Baseball cards might seem passé, but they are still sometimes valuable. The extremely large amount of available cards means that collections are never complete, meaning that collectors keep buying, and buying, and buying. Baseball cards might not make you rich, but some of them are saleable if you have the patience to sell them.
How to Determine a Baseball Card Collection’s Value
- First, check the “book value” of a card. This is the estimated value, as published by sports experts like Beckett. Fortunately, or, sometimes, unfortunately, the book value is not always the same value that someone might actually pay.
- Choose the baseball cards with a relatively high book value. Then, check how much people are paying for them on eBay. Generally, book values are actually an underestimate; the values of cards at auction usually starts at the book value and are driven up by competing bids.
- Check your baseball card’s condition. Baseball cards have 10 grades, from the almost impossible-to-keep “gem mint” condition down to poor. As you might imagine, the value drops significantly as the grade decreases. Only cards in Excellent or better will go for a decent price at auction.
- For cards that could potentially be worth a lot of money, submit to one of eBay’s authentication services. Collectors will not pay large amounts for unauthenticated cards.
- Check for any sets that might have values. These can include complete starter sets, complete teams, or any historical sets. These are not only more valuable when sold as sets, but also much easier to sell than individual cards.
- Take your collection to a collectibles shop right here in Toronto. See whether they will take it off your hands for a decent price. This can save countless hours watching bids on eBay.
Is it Worth It?
Checking, selling, and authenticating cards can take a huge amount of time, and might not yield very much money. Before deciding to try to sell your cards, ask yourself:
- Have I put real time and effort into ensuring your collection’s value?
- Were my cards stored properly?
- Did I go out of my way to buy rare cards?
- Did I go out of my way to complete sets?
If the answer to one or more of these questions was “no”, it may not be worth your time to go through your collection just for the few cards worth a couple of bucks. Call a junk removal service and have them taken out of your house.