Price Increase
magician45
Posts: 63 ✭
Need some advice. I'm looking to sell some of my cards on Ebay, but am hesitant to get them graded given the price increases (it can add up). Especially given there is no economy level available. I do notice though on Ebay the graded cards fetch a lot more money and get more action. Curious if anybody has experience with the cost vs. sale factor? Also, I'm confused about the value submissions of at least 10 cards. Is it 499 maximum value on all of them, or each one? Thanks all.
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Comments
The maximum values stated are per card. Cost vs sale depends on the cards.
Thanks Kyser. That makes sense. Yes, I imagine the more expensive cards sold by auction would fetch the most $. My mid range value cards though are a more difficult thing to gauge.
Let me preface with, I prefer selling graded cards. It eliminates a lot of condition arguments like "You said it was VGEX when I think it's only VG", and associated return hassles, so if it adds at least a break even value, I would submit. As an example, say something sells for $50 raw, $75 in PSA 8 and $150 in PSA 9 and I'm sure I've got at least an 8, I would submit. Worst case, I break even and if I hit the 9, make a decent return.
This used to be a lot easier when turnaround time was quicker. Now you've got to factor in a year wait at the Value service level, so it's more a decision of turning over inventory quickly vs maximizing profit per card. Lately, I've been doing a mix of raw and graded to keep some hobby money moving while waiting for sub returns.
Thanks Larkin. Sounds like you have the business strategy down. A year wait time is crazy. Is Beckett just as bad? I collected for years but then gave it up around 1993 or so. Now I'm starting to get back into collecting, but also dealing now as well. I guess once you build a decent inventory of graded cards things go smoothly. I have 2 rookie Gretzkys and 1 rookie Fleer Jordan. Probably those should be the first in line to be graded.
That's a yes for sure
I have to much S**t; so if you working on sets or are a player/team collector, send me your want list, with conditions desired. Keep in mind I have a another job so please allow me a few days to respond.
Definitely put the Gretzkys and Jordan to the front. of the line. Hopefully they are all in great condition. Good luck.
Well if you are going to send in Gretzky and Jordan rookies, those will be back in a matter of weeks since you can't and shouldn't submit those at $20 and probably not $100 a pop (I guess depends if the Gretzky's are topps or OPC and in crap condition. Jordan is min $3000 value in the worst shape!).... So at $150 a sub or more, you are looking at "only" 8 weeks or less to get them back.
Thanks Rufuss and others. All three of those cards are in very good/mint condition. Maybe not a 10 as I don't think they award 10's unless it is ultimate perfection, but certainly all are 7's and above, maybe even 9's. Yes, I will definitely have to submit them at 150 bucks or above. I guess if they hit 9's they will upcharge me, which is fine given the fact I could sell them for a sweet price.......or maybe I should keep them? Well at least I will sell one of the Gretzkys as I have two of those. Wish I had two Jordans. If they are 9's though do you think I should have an auction company handle it. I know they take a cut but dealing with a lot of $ on ebay one must be careful. Many scams out there. I've seen companies like PWCC Vault and Probstein that seem to deal with these sales.
Guessing that you don't have a huge ebay following, I would def sell them on PWCC as they get prices that are higher than when a normie sells the same thing usually, and the listing quality (images, layout) is top notch. Or go the auction route, though I don't know what the seller fee is in that avenue.
No, I have not been on Ebay long. I did register for PWCC and they seem good. Interesting that their percentage goes down as the selling price goes higher. I wonder if it's only useful to use PWCC for graded cards, or have you used them for raw cards too? I really don't mind paying a commission if I can sell cards faster and they seem to reach a lot of viewers.
PWCC? Sorry newbie here, I only use ebay.
I don’t believe PWCC will accept raw cards anymore.
PWCC is a consignment service. Set up an account, send them your graded cards and they do the rest. You get paid via direct deposit the following month, around the 15th. Personally, I’ll never sell on eBay ever again. PWCC’s commission is usually around the 15% range and their items usually sell for a premium. It actually saves me money than doing it myself.
There are other consignment services out there like Probstein, Greg Morris, etc. but I’ve only dealt with PWCC and have never had an issue.
Sounds good Braves. Was there a reason you don't sell on Ebay? The only issue I have had with Ebay is there are scammers out there. If I am wise though I avoid that. Also the raw cards tend to get little action with bids, though I guess that is expected. On the + side though as a buyer sometimes you can get great deals on the raw cards as people sell them cheaper.
If you show some pics of your Gretzky's and Jordan, the guys here will give you their opinions. Many of the guys here have submitted hundreds and thousands of cards to PSA, so they are pretty good at guessing the grades ahead of time.
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Good idea. Here are the picts of the 3 cards below. The Jordan I got right out of a pack in 1986 and was smart enough to preserve it well right away. Even though I preserved it well, It is probably not a perfect 10 as I know a lot depends on how well it was printed by Fleer. One of the Gretzkys is well off center, but overall they are in great shape too as I care for my good cards well. Maybe not perfect 10's, but pretty darn good cards. Be interested in what grades they might get as I can figure out the declared value from this. Thanks all!
If I was to sell one of these which way would you go? Just sell them on your own? Probstein? Or PWCC? I've heard some horror stories about Probstein with losing cards and bad communication.
get them graded first
For sure Azvike. Not sure what they may come in as or what I should do for declared value.
Was the jordan in a screwdown case or in a page that got warm, looks like paint loss on the bottom left where it stuck to whatever it was kept in.
The way I'm seeing the cards are 6 or 7 on the Jordan (got the chippage on the right edge as well), 5-7 on the better gretzky and 3-5 on the other gretzky.
Go $150 subs on the gretzky's and $300 for the Jordan (which might get upcharged to $600).
I agree with Rufuss on the Gretzky's, but I'm not sure if the Jordan has a shot at 7 or not.
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I recommend that you look at some PSA 9 cards very closely and zoom in on the corners and notice how they are nearly perfect. Unfortunately, your corners don't show that perfection. Still great cards though, but I don't want you to have expectations that they may grade 8 or 9.
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The gretzky's I'm not sure will get graded by PSA. They don't have the regular opeechee rough cuts. They look like sheet cards which PSA won't grade.
A regular Einstein here
!! They are Topps, not OPC, no ruffage neccessary!
Thanks all. Yes, unfortunately the Jordan I had in a screw case for awhile years back. I thought that was the best option as they were the most expensive cases (stupid me). Now I opt for card savers. Rufuss is right. The Gretzky's are Topps, not O pee chee. I don't have any illusions that they are 9's or 10's by any means, but the fact that I kept them in fairly good shape over the course of 40 years or so makes me happy. I'm not even sure if I am selling them. I was going to sell my Jordan back in the 1990's when I saw the price go up, but I'm happy I did not. I'm not desperate for money now and some of these cards appreciate more than Tesla stock.
If the Jordan was that tight in a screw down, there’s a good chance it’ll be slabbed altered.
It was not that tight in the screw case as I kept it loose a bit. Sorry to plead ignorance, but what does altered mean? I do not see that on the PSA website as a category. I've seen some graded Jordans graded at 3 or 4 in worse condition than mine. So I'm hoping for a 4 or above. We will see though. Worse case scenario is it's graded low, but I keep it just to feel good to have this great card. in 1986 I only bought 1 pack of the Fleer and was lucky enough to get the Jordan. I remember I was gonna buy the whole box at at 10 bucks in the store and I only had 8 bucks on me at the time. Damn that 2 dollars. LMAO.
So altered can mean a lot of things - trimmed, recolored, rebuilt corners, but in your case, one of the things that can happen is a screw down is tightened so much that it presses down the card. Usually this is most apparent at the corners. I suspect your card may show some of that since the corners appear to have more missing color than other areas.
I’d still get it graded if it was me, just submit at the lowest rate you can get away with and let them up charge you if it grades higher.
Thanks Batpig. Good advice.
You need to put in the notes to slab the jordan as altered authentic if necessary, otherwise you will get back the card in a cardsaver... Or you could try sending it to BGS if it get's rejected. So it isn't for sure that you crunched the card in the screw-down (I'm gonna assume you didn't have it in a penny sleeve too), as environmental issues can lead to the card getting stuck to the lucite and the ink splotching off when you pull it apart.
No, I did not have it in a penny sleeve within the screw down. I have it now in a card saver as I've read that those are much better (the problem is you read 10 different things online and you get 10 different opinions about card preserving). You seem to know your stuff well though Rufuss so I value your opinion. Honestly I don't think the screw down did that much harm besides the slight imperfection on the bottom left and really slight imperfection on the right. They may have even been there when I opened the pack, though I can't remember for sure. Good idea about submitting it to BGS in case PSA sends it back. I guess a decent grade from either would make it an in demand card, though I've read PSA is the gold standard.