[djohn]

I recently bought out a collection that matched similarly with my collection of putting together sets. However it has left me with a lot of extra sets that I am not really that interested in keeping and are taking up a lot of space. The sets range are baseball, basketball, and football from the 90s through mid-2000s, and are typically base sets (some with SPs and some without).
I don't really want to list all the sets on eBay, as it will take a while to list them all separately and it will eat through all my free listings. I know there isn't much traffic on here, and Beckett requires you to put items in ORG in order to sell them here (which is tedious for listing sets for sale). So I was wondering if anyone else has tried to sell sets online, and what the best way to do it would be. As an FYI, the local Craigslist and Facebook swap/sell pages in my area are dead when it comes to listing cards for sale.

[rjcj2017]

I know one thing ... always make sure you have the right postage charge if selling online!

I once had a hand-collated 2006 Topps football set that sold for a whopping 99 cents.

I estimated the shipping at $7, figuring whatever the set sold for would cover the difference if I was a little short.

Well, a "little short" ended being about $4, so I actually ended up paying someone about a dollar to take my set from me.

[djohn]

I know one thing ... always make sure you have the right postage charge if selling online!

I once had a hand-collated 2006 Topps football set that sold for a whopping 99 cents.

I estimated the shipping at $7, figuring whatever the set sold for would cover the difference if I was a little short.

Well, a "little short" ended being about $4, so I actually ended up paying someone about a dollar to take my set from me.

That is another reason I don't want to sell on eBay. Between the final sales price, shipping, and of course the fees I have a feeling a lot of the sets would end up resulting in essentially giving them away.

[DrMitchJ]

Trade them to a local card shop for store credit?
Get a table for a day at a local card show or flea market?
Set up a lemonade stand and give a set away for every glass of lemonade sold?

Seriously I don't think there's a way to make it happen online. Fees and Shipping are too cost prohibitive. You might get more traffic and make more money with a garage sale. There are plenty of folks that are garage sale junkies that hunt down sales and try to be the first to buy. You pop those out for a halfway decent price and they might be gone before noon.
Good luck in whatever you choose to do ... and please report back if you're successful. I'm curious.

[djohn]

Trade them to a local card shop for store credit?
Get a table for a day at a local card show or flea market?
Set up a lemonade stand and give a set away for every glass of lemonade sold?

Seriously I don't think there's a way to make it happen online. Fees and Shipping are too cost prohibitive. You might get more traffic and make more money with a garage sale. There are plenty of folks that are garage sale junkies that hunt down sales and try to be the first to buy. You pop those out for a halfway decent price and they might be gone before noon.
Good luck in whatever you choose to do ... and please report back if you're successful. I'm curious.

I know the owner of the nearest card shop and he already has a ton of sets and isn't interested in taking any more at the moment. The nearest card show is a few hours drive from me, and from what I heard the last one was a big dud. The flea market could be an option, but I know there are 2 other card dealers at the market near me and they have told me that other than the latest football cards and baseball singles, not much else moves for them.
I would consider a garage sale, but I have tried that multiple times in the past and aside from the random quarter team lots and sports magazines nothing else sells in terms of cards.
Realistically, I feel like selling online is my only choice. I just am not sure where the best place to try to sell them online might be.

All that being said, the sets range from really crappy to rather nice. For example there are sets of 1992 Donruss (one with the Diamond Kings insert set and one without), and there there are sets like 2001 Topps Heritage and 1998 Upper Deck with all the high number SPs. I know some of these sets are going to be tough to sell, or possibly even give away, however some of the other sets have book values in the hundreds of dollars.

[DrMitchJ]

Lots of road blocks to sell.
Good luck and hope you're able to move those sets

[kerryandbeth]

I agree with the garage sale effort sometimes being a waste of time. Last year I sat out on my driveway with a table full of cards during our neighborhood garage sale. Not 1 vehicle even stopped...I had a sign, I had binders, toploaders, even teams bags...to just look stupid sitting out on my driveway.

I am considering sending some for charity, and take some to the local Little League games, but definitely not going to make any money on it no matter what I do.

Good luck finding a solution!

[bengalsandreds]

I agree with the garage sale effort sometimes being a waste of time. Last year I sat out on my driveway with a table full of cards during our neighborhood garage sale. Not 1 vehicle even stopped...I had a sign, I had binders, toploaders, even teams bags...to just look stupid sitting out on my driveway.

I am considering sending some for charity, and take some to the local Little League games, but definitely not going to make any money on it no matter what I do.

Good luck finding a solution!

Why can't you be at the neighborhood garage sales my wife drags me to lol? That's what I look for!

[kerryandbeth]

Why can't you be at the neighborhood garage sales my wife drags me to lol? That's what I look for!

Hahahahahaha...I hear ya!

[hckydv7]

For starters i would take the ones with the most value and list them on the BAY. Use up as many free listing as you have with the best ones you have,and keep doing that next month. Best chance seems to me. Also, remember that with the BAY, after you use up your free listings, if you list one that you were charged a listing fee for if it sells, you get the listing fee back.