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selling4nana
05-03-2011, 04:28 PM
Hi, I am new to the board and have enjoyed reading through many of the posts. I've been helping my grandmother sell many of her collectibles. I recently had just over 150 prewwII cards graded (mostly baseball, some billiard, golf, boxing, etc) plus I have many others that weren't worth grading. I do not know much about the hobby. SGC gave me suggestions on the best ways to sell the cards (through auction houses, REA was one mentioned). Like everyone else, I'm looking to get the most for them and although I'm in no rush, my grandmother is 90. I would like her to use the money for meds and not an inheritance for someone else ;)
Although SGC seems very trustworthy I really want to do my due diligence and see what other options may be worth looking into. I've read about other auction houses on this site and have thought about ebay. With so many cards does anyone have any suggestions?
I'm picking up cards this week.
Thanks!

e107collector
05-03-2011, 04:49 PM
Do you have a list or remember what type of cards they were? Any player names?

Tony

vintagetoppsguy
05-03-2011, 04:50 PM
The first thing I would do would be to subscribe to VCP (vintagecardprices.com). This will give you an idea of what the cards are worth and what they should sell for. Next, I would offer them to the board members here first in the appropriate B/S/T section. Whatever doesn't sell you can always put on eBay or consign the nicer ones to one of the auction houses...maybe B & L.

Jaybird
05-03-2011, 05:15 PM
I agree that selling here will save you 10-20% in fees through either auction house or ebay/paypal. VCP is also a good suggestion because that way you know what similar cards have gone for. The fact that you've had them all graded by SGC will make it even easier to compare.

Then the remainder could be put on ebay/GSB or through an auction house.

I think that the direct sale would put the most money in your pocket with the least aggravation and quickest turnaround.

Invest in a good scanner (Canon).

GoldenAge50s
05-03-2011, 06:02 PM
Until we know the years & brands of the collection it's impossible to give you the proper advice. Some scans would be helpful also.

glchen
05-03-2011, 06:05 PM
I think a lot will depend on what you have. If your cards are high value (e.g., > $1000), then I would sell through an auction house like those mentioned before (REA, Goodwin, etc.) I send my better cards to Goodwin because they have 0% seller's commission, and a closing auction policy that benefits consigners (which is all lots end at the same time). Although I've never used them, B&L can be good also since they have one of the lowest buyer's premiums and an even better closing auction policy for consigners. (You don't even have to bid on an item before extended period starts.) If you have a bunch of cards, high and low value that you don't really want to deal with, you might try an auction house that caters to all types of buyers (high and low items) like Huggins and Scott. Again, I've never consigned with them, but I believe they will sort your items into different lots for you to maximize value. For example, they might put a bunch of your lower value cards in a 1910-30s lot, and highlight higher value cards singly in their own lot. If you just have a bunch of lower to medium value cards (under $300), I would just slowly ebay the cards individually.

One more word of caution. Do not be conned by expiring best offers if you're uncertain about the value of your card. Let your auction items run. For example, if someone says I'll offer $500 for this card or $2000 for everything because your cards are worth this because of bleh, bleh, bleh, you need to make sure that other people know this card (or everything is for sale), so that others can put in their offers. If no one else offers that can beat that price, take it, but make sure others have a chance to "bid." When selling items on ebay, I've had a lot of people message me with lowball offers, and if I didn't know better, I might've taken them. More often than not, these cards ended up selling for far more than I was offered.

Finally, you might post a few of cards here. If you have some rare ones, it can cause a feeding frenzy on this board. I know that I've seen some finds, and have instantly messaged the poster asking when he was going to sell his cards and where. :) Good luck!

selling4nana
05-03-2011, 08:12 PM
Of all the message boards I've ever been on this one has the nicest group of people. I can't get over how helpful everyone has been.
I will try tomorrow to scan a few cards. Some of the cards I have are as listed below:
1911 T-202 Staht/Cicotte
T-202 Engle/Speaker
T-202 McConnell/McIntyre
1912 T-205 Mcgraw/Clarke
T-201 Cobb/Crawford
T-201 Dougherty/Lord
T-201 Street/Johnson
Those are just some of the ones I'm picking up from SGC. Some of the ungraded ones are:
Mecca Cards
Butler/Abstein
Bergen/Wheat
Hickman/Hinchman
Sweet Caporal; Burch, Sheckard, Moran
Hassan Cigs; Milan/Schaefer/McBride
The only downer is many of the cards have kids names written on them. But I will try to scan some in later tomorrow. Thanks again everyone for all of your help and support. My nana is going to get such a kick out of all of this!
Becky

wonkaticket
05-03-2011, 09:48 PM
"I agree that selling here will save you 10-20% in fees through either auction house or ebay/paypal."

Unless you and your nana are in the Boston area then it could cost you around 15% or so...perhaps more. :)

Inside joke Becky amoung us card junkies, all the advice given thus far is solid.

Good luck with your sale.

Cheers,

John

Exhibitman
05-04-2011, 06:50 AM
For boxing cards, go here:

www.americasgreatboxingcards.com

Lots of data and links to extensive type card images so you can determine what you have. I am the proprietor.

selling4nana
05-05-2011, 08:59 AM
I am still very overwhelmed! I picked up the cards and saw that most of them graded very low. I'm testing my scanning abilities now. These are just a few of the cards I have. The T202 Johnson/Street is the best one at 80 EX/NM. The guys at SGC got most excited over the T201 Crawford/Cobb cards. I have 3 but the best one graded at 30. The other two have A's.
My cards are clearer than they scanned. I will keep trying but I wanted to put something up.

Jaybird
05-05-2011, 10:46 AM
Looks like you have a CIS scanner instead of a CCD scanner. This is just the type of sensor used in the scanning process. CIS scanners are fine but focus just on the glass. You can see on the back of one of the cards that the SGC logo embossed in the plastic is clear but the card which is just slightly above the glass is out of focus. There may be a way to adjust these scanners to focus just slightly above the glass, but I'm not sure how.

A CCD scanner will have better depth of field and will keep the entire field in focus. Just FYI -

Ladder7
05-05-2011, 11:23 AM
CIS scanners are worthless for any 3D items. Ive tried several.

I recently ordered the Epson V300 (CCD), that includes the slides and negatives attachment as well. $82.50 from Amazon, w/ free shpg.

Several slabheads have spoke well about this unit.

ullmandds
05-05-2011, 11:25 AM
Cards like those would best be sold privately...either on the bst here or Full Count Forum or on ebay...in my opinion.

Jaybird
05-05-2011, 12:01 PM
Cards like those would best be sold privately...either on the bst here or Full Count Forum or on ebay...in my opinion.


I agree completely. Not rare enough or high grade enough to get major $$ in an auction. Best to save those fees and sell them on your own.

smtjoy
05-05-2011, 12:44 PM
Nice Cobb!

If they were mine, I would get a one day subscription on VCP and use that to price them here on the BST, most of your cards will have listed sales vales so should be pretty straight forward.

dstudeba
05-06-2011, 12:16 PM
Jason and Steve, thanks so much for the info on scanners, I never knew there were two types.

Becky - I see no reason to send those to an auction house, I too would sell them here or on eBay after checking www.vintagecardprices.com

selling4nana
05-06-2011, 02:44 PM
Thanks for the scanner info and selling advice. My grandmother just got a helicopter ride to the hospital this afternoon. I'll be working on this stuff over the weekend and all of next week as I have time. I may post things here and on ebay. And I will look into getting a different scanner. The price isn't bad and I have over 100 encapsulated cards. I am having a hard time trying to take photos of them without having myself in the reflection! But I do have many other ungraded cards. I will add things to my album as I scan new stuff.
You have all been so helpful. I will continue to educate myself and look forward to chatting more in the future!
Becky

selling4nana
05-22-2011, 05:25 PM
Thanks Steve F for the suggestion on the scanner. My new Epson V300 came in and I wanted to show some new scans. What a difference!


This scanner was a good buy. It does the job and it didn't cost an arm & a leg.
Becky

selling4nana
05-22-2011, 05:28 PM
sorry, couldn't get pics up but figured it out.