Back into the hobby, advice on selling and grading

[crazyalco]

Hi guys,
I have been out of the hobby for a few years due to starting a family etc and just by coincidence i was talking to someone who started collecting and I had the urge to break a few more boxes... that was until i saw the prices of everything these days... what happened? I cant justify paying for a hobby box anymore haha.
In saying all that i realized a few of the cards i did collect have gone up dramatically in price and thought of maybe selling a bit of my collection. Most of my cards where pulled from breaks and put straight into one touches or toploaders and stored so they are pretty much pack fresh condition.
So my questions are, selling expensive cards, how would you go about it? I have heard of consignment services etc but the main ones i have researched and there are some bad things being said about them, also not a fan of the clause most have that if the cards don't sell the card is forfeited to them. I am especially worried about sending to the USA (i know i would probably get more money in that market, but also so much more risk and harder to vet people i guess). Are then any reputable guys you know or even in australia? I have always had great advice from here.
I see FB groups do decent price cards but i would need to sell a few lower end cards to get a reputation i guess, and not sure about all these razz stuff they do haha.
Any advice on protecting yourself from scammers? id hate to ship off an expensive card and have paypal withdraw the money because the buyer put in a complaint and i would be without card or money, there has to be ways to protect yourself in these situations? apparently ebay is full of scammers too.
For my lower to mid end cards i was thinking of trying out COMC, has anyone had much experience in that? I might throw up a few for sales threads here for them before i send them off as I have never had any issues with the people on this forum selling cards years ago.
Also grading cards? i never went down that route, kicking myself now, but i was looking into it for some of my cards but again am worried about the massive cost and turn around time especially with cards worth a bit of money. I know it would be worth it financially but the risk of sending it and not knowing where tens of thousands is for months would kill me haha and would the price difference be that much? for example i was lucky enough to pull a magic johnson gold prizm from the first prizm set. They have been hard to price due to how rare they are but a couple of months ago one went for auction $25kUSD graded BGS10, so what would a RAW card be in comparison? If a raw card is $5K less i would be happy to skip the grading and all the stress i think would come with it.
For an idea i busted a case of the 12/13 prizm (looking at the price of sealed cases today im kicking myself haha ) and i did pretty well. Im looking to offload a most of these cards but due to their price i am a little worried about getting scammed haha I actually bought the case from this forum and this was the results:
https://www.ozcardtrader.com.au/threads/prizm-case-break-scan-heavy.136985/
I also have a few rookie autos from kyrie, giannis, beal etc along with some kobe and durant autos. I am not desperate to sell and so in no rush, would rather do my research first which is why i have come to ask you guys for some expert advice. Sorry about the long post
Regards
Bruno

 

[Lippo]

It is harder to get the prices over here because the market just isn't as big. You'll definitely get more sending over there but that does come with risks as well.

Consigners do help take some of the stress away you mention above with getting scammed but there have been negative stories about the big consigners. PWCC has also moved to graded only, so there is one less option if you wanted to go raw. There are some smaller ones that are out there that are doing pretty well and I haven't heard too many bad stories about them, so might be worth doing a search on those.

Great pull on the gold, unlikely a raw would be $5k less than a BGS 10 though at $20k but I've only been looking at base.

Grading for your stuff is only an option for the higher end cards (minimum is now 100us per card to grade up to 1,500us value), so that will take out a few options right now.

Take your time and don't be rushed into anything. Just enjoy your entry back into the hobby

 

[crazyalco]

It is harder to get the prices over here because the market just isn't as big. You'll definitely get more sending over there but that does come with risks as well.

Consigners do help take some of the stress away you mention above with getting scammed but there have been negative stories about the big consigners. PWCC has also moved to graded only, so there is one less option if you wanted to go raw. There are some smaller ones that are out there that are doing pretty well and I haven't heard too many bad stories about them, so might be worth doing a search on those.

Great pull on the gold, unlikely a raw would be $5k less than a BGS 10 though at $20k but I've only been looking at base.

Grading for your stuff is only an option for the higher end cards (minimum is now 100us per card to grade up to 1,500us value), so that will take out a few options right now.

Take your time and don't be rushed into anything. Just enjoy your entry back into the hobby

Cheers, thanks for the advice mate

 

[TheCardExperience]

BGS10 is a really tough grade to achieve. From memory it can 10-12x a card price but I haven't followed the market too closely for the last 6 months or so.
I'd recommend if you've already done some research and know the card is selling in the thousands then definitely send it for grading as most consignments will only deal with graded cards anyway. Keeping in mind the more valuable the card the more the grading will cost you, however this comes with the benefit of a quicker turnaround time.

Few options to consider for grading:
- PSA Submissions Australia (Laine's group)
- Cherry Collectables for BGS subs
- ShipMyCards for all in one send to the states, grade then submit to an auction house
- COMC send cards direct and their auction feature has worked well for majority of my $20-500 cards
- Goldin Auctions for the higher end cards

 

[crazyalco]

BGS10 is a really tough grade to achieve. From memory it can 10-12x a card price but I haven't followed the market too closely for the last 6 months or so.
I'd recommend if you've already done some research and know the card is selling in the thousands then definitely send it for grading as most consignments will only deal with graded cards anyway. Keeping in mind the more valuable the card the more the grading will cost you, however this comes with the benefit of a quicker turnaround time.

Few options to consider for grading:
- PSA Submissions Australia (Laine's group)
- Cherry Collectables for BGS subs
- ShipMyCards for all in one send to the states, grade then submit to an auction house
- COMC send cards direct and their auction feature has worked well for majority of my $20-500 cards
- Goldin Auctions for the higher end cards

awesome, thanks mate i will look into that. I think i will get a few cards graded. Which is the better of the 2 PSA or BGS?

 

[TheCardExperience]

awesome, thanks mate i will look into that. I think i will get a few cards graded. Which is the better of the 2 PSA or BGS?

In terms of resale prices I prefer PSA however you can luck out with either in terms of grades. So just go with which service you feel more comfortable with.
People always say one is harder than the other but the reality is it comes down to how good a condition your card is in and complete and utter luck in my opinion.

 

[drobfan8]

Holy effin shizz.

I don't remember that case break but that is worth some major coin currently.

 

[crazyalco]

Holy effin shizz.

I don't remember that case break but that is worth some major coin currently.

Haha thanks it was a while ago, actually bought the case from a guy named mr paparazzi off here, not sure if he is still around. Yeah i was a little shocked when i looked at the values again after being MIA for a few years. I think i might send the more expensive ones to be graded but still a bit worried about mailing cards worth so much.

 

[juxedo]

Welcome back. Great to see old collectors reconnect with the hobby. In terms of hierarchy, it is: BGS10 > PSA10 > BGS9.5 > PSA9 > BGS9, etc. Raw cards I feel are generally priced around bgs/psa 8. If you think the card has a strong chance of a bgs 10 then go for it. Otherwise, go psa if you are looking for a resale. If not selling then go for whichever slab you vibe with most. .

 

[juxedo]

Btw, did you happen to find any lebrons when you dusted off your old collection?

 

[crazyalco]

Btw, did you happen to find any lebrons when you dusted off your old collection?

Thanks,
I didnt get much luck with lebron. Have a few Kobe's but will have to check when i get back home. still going through my collection. Had a lot more cards then I remember haha. I believe my best lebron is an SP game used combo materials with Kobe. I think I am going to hold onto my Kobe's though, well most of them anyways. I will let you know what i find in about a week or so when im home.

 

[juxedo]

No probs mate. Thought I should ask as I am looking for a bron silver prizm from 2012. Im completing the bron silver prizm for each year and only missing 2012. Anyways, good luck and I hope you find more monster cards

 

[Andrew111]

awesome, thanks mate i will look into that. I think i will get a few cards graded. Which is the better of the 2 PSA or BGS?

My 2 cents on grading.. I've gone with PSA and BGS and had good and average results with both. The main differences are:
- BGS has .5 increments. So you might get a BGS 9.5 rather than a PSA 9.
- BGS has sub grades so you'll know why the card got the grade it did. Also, there's a chance you could get a 9.5 from BGS with 10 for centering for example which might help with value slightly.
- BGS grades the autograph and the card separately. So the card might get a 9 or 9.5 and the auto might get a 10.
- PSA is cheaper and in my experience during Covid has been faster.
- PSA is thinner so you can fit more in a box.
- PSA weighs less and so costs less to post in large numbers.
- BGS cards are sleeved so it's possible they could keep their condition longer but time will tell.

Most people have a preference but personally I'm undecided so I'll keep sending to both.

 

[crazyalco]

My 2 cents on grading.. I've gone with PSA and BGS and had good and average results with both. The main differences are:
- BGS has .5 increments. So you might get a BGS 9.5 rather than a PSA 9.
- BGS has sub grades so you'll know why the card got the grade it did. Also, there's a chance you could get a 9.5 from BGS with 10 for centering for example which might help with value slightly.
- BGS grades the autograph and the card separately. So the card might get a 9 or 9.5 and the auto might get a 10.
- PSA is cheaper and in my experience during Covid has been faster.
- PSA is thinner so you can fit more in a box.
- PSA weighs less and so costs less to post in large numbers.
- BGS cards are sleeved so it's possible they could keep their condition longer but time will tell.

Most people have a preference but personally I'm undecided so I'll keep sending to both.

thanks for that mate.

 

[Rusty82]

No probs mate. Thought I should ask as I am looking for a bron silver prizm from 2012. Im completing the bron silver prizm for each year and only missing 2012. Anyways, good luck and I hope you find more monster cards

I saw this one go at auction very recently in true mint when deciding what to do with my Kobe one, in case you wanted some recent reference. Unfortunately just stumbled across your post after the sale.