Options for selling low end leftovers from collection

[BonVoyage]

Looking for thoughts on how to sell the low end (<$2) leftovers from my collection without going to the effort of doing team/player lots. Everything north of $3+ is either already gone, being kept, or being sold via COMC or consigner.
Approximately 25,000 - 30,000 cards in total.

Rough breakdown:
5000 2018 Topps RCs/inserts from update boxes or sets.
8000 2019 Topps RCs/inserts from update boxes or sets.
3400 2020 Topps RCs/inserts from S1 boxes or sets.
1100 2019 Bowman Mega refractors
2000 2020 Bowman Mega refractors
3000 2019 Bowman Heritage (paper + chrome)
2200 2020 Bowman Heritage (paper + chrome)
800 2018 Topps Holiday (vets only)
600 2019 Bowman Sapphire
600 2020 Stadium Club
400 2020 Topps turkey red
400 2020 Topps Heritage minor
600 2019-20 NBA Prizm/Mosaic
200 2018 NFL Donruss Optic

I've seen one or two WTBs in that subforum that might clear out 1000-3000 but that still leaves a lot leftover.

I emailed my closest LCS and while he said they buy all different types of collections, they did ask me to have a number in mind before they get started so they know if its even going to be worth looking at. I'm not really sure what number to put on it.


A couple more targeted questions:
Do the low-mid end paper Topps RCs have any value in bulk? That's probably half of the total cards. The stuff has already been picked over (by me), so they're not going to find many/any Ohtani, Soto, Acuna, Judge, Tatis, etc. But there's 50-100 RCs of guys like Max Fried, Sandy Alcantara, Sean Murphy, Gleyber Torres, etc (admittedly its mostly guys who aren't even in the league anymore.
Does the shiny stuff have a bulk market? Thinking specifically about 2019 + 2020 Bowman Mega mojos, 2019 + 2020 Bowman Heritage Chrome, and 2019 Bowman Sapphire, thats probably close to 5000 cards as well. This has also been picked over.
Would you split out all the low end colors/numbered/autos and try to sell that separately? Does that make it much harder to sell the other stuff? Its probably a couple hundred across all the different sets.

Hope this isn't viewed as an attempt to skirt WTB/WTS subforum rules, genuinely trying to see options and potential values.

[mizzoujohn]

Pop it on Facebook marketplace for $500 OBO and see if you can get it all gone in 1 chunk.


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[longhornjunkie]

Sportlots Auctions may be another option but you'd want to monitor other auctions on their site first to see if you notice any patterns and values. It can be hit or miss on getting a good price.

[Raleigh504]

Agreed, Facebook marketplace or could just do flat rate mail and use a medium or large box. Set it at auction (buyer pays for shipping) and forget it. Granted will probably get anywhere from $10-$100 for a box, just depending on the day and if multiple bidders are competing for it.

Facebook Marketplace is probably best since no shipping and cash.

[BonVoyage]

Appreciate the thoughts so far.
How are the card buyers on FB marketplace? Would you recommend that over an LCS? From the few random things I've sold on there before FB seems full of time wasters and tire kickers. At $500 for the collection, the valuation is about $0.015 per card.

This SportLots auction seems moderately close to what I could put together, although I'd need to run 100 of these at 300cards each to get rid of my collection. Currently at about $0.25 per card.
https://sportlots.com/auction/aucbin...otnbr=10938814

Is there a way to see sold auctions on SportLots? I'd be curious to see if anyone has done Lot auctions recently on the sets I have.

[rwperu34]

I sold a lot of 500 all RC for $50 last year, net me about $32. I'd say that's probably your upside, because mine was 2022-2025 and included a Cal Raleigh (albeit before he really blew up). The RC that aren't in the league anymore are just commons.

One thing we discussed in the eBay Sales thread last year is putting together Card Show Ready lots....300 cards in toploaders that go out in a Medium Flat Rate box. A mix of auto/#'d and base. Those net about $100ish per 300 cards, so pretty solid return. The downside is you need toploaders and they take some effort to put together.

FWIW, I don't buy your type of cards anymore even with newer stuff/active players. The base RC (even chrome or non #'d refractors) just don't have enough value outside of the top handful of names. For example, of the names you listed the best right now is probably Max Fried. His 2018 TC #66 in raw condition has seen 28 sales in the last three months, most of them $2 or less before fees/shipping.

[base set]

I would hazard a guess that the Stadium Club lot could be worth your time listing as a stand-alone item, shipping via 600 count box inside a Flat Rate box. ? Stadium Club base is not cheap in terms of single card price, when released, compared to bigger print run products on your list.

2020 releases in particular were at times difficult to acquire for casual collectors who just occasionally buy retail.

Otherwise it might be worth one more cherry pick of the Heritage Minors cards, as it can take some time for the players on such a checklist to get their sea legs in MLB, and can often change clubs to one with a big collector base. Maybe those cards would be worth a separate bulk listing too, dunno, haven’t comped the idea.

[base set]

Also, regarding inserts, every so often one of those checklists can become popular; meanwhile S2 Hobby inserts seem to end up in tightest online supply, much later on.

[RL 1953]

donate them, write off on your taxes

[Budler]

Facebook, craigslist, newspaper ads and others like those, people are resellers and want just the cards that move fast and make a profit. They do not want to wait a year to make .25.

I have known a few guys in the same boat as you. They have gone the show route. Making boxes of 500 cards all same brand and year. They put a higher price on them but had a sign stating they would take offers. They move most of the boxes. The rest they sold really cheap to other dealers.

The old saying: More work you put into it the more money you will make out of it.

Now if they were players of Nebraska football cards we could talk.

[BonVoyage]

Originally Posted by rwperu34

I sold a lot of 500 all RC for $50 last year, net me about $32. I'd say that's probably your upside, because mine was 2022-2025 and included a Cal Raleigh (albeit before he really blew up). The RC that aren't in the league anymore are just commons.

One thing we discussed in the eBay Sales thread last year is putting together Card Show Ready lots....300 cards in toploaders that go out in a Medium Flat Rate box. A mix of auto/#'d and base. Those net about $100ish per 300 cards, so pretty solid return. The downside is you need toploaders and they take some effort to put together.

FWIW, I don't buy your type of cards anymore even with newer stuff/active players. The base RC (even chrome or non #'d refractors) just don't have enough value outside of the top handful of names. For example, of the names you listed the best right now is probably Max Fried. His 2018 TC #66 in raw condition has seen 28 sales in the last three months, most of them $2 or less before fees/shipping.

I do have about 400 (including duplicates) auto/number/color/patch cards between all the different sets

Originally Posted by base set

I would hazard a guess that the Stadium Club lot could be worth your time listing as a stand-alone item, shipping via 600 count box inside a Flat Rate box. ? Stadium Club base is not cheap in terms of single card price, when released, compared to bigger print run products on your list.

2020 releases in particular were at times difficult to acquire for casual collectors who just occasionally buy retail.

Otherwise it might be worth one more cherry pick of the Heritage Minors cards, as it can take some time for the players on such a checklist to get their sea legs in MLB, and can often change clubs to one with a big collector base. Maybe those cards would be worth a separate bulk listing too, dunno, haven’t comped the idea.

The closest sale I could find was a 100 card 2020 Stadium Club red foil lot that sold last year for about $25. Same seller has a 100 card rookie lot but no sales.

When I did my cherry picking I was surprised by the number of worthwhile cards in there when I went through, including a Cal Raleigh ($15-$20 card)

Originally Posted by Budler

Facebook, craigslist, newspaper ads and others like those, people are resellers and want just the cards that move fast and make a profit. They do not want to wait a year to make .25.

I have known a few guys in the same boat as you. They have gone the show route. Making boxes of 500 cards all same brand and year. They put a higher price on them but had a sign stating they would take offers. They move most of the boxes. The rest they sold really cheap to other dealers.

The old saying: More work you put into it the more money you will make out of it.

Now if they were players of Nebraska football cards we could talk.

I'm not sure I could justify the cost of a table if we are talking about ~ $500 in cards.

[base set]

I think people that collect Stadium Club sets would want just the base. Stadium Club parallels are somewhat pointless except for player collectors making somewhat boring rainbows (maybe true of lots of sets I guess). Separate lots of the base and the chrome might draw more interest than a bunch of parallels of commons. But I’m just spitballing. I plan to knock off any SC base wants via Sportlots.

A different approach might be to just purchase a few cards on SL for 20¢ each so you can sell a complete set; with 600 cards left you should be pretty close to one.

[BonVoyage]

Originally Posted by base set

I think people that collect Stadium Club sets would want just the base. Stadium Club parallels are somewhat pointless except for player collectors making somewhat boring rainbows (maybe true of lots of sets I guess). Separate lots of the base and the chrome might draw more interest than a bunch of parallels of commons. But I’m just spitballing. I plan to knock off any SC base wants via Sportlots.

A different approach might be to just purchase a few cards on SL for 20¢ each so you can sell a complete set; with 600 cards left you should be pretty close to one.

I must've pitched all the vets from SC, when I went back and looked the 600 I have are all rookies/inserts. I agree though, the parallels in SC mostly sucked (I do like when they've done black & white though).

I posted everything on FB marketplace. Going to see if someone local will give me $0.02/card for the whole lot.

If that doesn't work, has anyone done a "chrome/mojo" bulk lot in BST? I couldn't find any. Between 2019+2020 Bowman Mega + Bowman Heritage, 2019 Bowman Sapphire + Topps Sapphire, and the NBA Prizm/Mosaic its like 5000 shiny cards. Shipping might be cost prohibitive though.

[BonVoyage]

Originally Posted by rwperu34

I sold a lot of 500 all RC for $50 last year, net me about $32. I'd say that's probably your upside, because mine was 2022-2025 and included a Cal Raleigh (albeit before he really blew up). The RC that aren't in the league anymore are just commons.

Hope its not impolite to talk about someone else's unsold listing, but this listing from today (https://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?t=1622998) reminded me of your comment and may be an option for my non-insert paper. It would be a lot of flat rate boxes in my case (6-7), maybe net me around $0.01 / card? Then I could potentially do separate bundles for 1) the 5000 chrome/mojo/shiny other stuff I have (not sure if there's a market for that) 2) 2000 inserts 3) the 400 auto/relic/patch/number/color.

[checkoutmydeals]

I like the idea of selling box lots, but I would personally prefer to package them more securely. Fill the flat rate box with 330, 400, 550 count boxes, and cushion with packing material, or put the boxes into a similarly sized plain box and ship by USPS Ground Advantage.

[BonVoyage]

Originally Posted by checkoutmydeals

I like the idea of selling box lots, but I would personally prefer to package them more securely. Fill the flat rate box with 330, 400, 550 count boxes, and cushion with packing material, or put the boxes into a similarly sized plain box and ship by USPS Ground Advantage.

For the more valuable stuff, like potentially my auto/relic/patch/number stuff I certainly agree. For the paper common RCs where they're costing $0.015/card (and netting the seller less than $0.01/card) my assumption is its acceptable to try to fit as many cards in as possible. Seems like that is what the OP in the listing I linked above is doing. But I could be wrong

[Budler]

I'm with Checkoutmydeals on packaging. A friend purchased a box like the way you see in (https://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?t=1622998) and a lot of cards had damage corners. He asked for a refund and got it. Shipped the cards back at the seller's cost just the way they were sent to him. More damage??

Shows and what you have may not be the thing for you. With shipping and platform fees maybe FB or Craigslist may be the way to go depending on where you are.