How would you liquidate a collection....
 

I am a long time collector who has been dormant for a LONG time (as in pre grading) and now trying to educate myself on the new realities of the card and memorabilia market. At some point (hopefully a long time from now) I will be charged with how to best market some portions of our family collection. While the collection is vast and varied I'm most interested in how one would liquidate high grade, RAW Topps and Bowman sets from the 50s and 60s. The sets have been meticulously upgraded by my father through the years and now are universally Ex-Mint with lots of really, really nice cards. I'm sure a trained eye could go through and cherry pick many cards for grading.
The question is how would one start the process? I couldn't imagine sending in entire sets to be graded but on the other hand I see lots of commons in auctions which sometimes bring big $$. I also know getting 8-9-10 grades are liking needles in a haystack. Do the large consignment houses work with grading companies or do you have to do that on your own? I was toying with submitting some cards for grading but I'm hesitant to do anything without thoroughly researching every angle.
I am not interested in, nor am i empowered to at this point to sell any of the collection. It is my fathers primarily and will be until he's not around anymore. Just trying to arm myself with information from the experts out there. How would you approach it? Any and all input would be welcome.

First, you are very wise to start researching the issue. What you ask cannot be answered easily.

IMHO, There are several ways you could handle the process.

Since the last thing you mentioned was that you have thought about submitting a few cards for grading, I will start with that.

I believe a carefully selected group of cards could result in a decent idea of the overall grade of your collection. Keep in mind even the foremost graders are flawed and can vary from day to day and card to card. I now that doesn't sound very promising...which is why I recommend sending a very carefully selected small group of cards.

The two sources I rely on most when trying to determine the value of raw vintage cards and vintage sets are:

1.) The Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards by Krauss Publications.

2.) EBay's sold items search - which only goes back 30 days...which sucks...so I check back several times over an extended period of time to help gauge the market. This can also have it's inaccuracies as some folk like myself occasionally buy emotionally and thereby spend more than the card may actually be worth...although one school of thought is that the market will always reveal the true worth of an item regardless of aforementioned exceptions. The Ebay sold items search also does not provide actual selling price if a Best Offer has been accepted.

So far, I'm guessing it appears to be a very difficult task to evaluate cards. Well, it is.

Another factor, and I know you mentioned this liquidation will not be any time soon - which is good. Frequently, time is a source of pressure when going through this process.

You will most likely do much better the more time you take. However, there sometimes comes a time when you just want to get it over with. At that time, you should set your bottom-dollar price and stick to it.

Auction houses provide far more exposure than you could create yourself. Their audience is also focused on the Hobby. They charge fees, however, which can cut deeply into your net.

I was very luck when I sold most of my sets a few years ago, using one of our Net54 members who is a big seller on Ebay...this allowed for more exposure and he charged lower fees than an auction house would.


There are a lot of forum members who have far more expertise than me and they may disagree with some of what I have stated, so be sure to read all of their posts thoroughly.

I hope I was of some assistance. Welcome and good luck,

Raymond

Good insight
 

Maybe 12 years ago we submitted a small group of T cards, some 49 bowman, and a couple other 50s cards. Was thinking of submitting another small batch and see what comes of it. It seems some commons in high grades go for astronomical prices but it is specific to particular sets or cards hard to find in top condition. I'm really enjoying immersing myself in the hobby again.

The collection, while large, is very well organized and catalogued and whatever we do with it will be well thought out.

Was persuing PWCC auctions on EBay. Man do they list an amazing amount of items

If i paid for a bunch of nice cards a year or so go and had big money into it...i think the decisions would be much tougher as to how to go about selling it because there can be a huge loss. Some AH's may do better than others for the type of card in question for example.

However if i am just given a large stack of cards for free, its really easy. I would send them to a nice auctiion house and work out a deal to get better than the 'normal' deal they give (perhaps getting some of the buyer premium back) and let them send in to psa whichever cards they deem is warranted..

Afterall, the more the card goes for the more the Auction House makes...no reason to overthink it.

I assume auction houses submit large quantities of cards be graded therefore negotiate better pricing than small, one off submissions by myself? They could also advise if it is worth getting individual cards graded vs selling the entire set raw (or some combination). Am I understanding correctly?

Graded cards historically fetch better prices, like it or not..Grade the star cards..

yes there are many auction listings where the auction house says 'we submitted such and such cards on behalf of the consignor) Also some sell card by card and/or whole set..whichever gos for more.

However paying a Auction house that 10-20% does come at a cost. Many net54s can attest that they could of gotten more direct in certain deals then they could with an auction house...there is no perfect method

To net 50k for example you need to get 60-65k paid by bidders to get your 50k...but in a direct deal you would just need someone to pay 50-51k because of the saving of the premium. Taxes are also charged in some Auction Houses which impact how much is bid on them

Great post Jake. The only thing I can add is if you go the auction house route make sure you know of any additional fees they will charge you for submitting any card(s). I have read a few horror stories on here when the AH did not disclose there was going to be several additional fees and nickel and dimed the seller for a lot of extra $.

I would pull the star cards and grade those. Once they come back and you compare them graded to the rest of the cards you should have a better idea of how high grade the entire collection is.

Really high grade sets can be worth a lot but who knows if you're in the position to lay out grading fees on everything. Start with the stars. If they are nice enough, contact the auction houses. This is a major undertaking but it sounds like the collection is worth it.

Do you have a large extended family? If so, then I definitely suggest using PWCC. The more cousins, aunts and uncles you have available to ridiculously shill the auctions, the better.

What can you expect to pay?
 

Not to steal the thread here; but, I'm in a similar boat as I have a nice collection of early 50's Topps and Bowman baseball and football cards that I bought from my dad years ago. I'm no expert but just loved collecting cards when I was a kid and still do. Some of the 53's and 54's are absolutely pristine. I'd like to get them graded perhaps but not sure how it all works and how much it will cost and even if it's really worth it. What is a good assumption? Some may be technically 4 or 5's but many look like 8's or even 9's. Will they charge different prices to grade a EX card vs one that turns out to be MINT? Thanks in advance for any input.

The fees are based on the pre-graded, estimated value of your card. Take a look at PSA's site and they walk you through the costs. If you're going to grade a number of cards, you can join their club (you get free grading vouchers in exchange) and then submit under one of their monthly deals of something like $6.00 or $7.00 a card if you submit a certain number and they are under a certain value. One thing to be aware of is the return shipping fees. If you submit a large group of cards it's not terrible. But, at least to me, its cost prohibitive to submit just a couple of cards at a time.

Grading at national convention
 

I am attending the national convention in Chicago. Does it make sense to bring items and have graded on sight? Do they even offer such a service?

On site grading at the national is super expensive (at least it was for me) but at least you get to wait in line for 60-90 minutes while everyone else is scanning the floor and enjoying the show

if you go the last day though its pretty fast.

They do offer the service, but last year it was like $35/card and you might get it back two days after you submit, depending on demand. SGC was less busy last year and might get your cards done same day, but they won't accrue the same after-market value as PSA graded cards.

We covered a lot of help in this thread:
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...hlight=caprice