Seeking advice. Thinking about selling my collection.

[deaconblues63]

I'm thinking about selling off my collection. I'm reaching the point in life where I need to think about downsizing and I don't want my family having to deal with this when I am gone.

I have a nice collection and one that I am proud of. Unfortunately, it is not so nice that Heritage or a large auction house would be interested. But it also isn't just garbage from the junk wax era where I want to put it on Craigslist and have to deal with douches offering me $200 and telling me that they are doing me a favor. I don't have the time or patience for eBay and it's an enormous amount of stuff to try and box up and send to a consigner.

Just to give you an idea of what I am talking about, I have:

1) Every Topps flagship set from 1973 until 2015, with all Traded sets, all in near mint/mint condition. My 1973 set is the nicest I have ever seen, outside of a PSA set.

2) A decent amount of significant sets from these years as well. Think 1984 Donruss, 1989 Upper Deck, 1990 Leaf, 1992 Donruss, sets of that nature.

3) Signed 1993 Topps and 1997 Topps Derek Jeter, both encapsulated and certified by James Spence.

4) A nice collection of Fleer/Laughlin cards from the 1970s.

5) Every Texas Rangers team set from 1972 until 2014.

6) About 2500 TTM/IP signed cards, probably 1,000 8x10s and about 300 baseballs. Everything from really nice Hall of Famers to scrubs. Some of the people that I have had single-sign OMLB embarrass me in hindsight, but I have some interesting ones as well.

So to sum up, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of cards and thousands of autographs. I'm at a bit of a loss in trying to figure out my next step.

Any and all advice is welcome.

 

[Brad]

I’m sure people will have better advice, but I started clearing out my non-PC cards 2.5 years ago. I was getting 500 free listings promos. They give you 200 now. i now also buy stuff off sites to flip, but I keep it to 200 free BIN/BO listings. It would be a good place to whittle down things without accepting clearance prices.

 

[joey12508]

i was lucky to have someone who bought in bulk 1200 or so of my Bernie's. being a player collector i had many commons and inserts. sold some of my 90's super sweet to some on this board. i still have 300 or so i kept down from about 2500. did ebay on some was a hassle. i would post on every other message board too. sounds like
a really nice collection. all the luck with it.

 

[deaconblues63]

i was lucky to have someone who bought in bulk 1200 or so of my Bernie's. being a player collector i had many commons and inserts. sold some of my 90's super sweet to some on this board. i still have 300 or so i kept down from about 2500. did ebay on some was a hassle. i would post on every other message board too. sounds like
a really nice collection. all the luck with it.

@joey12508

Thanks.

Did you see the new Gary Moore song I posted for you?

 

[joey12508]

@joey12508

Thanks.

Did you see the new Gary Moore song I posted for you?

yes seen it thanks replied.

 

[michaelstepper]

I've found myself listing more and more as well. still plan on keeping 70% for the time being but to much laying around.
I've taken to listing 6-12 items individually during my morning coffee. it keeps it small, quick and dont feel overwhelmed. I've actually sold more in the last 2 weeks then I have in a year. its moving slow but it's going out the door and I once it's gone i don't ont miss it

 

[sjm76]

It sounds like you have some nice pieces in your collection to sell. I think that your best bet is eBay and I was also going to recommend the comc.com consignment site (Check out my cards) but I know of people who sell on there that are running into all kinds of problems so I would avoid that until the extensive shipping delays get ironed out and buyers stop filing complaints.

 

[finestkind]

Call or email this guy if you are looking to sell your collection. He's been around for a long time. I have never bought or sold anything from him. I've never seen any complaints on any sports card forums about him either. https://net54baseball.com/member.php?u=923

 

[gt2590]

Can you set up at a local card show for either free or very cheap?

Probably would be a fun way to do it.

Ive been thinking of doing it to sell off my non PC stuff instead of waiting for COMC...

 

[Therion]

I've been selling off my collection on Twitter for about two years. Margins are significantly better than selling on eBay.

 

[Brad]

I've been selling off my collection on Twitter for about two years. Margins are significantly better than selling on eBay.

How do you sell off Twitter? I know people do facebook groups. I’ve never figured out how people do Twitter, Instagram, Mercado, etc.

the eBay standard envelope is good for cheap sales you want to PWE

 

[Therion]

How do you sell off Twitter? I know people do facebook groups. I’ve never figured out how people do Twitter, Instagram, Mercado, etc.

the eBay standard envelope is good for cheap sales you want to PWE

With Twitter it is all about building those relationships. Once you can get your Tweet engagement over .5% (seems small, but trust me, that's not bad for Twitter) you can make a killing.

 

[deaconblues63]

Thank you for all the advice. It has been helpful. Although I don't have a Twitter account, the Twitter thing sounds intriguing.

 

[mrmopar]

I'll need to try to follow how this works out. I have what is likely a somewhat similar collection, but much heavier on the Autographs and my team sets are Dodgers. I only made a couple sets, oldest being 1978 but have most of the 80s factory sets and a few into the 90s. my collection is loaded with oddball items and small sets. I could rival or even shame just about any card shop left standing out there for a while until the best of the best was cherry picked. I never really wanted to believe I would try to unload my collection. I was hoping after having 2 boys, that one or both would take some interest. At 16 and 18, neither have even a minor care about it at this time. the thought of selling it makes me sick, one because I never wanted to get rid of it and two, the process feels like torture (no offense meant to anyone who has ever been tortured, because obviously selling baseball cards and being tortured are not literally similar).

Good Luck with it. I wouldn't afford it, but would love to have that Topps trophy Jeter card. Wish there was something that was equally valuable that you could convert to cash as easy that I could trade to you. I might, just don't know what that may be at this time. Keep that in mind if/when you do go to move that card please!!!

 

[smapdi]

I'd ask the auction houses about the run of sets, at least. They don't only sell Wagners and Mantles, there's plenty of lower-end items in those auctions. And a 43-year run of Topps sets is quite a bit better than lower-end, even if it's not all PSA 8-10 material.