Baseball Card Collection : How to Sell Thousands?

Question

Hello,

I work for a charitable organization in San Jose, California.

Someone donated literally (literally) 10's of thousands if baseball cards to us.

All were well taken care of, with most in plastic sleeves, some in a hard plastic case, several unopened "packs", and some loose, but in storage boxes.

I am not a card expert, and to research and catalog every single card would take months, if that was ALL that I did.

Does anyone know if there is a way to sell these in bulk, or if there are appraisers who would visit in person to appraise and perhaps buy the entire lot?

I don't want to get ripped off, but then again, as I inferred, getting a copy of "Becketts" then sitting down and calculating each card's worth isn't an option either.

Please, no generic answers such as "list them on e-bay/craigslist".

Thanks for any help :)

Answer 1

Chances are the donated cards are "commons" from the '80's and 90's. If so, they are pretty worthless due to the mass production. I would re-donate them to a kids charity. IF they are from the '70's, 60's, 50's and so on, you may have a gold mine. If the card year is not printed on the front, check the back. There should be stats, and the year of the card is the year AFTER the last stat year shown. It wouldn't hurt taking them to a card shop and seeing what the dealers says. 90% of the time "commons" or unsellable cards are brought into card shops. However, if the dealer finds cards the he is interested in, take them home and search ebay for the cards he/she was interested in. Search by Player name, year and brand. This will give you an idea of value based on previous sales or cards on auction at present. Card price guides are a guide. Nothing more. A card is worth ONLY what someone is willing to buy it for. Hope that helps and good luck. Hope you got a '52 Mantle!

Answer 2

You can try lot it in this manner

- Player (Devote one lot to a single player)

- team (One team per lot)

- Age (if you know when was it made, then maybe one lot ofr 1990, one for 1991 etc)

- brand (Upper Deck, Topps etc)

From there you can then sell on eBay or any other trading cards forum.

I highly recommend these sources

Answer 3

So many variables here. If they are newer cards, chances are you are best to just "lot" them. To be honest, unless you really have a rarity, cards are not worth a heck of a lot.

They are tedious and time consuming to research each one, and there is no super quick way to do it. Your best bet might be a local antique or sports store...perhaps they would be willing to look at a sampling and give you an idea of worth.