Hi folks...

Been a while since I posted and hope I'm not in the wrong area for this...

Priorities changed a couple of years back and I stopped actively buying any new cards. I'm now looking at liquidating my collection and wondered if folks had any advice for this.

I've sold individual cards before via internet auction but not sure that this is the venue.

I'm mostly sci-fi... lots of Trek, Babylon 5, Farscape, Buffy... most of the autograph cards in those collections...

Anyone have any advice they can offer?

Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure if you are asking if you can sell cards on this forum or not. You can't, but there is a trading section if it would help.

If you are just asking for options, unfortunately they remain very much the same as they always are when you are looking to liquidate a decent size card collection. The faster it is and the less work you want to do, the less money you will get. The more time and effort you are willing to put in, the more money you will potentially get.

That means selling to other card collectors either in person or through internet auctions and BINs. You can go to card dealers and you can attempt bulk selling for the speed and convenience, but I'm afraid you will be shocked by the pittances offered. That is of course if anything is offered at all. Dealers may simply not need what you have.

As with anything, it all depends on the contents. Upper tier cards that are in demand will be desired by both collectors and dealers, but the typical large collection is mainly base cards and commons and titles that may have fallen out of fashion. What may have taken thousands of dollars to collect can garner 10 percent in a bulk sale, if you are lucky and if someone will take it at all. Otherwise you may get no offers or just offers to cherry pick the best cards and leave the rest.

Much better to set up sales for individual cards or small lots of related cards directly to collectors if you can, but it's work and collectors who are interested will likely have many of the same cards you do.

Don't mean to sound negative, just being realistic. I have on occasion tried to sell collectibles and cards that I lost interest in and for every one item that held good value, I had 10 that were virtually worthless. That's just how it is, hobby item value like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Good luck.

As Raven says, its all down to the time and hassle you are willing to invest in this.
Time wise I started selling my own collection via BIN's 17 Months ago and am something like 2/3rds through.
Not helped by the fact that I keep buying new cards with the proceeds though

Hassle wise the vast majority of card collecters are lovely people, but there are still a few nasty people and conmen about. Be prepared for a few nasty messages and a few refunds.

Buffy still sells very well, especially the earlier ones. Never collected the others, trek I guess the high end will be in demand while the lower end have little demand. I dont think there is much demand for Babylon 5 or Farscape these days.

Another option to think about is find a Friendly Dealer who does consignment. Let them do the legwork for a piece of the action.

No recommendations since you're in the UK, but surely someone there offers this service.

Ed

Yes, consignments are another option, but the few times I've asked around about it, I have found very few places that even entertain the idea, they want to take a big bite out of any sales and they are even pickier about the items they are willingly to accept.

You also have to be very careful that you have someone reputable because there may be a lot of accounting involved if many items are up for consignments.

If you have vintage, high quality, high dollar collectibles maybe you can get a known auction house involved, but the average large card collection reflects the collector's taste and interests. It can be a great collection taken as a whole, but still have only a scattering of high-end cards amid mainly commons and lower-end premium hits.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a member on the forum a while back. He only wanted to buy the highest valued autograph cards. His card collection was entirely of only the best cards he could find. I remember remarking that he really was an investor and not a card collector since his only interest was in the card value and the potential for increasing prices.

Looking back at it now, I don't think I gave him his due. When he decides to liquidate his small card collection of super premium hits, it should be easy and worth it for him. When my huge card collection gets liquidated, probably not by me, I'm afraid most of it may wind up in the trash.

As mentioned here and in previous posts, consignment may be the best way to go. You can check out a site like https://www.comc.com/

I guess it all depends on how fast you want to sell your cards. If you have some time, go through your collection and try selling individual cards.

I will second COMC as well, though I'll admit I don't know how well non-sports cards go. I decided to sell off some of the hockey card collection that has been gathering dust for years. Mostly lower sub-$20 cards. Out of a trial run of 15 cards, 8 sold within a day, and a few more the week after.

I will also echo the above. I was trying to sell the collection on a sports card forum known for trading and buy/sell. Someone approached with a haughty "how much for everything". My conservative value was around $7200 and I was offered $1250. He eventually went up a little over $2k but I decided it was too much to leave on the table. I said no and am slowly putting them up on COMC to maximize my dollars.

It just takes a little work.

I'd be curious to hear more details about your experience with COMC. . . I was thinking about sending some stuff in, but wound up transferring some cards over from ePack.

I transferred around 200 cards, and on the one had I was surprised with how many of them sold:

Items Sold 185
Total Sales $11.21

On the other hand, with the ePack stuff I was selling, as you can see it was really a race to the bottom price wise.

Perhaps more galling is that COMC pocketed over $46 from those sales (more than 4 times what I've made), and to add insult to injury it would cost me I think another 20% to cash out.

To be fair these were all low end cards from ePack, so perhaps (hopefully) selling better cards would be a better experience and make the costs feel like they were worth it.

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:
I transferred around 200 cards, and on the one had I was surprised with how many of them sold:

Items Sold 185
Total Sales $11.21

Perhaps more galling is that COMC pocketed over $46 from those sales (more than 4 times what I've made), and to add insult to injury it would cost me I think another 20% to cash out.

Oh wow, I understand they were low end cards, but that's pretty disgraceful on 185 sales. That's like 6 cents a card for your end. I think I would rather just throw them out then put my time into it and then let COMC get 4 times my take.

Hi Simon,

In the process of selling, I suggest to keep the cards you love the most. Keep the ones that got you into collecting.
Keep the ones that invoke the strongest memories.. then after you sell your collection you will have a few personal gems
that don't take too much space you can still enjoy while maintaining all of your other priorities.

Every time this topic comes up (and it has, at least three times over recent years)there is always someone posting the solution of "Dump the whole lot into a skip 'cos that's all they are worth"
If that was true why am I constantly paying $15 to $20 per set for commons from the period 1975 to 2000 on Ebay??.

Why doesn't any of you throw-it-in-a-skip-enthusiasts live next door to me??

The golden rule about selling anything is so long as there is just one person willing to buy what you are selling then the results will always be better than dumping it in the rubbish.