Need to Sell? Please, Prep Your Sets First—Part II
Let’s continue my blog on having a plan to get the most money out of your baseball card collection.
I highly recommend you submit a “test set” to a sports memorabilia auctions houses. The selection is wide. You want as many possible buyers as possible reading about what you have for sale and looking at pictures of some of the key cards.
But which auction house?
Here’s what I did. I chose three well-known companies and decided to test them with one of my sets. I won’t mention specific names but they’re all well established and have solid reputations. Maybe you have an oddball set that’s been gathering dust in your closet for years. Pull it out, prep it as discussed in the June blog, and submit it. Or it can be one of your core sets whose card design you never really cared for. It doesn’t matter.
You want to go through a complete cycle with these three companies, from preparation to submission to cashing the check.
How do you choose which three to use? Talk to your fellow hobbyists and dealers. Read the Net54baseball forum. Auction house complaints and compliments will pop up here. Listen to PSA’s “Great American Collectibles Show,” hosted by Tom Zappala and Rico Petrocelli. They’re always interviewing auction house executives and you’ll get a feel for whether they would do a good job selling your collectibles.
Understand the fine print. Be certain to ask about the commission most auction houses charge. Some will offer no commission; some 5 percent or 10 percent. In addition to commissions, auction houses make their money by charging the buyer a buyer’s premium of about 18 percent to 20 percent.
If you remember nothing else about this blog, remember these two words when shopping auction houses: customer service. It’s unfair to judge an auction house by how much money your set sells for. That is totally out of their control. All it takes is two people vying for any item to make the final price shoot past previous documented confirmed sales. So I repeat: Judge the auction house you use (and perhaps will stick with) by its customer service.
So, what is good auction house customer service? Some might send star cards to a third-party grader if they believe they will grade high. You also want them to keep you informed about when the auction will start and how long it will last. They should register you if you aren’t already registered. You should also have the opportunity to review the write-up (s) of your set (s). I like write-ups that focus on the condition of key cards, not the history of the set itself.
In all probability, not every single one of your cards in a set will be graded. So be prepared to be a little disappointed when it comes to the percentage of raw cards the auction house deems very good or excellent. Your near mint might be their excellent.
Of course, who knows if a shill bidding scandal will explode at your chosen auction house in the years ahead. You just might have to go elsewhere.
In response to Part I of this blog, Net54baseball forum member John Otto provided me with some worthy additional input. You might also want to sell your set (or break it up into individual cards and sell them) on eBay. However, as John readily admits, this takes more work. But it is an option to consider.
I’m in my 60s and don’t want to be bothered with the extra work. But using eBay could be more lucrative than working with an auction house.
Once an auction with your item goes live, don’t obsess about the price movement. It’s easier said than done, I know. Most online auctions are three to 10 days. Sure, check more often on that final day but from firsthand experience I’ve seen that it’s only in the last hour (or minutes) that prices start jumping frequently.
Finally, enjoy the process. It’s exciting to watch your computer screen in that last hour or less as strangers bid for an item you’ve worked on for years or even decades to complete. Enjoy the experience. Isn’t that what the hobby is all about? And remember, the auction isn’t over until it’s over (including extended bidding).