General Forum

The thought of cards collecting dust or waisting away in a neighbors, town and counties homes is driving me insane lately.  

I have thought about this and have went as far as posting ads on the local Facebook pages trying to buy cards. The problem I run into is everybody thinks they have a goldmine I've not been able to buy very many collections because people want way to much for them. 

The ones that don’t know what they have are the ones that bother me. 

Welcome to my neighborhood. PM me, I have cards to go! Lots 100-400 cards.

After selling some large collections of cards lately, buyers want cards dirt cheap (regardless of what you know you have)..

Some of this gets back to how we value cards because what we think our cards are worth, rarely end up being that in reality..

I think it also depends on where you live, some markets are hotter than others..

About a year ago when I was buying cards, I reached out to buyers that had some great looking lots (and I was willing to pay their asking price) and would never get a response..

3 years ago  (before I retired) I started to look and wanting to buy collections so I had something to do during retirement.   Things I find out:

1.  There is a lot of cards setting around.  most is the late 80s and early 90s when every one was buying.

2. 90% of the poeple do not know what they are worth.  Most think they have gone up in value as they are 20 years old.

3.  There are a few that will not sell until they die.  even the junk cards

4.  Some are just looking to see who is buying in the area.  They had no plans on selling as they were buying also.

Now I'm trying to sell my nephew's collection close to 200,000 cards all sports.  I have find out.

1.  They want to give you pennys on the dollar at the most.

2.  Only want the saleable stuff

3.  Not willing to really look at what you have,  Just looks at the volume.and think they are all junk.

I search the yard sales sites for cards every weekend

I get a few nice 20.00 buys about twice a year, I do not spend alot

either flood zone era cards in nice binders, or 00-present in boxes or binders is what I look for

I find that yard sales have lower costs than estate sales...estate sale companies seem to price things too high for my taste (at least in my area)

mark

Every so often I look at what is for sale on Kijiji or Marketplace. If I am traveling, before I go I check those areas for possible sales.  Yes, there are many that are asking too much but one out of ten ends up being worth buying.

Best experience was a buy I did in Ottawa.  I found it on Kijiji and contacted the person ahead of time. She was selling off her dad's collection starting with many binders which ended up mostly hockey. She said many had inquired but wanted to know specifics about what there was; she knew nothing about the cards and found most quite rude when she could not tell them much of what they asked. I went to her house and saw the pile of binders.  I was honest with her and told her I was really buying the binders and the plastic sheets. She accepted my offer (I ended up selling all of the hockey and made my money back.) But then she told me her dad also had a lot of older baseball, would I beinterested in seeing them and maybe buying them.  I said sure and we arranged that the next time I would be in town, I could stop in and see them. So eventually I ended up in her kitchen and spent 2 hours going through the three large boxes of cards.  The years ranged from 1970 to the late 80s.  But there were plenty of 70s to make it worth while. Best was she was quite a pleasant woman to talk with and beautiful to look at.  She learned more than she ever thought she might about cards and yes, I left with the cards for a fair price.

Lesson in this - every possibly reasonable lot is worth investigating.  Courtesy, honesty and respect go a long way. Yes some end up being dead ends and a waste of time but I have found enough good deals to keep on searching.

My experience with cards locally mainly mirrors budler's (both buying and selling). A binder of 80s-90s cards for triple digits. Listings of "Make offer, but no lowballs." The most egregious sellers are the ones who think their cards are made of gold just because of who's printed on them, selling single ungraded '86 Topps Rickey Henderson for $40 or '87 Donruss Bo Jackson and Greg Maddux for $50 each.

If they can actually find buyers, more power to them. And there is the occasional seller who is more reasonable with their prices, I must admit. But I've found that the best priced lots will actually come from my LCS.