Where have all the Baseball Card Collectors gone...

[jlgarciaiii22]

I used to sell on ebay years back... The market was like the gold rush back then! Was just checking around ebay thinking about going back to selling my collection. Not much interest for cards there anymore... The closing prices are way lower than what they used to sell for. So where has all the collectors and sellers gone? Is there others sites anybody knows of?

[Dad]

Little kids are gambling now instead of trading cards.

[ronald]

BAUS was one of the sharpest card collectors in Canada. He used to search packs for jersey cards by feeling the packs behind the shop owner's back. True story. Hopefully he will chime in with a few stories of rookie cards and Boy Crazy cards.

[podunk]

cards aren't worth a broke dick. no one gives a fvck about that shit anymore, except for grown men wearing jerseys of other men.

[36mafia]

recession

[AnotherLoan]

cards aren't worth a broke dick. no one gives a fvck about that shit anymore, except for grown men wearing jerseys of other men.

recession

[THE PROFIT]

no market anymore. We create the market, and it's just not there now. No one cares. Kids are tradin' meth & rock for cash, fuk a bunch of baseball or football cards. I never was a collector really, but I have a few football cards from the early 80's that have been in plastic for 20 years. Even hard to find info on 'em, really. I do have an Elway rookie I'd like to unload

[elgreco]

Does anyone know the best place to unload high dollar cards? I received a few cards back in 2000 as collateral from a customer who could not pay his bill. Now that 10 years have passed, I'm sure he is not coming back. I priced them out this past weekend using a 2009 Beckett. What do you think I can reasonably expect to get for them?

Year Manufacturer Player Price 1 Price 2
1949 Bowman Warren Spann $200.00 $125.00
1911 Tobacco Card Larry Doyle 90? 90?
1963 Topps Yogi Berra $100.00 $50.00
1955 Topps Harmon Killebrew $250.00 $150.00
1958 Topps Ted Williams $150.00 $90.00
1956 Topps Ted Williams $500.00 $350.00
1955 Bowman Earnie Banks $350.00 $200.00

Total Total
$1,550.00 $965.00

[flyingillini]

You have one right here. I invest a lot in high grade SGC and PSA Pre War. I have been into the hobby my whole life but as I got money I started to invest in what I only could dream of getting when I was younger. I am into E ( caramel), N162, N353, N 1886, D310, D317, D322, a lot of Tip Top Bread, Bakery and lots of type cards. I am more into Pre War graded cards than anything in my life. I remodeled my home from the sale of some of my cards... I mainly use Robertedwardauctions.com, milehighcardco.com, hugginsandscott.com, goodwinandco.com, and Barrysloate auctions... It is a big part of my life.. If you ever are in the Santa Barbara area, I will be more than happy to show you my memorabilia room..... Just shoot me a PM..

[flyingillini]

Does anyone know the best place to unload high dollar cards? I received a few cards back in 2000 as collateral from a customer who could not pay his bill. Now that 10 years have passed, I'm sure he is not coming back. I priced them out this past weekend using a 2009 Beckett. What do you think I can reasonably expect to get for them?

Year Manufacturer Player Price 1 Price 2
1949 Bowman Warren Spann $200.00 $125.00
1911 Tobacco Card Larry Doyle 90? 90?
1963 Topps Yogi Berra $100.00 $50.00
1955 Topps Harmon Killebrew $250.00 $150.00
1958 Topps Ted Williams $150.00 $90.00
1956 Topps Ted Williams $500.00 $350.00
1955 Bowman Earnie Banks $350.00 $200.00

Total Total
$1,550.00 $965.00

That is not high dollar and all pretty modern..

[elgreco]

That is not high dollar and all pretty modern..

Haha... high dollar to me . So, any idea where I should try and get rid of them? Whats a reasonable offer? 50% of Becket price? more? less?

[flyingillini]

Haha... high dollar to me . So, any idea where I should try and get rid of them? Whats a reasonable offer? 50% of Becket price? more? less?

Becket is irrelevant your best bet is if they are in nice condition to send them in to get graded or find a serious buyer who knows the business. I know a few guys that might be interested, I wish you had PreWar, I would buy all you have...I would fly to where you are if it was worth it.... tomorrow...

[BurtRapp]

You guys are just out of touch with cards. Cards you may have collected are worthless. If you are collecting cards now a days you just need to concern yourself with Rookie autographs and jersey cards. Get rookies before they play and sell them. When Jamarcus Russell was drafted most of his Auto RC's were 100-1500.00. Older people just don't know or how to collect and sell cards. They have a frame of mind to sit on cards. It is a very young mans game. You need to sell cards within 1-7 days from pulling it from a pack/box. Don't give the opportunity for a player's performance on the field to ruin the value of a card. People buy on expectations of a player now. If you are paying less than 10.00 - 300.00 dollars a pack you aren't buying the right cards.

[THE PROFIT]

Much like the complete sets of Desert Storm cards I have. When they first came out in '91, I could have gotten several thousand for 5 complete sets in plastic of the 3 Topps sets, Pacific, and Pro Set. 20 years later I cant give them away

[flyingillini]

You guys are just out of touch with cards. Cards you may have collected are worthless. If you are collecting cards now a days you just need to concern yourself with Rookie autographs and jersey cards. Get rookies before they play and sell them. When Jamarcus Russell was drafted most of his Auto RC's were 100-1500.00. Older people just don't know or how to collect and sell cards. They have a frame of mind to sit on cards. It is a very young mans game. You need to sell cards within 1-7 days from pulling it from a pack/box. Don't give the opportunity for a player's performance on the field to ruin the value of a card. People buy on expectations of a player now. If you are paying less than 10.00 - 300.00 dollars a pack you aren't buying the right cards.

You are talking about a world I know nothing about. I am into the PreWar SGC/PSA market.

[elgreco]

Becket is irrelevant your best bet is if they are in nice condition to send them in to get graded or find a serious buyer who knows the business. I know a few guys that might be interested, I wish you had PreWar, I would buy all you have...I would fly to where you are if it was worth it.... tomorrow...

I appreciate the information. I do have one more question if you don't mind. Is there any risk of holding on to them too long? I don't need the money, but I'd hate for them to become worthless. Should I just pass them on to my future kids or look to sell them in the next 10 years or so?

[HenPrivilege]

illini is on a different level. He's collecting what would be considered art when it's graded.

[BurtRapp]

Prewar cards that Illini does is more of a patience game. Piece together sets/singles get them graded.
I am more of Pay a 1000.00 for a pack of exquisite and sell the singles and hope to grind out 200.00 on that 1K.
Cards like auto RC's and jersey cards don't need to be graded and actually can lose value being graded even it's a BGS 9. People consider those cards mint already

[flyingillini]

illini is on a different level. He's collecting what would be considered art when it's graded.

I have more in my safety deposit box in value than I do in my mutual funds and about 30% of what I own in property here. I could buy a home if I sold it all, ha.

[Bigmikesm]

The card business was flooded with companies and that caused it to die. Was better when it only had Topps, Donruss, and Fleer.

[Jiggy Fly]

I got a whole box full of cards in my closet. I gotta pull em out and see what I got. I know for a fact I got a Cal Ripken Jr. rookie and a Ken Griffey Jr. rookie.

[jlgarciaiii22]

I'm dealin with 1957 to 1993 this isn't your ordinary collection...

My pops spent every free dollar on pretty rare stuff... For example 1974 Topps Jigsaw Puzzles, How many know about these things! I sold them about 6 years ago in auction for $16,000 they where in Mint Condition and pretty rare in any condition!

I have so many singles from the late 1960's to early 1980's... and also complete sets from 1968 to 1993

[Chi_archie]

stuck with tens of thousands of cards from my youth.....

[jlgarciaiii22]

stuck with tens of thousands of cards from my youth.....

Yeah I hear yah... If theres no money in them anymore, I'm gonna start trading them for SBR points

Message me your want list boys

[Chi_archie]

I'll be giving them to my kids....

[BarkingToad]

The card business was flooded with companies and that caused it to die. Was better when it only had Topps, Donruss, and Fleer.

Exactly, not to mention when coin dealers got involved.

[Doug]

When you guys say pre-war, which war are you talking about ?

[Lion4Life]

The card business was flooded with companies and that caused it to die. Was better when it only had Topps, Donruss, and Fleer.

Well there aren't that many companies left anymore, I believe Upper Deck lost their NFL, NBA and MLB licenses and are not in very good shape.

[urge2kill]

When you guys say pre-war, which war are you talking about ?

Civil, duh.

[Doug]

Civil, duh.

I think of WW2, but it could be Korea, Vietnam, etc.

Did they have baseball cards in the 1930's ?

[Lion4Life]

I think of WW2, but it could be Korea, Vietnam, etc.

Did they have baseball cards in the 1930's ?

Give this a read http://sportscards.about.com/od/base...bbtimeline.htm

1868: A New York sporting goods store called Peck and Snyder creates what most historians consider to be the first set of baseball cards. Images of baseball players were featured on the fronts of the cards, while advertisements for the company’s baseball equipment made up the backs.

[TobiasFunke]

thats right lion...I think UD is moving more towards the "Entertainment" brands...

[Snowball]

kids are all computerized these days.. remember we used to look at cards to get our stats.. and pictures of players were somewhat rare.. now with internet, increased television kids just don't need the cards for any functional reason.

[krk1030]

The cards became pretty much worthless because theres a million like sub brands now, and the only cards worth anything are like signed jersey cards.



I remember when a rookie card of a good player was valuable, pretty much regardless of brand.