So you’ve unearthed those old sports cards you collected as a kid. It’s fun, right?
When I did it, I had a blast remembering the endless hours I spent sifting through those cards, reading the backs of them for fun. I remembered players I hadn’t thought about in a while (Nick Van Exel, anyone?). I remember trading with my friends, and how I used to save up my allowance to buy packs.
But now you’re ready to sell off your collection (or pieces of it, anyway). When I jumped back into the hobby, I sold off a chunk of my old collection—basically the cards that had some value that I didn’t really care to hold onto anymore.
So how do you go about it?
Should You Sell Your Collection Altogether or Piece it Out?
You’ve got a few variables to consider:
- Are you trying to get every penny you can for your cards?
- Do you have the time?
- Are you planning on selling cards on eBay in the future?
That last one is often overlooked…I buy and sell often on eBay, but when I started I had little feedback. Many card buyers are wary and won’t take your account seriously.
So, by selling lots of $1 – $3 cards, I was able to build up my account to a reputable level pretty quick—and then I could sell my bigger cards without taking a hit. For me, I noticed a difference when I approached 100 positive feedback. Around 90-95, I had several cards sell within a few days that I’d had listed for months.
If you’re wanting to just get rid of your entire collection all at once, be prepared to take a massive hit…as much as 70%!
That’s essentially your price for having someone else go through all the cards and sort through them for you.
How to Sell Your 90s Sports Cards in Bulk
Your Local Card Shop
This is probably the easiest way, as they do this for a living. However, I didn’t have any luck going this route. I called my 3 closes LCS. One said flat-out they weren’t buying, one said they only wanted Kobe and Jordan, and the other said (I kid you not) “no 90s cards.”
However, this was also at the height of the card market frenzy, so you might have some more luck now.
In general, they’re usually pretty willing to deal, however you’ll have to take a steep discount.
Friends or Family
I can almost guarantee that you’ve got a friend, brother, sister, or uncle who would love to take your cards off your hands. To a collector, an old collection (especially one that hasn’t been raided of the best cards) is the holy grail.
That way, the person getting a good deal is someone you care about. Plus, if there’s more value in there than you realize, a friend or family member is more likely to cut you in, where an LCS would never.
Sports Card Groups
There are plenty of Facebook groups where you can post your sports card collection for sale, and you’ll have hundreds of DMs pretty quick.
Facebook Marketplace
Full disclosure: this was another avenue that I tried that didn’t go well. Granted, I took out everything worth more than $5 (and any Jordan or Kobe cards). Everyone that reached out to me asked if I had Jordans or Kobes in my collection.
However, if you’re just wanting to unload a massive collection sight unseen, I guarantee you’ll have takers.
I went much deeper into selling your cards in bulk in this article:
=> Where Can I Sell My Sports Cards in Bulk
How to Piece Out and Sell Your 90s Sports Cards Collection
Separate your cards into 4 categories:
- Commons – anything that’s not worth anything now and is unlikely to be worth anything in the future. You might get really lucky and sell these, but it would be for like a couple bucks per thousand. You can learn how to price out your cards in this article: How Do I Find Out How Much my Football Cards Are Worth?
- Cheap Inserts and Base Veterans – At this point, you’re likely going to have to look up every card if you’re interested in getting max value. It’s hard to know what random insert sets from the 90s are still popular today. For example, I found a Soul of the Game Scottie Pippen insert. Felt like a $2 insert…but they were more rare than I thought and it sold for $55. But in this pile go all the stuff that probably isn’t going to sell, but could be worth something in the future. These are ones that go back in your box and you forget about for another 20 years.
Some of the cheap inserts of players who aren’t Kobe or Jordan (I’d hold those), you can try selling those for $1 – $3 like I talked about above. It’s all about your willingness to do something that kind of sucks for not a lot of money. - $3 – $10 Cards – These are cards that actually carry some value. They’re likely to be rookies of good players or rarer inserts. A base Jordan or Griffey isn’t likely to fall into this category, and those are ones you’ll probably want to hold onto anyway.
- Your Actually Valuable Stuff – A couple of things: first, you’re likely going to have less of these cards than you think. The 90s is famous for overprinting stuff, and even rookies of many great players go for a couple bucks. The second is that this is the category that will likely make up the bulk of your sales for the least effort, so you’ll clearly want to focus here. In fact, many people pull these cards out, and then bulk-sell the rest altogether.
Sell Cheap Sports Cards by Singles or in Lots
Now you’re going to sell them! As I said above, I’d do your selling on eBay. It’s the easiest and gives you the most eyeballs. Plus, if you’re going to have 100+ listings, it’s just so much easier to manage all that in eBay.
You’ll want to check out this article: The 13-Step Guide to Selling Sports Cards on eBay to see how to begin selling your collection!
Depending on how much time you have (and how badly you want every penny), you can list these one at a time, or in lots! This is especially valuable if you have a bunch of cards that might not otherwise sell, but could if you sold them together.
You can build lots by team or by player. Derek Fisher cards aren’t really selling, but if you put them together with Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel, you can advertise it as a Lakers lot and get a few bucks for them.
I like to do this with cheap inserts, like if I have 10 Vince Carter low-end inserts I can probably sell those for something worthwhile (Vince is one of the more collectible players from the late 90s).
To Grade or Not to Grade?
You’ve certainly heard that grading cards is a good way to increase value! However, let me mention that the MAJORITY of your cards are not in any condition to get graded…nor would it increase the value enough.
I kept my cards in pretty good condition growing up, and I still only got 11 cards graded out of 6,000…and about half of them I regret grading because it didn’t increase the value enough!
Most of your stuff either isn’t worth grading or is in too bad of shape to get graded.
In order to decide if something is worth getting graded, you’ll want to do some eBay Sold Listing searches for your card. I’d recommend mostly using PSA. You can search for Kobe Topps Rookie PSA 9, for example, and then compare it to the raw prices. Is it worth the cost and time to get graded?
PSA has a handy page on their site to help you figure out what grade your card might get.
I also dive into all this in an article called 7 Times Grading Sports Cards Isn’t Worth It.
One last thing about grading: I always send my cards through a service that will review my cards first. Use a service for SGC grading like Nash Cards and they’ll send you back any cards they don’t think are worth grading. Trust me, it’s much better to pay $3 for a review service than to pay $30 and get cards back that have a lower-than-raw value.
Selling off the Higher Value Singles
Now, it’s time to sell off your higher-value singles! There are few different things to consider here:
- What type of feedback do you have on eBay? If it’s a new account, consider selling your lower-end cards first, or buying lots of $1 cards, until you get closer to 100 positive feedback.
- You can also consign your cards, which means someone else sells your cards for you. Here’s a consigner I’ve used in the past.
- And the age-old question: auction vs Buy It Now (BIN)? – For higher value stuff, I like to leave it at a BIN, priced a little higher than I think the card should get. That way people will send me offers and they feel like they’re getting a bit of a deal. If you don’t get any offers in a week or two, then you have to decide how quickly you want the money. If you just want to be rid of it now, you could put it up for auction and then you get what you get. Otherwise, you could let the BIN ride longer and perhaps lower the price. I’ve had cards on sale with BIN for nearly a year before someone bit.
- If you’d like to branch out from eBay and sell elsewhere, you should read my post called The Complete Guide to Sell Basketball Cards for the Most Money