How would you liquidate a collection....

[clydepepper]

First, you are very wise to start researching the issue. What you ask cannot be answered easily.

IMHO, There are several ways you could handle the process.

Since the last thing you mentioned was that you have thought about submitting a few cards for grading, I will start with that.

I believe a carefully selected group of cards could result in a decent idea of the overall grade of your collection. Keep in mind even the foremost graders are flawed and can vary from day to day and card to card. I now that doesn't sound very promising...which is why I recommend sending a very carefully selected small group of cards.

The two sources I rely on most when trying to determine the value of raw vintage cards and vintage sets are:

1.) The Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards by Krauss Publications.

2.) EBay's sold items search - which only goes back 30 days...which sucks...so I check back several times over an extended period of time to help gauge the market. This can also have it's inaccuracies as some folk like myself occasionally buy emotionally and thereby spend more than the card may actually be worth...although one school of thought is that the market will always reveal the true worth of an item regardless of aforementioned exceptions. The Ebay sold items search also does not provide actual selling price if a Best Offer has been accepted.

So far, I'm guessing it appears to be a very difficult task to evaluate cards. Well, it is.

Another factor, and I know you mentioned this liquidation will not be any time soon - which is good. Frequently, time is a source of pressure when going through this process.

You will most likely do much better the more time you take. However, there sometimes comes a time when you just want to get it over with. At that time, you should set your bottom-dollar price and stick to it.

Auction houses provide far more exposure than you could create yourself. Their audience is also focused on the Hobby. They charge fees, however, which can cut deeply into your net.

I was very luck when I sold most of my sets a few years ago, using one of our Net54 members who is a big seller on Ebay...this allowed for more exposure and he charged lower fees than an auction house would.


There are a lot of forum members who have far more expertise than me and they may disagree with some of what I have stated, so be sure to read all of their posts thoroughly.

I hope I was of some assistance. Welcome and good luck,

Raymond