TJ Minerva

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How To Sell Sports Cards

A comprehensive guide on how to monetize your sports and trading cards. .

by TJ Minerva    Updated 12/26/23  

If you have cards that you want to sell, then this article is for you. The article will provide an overview of how to effectively and efficiently monetize your sports and trading cards. I have spent the time to research this process so you don’t have to. Here is a breakdown of the selling process:

  1. Selling Method/Platform
  2. Imaging and Scanning Cards
  3. Bulk Listing Options
  4. Price Research Tools
  5. Administrative and Storage/Shipping Supplies

Selling Methods/Platforms

There are several methods and platforms to sell cards. 

In person: Selling cards to your family, friends and neighbors is one method to monetize your cards. You can also seek to sell your cards at a local hobby or trading card shop or a card show. Here are some websites that list card shops and shows: 

 

Online: There are several great online portals for selling cards online. Here are some online sites: 

  • ALT – Good for PSA, BGS and SGC graded cards. See the brief overview of graded cards below. 
  • Amazon – Yes, sports and trading cards can be sold on Amazon.com. 
  • Beckett – Cards can be listed in Beckett Marketplace and simultaneously posted to ebay. 
  • Ebay*-Ebay has the largest card inventory and audience. Please see the COMC vs Ebay overview below. 
  • Etsy – A great alternative site for selling cards. 
  • Kruk Cards – They will purchase cards directly on their site and maintain an eBay store. 
  • Facebook  – There are card specific forums that can serve as a great starting point. Facebook marketplace is also a viable option.  A breakdown of the seller fees can be found here  
  • Goldin – Auction site from the Netflix series King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch
  • Heritage Auctions  
  • PWCC  
  • Sportlots  
  • Starstock  
  • StockX – Online marketplace for collectibles that includes a trading cards section. 
  • Walmart – Site includes individual and boxes.
  • Whatnot – This is a live video marketplace where people often auction cards.  

Online Consignment- Consignment selling, primarily on eBay, is a viable low investment  option for selling cards. Some prominent eBay consigners are: DC Sports 87, Greg Morris Cards and Probstein123

 

Card Grading– The process of card grading involves sending your cards into a company for authentication and evaluation. Currently, the primary grading companies are PSA,  Beckett (BGS) and SGC . Here are some helpful card grading overviews: 

Sports Card Investor Channel: When To Grade and How To Prepare A Card For Grading

COMC vs eBay Overview 

The online sites above can be a great avenue for selling sports and trading cards. However, COMC and eBay should be a major consideration for beginning sellers that seek to profitably sell cards online.  

  • COMC (Check Out My Cards) – may be the easiest option as users only have to focus on shipping and pricing their cards on the platform. Users send their cards to COMC and the company will sort, evaluate for condition, image, cataloging and ship a purchased card to a buyer.  Additionally, users can also cross list their cards on eBay for a fee. Even with the extensive list of fees associated with the platform, the ease and flexibility of COMC makes it a great option for card sellers.  
  • eBay – is the most well-known auction website and maintains the largest card inventory in the world by a decent margin. eBay is a great place for gaining visibility for your collection. Sellers must set up and maintain an eBay store, deal with seller fees and manage processing/shipping supplies, but it can at times be the best and most profitable option.  

Imaging and Scanning Cards 

This next section looks some of the things needed to manage an online trading cards store.  

Scanning/Imaging – Cards can be imaged online by simply uploading images via a cell phone. However, the use of specialized imaging tools can make the process quicker and easier. Here are some helpful imagine tools: 

  • Ricoh/Fujitsu ADF scanners – Fujitsu has made a name for itself in the sports and trading card imaging market. Prominent scanners are Fujitsu Fi-8170 , Fujitsu Fi-7030  and Fujitsu Fi-7180.  
  • Other ADF scanners – Fujitsu has a lot of support materials and videos regarding imaging sports cards, but most Auto Document Feeder (ADF) scanners should be sufficient. For example, I have imaged cards with an EPSON ADF scanner like an Epson Workforce ES 400 ii and Epson Workforce ES-500W II. 
  • Overhead/Flatbed scanner – Ungraded cards can safely and quickly be imaged via an ADF scanner, but sellers may want to invest in an overhead scanner to image graded cards.  A reasonably priced overhead scanner such as the Czur lens 1200 Pro or Fujitsu SV600 or Epson Perfection V600 flatbed scanner are some viable graded card scanning options. 

  •  

* There are Fujitsu videos that show how an unprotected raw card can be imaged through the scanner without damage. The advantages include faster and easier scanning and clearer images. However, there is a debate among sellers as to whether this is the best policy as there is still a potential risk. This risk may make sense for low end cards, but I have found that putting a card in a semi-rigid holder (card saver) produces high quality images with no chance of damage to the card. Top loaders can also be used in an ADF scanner, but the roller insert may need to be removed first.

Bulk Listing Options 

After scanning a batch of sports cards, high volume sellers will want to list their card in bulk as easily as possible. Users can use the bulk listing tool via eBay for free or can further turbo charge the listing process with the use of artificial intelligence software.  

  • eBay Template -Has a great bulk listing tool for listing batches of cards. It should be noted that eBay also has a dedicated section for non-sports trading cards (Pokemon, MTG etc).

The use of AI software to automate the identification and listing process can further speed up the process of uploading cards to eBay. Two prominent sports card AI applications are: 

  • Card Dealer pro (CollX) – This is a web based AI program that integrates with Fujitsu and Epson scanners and boasts a 95% match accuracy rate. Users simply upload their scanned images into the application and the AI rapidly speeds up the process of filling in the necessary eBay related data.  
  • Kronocard (Kronozio) – After downloading the software, users can scan, document, inventory and sell their cards. The embedded AI also allows users to speed up their listing process. Additionally, users can also use Kronocard to list non-sports cards like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic the Gathering. A video demonstrating the use of Kronocard for non-sports cards can seen here. Finally, users can lists their cards on Kronozio.com as well.  

The addition of an AI software applications such as Card Dealer Pro or Kronocard means that a seller can increase the listing output 4X or more an hour and often end up processing tens of thousands of cards at a time. Sellers that wish to upload a significant amount of cards at time will find the use of either software application to be a worthwhile investment. 

Price Research Tools 

Understanding the potential value of a card is critical to determining whether to grade and/or sell a card. Here are several pricing research tools: 

  • 130 Point – is a market research tool that includes data from eBay, Goldin, Pristine Auction , PWCC, and My Slabs. 
  • Alt Marketplace – The website and app are both good tools for researching graded cards.  
  • Beckett – was founded by Dr. James Beckett and has been a major publisher of card prices for over 30 years.  
  • Cardbase – Searches includes 30 marketplace/auction houses and one year’s worth of sales data.  
  • Card Ladder – Large database with over 50 million historical sales from the most popular marketplaces including eBay, Goldin, Heritage, My Slabs and population reports from PSA,  Beckett (BGS) and SGC. For a fee, Card Ladder Pro users can view up to 19 years worth of sales data for a card.  
  • eBay – eBay search tools can be an effective research method. See the brief search tutorial below.  
  • Market Movers – A premium search application associated with the Sports Card Investor. The application includes price charts for over one million sports cards, sealed products, trading and non sports cards (Marvel cards, Pokemon and more) in graded and raw condition. The application includes data from ebay, Goldin, PWCC , and My Slabs. The application has a lot of helpful analytics tools that can make the premium service well worth the purchase price. You will receive 2 weeks Free and then 20% Off for LIFE by using ‘MINERVA’ in coupon code when signing up for the Market Movers app. This coupon code applies to Monthly and Annual Subscriptions. 
  • Sports Card Pro – Has subscription packages, but the free version includes a collection tracker and one year’s worth of card data. 
  • Sports Card Investor – This is a great free website and app with solid research charts/tools and one year of sales data. The site also has a fantastic associated Youtube channel. 

eBay Pricing Tutorial 

Using eBay’s pricing tool can be a great way to research a card price. Here is an example using a “2017 Panini Prizm Patrick Mahomes 269 psa 10” as the search: 

1. Type the relevant card and grading company/grade (if applicable in the eBay search) 

2. Click on the eBay Price Guide or symbol. 

3.  The day that the search above was conducted the result was:  

 

4. I am currently searching for the base card (non-auto or parallel) so I will exclude two results by clicking on the check box and then clicking the exclude sales button: 

 

5. This resulted in a modified result of:  

 

*For comparison purposes for the same card: 

  • Alt values the card at $3785 

  • CardLadder had an average price of $3970.36 

  • SportscardPro: $3750.51 

Based on the eBay basic search along with the other searches the card has a value of about $3800 – $3900. 

 Administrative  and Storage/Shipping Supplies 

There are several storage and shipping supplies that online sellers will need. Here are some curated useful supplies: 

 
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This post contains affiliate links. A small commission may be received if you click on the links of the products and make a purchase. The purchase price will not be impacted. 

Related: Card Pricing Sites and Apps Review

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