So, you’ve got a nice card collection from your childhood! You’ve been hearing about the resurgence of cards, along with the news that some cards are worth MILLIONS (or at least that cards will continue to go up)
And you want to know if your baseball card collection is worth anything!
The short answer is that the majority of your cards are probably worth pennies. Then you’ll have some that are probably worth a few dollars, and even fewer that are worth anything real ($40+). If you’re lucky, you’ll have a few worth a few hundred dollars. If you’re insanely lucky, you’ll find cards worth thousands.
However, the good news is that there are still iconic cards from every era that are worth good money, especially if they’re still in good condition!
Was My Collection Worth Anything?
As a kid, I only collected basketball. Like everyone else, I heard about the craziness of the market and wondered if I was sitting on a gold mine.
Then when I went through my cards, I got excited again and jumped back into the hobby with both feet!
But to be honest, going through my old collection was a little disappointing.
As a 13-year-old, I just liked ripping boxes. I didn’t even once go buy a single card of a player I liked. In hindsight, as a Lakers fan, I really wish younger me had stocked up on Kobes.
And being a kid, most of the stuff I bought was super cheap. So I truthfully had very few cards that were even worth anything.
I spent every penny I had for 3 years, amassed over 6,000 cards, and here’s mostly what I found:
- A Jordan/Kobe card worth $150 raw that I sent to be graded (estimate final value = $250)
- A Shaq rookie I sent to be graded (estimate final value = $150-$400 )
- A LeBron rookie insert I sent to be graded (estimate final value = $75)
- A Kobe rookie worth around $100 (not worth grading)
- A Scottie Pippen insert I sold for $50
- Probably 50 cards worth $10-$20
- Probably another 100 cards worth $5-$10
- And a WHOLE bunch of Garnett, Pierce, Nash, Allen, and other rookies worth $1-$3 apiece.
In other words, I wasn’t sitting on a gold mine. Even after sending in cards to be graded, I probably had a collection valued at $2,000 or so.
But really, it all depends what you focused on as a kid. Were you adamantly trading for every Ken Griffey Jr. card you could find? If so, you’re probably doing ok.
However, going through it was a blast, and I sold probably $300 worth of cards which helped me get back into modern card collecting!
How to Tell If Your Baseball Card Collection is Worth Anything
1. Separate Out The All-Time Greats (Rookies, Inserts, and Base)
Luckily, I kept my collection fairly organized, so I was able to go through everything pretty quick. I had binders of all the best players, and had my most valuable cards already in top loaders.
As you’ll find out in Step 2, you’ll realize the majority of your cards aren’t worth anything. You’ll be surprised at how few players hold any hobby relevance after 20-30 years.
Like I said above, I found some rookies of all-time greats in my old collection…and found out they were worth a few bucks. Of course, if I had focused on better brands, those card would be worth a lot more.
With rookies and base cards, only the all-time greats are going to be worth anything.
Inserts mostly follow that same rule, but can be a little trickier. There are some insert sets from back then that are pretty rare and valuable.
For the most part, inserts were extremely over-printed, so if you have 10 of a certain one, it’s probably not valuable. But you’ll probably want to look up all of these to make sure.
Look Up Sold Comps on eBay
Now, you’re going to get real familiar with looking up sold comps on eBay!
First, type in your search what you’re looking for. Next, you’re going to filter by “sold” only (I dive much more into using eBay for valuing cards in this article). Don’t look at ones currently listed. People can put whatever price they want!
Like, is anyone going to buy this?
One thing to caution you on:
When it comes to random cards from the 80s and 90s, you can’t find one comp from 4 months ago and assume your card is worth that.
I had tons of cards where the most recent comp sold for $8 and then mine sold for $1 or not at all. This is because you have to find just the right person who’s looking for that random cheap card from 30 years ago.
If I were doing it all over, I would list those under $10 cards as a Buy It Now and wait patiently for the right buyer. It could take months, but doing this with 50 or 100 cards will bring you back a lot of money over auctions that result in a winning bid of $0.99.
Determine Condition of Your Cards
Now it’s time to be real honest with yourself and determine if you have any cards that are worth grading—based on their condition as well as graded value.
It’s hard to give you a hard-and-fast rule. When I first jumped in, people were grading everything. Especially Kobe and Jordan.
So I sent in 9 Kobes and Jordans that I had that were in the best condition.
I got them back 60 days later…and the base values of those cards had been cut in ⅓ and graded values took a dip as well.
Even though they graded out okay, I still can’t sell them for what I paid to grade them ($25/apiece with HGA).
Going over how to inspect your cards and what the different grades looks like is beyond the scope of this article…
However, I will say this:
If you’re new, you’ll soon realize that to get a worthwhile grade, your cards need to be in excellent shape!
I’ve worked with newer card collectors who’ll say “This card is worth $100 as a PSA 10!”
I’ll look down at their card with a bent corner, a crease down the middle, and white showing through everywhere…and then crush their hopes and dreams.
A 10 (or 9.5, based on what a company’s “gem mint” rating is) is going to look perfect to your eye almost every time. There are exceptions, but in my experience, if I could spot something wrong with the card, it rarely gets a 10.
So now you have to figure…
Is your card still in good shape other than 1-2 obvious little dings? Is your card worth something if it grades an 8?
You’ll have to do some more research on eBay.
However, if you’re seeing any creases, bent corners, discoloration, or (heaven forbid) tears, then 99.99% of the time you don’t want to grade it. The exception being all-time holy grail cards like rookie Mantle or Jordan.
I’m not going to get into which company to grade with—I did a full review of the major grading companies here:
Reviewing the Complete List of Sports Cards Grading Companies
How to Sell Your Collection
- Sell the Whole Lot – You can do this on eBay, at a yard sale, local classifieds or to a friend. Beware—you’re going to get much less than you think.
- Piece it Out and Sell Nice Cards One-By-One – This is how you can maximize value, but takes a ton of work.
- Sell a Few Bigger Cards to Fund Your Re-Entry Into the Hobby – Like I mentioned before, I sold several cards that I didn’t care about to focus more on the players I currently follow for flipping purposes.
- Throw Back in the Attic for a Few More Years – My cards of great players that aren’t worth anything went back into a giant plastic tub in the basement. Maybe in 20 years they’ll carry more value.
I put together a MUCH more in-depth post about how to actually go about selling your collection for the most money!
Hope this helps you!