Tips for Selling Your Sports Cards on eBay

Jason Neuman | Dec 10, 2024

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/31368/short-relief-tales-of-cubs-fans-extroverts-and-1987-topps/

You've finally decided to take the first step in selling your card collection on eBay. While many assume that listing an auction is straightforward with little room for error, that’s not always the case. Here are some essential tips to keep in mind when auctioning off your sports card collection on eBay.

1. Split Up the Cards

When listing a card collection for auction on eBay, many sellers avoid the effort of creating separate listings for each relevant card. This is almost always a financial mistake, as collectors often expect a discount on the lot if they're purchasing multiple cards, some of which they may not need - while those looking to flip the cards for a profit will factor in the effort required to separate the cards. Either way, the result will likely be a lower overall sale price than expected.

2. Pick an Ideal Ending Time

This is probably the most overlooked practice on the list. Before finalizing a listing, take note of when it ends. An card that ends at 5:39 AM on a Wednesday is likely to fetch less money than one that ends at 9:30 PM Sunday night.

3. Image Clarity

Use quality pictures of your cards and provide transparency. Buyers want to see the condition of what they’re purchasing, and blurry or poorly taken photos often discourage people from taking your listing seriously.

Dude sold a $30,000 card using a car pic on his leg 💀 pic.twitter.com/9RsNLkzoAx

— Certified Sports Cards (Max) (@certifiedcards) April 16, 2022

4. Listing Title

This one should be self-explanatory, but it often isn’t. Use a full and accurate listing title. A great way to do this is by searching through recently sold listings of your card on eBay. Look at the cards that sold well and use a similar listing title.

All of this really comes down to not being lazy. If you’re willing to put in the effort to ensure that buyers can easily find, view, and bid on your listing, you’ll have no trouble maximizing the value of your collection.