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Selling part of collection: Sell GRADED or RAW?

Any advice appreciated!

I'm planning on liquidating part of my vintage (50s and 60s) baseball card collection on Ebay.

It is mostly mid to high grade HOF/Star cards.

Wondering if generally it's best to pay the $6/card to grade then sell, or just have nice big clear pics and sell raw. I've been surprised as I've researched this recently that cards in similar raw grades go for the same or more than their graded counterparts. Wonder why that is...

Any thoughts? Experiences with this?

Thanks

Comments

  • itzagoneritzagoner Posts: 8,753 ✭✭
    if you get a bunch of those graded, you spend the money but add security to your proposed plan.....if you sell raw, you may prosper but you will also leave yourself open to the common speculative nature of raw card buyers.....have a plan in place to deal with those who might try to hurl accusations at you.....you know what you have, but others may want to drag you down just because they think they can get away with it.....if it's in a PSA slab, the intentions of your buyers, for the most part, are more predictable.

  • doog71doog71 Posts: 405 ✭✭
    That's a good point, I hadn't thought of that.
  • WinPitcherWinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
    Grade them.


    Steve
    Good for you.
  • You could get some of the better cards graded, and see how that goes. Just test it out and it will give you a feel for selling prices. Look at similiar cards on Ebay, and see how prices compare raw vs. graded.
  • jeffcbayjeffcbay Posts: 8,954 ✭✭✭✭
    Graded, but obviously only grade the grade-worthy cards.
  • artistlostartistlost Posts: 2,243 ✭✭✭
    Post some nice big scans of the cards you would grade and this board will be more than helpful in helping you determine if they are worth grading or if you should keep them and sell raw.

    mathew
    baseball & hockey junkie

    drugs of choice
    NHL hall of fame rookies
  • doog71doog71 Posts: 405 ✭✭
    Lots of great advice...what I'm really curious about though, is if people want a nice raw example, why pay more than a similar card that's already been graded? Why not just buy the graded card where you know what you're getting and crack the case if you just want a nice raw card?
  • goose3goose3 Posts: 11,471 ✭✭✭
    whatever you do, you'd be crazy not to offer them here on the b/s/t forum with scans and fair prices (no fees there!)

    I agree though....grade them.

    I convinced my father of this when he sold the bulk of his boyhood collection. He was amazed that a 1961 Topps nobody in PSA10 would bring more than one of that era's superstars.

  • vladguerrerovladguerrero Posts: 4,077 ✭✭✭
    cherry pick the nicest, grade them, sell the rest raw...
  • SidePocketSidePocket Posts: 2,901 ✭✭✭
    Let's see a few.

    "Molon Labe"

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