usually during the winter and spring months when it’s not as hot outside. Pay attention to the season of the respective sport your cards belong to as well, selling during the middle of the offseason you'll find pricing to be much lower than in the swing of regular season games. You should also consider what the current economic climate is like, and how are traditional investments performing (e.g stocks, real estate, gold). When these markets are done you'll surely find sports cards to be in a dip as well.
Finally, Decide Which Selling Platform Is Best For You
As we mentioned earlier, there are a few different ways you can sell your collection of sports cards. When deciding how you will sell your cards, an important factor to consider is time. Selling on your own and splitting it up by selling each card individually will maximize profits but is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, versus doing bundle deals or selling your entire collection as a lot. Option one for selling is to do it online. You will find there are many different online marketplaces to sell collectible sports cards. Some of the most popular marketplaces are eBay, Amazon, and Facebook Marketplace. Some websites specialize in buying and selling sports cards like PWCC or MYSLABS. These websites make it easier to sell your collection because they have a built-in way to sell your cards. The other option is to meet up with people in your area and sell your cards in person, this is most possible by attending local card shows or using Facebook Marketplace or other online classified's style platforms. Another important and useful outlet to sell a card collection is to bring it to one of your Local Card Shop's (LCS). This may work better if you have a large collection that you want to sell and don't have the time or resources to sell through the earlier-mentioned streams. If YOU are looking to sell your collection, Morrison Trading Post is always buying, whether you're local or not we can assess your collection and make a fair and transparent offer, click here to contact us today.