[chassis]

I want to sell a group of 1974-1981 Topps baseball cards, and would like input on the best venue for this.

I searched this site, and found a small number of posts from 7-10 years ago that did not mention selling venues.

The collection is generally in good to excellent condition, and a few cards are in mint condition.

Questions:
1. What are the best venues to sell baseball cards from this era? I am aware of eBay, craigslist and pawn shops. Are there any go-to baseball card marketplaces?

2. What is the current trend for the baseball card market activity? Is there a way to just prices and demand level? For example, sales of exotic cars (Ferrari, etc.) are doing quite well. This suggests sales of discretionary goods are strong. Are there any market indicators for sports card demand?

[Mike.]

get them graded and throw it up on ebay.

[chassis]

Thanks Mike. How best to get them graded? Are there one or two established sites for this?

[RickFLM4]

I'd be interested in knowing this too but am too lazy to do any research, so I'm glad this thread was created.

[Rmtt]

Originally Posted by chassis

Thanks Mike. How best to get them graded? Are there one or two established sites for this?

Look for a store in your area that sells stuff such as coins, stamps, comic books, etc.

If they can't help, I'm sure they could put you in contact with the right people.

[The Libertine]

Originally Posted by chassis

Thanks Mike. How best to get them graded? Are there one or two established sites for this?

Use Beckett (BGS) grading. They are the most prominent and trusted grading source.

[cmyx6go]

I had one hell of a collection back in the early 70s. My mother threw them away, she wasn't thrilled with her daughter being a tomboy

Good luck.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

I had one hell of a collection back in the early 70s. My mother threw them away, she wasn't thrilled with her daughter being a tomboy

Good luck.

That's terrible.

OP: I agree with the other posters about getting them graded, and I think eBay and possibly Facebook marketplace would likely have the most visibility. Facebook might also have groups you can join for that type of thing and be able to reach people who have interest in them. I'll be the first to say I hate Facebook and hardly ever log-in to it, but I've had the best luck selling stuff on marketplace simply due to the amount of traffic.

[RickFLM4]

I may have a handful of cards worthy of the grading investment, but overall mine aren’t worth nearly enough to warrant the cost + effort to sell. On the top shelf of the guest room closet they shall remain.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

I had one hell of a collection back in the early 70s. My mother threw them away, she wasn't thrilled with her daughter being a tomboy

Good luck.

I remember telling my mom I would sue her once when she threatened to throw mine away. I have no idea how I knew what that meant at about 10 years old. But she found it amusing enough to not throw them away.

[FuriouslyFast]

Put them in a van that says "free candy" on it

[detroitm2]

Honestly, people arent collecting baseball cards like they use to. Unless you have something super-rare/valuable, the amount of time/effort to get the cards graded and trying to sell them at a legit price might not be worth it. Best to just hang onto them until people start picking it back up again.

I have a medium sized collection of cards from the 50s/60s that I've been hanging onto for a while due to this. Some of them are "valuable", but finding someone to pay for them was a chore. I ended up just putting them in airtight cases and will hang onto them for another 20 years.

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by detroitm2

Honestly, people arent collecting baseball cards like they use to. Unless you have something super-rare/valuable, the amount of time/effort to get the cards graded and trying to sell them at a legit price might not be worth it. Best to just hang onto them until people start picking it back up again.

I have a medium sized collection of cards from the 50s/60s that I've been hanging onto for a while due to this. Some of them are "valuable", but finding someone to pay for them was a chore. I ended up just putting them in airtight cases and will hang onto them for another 20 years.

Originally Posted by detroitm2

Honestly, people arent collecting baseball cards like they use to. Unless you have something super-rare/valuable, the amount of time/effort to get the cards graded and trying to sell them at a legit price might not be worth it. Best to just hang onto them until people start picking it back up again.

I have a medium sized collection of cards from the 50s/60s that I've been hanging onto for a while due to this. Some of them are "valuable", but finding someone to pay for them was a chore. I ended up just putting them in airtight cases and will hang onto them for another 20 years.

Ditto, except my collection of baseball hockey cards are mainly from the 80s, key players but there doesn't seem to be much interest so I'm holding them

[detroitm2]

Originally Posted by mecheng77

Ditto, except my collection of baseball hockey cards are mainly from the 80s, key players but there doesn't seem to be much interest so I'm holding them

I have 2 of these:

https://www.steinersports.com/baseba...z-9-2892644047

One is a PSA-6, the other a PSA-7. Best I've been offered (on ebay along with other sources) was $300 each.

[The Libertine]

Originally Posted by detroitm2

I have 2 of these:

https://www.steinersports.com/baseba...z-9-2892644047

One is a PSA-6, the other a PSA-7. Best I've been offered (on ebay along with other sources) was $300 each.

That’s the crazy thing about sports cards; there’s the value ascribed by “hobby authorities”, but ultimately the cards are only worth what someone is willing to pay you for them.

[detroitm2]

Originally Posted by The Libertine

That’s the crazy thing about sports cards; there’s the value ascribed by “hobby authorities”, but ultimately the cards are only worth what someone is willing to pay you for them.

Agreed. And sadly people aren't collecting cards much anymore, so prices are bottoming out.

Not saying they'll ever go back up, but maybe someday

[The Libertine]

Originally Posted by detroitm2

Agreed. And sadly people aren't collecting cards much anymore, so prices are bottoming out.

Not saying they'll ever go back up, but maybe someday

Very true. Even so, I would not sell the cards for the pittance some would offer. Better to hang onto them, then let them go for a song.

[GOLFFRR]

I watched a doc on netflix about baseball cards and it was saying they are all worthless now for the most part? it was really interesting doc, forget the name (im sure someone one here will be able to post it up) but worth watching.

whats crazy I have so many cards which I have been holding for years thinking they would be worth a ton some day

movie name: Jack of all trades

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by detroitm2

Honestly, people arent collecting baseball cards like they use to. Unless you have something super-rare/valuable, the amount of time/effort to get the cards graded and trying to sell them at a legit price might not be worth it. Best to just hang onto them until people start picking it back up again.

I have a medium sized collection of cards from the 50s/60s that I've been hanging onto for a while due to this. Some of them are "valuable", but finding someone to pay for them was a chore. I ended up just putting them in airtight cases and will hang onto them for another 20 years.

Originally Posted by GOLFFRR

I watched a doc on netflix about baseball cards and it was saying they are all worthless now for the most part? it was really interesting doc, forget the name (im sure someone one here will be able to post it up) but worth watching.

whats crazy I have so many cards which I have been holding for years thinking they would be worth a ton some day

movie name: Jack of all trades

I will tell you why they are not worth anything.

Back in the day us kids had to go to the local corner store to buy a pack of cards with the gum stick in them, most kids would save up their nickels and dimes to buy a pack of cards. Most of those card got pulled out and used and played with and traded over time. At the time there were very few cards available and mostly kids had them and we all know kids did not take good care of their stuff. Cards from that time period are rare and desired. During the 60's and 70's I collected about 1000 cards and still have them, most are trashed from playing with them a few are in good shape since I never played with the ones I liked. The ideal at the time was to get all the player cards for each team so you had one of each player on a team. This took a lot of work. Therefore I only had few worth something to a collector who does not have them in their collections.

Then came the 80's and you could buy boxes of card packs with or without gum, collectors wanted them without gum, gum could ruin the cards. There were people buying cases of cards, never opening any packs since it was believe this would automatically devalue the cards, so lots of people had no idea what they had in their collection. There was a guy who was maybe 10 yrs older than me when I was in high school & college in the 80's and I use to do work on his truck to make extra money. This guy collected like crazy his second bedroom in his apartment was filled with boxes of trading cards all kinds. He told me this was his retirement plan. He would be retiring about now.

About 5 years ago I looked into the values of the 1000 so cards I had. What I learn, unless I was willing to go through the 1000 card and figure out which one's may be valuable to a collector then take them to be graded since they were not in the pack, the cards were worthless.

I was told until all the homes with all those cards stacked in someone basement or extra bedroom burn down and burn all those cards out of existence most of the cards today really do not have any value. You have to willing to go through every single one and figure out if is a better fire starter verse something to frame and look at, otherwise, you will not find anyone to buy them as lot.

I ended up pull the couple which meant something to me, I had Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell cards which happen to be worth something and I was Pirate fan at the time so they have value to me.

The baseball card industry destroyed this market, the industry was investigated in the 90's for their activities around selling boxes of cards with the hopes of a very valuable card being in a pack. This was seen as gambling and kids were buying all kinds of boxes of cards looking for maybe that one valuable card.

[Hawkeye]

Best way is to find a time machine and travel back to the 90's. We all have boxes of these things, and that is why they are not worth anything.

[someguywithanm3]

They'll eventually be worth a lot of money, maybe in 100 years.

[mecheng77]

I just watched a documentary on the baseball card industry, it was very interesting and there was a touching story in the end. I won't give away the root cause but I can say your cards are nothing more than hard toilet paper

https://www.netflix.com/title/81151313

https://decider.com/2019/07/25/jack-...d-documentary/