Forum

May be buying 25,000 Basketball/Football cards, advice needed!
 

A few hours ago while browsing Facebook, I came across a huge Basketball/Football Card Collection on one of my local Bid & Buy facebook pages.

This is a quote from the guy selling them:
"I estimate there are around 25,000 cards and they are primarily basketball and football, with a fair share of baseball. Most of them are from the late 80s and early 90s era, with a few dating back in the 70s. Several complete sets, including some insert sets. I am sure I have a lot of the rookies and most of the stars from that time period, including an AUTOGRAPHED BARRY SANDERS!"

He's wanting $150 for the whole lot and says their in near mint condition and only reason he says near mint is because true mint is almost impossible to come by. It seems I would be able to make my money back just by selling a rookie card or two, if there are any good ones.

I'm not really familiar with selling anything like this. I would probably look into getting some of them graded, possibly?

Can anyone chime in and give some good advice for this situation?

Does this seem like a good deal, would you jump on this?

By the way, I'm meeting him at 1:30 and it's 11:30 now, so any quick advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

If something seems too good to be true, it tends to be in my experience. If you do want to go ahead with it though, ask for the reason he is selling them, inspect each card very carefully and do your homework on how to spot a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ card.

Yea, I'm pretty sure I want to go through with it. I doubt he has 25,000 phony cards. There would also be no way for me to inspect them all.

I've looked on how to spot phony cards but it seems a lot of them have different ways to spot it. I've only got about an hour and a half from now.

I feel it's all legit but I guess you never know. It's only $150 though so it's not like it's an enormous loss.

Thanks.

Due diligence is needed on your part.
150 is WAY below something of this nature for the whole lot.
If you are picking up, ask to meet at a shop neutral to both parties to get the card authenticated.

If you are having them shipped, i would try to use some type of escrow service to protect yourself, even paypal, in case the lot isnt what you expect.

Also, how long was the posting up? Any comments on the lot?
The longer the post is up, might be something not quite right about it.

with 15 Years of experience in selling cards, that seems kind of sketch.

Good luck

There's no shop or anything around. Were at least 60 miles from anything like that.

I'm meeting him in person in about an hour and a half. The post was put up at 7am this morning, I responded and started talking to him around 8am, so the post was only up for 1 hour with 1 like and no comments.

I guess it does seem really low though, what do you recommend I look for when I meet him?

25,000? That's like 160lbs in cards.

I would buy them if you are paying cash and he is handing them over no question buy buy buy authentic or not they are worth a heck of alot more than 150 bucks

Sounds like his is just dumping all his garbage. 99% of cards produced in the Late 80's and early 90's are essentially worthless.

Might find a token few worth a couple dollars here and there. They were produced in such massive quantities it completely diluted the market.

For $150 it sounds like worth the gamble if you have the patience to sort through everything. ⊗⊗⊗⊗ cards from that era are usually rookie cards from the early 80's that are more valuable and they can try to push for $50-100+ each.

Anyways good luck.

See if the cards (especially the one with the highest value) are see through (like paper thin) cards back then were made with high quality card stock and shouldn't feel too light/have a different weight than todays card quality.

See what condition the card is in. If it looks too new, then it might be a ⊗⊗⊗⊗.

Since there are no shops around there, you will have to get the final goat from a card authenticator. You might have a few real gems there.

Good luck,

Thanks man.

This is his quote on the condition:
"I would say near mint, but only due to the fact as I remember a true mint is nearly impossible."

I'll keep an eye out for what you said, I appreciate the feedback.

Any recommendations on where I can get some of these graded? Should I get them graded?

No problem.

I would say get them authenticated first and then get them graded.
Some places will get them graded (you pay like 50bucks per card) then tell you it's a phony.
If they try to buy it off you on the spot, wait and do your home work on that card to see the value. Shops will try to low ball you.

If you go through with the sale and see any notable names, get them graded:

Beckett.com

Depending on the value vs. cost of grading.

Let us know how it went and if you went though with it. Would be brilliant for you if it really was a true steal.

I would sort in stacks if you have time.

Anything in MINT or NR MINT condition goes in one stack, crap cards with bends, bad corners, off center etc goes into junk pile.

How old are the cards?

Most cards in the last 10-15 years have little to no large value unless they are rookies, special limited editions or a rising star such as Strasburg etc.

Look for older cards mainly that have sharp edges, centered etc.

Hopefully they already have some graded cards.

They would be sealed in a plastic cover with who graded it and the info.

A pile of common cards would be a waste of your time.

If there were a large stack of good older sharp cards that were not graded and you recognize the names etc it and there is a large stack of common cards in the group then you have some bargaining power.

Common cards wont fetch 0.01 anymore if they are newer.

Hopefully you have some notable names from the 50-60-70-80s in the batch.


Hope you find a Fleer Michael Jordon!!!

Or a 1952 Mickey Mantle.

I got a 1953 Topps Mickey Mantle at a flea market when I was around 10 years old for $10. =}

I still have it to this day.

A serious collector with 25,000 cards would rarely be advertising on Facebook.

This is a NICHE market.

There's an active network. It has some serious members. Some would sell their Mom for a rare card.

Expectations would be for others to be coming out of the woodworks to buy this lot.

At the least I guess you might score.

Or have thousands of cards to practise making card houses.

If you are going to onsell on ebay, you have fun times ahead of you.

:ranger:

Does anyone know a website that you can check the worth on different cards?!
I also have a bunch Ive always wanted to sell but dont no the value of them

Ebay completed listing but there are several forums for card collectors as well.

Have not been on any in years but there was a buy sell trade forum years back for just sports cards.

Beckett guide would also be a way to check if it is updated.

I found an unopened box of older cards a while back and could not find anything comparable so I went with my gut instincts to let buyers bid each other up so the others wont get it. It worked and the money was 3x what I really wanted.

A good card, rare card in mint condition from any time period is good to have but like someone said above lots of cards from 1987 on were so mass produced it ruined the market.

Becketts is a favored site.

There's also Tuff Stuff: Free Sports Card Values, Price Guides & Memorabilia News and


Sports Card Attic: Buy, Sell, Trade Baseball, Basketball, Football. Golf, Boxing, Entertainment, non-sports, Graded Sports and Hockey Cards and Collectibles

This is a SELLER BEWARE market. Control possession of a card if you have th slightest inkling it may be valuable.

ALl of the above sites have blogs, communities etc.

Look through ebay as well. I recall some years back there were some reasonable guides too. Not going to check that today.

Here's what I have done. I looked thro' the different sites. Got a feel for what was said/written etc.

Becomes pretty obvious who talks the talk & walks the walk.

Only when you are confident consider paying for appraisals.

I'll repeat. This is a niche market. Others will look to fleece you.

Hope you have something really special. It's exciting to find that out.

Good Luck.

:ranger:

Are these all ⊗⊗⊗⊗ or what.. Try contacting the guy on another account and see if he sticks to his story or tries to rip you off. That way too many cards for only $150

Wouldn't foo-foo cards cost more than $150 to make?

@MM78

tbf, there are a few printers around that could spew these out at a low cost.
Astute usage of one's computer could aid creativity.

just saying

:spy: