Success selling off my collection!

[jupiter451]

At the end of this post is my origin story, from my new member intro message in April 2025. Short version is that I had my childhood complete sets from 1966-1969 in great condition and was looking to sell them. After many fits and starts, including BST on this forum, peddling wares at card shows and shops, multiple visits to PSA HQ to drop off submissions, and much internet sleuthing, I settled on a solution: consignment with Greg Morris Cards. I am very happy with the results.

All advice said, grade the star cards, so I did that with PSA. After some initial shock/disappointment with the low grades, I came to accept the reality of how strict they are these days. I was pleased with the Ryan rookie PSA 6 and the Seaver rookie PSA 6.5. I left almost all of the graded cards in PSA vault, and accepted a number of their no-fee offers, e.g., $2049 for the Ryan rookie. I have used their eBay service for a few others, but I often get good prices on their internal offers. I held off on grading lesser stars, after seeing that GMC was going to save me grading fees and still get good prices (see below).

Early on, I looked at selling each set as a complete entity, but most online advice was to break them up to get the most $$. And after watching GMC's auctions for a few months, I chose them to consign everything but the graded cards. It worked out great. Conveniently, they are located here in LA, so I just dropped the sets off without having to deal with packaging and shipping. They were very efficient and responsive to deal with. I would give them 5 stars. Their grades were generous compared with PSA. But they have a good reputation as being accurate, and the prices they get are surprisingly high (you probably know this from shopping as a buyer with them). All in all, their 25% commission was totally worth it, considering that they handle all the eBay stuff, including payment, packaging, shipping, etc.

The whole process has been very satisfying, not just because of the successful sales. I have really enjoyed getting back into the hobby. The discussions on this forum were incredibly helpful and entertaining. I have definitely re-caught the bug, and get excited whenever I hear from others about collections from that era. Thanks for keeping this forum lively. I am here for good!

Originally Posted by jupiter451

Hello to everyone on the Net54 forum! This seems to be the place to introduce myself. I started collecting baseball cards at age 5, with the Post cereal box cutouts. My family settled in the Bay Area, and by 1965 I was a pretty serious collector for a 7 year old. I remember my first ever classroom oral report was about my collection. From 1966-1969 I diligently assembled complete sets. Fast forward to 1980 when I was short on cash. I read in the paper that the 1967 Brooks Robinson was going for $100 each, and I thought, "I have 3 of those." So I drove from our then home in D.C. to the Philly card show and sold most of my duplicates, but kept the complete sets. Fast forward again to 2025 when the L.A. wildfires ripped across my neighborhood (missing my house). How to protect these precious objects? Bottom line is I'm selling most of it. Waiting on grades of star cards and then will be looking for buyers of those nice late 60s sets. But I caught the bug and am now trying to build, rather than unload, a 1965 set. And selling the peripheral stuff like the 1970 partial set. All that said, it's great to be back in the hobby after over 50 years and I look forward to getting to know you guys.

[Balticfox]

How are you doing on the Post Cereal cards?

[raulus]

Glad to hear you got a solid result, and the process went smoothly.

Hopefully you can now thank your mom for not throwing out your childhood collection, and let her know the final value that your childhood investment finally delivered after all those years of taking care of it.

[jupiter451]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

How are you doing on the Post Cereal cards?

Didn't include them in the consignment. At age 5, my scissor skills were not great, so the condition of those cereal box cards is also not great. I still have them, if you are interested.

[Balticfox]

Since the Post Cereal cards were actually your introduction to Baseball cards, I would have thought they'd be a very high nostalgia item for you. I would therefore have guessed that it would be Post Cereal cards you'd now be most interested in acquiring yourself.

[jupiter451]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

Since the Post Cereal cards were actually your introduction to Baseball cards, I would have thought they'd be a very high nostalgia item for you. I would therefore have guessed that it would be Post cereal cards you'd now be most interested in acquiring yourself.

That's one way to look at it, but honestly the images most burned into my brain from those days are the 1965 Topps, with the nice colors, rounded frame and the team banner flapping in the breeze. That's peak nostalgia for me.

[mikemb]

Originally Posted by jupiter451

That's one way to look at it, but honestly the images most burned into my brain from those days are the 1965 Topps, with the nice colors, rounded frame and the team banner flapping in the breeze. That's peak nostalgia for me.

Same here.

Mike

[Balticfox]

I agree! The 1965 Topps set is very pretty indeed.

I have more nostalgia for the 1959 and 1960 Topps cards though because they constituted my introduction to Baseball cards in the schoolyard. Plus the 1962 Canadian Post Cereal, 1962 and 1963 Topps which I collected avidly as a kid.

[Zach Wheat]

Thanks for the update. I wonder how much traction PSA gets from submitting offers on the PSA vaulted items.

Jupiter, what was the discount offered off of the stated PSA value?

[jupiter451]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

Thanks for the update. I wonder how much traction PSA gets from submitting offers on the PSA vaulted items.

Jupiter, what was the discount offered off of the stated PSA value?

The PSA offers on vaulted items are usually 10-15% below their "PSA Est." They also quote a Card Ladder price that is similar. Sometimes the offers are better, and since they don't take any additional fee, I will jump at such an offer.

[gonefishin]

Hi Jupiter and congratulations on selling your cards.

I guess you are now like a wanna be cowboy - all hat and no cattle.

What is your intent with the hobby - staying, collecting, investing? That interests me as you have sold your collection but desire to stay in the hobby.

No offense, and I can see where someone would just be involved because they enjoy card collecting.

[jupiter451]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

Hi Jupiter and congratulations on selling your cards.

I guess you are now like a wanna be cowboy - all hat and no cattle.

What is your intent with the hobby - staying, collecting, investing? That interests me as you have sold your collection but desire to stay in the hobby.

No offense, and I can see where someone would just be involved because they enjoy card collecting.

No, not quite hanging it up yet. If you look at my original post quoted at the top of the thread, I am keeping my first complete set, 1966, and now building one I didn't have complete, 1965. So I still have some nice pieces of the collection to enjoy, and more to chase.