Where Can I Sell My Baseball Cards?

It’s a popular question.  “Where can I sell my baseball cards?”  Whether you need cash or are just tired of the space they take up, we hope to answer that for you through this page.

The first question anyone trying to sell baseball and other sports cards has to answer is “what do you have?”  It’s the most important question of all and it may help decide the best way to liquidate your sports card collection—or if it’s even a possibility.  There are a lot of cards that simply aren’t marketable (especially those printed from the late 1980s through the early 1990s) and you might be better off keeping those as a way to resurrect your youth when the mood strikes!

There is, however, a good market for older (generally pre-1980s) baseball cards and related memorabilia.  What your cards may be worth (if anything) depends on several factors including supply/demand and condition. If your cards show a lot of wear, they’ll be a tough sell.

So what are the options for finding a buyer for your cards?  Hopefully this information will help you determine the best place to sell your baseball cards (and other sports cards and memorabilia). Please read through it all so you have a good understanding of what’s sellable and what isn’t.

Selling to a Local Sports Card Shop or at a Card Show

Card shops are still out there, but there aren’t nearly as many as there once were. Local sports card dealers might be interested in buying your collection but only if they know they can turn it around for a profit quickly.  Not every card or set is in demand and some aren’t in demand at all.  Feel free to reach out to them or attend a card show (you may have to travel a bit but you can find card show listings here).  At shows, you can take your collection to multiple dealers to get a feel for what you’ve got and whether there is interest. It’s best to do a little research ahead of time.

Sell Your Vintage Sports Cards for Cash

Selling your vintage baseball, football, basketball or hockey cards through those who specialize in buying is one way to go and there are several options to do that online.

You can reach our partners at BaseballCardBuyer.com Inc., through the form directly below.  Please fill out the form completely and describe what you have and someone will respond.  

IMPORTANT:  Generally, they are interested in purchasing only quality vintage cards (pre-1980s) although high value modern era cards will be considered.  Please describe what you have as thoroughly as you can.

Sell on eBay

If you’re ambitious, you can try listing on eBay’s selling platform.  Be sure to describe your cards in detail and show good quality photos.

If you have vintage cards that truly look like they just came out of the pack (NO corner wear, stains and well-centered), you may consider having  your best cards graded, although auction houses and dealers can assist with this. It’s also wise to grade iconic cards in slightly lesser grades such as Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and other Hall of Famers from the 1960s on back.

Compare Your Cards to Sold Prices

Sports card buyers are a savvy bunch.  They will use online price guide services and completed sales on eBay to see what cards have sold for and you should do the same.  Compare the quality of your vintage cards to others that have sold in the past few months (look for the ‘sold’ search option on the left side of eBay.  That way you’ll know generally where the market is.  Expect dealers to offer a percentage of that as they will need to make a profit.

Please don’t compare your ungraded cards to sales of high grade cards on the platform. Only a very small percentage of cards grade at the 9 or 10 level–and there’s no guarantee your cards will be graded highly after you pay the fees (most of which start at around $20). Yes, even if you’ve stored them in a box for many years.

Auction House Option

If you are looking to sell complete or near complete sets or pre-1960s stars in quantity from the mid-1960s on back, you can also contact an auction company that specializes in sports memorabilia.  Look around the top, bottom and sides of our pages and you’ll see their ads.  All are reputable companies.  The older, the better and high-grade material is of special interest, especially graded vintage. They’re also interested in more recent cards that are high-end (serial numbered rookie cards with autographs, for instance). However, we can’t guarantee they’ll be interested in buying your sports card collection. It doesn’t hurt to ask and their catalogs are great fun to look at either way.

Your 1980s and 90s Sports Cards Aren’t Likely Worth Much

Maybe you still love sports but collect autographs and other sports memorabilia instead of cards and were hoping to use the proceeds of  your old cards on something else. Unfortunately, many baseball and other sports cards from the 1980s and 90s were printed in such high quantity to meet consumer demand that there aren’t very many buyers out there.  If the bulk of your collection dates anywhere from the mid-1980s through the early 90s, you may have to simply sell them at a garage sale and take what you can get…even if it’s only a few dollars.  Here are some other options that might work for those, too.

Higher end rookie cards of Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Derek Jeter, Mike Trout, Michael Jordan and a few other marquee players may have some value—but unless you get them graded by a company like Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) Beckett (BGS) or Sportscard Guaranty (SGC) and are fortunate enough to score a 9 or 10, it may not be worth it. Again, seeking out other cards that have sold is a good way to get some idea of what they go for.

Other Do-It-Yourself Selling Outlets

You can try COMC, a website that offers you the opportunity to simply put your cards inside penny sleeves, fill out a form and send them in.  COMC then does the work of scanning the cards and placing them on their site.  Once they tell you via email that your order has been processed, you go in and set prices.  You can compare the cards listed by others and undercut or match them to give your selling probability a boost.

There is a fee per card of 50 cents (more in some cases), so be sure that you have cards that are worth selling (pre-1970s or popular sets from the  modern era in all sports work best). Check what the lowest prices are for some of the cards you have. If they’re already available for less than the 50-cent per card price, you’re wasting your time.

Sportlots is another option to sell card-by-card if you’re OK with doing some labor.

Facebook sports card buy, sell, trade groups are filled with collectors looking to buy items or sell you theirs.  Just search for them and find one to join and don’t be afraid to ask questions. 

Rather keep them and create complete sets?  You’d be surprised how cheaply you can find some cards you’re missing on eBay as well.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us. We can’t guarantee a response, but we’ll try to answer what isn’t covered above.