This is the question, right? You’ve got mounds of basketball cards sitting around, and you’ve recently remembered that you even had them!
Or, you’re actively buying up singles or ripping wax and want to know how to maximize your ROI on these! As basketball prices skyrocket, this is an all-important topic.
For several years in the late 90s and early 2000s, I spent literally every penny I earned on basketball cards. Fast forward a few decades, and I’m now in the position of both selling off old cards as well as actively flipping cards I buy or pull!
Let’s dive in and I’ll talk about what I’ve learned about selling basketball cards for the highest profit!
How to Sell Your Old Basketball Cards
So, you just remembered that you’ve got a tub of cards in your parents’ attic, and you want to sell them! This is the story for tens of thousands of people right now…and you’re hoping you can retire.
First, you’re going to want to value those cards. If you’re just going to sell the whole thing sight unseen, you’re leaving TONS of money on the table. People won’t pay much because they’ll assume you’ve already taken out the good stuff…so you might as well do that.
For valuing your 90s basketball cards, I put together another article that dives deep into quickly identifying your valuable cards. Read: Are 90s Basketball Cards Worth Anything?
Now, it’s time to sell.
A little later, I’ll show you how I go about selling my individual cards that carry some value. For everything else, you’ll want to read my post about selling/shipping your sports cards in bulk or even in smaller lots. Read: Where Can I Sell My Sports Cards in Bulk?
Long story short:
You’ll find that your valuable stuff is easy to sell. If you’ve got a Kobe rookie sitting in that collection, you can move that in a heartbeat (as long as you’re not overvaluing…which is going to be your first reaction).
But that Shaq insert from 1997 that sold on eBay for $1-$2 recently? Or a binder full of inserts where most are worth $0.25? Those are harder to move because you have to wait for just the right buyer to be interested.
How to Maximize ROI for Active Collectors
I heavily invest in both buying singles (almost always graded if for flipping purposes) and ripping sealed packs & boxes in order to sell (I grade where it makes sense and sell the rest raw).
Over the past several months of doing this actively—as well as actively participating in groups and forums—I’ve developed a system for what I do with my basketball cards.
Some of these lessons you may have to learn for yourself (such as accepting lower prices to get the sale at all), but I’m hoping that my experience can help shorten your learning curve.
Common Cards in Common Box
We’ll start with the easiest one:
Every collector needs a giant box or ten (like this one) to store their cards that just aren’t ever going to be worth anything.
Most of my base veteran cards will meet their untimely demise in this box. I’m pretty picky about who doesn’t get put in the box—even many all-stars end up there. For base vets, only the true super-duperstars will hold value sometime in the next 40 years. I will keep younger, non-rookie guys who have a chance of being all-timers (such as Anthony Edwards), but I’m pretty picky.
Even guys like Jaylen Brown and Domantas Sabonis, both all-stars, usually get put in my commons box because I highly, highly doubt those base cards will be hobby relevant in my lifetime.
I keep all recent rookie sleeved in a different storage box, but most of those will eventually go in the commons once it’s obvious they won’t pan out. Cheap inserts also make their way into my commons box.
Sell Cheap Stuff for $.99 Auction
This pic is one of my current eBay listings. It’s a perfect example—it’s a cool looking parallel card of a decent player from a cheap brand. It’s not going to have much value, and probably the only people who care are Sabonis fans or collectors putting together all the green & yellow lasers.
I like this being on an auction because many collectors search for auctions “Ending Soon.” This shows up and I get a bid at the last second. I don’t for a second think this will sell for more than $0.99, but that’s okay.
Why do I sell cards where I’m making hardly any profit yet costs me some effort?
- I’m trying to get my eBay feedback higher
- My budget for cards is limited and selling many of these types of cards funds my hobby
- I like doing it 🤷♂️
Sell $5+ Basketball Cards at Buy It Now With Offers
When you sell cards on a $0.99 starting bid auction, you have to be prepared to give that card up for $0.99. In my experience, most of my cheaper cards will get one bid and sell at that $0.99 level…even if there are comps that are higher.
Really cheap cards don’t often sell for comps that you see because they have such a limited audience. How many people out there are looking for a Gary Payton insert from 1997?
If you find a guy wanting to buy that, perhaps you can get him to pay you $2-$3 because he wants it. At that low of a price, I’d rather open up my buying audience and move it at $0.99.
That brings me to this card—my Jordan listing that I have currently live.
With cards that carry some value, I really don’t want to sell it for $0.99. I’d much rather keep a Jordan card from my childhood instead of that price.
Keeping it on a Buy It Now with OBO set up assures that there’s no way I’m going to sell this for lower than I want it to. Even if comps for this card are $4, I don’t care. I’m only willing to sell it for probably $6 and up.
$10+ Basketball Cards to Sell Now Go to Consignment
When it comes to cards that carry decent value, I can usually maximize my earnings (and my time) by sending these off to a consignment company!
Consignment companies will take pictures, create listings, sell, ship your card, and then pay you out. The beautiful part is that the cut they take is similar to what eBay takes…you’ll pay a bit more, but it’s incredibly worth it.
I recently sent 11 cards off to 5-Star Cards. Those had been cards that I’d had listed with a high Buy It Now With Offers, but didn’t sell. I figured to make sure these all sell, I sent them off to a consignor with a massive following and great reputation.
I’m a huge fan of the whole process, where I don’t have to deal with anything except listing my cards on a form and mailing off the box to them. It frees up my time to do other things 🙂
$10+ Cards I’m Willing to Wait On Get But It Now With Offers
When I buy a more expensive card to flip, I will go list it on eBay at the price I want to sell it for.
There are a few reasons I do this:
- When I buy a card with the express reason to flip, I don’t want to sell it except at a guaranteed profit. There are exceptions, such as when I speculate on a player who obviously won’t pan out. For example, someone like Davion Mitchell (former top 10 pick)—if I had one of his rookie cards, I’d probably just list it on auction as soon as he went on a hot streak.
- eBay will continue to relist cards for you. You don’t have to worry about following the news or trends—if there’s a spike, you’re already there ready to capitalize without even knowing it.
I actually use my eBay listings to manage my inventory of cards I’d like to flip. My prices are there, descriptions, images…works out super well.
Which Basketball Cards Should You Hold?
What cards do I hold onto to maximize my ROI?
- Young players with great upside – I actually penny sleeve EVERY rookie I get. There wasn’t much hobby love around a certain 2nd round Serbian who’s now an MVP playing for the Nuggets…. Funny story—when going through my cards for the first time in 20 years, I found a Steve Nash rookie among my common cards and wondered why. Then I remembered that by the time I stopped collecting, he still hadn’t done anything in the league. That card is trashed, and now I penny sleeve rookies 🙂
- Cards I get in the off-season – I try to buy investment cards during the dips and it’s usually foolish to resell during the off-season unless there’s a compelling reason to. Perhaps that person gets traded or some big hype comes out about a possible break-out season…but usually you’re holding for the season to start
- Retired players in a dip – I have a sweet Tim Duncan card (Topps Finest PSA 9 Rookie) that I’m fine holding onto until his market comes back around. The card is down 70%, so I’ll probably never recoup that money in the next decade…but that’s a card that I’m not selling early.
Specific eBay Selling Tips for Basketball Card Collectors
I’ve spent months selling and testing and asking others how to sell cards on eBay. It’s a lot more complicated than I thought when I started, so I want to dive in and share ALL the details.
But first…why eBay?
You’ll definitely find differing opinions on this, but I believe eBay should be the go-to platform for selling your cards!
Here’s why:
- Finding recently sold comparable cards is easy
- The most eyeballs on your cards…and it’s not close.
- It’s easy to list – you can find another comparable sale and basically duplicate their listing
There are some cons of course—they’re a little too skewed towards the buyer, they take a decent percentage of your sale—but in my mind those are a small price to pay.
I did a bit of a deep dive about the most popular places to sell cards, if you’d like to see options besides eBay. Here’s that article.
So without further ado…here are the nitty-gritty details about selling/listing on eBay that seem to work the best and get me the best return on my basketball cards!
Write Titles With User Searches in Mind
Remember, in order to get your listing seen, it must show up when potential buyers use the search bar. Here’s how I write my titles:
- Include the year, the product, the player name, and the name of the card (insert, parallel, etc.) – these are the basics. I’m guessing you already know to do this part
- Include the team name – A lot of Laker fans are typing in “Laker cards” or similar things. This is especially important if you’re selling a no-name rookie from a team. Very few will buy that rookie except people who are explicitly fans of the team he’s on.
- Include the number of the card – On the back of every card, there is a number, usually in one of the top corners. I use this A LOT when typing. It helps bring up the exact card I’m looking for, as opposed to searching for Kobe Topps 1999, where there can be parallels, inserts, etc.
- Put “rookie” and “rc” for rookies – I use both of these when trying to find cards.
- Include “auto” and “autograph” for signed cards – your listing is limited to 80 characters, but if you can fit both of these, all the better.
- For serial-numbered cards, you don’t need the exact number, just how many they made – for example, you don’t need to put your card is 129/199. No one is searching that exact number, so just put /199 in your title. Saves you characters for descriptors.
Start Auctions in the Evenings
Collectors will often search on eBay for auctions that are about to end. If yours is set to end on a Tuesday at 9 am, you won’t get many eyeballs.
Ideally, have your auctions end on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays after dinner time. Your buyers have more free time, and that’s also when games are on and they’re thinking more about sports.
Sell Under $10 Cards Using PWE
That stands for “Plain White Envelope.” Some sellers will tell you this is the worst idea…while others love it.
Me? I love it!
It’s almost impossible to sell a $1 card if the shipping is $4+! But with the shipping option “eBay Standard Envelope,” you can now sell a single card for as cheap as $0.64!
Some don’t like it because it’s a little flimsier to send a card in an envelope, and the tracking is hit or miss…however after 50+ of these sales, I have yet to have someone complain about not receiving a card. These are cards that would probably have otherwise gone into my commons box.
You can read my entire guide on how I package cards for shipping through eBay: How Do I Ship Trading Cards Safely? My 3 Foolproof Methods.
Set Flat Shipping and Lower Package Weight for Under $10 Cards
Continuing on with the last point, here’s another way I’ve found to increase my ROI on cheap basketball cards.
First, you set your shipping at a flat $1.50. It’s cheap enough that people will still be fine buying your basketball cards.
Then you select “eBay Standard Envelope.”
And then (and here’s a cool trick), you lower the weight of the package to 2 ounces! The standard input will be at 3 ounces, which is the max that your package can weigh when sending eBay Standard Envelope.
At 3 ounces, the shipping will cost you $1.12.
Lower it to 2 ounces, and the shipping lowers to $0.88!
I know, I know…you just saved 2 dimes. But over 50 cards, now I’ve made an extra $10. When selling bunches of lower dollar cards, your ROI improves dramatically with this.
You can also try lower to 1 ounce—most cards I send in a PWE are less than 1 ounce—but if the post office deems that your card is too heavy, you run into problems. I lowered the weight out of habit on a really thick card, and the post office made the buyer pay $3.50 to receive the card, which I had to refund to the buyer.
Obviously that stinks on a card that sold for $1.39.
Promote All Buy It Now Listings at 1%
Basically, this means that you pay a premium to get your card showing up in front of more people!
They’ll suggest a percentage of your listing, such as this example on my Ken Griffey Jr. Bowman rookie, they suggest 3.6%:
And of course, you’re welcome to do that full amount…but I always just lower it to around 1%. Still gets more eyeballs, but in this example, will cost me less than $1 when it sells. On my lower end stuff, sometimes I’m paying 10 cents.
Be Patient—Cheap Cards Still Take Awhile to Sell
And my last eBay selling tip…be patient!
For your expensive cards, maximizing your profit is ALL based on timing. Don’t sell that sweet Wemby rookie in September when everyone’s jazzed about football.
List it at the price you want to get, and then just let eBay keep relisting it!
Now, for cheaper cards where I’m setting $0.99 auctions and hoping I get a single bid…these take time. Probably 80% of these cards for me don’t sell in the first few weeks. By definition, these aren’t cards in high demand or they’d be priced higher!
So that means waiting until the right person stumbles across your listing.
For me, the alternative is throwing them in my commons box…so who cares if they’re just getting relisted repeatedly be eBay? I’ve had cards sell after 4 months.
One note, after eBay relists your card 8 times, you’ll have to manually go in and relist it…but that only takes a minute.
Anyway, that’s all I got for today…I hope you found this post helpful for selling your basketball cards!
