Advice for selling high volume, high quality 50’s commons and minor stars?

[Huck]

Nice cards.

Possible options:

1) Auction house (fees)
2) Ebay (fees and time)
3) Dealer (discount)
4) BST (everyone loves a deal but could get closer to the "number"
5) Private individual (have to find the person)
6) Set up at a local show (time consuming)

Not a tested model but it works for me. Years ago, I had purchased a collection of cards which included a few hundred 1950's Bowman football cards, of which I had zero interest in keeping. I created a spreadsheet and listed every card and given the condition assigned a price to each card. After each card was assigned a price, I totaled up the column and that was the "retail" price of the lot. I then reduced the retail number by 30%-50% and came up a fair price which was my "number". The National was in Baltimore that year and I took the cards to the show and walked the floor, approaching dealers for a price. Now, I know a dealer is going to offer less than retail, because that is just how the model works. After approaching a few dealers, I found a dealer who clearly wanted to purchase the cards. The offer was not offensive and was above my number so a deal was made. With cash in hand, I purchased a 61, 66 and 67 Topps Mantle's in PSA 7 condition and a ton of autographs. It was a great weekend!

Also, that weekend I had a full set (12) of the 54-55 Gunther Beer basketball set. The National in Baltimore was the perfect place to sell a local set. Again, I approached dealers for a price. One dealer, was interested in the cards and threw out a lowball offer. I passed and as I started to move on he said "if you receive an offer let me try and beat it". I don't play that game. Another dealer made a solid offer and a deal was made. I saw the first dealer again and he asked about the cards, I said "Sold". He said "I said to bring them back if you got an offer". "I got an offer and I sold the lot. You should have given your best price when I was at your table".

Unless the cards are rare very few folks will get anything close to retail. There are always exceptions but 50's era Topps cards are plentiful.

From the pictures the 57's seem to be in better condition than the 56's. Two of the 56's pictured look to have corner issues.


1. Is efficient, not able to fill set lists one by one. Too time consuming.

Agreed.

2. Still drives value for the card owner, as close to “retail” value for the commons as possible, while still achieving goal 1 above.

I would rethink "close to retail". As I mentioned above, price it out, discount and come up with a number you and your friend can live with.


My initial ideas are:

1. Team focused lots (no dupes) of 15-20 cards, multiple years

Not a bad idea. That will take some time.

2. Starter sets, no dupes, maybe 50-75 cards each?

Better idea. Although, I question how many collectors out there are putting together sets. Putting together a 56 Topps set in EX condition or better is going to be expensive.

3. I have not sold on Ebay for quite awhile; but I wonder if that is a platform for higher volume, efficient selling for cards like this? (Much as I would like to help, I just can’t afford the time to sell cards one by one)

I have never sold on Ebay. Ebay is going to take their cut. I am sure there are some Ebay folks on the board who can chime in.

I would dip my toe in the pool with a few postings with BST here on the board. I don't know your location, but show season is starting to get underway again. Take the cards to a large show (ex. CSA) and walk the floor.