Category: How to Sell Your Trading Cards

(1) The Problem: in several instances, tracking purchased through eBay seems to not be synched to their [eBay’s] employees’ review of undelivered item cases.

The Experience: having delivered on my end of the bargain — by purchasing a shipping label through eBay and then sending out a buyer’s cards in timely fashion — eBay customer service nonetheless sent me messages, seemingly implying, that I am accountable for a buyer not receiving an item… with eBay arguing that I have not uploaded shipping. And, yet, I purchased my shipping through them. It’s Odd.

In one case — of particular frustration — I explained this to a representative, only to get back a what appeared to be a canned response that reiterated eBay’s original claim against me, without responding to the updated information I provided. My request for the problem I experienced to be escalated (I stated that I wanted to help eBay address what was clearly not a one-off, but a system’s-level, programming-based, problem) to a higher-level of management was either ignored, or at least not updated, in the response.

The Upshot: primarily, the major cost was time spent needlessly on the horn with customer service. Being forced to make a case for myself, when the system already had all the information it needed. To be clear: at a certain point, an item has been stuck in the mail for so long, that the buyer deserves a refund… but, so far as I am concerned, that is what insurance is for. I would also suggest, that eBay really should make a stronger effort to keep anyone overly impatient at bay, by sending them, on my behalf, a note that the seller (me!) put the item in the mail within X hours of receiving payment… with a reminder to the buyer that there is tracking, and then offering an indication of where the item currently is at within the postal system.

(2) The Problem: Postal insurance purchased through eBay doesn’t seem to be synched to eBay’s resolution of undelivered item cases.

The Experience: After getting an undelivered item case — not only did I have the awkward experience / inconvenience of needing to tell eBay the tracking number (of the shipping label I bought from them!) — but eBay then held me accountable to cover for the buyers loss. But here’s the thing: while the buyer has lost and should be compensated, I have too have lost my card! Obviously, if I paid eBay for insurance with my purchase of postage, then I should be compensated too. This is the very point of insurance. Again, for emphasis: this is the point of insurance, for which I have paid, in buying a shipping label via eBay. Rather than than experiencing a streamlined system in place to deal with these (inevitable) occurrences, eBay seems to have placed many hoops between me and a fair outcome, leaving the burden on the seller to jump through hoops, despite all the information being readily available in eBay’s system (seeing as the shipping label and insurance were purchased through eBay’s system).

The Upshot: well, covering for the lost mail comes, at least initially, out of my pocket. But most weird, I have to fight for it not to come out of my pocket. The system isn’t automated to use the information it has. Instead, the burden is placed on me to defend myself, when all the information already exists within the system for a judgement to be made in my defense, in my absence.

(3) The Problem: eBay’s willingness to unilaterally withdraw cash directly from my bank account. 

The Experience: After using eBay’s international shipping labels and their standard envelop for trading cards under $20, I have been put in the awkward experience of eBay pulling money from my bank account to compensate a buyer for an undelivered item. Look, to some extent, I get it: if you’ve got a seller who is a bad actor — selling products with no intention to deliver — then, yeah, of course, eBay needs to be able to pull money from their account to compensate the buyers. But, first off, I have a long track record of not being that guy. And, second, the debiting of my account often occurred in the midst of me having defended and explained myself — and of having provided all the info eBay needs to process an insurance claim.

So, this problem is linked to the problems above. Yes, there are circumstances in which eBay should pull cash against a seller’s account. But given the above two points, this would not happen unnecessarily if only the system was streamlined to use the information it already has available to it.

The Upshot: First off, Inconvenience. Second off, some very tangible potential damages. I happened to have the money in my bank account to cover a pretty big sale that got a claim against it (understandably, the buyer wasn’t too happy with the item being stuck in the post for four + weeks). But what if I hadn’t? Most weeks, that bank account is just for receiving eBay payments, at which point I transfer the funds to other accounts. I had bought a shipping label through eBay with insurance, in order to avoid exactly this sort of circumstance! I went to the post office and waited in line to get a scan of the label. The post had my item in their possession and eBay had the proof (they sold me the postal label and tracking and insurance… after all… ). Yet, then the money got drawn from my account. What if I had reinvested the money … (or stupidly spent it on some sort of trinket, for all that matters)? … Why on earth would that be held against me? This could do some real harm for folks who’ve done everything right on their sale, but find the post not delivering on their end of the bargain. To suddenly have a bank account that could go in the red — its an upsetting thought, particularly when you’ve done what felt like due diligence to not have any major past sales come back to haunt you.

Let me start by saying this: shipping has always been my biggest headache. Its not just time consuming — but has become an obsession of mine to figure-out: high transaction costs block out a vast majority of cards from being sellable (at least online).

In my own eBay selling, I offered free shipping & handling. Still not sure if that has ever been a good idea. But, it meant I learnt a lot. Especially about trying to ship cheap. So here are a few pieces of advice:

Most buyers, in my experience, hate paying for shipping, even if it means begrudgingly accepting their card being sent in a Plain White Envelop (PWE). Traditionaly, this means putting the card in a top-loader, folding it between a piece of paper (the eBay invoice), dropping it into a envelop (albeit, some will say: spring for semi-rigid cardboard mailers) and then throw on a stamp. Additionally, if you are paranoid, like me, about the letter getting destroyed in USPS’s big-ass machines…. then buy the non-machinable stamp from the post office and write/stamp “non-machinable” on the letter. Now, just drop it at the post-office.

In all honesty, I lifted this method from a blogger named waxpackhero, whose got tons of helpful advice about the hobby. He also writes better than me. So, check him out online at this link… in particular, his entries on shipping are really, really, informative. Just a gem of an article. He also has tons of advice about using different platforms — from COMC.com, StarStock, eBay.com and SportsLots.com (the hobby’s unsung hero, in my estimation).

Qualifiers About Doing PWE

A important qualifier though. Be clear on eBay that you are doing PWE. Not everyone likes them, and it would be wrong to try and be tricky about it. In general, you should offer the option of buyers paying an upgrade free to receive their cards via bubble mailer with tracking — more on this later — Be conscious that your low-value-cards may be worth a lot (at least sentimentally) to someone else. (“One man’s trash…”) So, give folks an option to pay an upgrade fee.

Finally, be very careful to note: PWEs traditionally send without tracking. eBay now has a “standard rate envelop” for shipping within the USA that comes with tracking, though my experience of its reliability has been spotty at best. I often do PWEs to Canada, which means taking a risk — going without tracking. (Blimey, I hope eBay figures out something to improve shipping to Canada soon). Once in a while, the card doesn’t make it. So — if you are going to do PWE — you gotta do the risk analysis. Weigh your costs and benefits, and the risks associated with items in each category. Ask yourself, given an X% chance of the cards being lost, am I okay to cover a refund on it?

Generally, on more valuable cards, I spring for more expensive shipping options, in order to get that tracking and for the luxury of being able to use a bubble envelop. I stiffen the bubble mailer with cardboard too — for safe measure.

Note that selling between the USA and Canada, or the USA and Europe, gets expensive. This has enticed me to offer PWE even at higher values when shipping to Europe. But, again, note the risk involved. You may just have to go the tough love route, and limit what you ship to other countries — or just be really upfront about the surcharges you need to levy to justify selling to customers across the pond.

As is usual of me — I’ve been a little too theoretical… a little too bird’s eye viewed… But, all in good time. I’ll try to post more about shipping methods in the future. In the mean time, I highly recommend checking out the resources linked to above.

Best,

— SCV

I will have to revisit this post frequently for edits, because the hobby is rapidly evolving. Platforms are popping up everywhere. Platforms are expanding to do things they’ve never done before. I know some better than others… and, for yet others, nothing at all.

Still, for anyone who has been collecting, and now wants to consider selling, let me share some helpful resources. I will begin with my own thoughts… but I will also be sure to share links the resources cited and to the thoughts of others much cleverer and well-spoken than I.

Background — Auctions Forever (At Least in Theory)

All that said, I began selling cards a long time ago on eBay. This is your “go-to” if you want to use the “auction-house” selling format. Personally, I have a fondness for auctions — albeit, perhaps not for reasons of rationality. In short, they are great because they are ballsy; and they are high exposure. Normally, I do not celebrate exposure and balls within the same sentence…

… But in this case, it works. If you want to know the market price of something… then figure out what someone is actually willing to pay for it… not what someone is willing to ask for it… which may well be unrealistic. (FYI, auction results from eBay are also public for 90 days… so this makes for a valuable research tool to price-out your collection, even if you do not intend to use eBay itself as the platform to sell your collectibles.)

eBay’s perks, then, are sorta clear: you get a platform to sell your cards. They also have a lot of traffic. The costs? Most obviously, eBays fees: they are a quasi-monopolist that is sure as hell gonna take their pound of flesh… But, perhaps even more expensive (insofar as you want to place a value on your time): well, you have just bought yourself a low paying job (heck, this is true even if you are getting your cards for free). By logging-onto Ebay, you score yourself the mountain of work that is selling: runs to the local office supplies shop; postal mishaps; customer grievances; and, most dreaded of all, trying to get eBay’s customer service to be helpful.

eBay, a beautiful thing in theory, does sometimes hit the wall of cold-hard-reality. I can only speak to my own personal experience, which is one of frustration. But, even for me, that does not mean calling it quits. There are other options: consignment.

Consignment Services on eBay

That brings me to a second set of platforms — a general category I will call eBay consigners. These folks will spare you from having to deal with the headaches of eBay. They will, of course, take a cut for sparing you the trouble… but, I gotta say, many consigners take a relatively small cut compared to what eBay takes as a transaction fee…

Hence, what’s so interesting, is that if you shop around, you may find that you actually save money through consignment, all-the-while sparing yourself the work of listing yourself. How can this be so? Well, in my best estimation, it is because most consigners are big time sellers who get to throw their size around as leverage in negotiation with eBay. Put simply, the big guys pay lower commission fees to eBay than you or I. Currently, I am paying a consigner 16%, which is quite low given that he is doing a ton of work to list items and I would’ve been stuck paying eBay 12.5% if left to my own devices. Consigners being able to get a lower rate from Ebay leaves them some room to take a cut, while still leaving you right around what eBay would have charged you for listing direct.

I don’t want to advertise any one consigner. So, I will just say there are many good ones… some meh… but do your homework — read up on their rates — maybe do a trial-run with your lesser-prized-possessions to see who does their job the best. A google search of “eBay sport card consignment services” should get you well on your way.

COMC… Great in Theory…

Finally, I will break my earlier rule and mention a couple consigners in particular. These are bigger players who partially operate on eBay, but also allow you to have your own (digitized) “card shop” on their own websites. First, check-out-my-cards, better known as COMC, offers a really interesting service. So many cards in our hobby are impossible to transact, because the shipping fees are greater than the value of the cards. COMC has found a nice trick around that.

COMC will consign your cards for a 50 cent fee (as of 2021) upon you shipping-out your cards in bulk to their massive warehouse. Buyers can then accumulate cards from everything at the one location, so as to save on shipping by purchasing many-many cards all at once to be shipped.

What is so amazing about this service (drawbacks in a moment)… is that they do the hard work of categorizing, digitizing (picturing), listing and, ultimately, doing the payment processing and shipping of your trading cards. Its a lot of work. And, yes, they charge a flat fee per card put into their system. They also take their pound of flesh through an additional percent commission on final sale value (and, yet another, percent penalty if you remove money from their ecosystem). Yet, so far, despite all the fees, I have found that I save money selling certain cards (generally in the $2-20 range) by operating through them rather than eBay. Why? Well, in addition to saving me time by doing work for me, they avoid the huge mess that is postage fees.

Normally, a low value card is bought and now must be mailed. But COMC lets you build an inventory (as buyer or seller)– meaning you can pay a combined shipping rate for a mountain of cards (whenever you’ve decided you’ve built-up enough cards to now claim). There is a major economies of scale to this system. Shipping one card, or shipping 60, it costs about the same. May as well build-up 60. It’s a smart system.

COMC does have its draw-backs. I will have to save the full experience for another post, but for the time being, let me just note: they do a lot of work for you, but you still have to research if the platform will be useful for getting a decent value back on your card. Sometimes I send in cards that must be worth 2-3 bucks on eBay, only to find-out they are selling for a quarter (this seems especially true of card series for which e-packs are sold — but more on that another time). For some series, the market is just flooded. So, I’d recommend doing a quick spot check of what things look like for your cards before shipping them in. As such, on some cards, if you send them in you might lose money on the COMC transaction fees alone.

I should also mention, they seem to be having some difficulties with their workflow. Recently (as of 2021), their ingestion period of new cards has been quite long — with their deadline estimates frequently changing. Shipment requests have been slow too. Not only are they estimating 6 weeks for shipping, but I have been extended well over a month past that deadline. I’ve heard worse stories yet through the grapevine. So, the service may be best for those especially patient.

Lastly, COMC will consign your cards on eBay. Its an easy process to turn them over from their site to eBay. So that is nice. But, I do worry their poor reputation (i.e., feedback rating) of late may be impacting the prices received at auction. Ultimately, if buyers hate a seller, they do not buy from that seller. And if that seller is managing your portfolio, its hard to imagine they are going to realize full value. So, once again, be warned. Watch their feedback ratings — presumably they will get this figured-out. If ratings improve, then I’d imagine buyers will forgive the past and solid prices will then be realized at auction.

All that is just to say, do your research. COMC has some advantages, but it is not a panacea. COMC works well to minimize transaction fees for some cards, but not all cards.

(Final Note: as implied earlier, if you use COMC, you will be holding your cards in their warehouse. They will hold the cards in their own possession, unless you decide at a future date to not sell them and call them back. Obviously, for hobbyists who enjoy flipping through cards, this could be a bummer.)

The Humble but Steadfast, Substance over Style, Workhorse of the Hobby: Sportlots.com

I will mention a lesser known site: sportcardlots.com. They’ve an interesting system going on. Lowest transaction fees, it seems to me, of all the existing platforms listed so far. The website is humble. Positively 1990s. And, yet, massively functional. They allow for you to do an auction format, and also a simple electronic card shop format — whereby you enter your cards into their system and name a price. Unlike COMC, you do not send in your cards to be held in their possession until sold — this does mean you are doing the hard labour of listing. However, they do try to replicate COMC’s smart shipping system — whereby buyers can request cards be sent to their headquarters … so as to be combined into lower (per-unit) cost parcels. As a seller, this allows you to ship cards purchased by multiple buyers all at once, also getting down your per-card shipping cost.

The Stock Market of Sports Cards — StarStock

Lastly, a new site called StarStock is doing some interesting work. They are not yet selling cards for all sports, nor for all series within the sports they do cover. My experience is limited here, as their range has historically been limited to sports that I don’t normally collect (being a hockey guy myself — they just opened markets for hockey in 2021).

They are fashioning themselves the stock market of rookie cards (yes, that’s right, they are sticking — at the time of writing — just to consigning your rookie cards). It is pretty clever. Like COMC, you send in your items to a warehouse… which enables lower per-unit shipping costs. Also like COMC, they will get their pound of flesh via a small upfront processing fee and a later transaction fee. But, unlike COMC, there mechanism of exchange is slightly different — looking more like a stock market than a store front. Sellers list the price at which they will sell. Buyers list the price at which they will buy. In moments of numbers overlapping, the market clears and cards will automatically be exchanged between parties.

Where this all leaves us?

Each mode of selling will have its advantages and setbacks. What matters is sorting out your cards into piles for each format, as will minimize transaction costs (which, I would argue, should include a price on your time… at least for the parts of selling that you find a headache).

This review is meant as a bird’s eye overview, but in future weeks I will try to bulk-up on more pointed advice — both of my own, and by sharing links to others who’ve done better than me by these services… and, thus, I should have much more of a wealth of experiences to share.