eBay: eBay is likely the largest and most well-known marketplace for buying and selling all types of collectibles, including baseball cards. With millions of buyers and sellers, eBay gives you access to a huge potential customer base. Some key things to know about selling cards on eBay:
You’ll need to take clear, well-lit photos of the front and back of each card and provide accurate descriptions of any flaws, autographed status, etc. Photos are crucial for sellers.
Pricing your items competitively after researching recently sold similar cards is important to get buyers’ attention and secure sales. You can also set auction or buy-it-now listing formats.
eBay takes a final value fee from the total sale price, usually 10% with a maximum fee of $750 per sale. Additional features like making listings a featured ad come at a cost too.
eBay provides seller protections like requiring payment within 3 days of purchase and giving refund options if a return is needed. For reaching the masses, eBay is very reliable.
Collector’s Universe/PWCC Marketplace: This site is a good option targeted specifically towards sports card collectors. Some distinguishing factors:
The consignment model means CU/PWCC markets your cards for you, adding a layer of expertise and legitimacy. You’ll pay 15-20% commission per sale.
Minimum values are usually expected, around $50-100 per lot/item, making this best for higher end cards rather than commons.
Buyers tend to be more serious collectors vs. casual fans, resulting in potentially better pricing for rare/valuable cards.
CU handles authentication, grading service, payment processing and shipping to provide a full service approach compared to DIY on eBay.
Promotion through their PWCC auctions, websites and industry reputation helps cards get maximum exposure to collectors globally.
Twitter: In recent years, Twitter has grown as an outlet for collectors to buy, sell and trade sports cards directly with one another. Key elements include:
Creating a collector profile and following industry influencers/dealers helps get your name out there. You can post photos of singles, lots or entire collections.
Using hashtags like #cardsale, #baseballcards forsale etc. allows buyers to easily search tweets about available cards.
Cash/PayPal, or trades are typical transaction methods. But you miss out on buyer/seller protections of larger sites.
Building trust over time through smaller verified sales leads to bigger transactions. Networking is important for direct card marketplace deals on Twitter.
Facebook Groups: Facebook has numerous dedicated collectors groups for specific sports, teams or just general trading/buying/selling of cards. A large active group membership provides solid exposure. Like Twitter:
Profile page shows your credibility through feedback from past deals. Photos of all items boost confidence in transactions.
Administrative team of each group monitors posts to prevent scams while allowing open marketplace.
PayPal Goods & Services payments or potential local meetsups depending on distance since no third party involvement.
Searching “for sale” posts allows browsing constantly updated listings without waiting for new tweets. Great notification when your items are shared.
For reaching the widest possible audience of buyers and having strong seller/buyer frameworks in any disputes, more established platforms like eBay remain the most reliable way to sell baseball cards online. But smaller groups on Twitter/Facebook provide direct dealing alternatives for networking amongst avid collectors too. With diligence in photos/descriptions and building a record over time, all options can work well depending on budgets, inventory value and preferred selling process.
