What is the best way to sell a collection?

[Ruboonia]

Hey everyone! I'm new here and I would very much appreciate some advice. I have boxes upon boxes of football cards (and other sports cards, too), and I would like to sell them in an effort to clean out my basement. I was a pretty big collector in the '90s so most of my cards are from that era.

I quickly skimmed through one of the boxes and pulled out some of the rookies/inserts of higher-end players. Among them, I found several rookie cards of Peyton Manning, Terrell Owens, Donavan McNabb, Kurt Warner, Fred Taylor, Kerry Collins, Steve McNair, and Marvin Harrison, and some rookie cards of John Elway, Steve Young, Barry Sanders, Troy Aikman, Brett Favre, and Emmitt Smith. Of course, I found more Ryan Leif, Lawrence Phillips, Rae Curruth, and Ki-Jana Carter rookie cards than I ever wanted to count.

What is the best way to go about selling these cards? I really want to get rid of the "bulk" cards, first and foremost. They just take up too much room. Should I try to sell the collection "as is" and just try to advertise the cards that I think may be the best? I don't have many ebay references, so I might not be able to get much out of this if I go that route. Can I sell these cards on SCF?

Another question: I have a few particularly interesting cards that I remember being unable to find in any price guide in the '90s. The first two are Barry Sanders and Dan Marino cards from the "Red Zone" set. They say 1995 Donruss on the bottom, have red backs that say Red Zone, and are from a game released in the mid '90s. I have a ton of these cards. The other is a 1998 Upper Deck Black Diamond Dan Marino Quadruple Diamond Premium Cut (PC13). Any idea on a value of these cards?

Thank you so much to any and all who respond, and happy collecting!

[MacGruber]

Do you have any Hockey in referring to "other sports"?

As for selling them in bluk, best reference would be to just check out the bay and see
what others sale value is going for with those "divorce" or "estate" states. Pending on what you have some can go for a good value.

If though that might change you could sell per player but theres alot of commons vs RCs that can determine the value as well.

[Ruboonia]

Thanks for the response! I collected basketball cards and a few baseball cards, too. Not much for hockey, sorry. I have loads of common cards as well as the rookies and inserts. I could sell the base set cards of star players as lots with the inserts/rookies, too, I suppose. I have a bunch of Montanas, Youngs, Rices, and Marinos that I may be able to get some money for if I sell them together.

Any other input? Any help/comments/advice is much appreciated!

[BravesFan4Life]

Try to see if you have any complete sets from all that base. Sell off the sets if applicable. Remaining base, inserts etc, group by player and sell those off. Any Autos, Game used, rarer inserts etc try selling individually. Right is a really bad time for the card market so a lot of stuff is going cheap.

[97S281_27]

I agree with trying to sell complete sets first. Then for the remaining cards you may want to check out www.checkoutmycards.com

I've been using that site for a few months now and i've been really pleased with it. If you have any questions about that site feel free to shoot me a PM and ask me and i'll give you my experiences with them.

[Ruboonia]

Thanks again for the great replies!

I have a few complete sets ordered and sleeved up from my box-opening days. I really don't have any good sets, though. 1989 Pro Set, 1991 Pacific, 2 sets 1998 UD Choice (factory set, still in original box), 1996 Proline Intense, a few basketball sets, and a few others, including a nifty set of 1994 Monsters of the Gridiron.

[Deltapine]

I did this a few years ago and ended up taking a less practical approach. Decide what you want for the whole lot, post on eBay with a starting price of that amount (or a reserve if you like) and let her roll. Showcase volume and star names.

Mine didn't get any real bites, so I ended up donating the whole lot to the local Boys and Girls Club. They enjoyed them very much and I took the tax writeoff for the amount at which I valued the lot.

Regards,

Alex

[corperryale]

try craigslist

[Star_Cards]

On the common stuff your best bet it to either donate them or find a bulk commons dealer. The only problem with that is you'll have to find a local guy. I've bought commons for years. Up until a few months ago I bought anything but these days I'm more picky as the older baseball stuff is harder to make money on since there is so much of it and demand is lower. Most bulk buyers will buy baseball commons in the $8-$10 range per 5000 ct box but they don't pay any sort of delivery costs.

As for the stars, you're best bet is to lot them up by team or player if you are looking to move them on eBay.

There are also player lot buyers such as myself and a few other here on SCF. We buy at a per card price depending on the player, but you have to sort them down by player which can be a tedious task for some. I have quite a few guys that sell to me just to move out unwanted stuff and help raise some funds for newer product.

You can check out my list in the link in my signature. I have over 500 players, teams, and more that I buy.

m