Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

Hello again, TCDb forums,

My dad recently asked me if I'd be able to look into whether it would be worthwile to sell his small collection of 1980s non-sport cards, with us splitting any money the cards get (which I'll likely just funnel back into my baseball card collection, let's be honest). It's mostly the 1980 Topps Empire Strikes Back set, but he also has some cards from the Topps Star Wars 1977 and Return of the Jedi 1983 sets, as well as cards from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Gremlins sets, among others. None of them are complete sets, and there are many duplicates. The cards are in what I'd consider (in my admitedly inexperienced opinion) to be good to decent condition for being owned by a child and then stored in a shoebox for 35+ years— some slight bending from being stored bound with rubber bands, dinged corners and edges, some fading, and the occasional creasing. I personally sorted through the cards and did some quick price checking and they seem to at least be worth the trouble of selling. The question is, how should I sell them? I've narrowed it down to three options:

1. Sell the whole lot to our local hobby store. There is a hobby store close to where my folks live that I've been to before and like. They've got a massive collection of sports and non-sports cards as well as collectables, comics, and records. This would probably be the easiest method, as the store would handle going through them and preparing them for selling, but I'd want to make sure we'd get a good deal for the cards.
2. Sell the whole lot on eBay. Neither of us have any experience with selling on eBay, and there's obviously no guarantee that the cards would sell. It would probably be easier to sell if I broke them up into the individual sets and sold them that way, but that would mean more work creating listings and the cost of shipping would impact pricing.
3. Sell them in small lots on here or use them for trades. It would take a while for me to add all of them to my for-trade list, but I could see myself selling the cards in PWE amounts or larger if someone wants to buy a whole set, or using them in trades to build my own collection. The big problem with that one is that I only collect baseball cards, and from what I've seen, most people are interested in trading like with like (baseball with baseball, football with football, etc.) and I don't have much personal interest in non-sport cards.

Any advice on this front would be welcome.

Did you ask your local store what they might give for the lot, and then compare to what 'sold' eBay prices were?

Did you investigate what you might get on Craigslist or similar venues?

Maybe you'd want to put out a 'sale' post where you look for the best offer from users on this site.

The '77 Star-Wars, Empire Strikes Back (sort of/kind of) and any original Gremlins card with Phoebe Cates on it are where your gold will be found. Are you sure they are all topps? No o~pee~chee in the mix (Star Wars), and they're Gremlins cards from the first movie not Gremlins 2? O-pee-chee good, Gremlins 2 bad.

For #1 - If you're on good terms with the LCS, ask about a consignment deal. That way they won't take a loss. If the LCS shows no interest in buying from you I mean. You can spin that request in after or if they say no to a sale. The offer will be low if they are interested in purchasing.

For #2 - From watching Pawn Stars all these years I've learned that "auctions are always risky".

For #3 - Might be the way to go. You'll get some fair offers on the good stuff and you can trade the Indiana Jones, Jedi and regular Gremlin cards to finish off your sports card sets.

These are only my opinions, and others may or may not agree. A bit of research on recent prices wouldn't hurt either as the market isn't what is was 3 or 4 years ago. Do what feels comfortable to you, and good luck.

Surprisingly the market for Stars wars is really soft unless it is mint nrmt and or it is O-Pee-Chee instead of topps. The biggest problem with that era (aside from the over production) is every quasi nerd from that era bought and saved those sets. Of all the options you listed I think your bests bets are your LCS and possibly eBay. For Ebay I would suggest you separate them into sets i.e. Star wars , gremlins etc. and depending on the number of cards and the duplicates sell them that way. If you have enough different cards per set I would suggest listing starter sets  to maximize your profit.  If you do try to trade them on here you should find a few collector's interested in making trades

How about #4

Select some auctions of singles and lots and watch them to conclusion.

Then you will have more data to inform your decision

And #5

Keep and hold because they belonged to a special member of the family.

I vote for 5 myself

Mark 

As you mentioned yourself, taking them to a card shop would be the easiest but would most likely result in you getting the least for the lot.  The biggest bang for your buck would be to sell them individually on ebay, at least the original star wars cards, as those typically go for $1 or more each.  Key cards go for a lot more.  At a card show last night and the dealer was charging $1+ each for the original Star Wars series cards.  There were even gremlins and raiders cards in the dollar boxes at the show so I'm sure you can get $1 each for those too.  If you have any of the stickers, those are very hot as most kids (like myself) stuck them on things back in the day.  Down side to that is individual auctions would take a while to list and could remain unsold for a while until the right buyer is found.  Selling as lots on ebay would most likely bring in more than you'd get at a card shop as well.  What you could do is bring the cards to the card shop to get a quote first then list them for more than the shop offers and see what comes of it.

If you do go for your option #3 and look to use them as trade, please hit me up as I'm looking to finish off several of the sets you mentioned and I have a lot of cards from your want list.  I'm not as interested in purchasing but I would be more than happy for trade.  Depending on how many cards from each set that you have I might even consider a trade for the whole lot, doubles and all, sight unseen to save you having to list them.

twinswin,

If you go for option #3 and decide to trade here, keep in mind the supply and demand (green/red) numbers. Looking at the '77 Star Wars, it looks like the variations with the single * are more in demand than the double **. On average, the single * have about 40-50 TCDB members looking for those while only around 10 members having those up for trade. The double ** ones have around 6-10 members looking for those and 0-2 members having them up for trade. This will be a draw for those cards. I think members would be willing to "trade across lines" from sport to non-sport for that. Just something to keep in mind. Good luck in whichever plan you decide.

How about option 6

Finish the sets he started with trades of dupes, put in nice album and give back to him as a passion project?

Mark 

Part of the difference between * and ** is that the ** cards were just added in the last 4-5 months.  So many members are unaware there are two versions and haven’t updated their collections.  I believe all existing collections were put into the * cards, so members would have to actively make a change for the ** cards.

I sell on ebay and sold what Star Wars cards I had that way. Made sure I didn't have any big cards like Luke's rookie, golden rod, etc then took a bunch of pictures and ran as a lot. Make sure starting price is as low as you would take because ebay will tell you "successful auctions start at .99" Lies! Good luck!