Are you ready to get rid of your baseball cards that have just been sitting forgotten in storage? You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that while your cards never appreciated in value the way you expected them to, they may still fetch you a few dollars for the trouble of storing them. There is a person or place willing to take even your most mundane commons cards!
The first step to getting your old card collection out of your home or other storage is to evaluate and catalog what you actually have. Then, obviously, baseball cards of any real value should be sold through appropriate venues to fetch the best price. After that, your remaining cards can be disposed of in any number of ways, from giving them away to throwing them in the garbage.
Of course, throwing your cards away should be a last resort, in case you can’t seem to find anyone willing to take them. That isn’t likely, though, with so many groups out there working on getting cards to kids who can’t afford them. There is still a thriving culture of sports memorabilia enthusiasts out there; you just have to find the right people to pitch your collection.
What Is the Best Way to Sell Old Baseball Cards?
After you’ve established what you have in your collection overall, you can decide which cards are worth the hassle of selling. Typically, complete sets are your best bet at selling quickly with little to no fuss. A dealer will happily help you find a collector interested in a complete set, and they’ll deal with low-ballers, hagglers, and bargain hunters for you.
Otherwise, you’ll be selling cards in one of two ways- as standalone individual cards or in bulk.
Where to Sell Individual Baseball Cards
Selling individual cards will probably not be your best bet for getting rid of the bulk of your baseball card stash. Still, many dealers/collectors have luck selling individual cards valued at over $10 through e-commerce sites such as eBay or Mercari. It takes little time or effort.
With sites like these, you have multiple formats for selling, so you can either list them as buy now or hold auctions to drive prices up a bit. Either way, you’ll make more of a profit than you would by throwing them away!
Where to Sell Baseball Cards in Bulk
If you want to ditch your entire collection quickly but still turn a profit, you should sell to your local community. If you have boxes and boxes of cards, it will be hard to find someone willing to pay to have them shipped, so save yourself some trouble and sell locally. Keep your price reasonably low and reach out to shops that might be interested in reselling your cards.
You can search Google, Facebook, and Craigslist for other local groups that might be interested in buying your collection to pick through. Try looking under hobbies, gaming, sports, antiques, and collectible memorabilia groups and reaching out with a post.
How Do I Get Rid Of Baseball Cards?
If you have trouble selling your baseball cards, all is not lost. There are even more great ways to give baseball cards away than there are to sell them! So, if your main goal is to get rid of the baseball cards stacked up in your storage space, you have plenty of options.
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Can You Donate Baseball Cards to Goodwill or Other Charitable Organizations?
Before you consider destroying your once treasured memorabilia, there’s one final strategy that you can use to make a few bucks. Donating your cards to a non-profit or charitable organization is easy, and you’ll get money back on your tax-writable donation at the end of the year!
The following organizations are just a few that may be willing to take your collection off of your hands. Some of these organizations even have convenient drop-off locations to make your donation as quick and straightforward as possible.
- Goodwill (call 1-800- 466-3945 to arrange a pickup or find a drop off location)
- The Salvation Army (call 1-800-728-7825 to arrange a pickup)
- Collectibles With Causes/Giving Center (start the donation process here)
- Commons4Kids (email [email protected] to get started)
Local kids clubs and shelters are also worth checking to see if they would be willing to accept your donation.
Can You Recycle Old Baseball Cards?
If you’ve decided that you don’t want to invest the time and effort it takes to sell or donate your old card collection; you can always recycle them. This option is a bit better than throwing old cards away in the garbage where they’ll go to a landfill. Instead, your local recycling center will take them all.
Many cards are printed on cardboard and can go out in your regular paper recycling bin. Some cards, however, are printed on silk or plastic. It is important to know the difference so that you can recycle your card collection responsibly.
What Do You Do With a Baseball Card Collection?
Some older collectors have become disillusioned with their trading cards and feel like the only responsible thing is clearing their storage space and moving on. If you’re considering holding onto your sports cards but aren’t sure what to do with them, there are some popular ideas to consider, though. After all, your cards’ past performance doesn’t dictate how their value will appreciate in the future!
Even though many of the cards you’ve collected never appreciated in value the way you expected them to, they still mean something to you, the collector. Imagine for a moment, if you will, how exciting it could be to get back into collecting actively? Many baseball fans that have stumbled across their old collections are doing just that.
Get Back Into the Hobby
Depending on how you stored your cards in the past, it might be time to consider updating your storage system. First, go through your cards and decide which ones are worth keeping, however.
After you get rid of your unwanted cards, your collection will be a lot more manageable. If they aren’t already stored and protected in penny sleeves and top loaders, consider picking some up to protect the integrity of your collection going forward.
Then get ready for one of the most exciting possibilities of being an old-world collector in the modern age; autographs! There are dozens of retired baseball players that are willing to sign their cards for free. Autographed cards will really help raise your collection’s value, especially over time.
Final Thoughts
The decision to either keep or get rid of your baseball relics is entirely up to you. The important thing is, someone should enjoy your baseball cards.
Selling or donating your baseball cards will also accomplish getting them into the hands of people who will appreciate and enjoy them. Young and old collectors alike will get a kick out of going through your baseball card collection, even if they’re not financially valuable.
Alternatively, if picking through your childhood treasures sparked a renewed interest in the hobby, that’s great! You could easily enjoy this hobby for the rest of your life, as new cards are constantly released. Furthermore, it could become a unique heirloom that can not only be passed down but added to as well.