You’ve been collecting sports cards for some time now, you’ve seen traders make thousands on them, and now you’ve finally decided to liquidate your assets. Sadly, you don’t know the first thing about selling trading cards.
Technically, you can sell football cards, baseball cards, and basketball cards anywhere. However, to get the best value for these collectibles, you’ll need to research which platforms can help you connect with like-minded sports fans.
Don’t worry if you don’t know where to sell collectible cards. We can help! We've rounded up various official and non-official sources to make a roundup of the legitimate and best card-selling websites and shops.
Let’s dive into everything you should know about selling sports cards online and don’t miss out on lucrative opportunities to maximize your sports cards’ trading values.
If you're looking for more ways to make a bit of money quickly, check out these 3 apps we recommend:
In this article
Best Places to Sell Sports Cards
Wondering where you can sell your sports cards?
Having multiple places to buy and sell sports cards feels exciting for seasoned collectors, but first-timers might find the options overwhelming. Most don’t even know where to sell sports cards and trading cards online.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, keep reading. Here are the best online platforms where you can buy, sell, and trade various sports cards.
Here's a summary of the best places to sell your sports cards:
Best Places To Sell Sports Cards | Why We Like It |
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1. eBay
eBay is the most widely recognized online platform among sports cards traders. It lets you post both auction-style and fixed-price listings, so you’ll have total control over your pricing strategy. It's one of the best ways to sell your sports cards if you don't mind the sellers fee as thousands of people visit eBay to buy cards.
How to Sell:
- Click Sell Your Product, then input your cards listing information
- Upload all images.
- If you’re selling your sports card at a fixed price, click the List Item for Sale. However, if you want to post an auction, scroll down to the Listing Type section and select Auction from the drop-down list.
- Wait for buyers to place their offers.
- Once you accept an offer, expect 12.35% of the final sale price to go straight to eBay’s seller fees.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The price can be set by you | You might come across scammers when selling your cards |
| Able to sell any grade of sports card you want | Generally steep sellers fee |
| Competitive market |
2. Blowout Forums
Blowout Forums serves as an online platform wherein sports fans can talk about under the sun, including sports cards.
It’s not really a formal marketplace. However, the community allows ethical sellers and traders to connect with buyers on the site. It's one of the best places to sell baseball cards, football cards, and other trading cards.
Disclaimer: You can only sell unopened super-rare cards or complete sets.
How to Sell:
- Go to the site’s Wanted list and check what cards other users want. See if you have anything in demand.
- Once you find a buyer looking for the specific card you want to let go of, reach out to them privately.
- Agree on a price, then finalize the details.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Good for banger cards | Your listing needs to stand out if you want it to be seen |
| Active forums for baseball cards, football cards and basketball cards |
3. Facebook
Selling sports cards through Facebook marketplaces and groups allow you to connect to buyers who buys sports cards near you. It's easy to list your products on Facebook marketplace and even easier to get your cards seen through groups like Buy Sell or Trade Sports Cards and Buy/Sell/Trade All Sports Cards.
How to sell sports cards on Facebook Marketplace:
- On Facebook, click on Marketplace
- Select “Sell”
- Add your sports card listing details, price and category
- Choose an image for your sports card listing
- Click publish for your listing to go live
How to sell sports cards on Facebook Groups:
- Search for the Facebook group you want to join. Be sure to choose a group that's active and even better, relevant to your sports card genre.
Eg.
Facebook Groups To Sell Baseball Cards: Baseball cards – Buy, sell, trade, and break!!!
Facebook Groups To Sell Football Cards: Football Cards Buy-Sell-Trade-Auctions
Note: Some groups will require you to wait for an admin to admit you in before you enter the group - Once you're in the group, you can start posting your cards.
Tip: Label your cards clearly, include the sport, whether it's graded, player name, team, season and card number.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| You'll be able to reach to multiple enthusiasts in various groups | You'll need to weed out scammers |
| Direct communication with potential buyers | |
| More potential buyers for high-end cards |
4. Dave & Adam's Card World
Dave & Adam's have been around for over 30 years and are a heavy weight in the industry of buying and selling sports cards. They accept a variety of cards including baseball cards, football cards, wrestling cards, hockey cards, and more.
If you have sealed boxes and cases of sports cards they have a buy list which shows users what sports cards they're looking to pay people for.
However, if you're looking to sell modern single sports cards, they need to be graded or have a value of at least $50.
How To Sell:
To sell singles or vintage cards that aren't listed in their buy list, you'll have to fill up their form to let them know what cards you're offering. If they're interested, they'll contact you with a quotation that's valid for 30 days.
If they're interested in what you're selling you'll get a response from them and you can send your card over. Take note that you'll need to bear the shipping cost unless you're willing to get 95% of the price they're offering instead of 100% for them to pick up the sports card you're selling. At the moment, they accept shipping from FedEx and UPS.
Dave & Adam's is a great way to cut through unresponsive buyers and the effort it takes to list your cards on marketplace platforms. You'll also get your money fast.
While convenient and reputable, you should also note that the buying prices they offer is relatively lower compared to online marketplaces.
For example, we compared the price Dave & Adam offers for the 2020 Bowman Chrome Baseball Hobby Box to the price a seller has it listed for on eBay and Amazon.
You can see from the above that you can earn between $24.50 to $114 more for this baseball card box if you're successful in selling it on these other sites.
While some people may see it as a “rip-off”, I believe it boils down to weighing what you're willing to trade for the convenience of selling your sports cards directly to Dave & Adam's and getting paid quickly, compared to competing with other sellers and posting your cards in marketplaces yourself.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Get paid quickly | Generally lower price for your sports cards |
| Easy way to sell sports card | Not suitable for lower end sports cards |
5. Otia Sports
Otia Sports has been in the game for over 20 years and is the place to go if you're looking to sell vintage sports cards. Your collection needs to include vintage (pre-1975) sports cards to qualify for a sale.
The good thing with Otia is that although they require pre-1975 cards in your collection, they will ultimately buy your entire collection if they're interested in your cards and won't leave out your lower end cards.
How to sell:
- Provide Otia with details of your card collection to let them know the number of cards you have, what percentage of your cards are pre-1975 vintage cards and what complete sets you have
- Send them photos of your entire collection, a photo of your most valuable cards, and photos of your pre-1975 star players
- Let them know your asking price.
- If you're happy with their offer, you'll then need to ship your cards out to them.
Do note that their offer for your card collection will be valid for 30 days.
If you're happy with Otia's services and want to recommend them to others, be sure to take advantage of their 10% finders fee which will get you 10% of their purchase price.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Good place to sell pre-1975 vintage sports cards | Expected price will only be confirmed after providing details to them, there's no gauge of how much you'll earn for your card collection |
| They'll buy your entire sports card collection as long as you have vintage pre-1975 cards |
6. Check Out My Collectables (COMC)
COMC is another great marketplace to sell your sports cards.
With COMC, instead of photographing, listing, and shipping your cards out to buyers directly, you'll be sending your cards to COMC to handle all the evaluation, advertising and shipping. They'll even list cards worth over $50 on their Ebay store for you.
You will still be in charge of your listings on COMC in terms of setting the price of your cards and communicating with buyers, however, COMC will help you handle the rest. It's also one the best places to sell ungraded sports cards.
The convenience COMC brings makes it one of the best ways to sell sports cards online.
When you make a sale, you'll be able to cash our your COMC credits to PayPal, or, use your credits to buy other cards and collectibles available on COMC.
As a result of all the assistance they provide, there are definitely fees involved such as storage fees and commission fees.
Some fees you may find helpful to note are:
- Transaction Fee: 5% of sale price
- Cash-Out Fee: 10%* (You may learn more about our Cash-Out Fee here)
- Storage fees: 1¢ per-item, for items with an Asking Price over $0.75 per month
Cards with an asking price of 75¢ or less are stored for free
The site does not charge storage fees while cards are being processed.
If you need to increase your free storage, you will also have options to upgrade your account.
We like that COMC accepts various types of cards ranging from high-end to low-end sports cards.
Overall, COMC is a good platform to try out if you'd like to sell your cards without the hassle of actually listing them on your own. The shipping and handling fees are also worthwhile if you have a huge collection of cards that you want to sell.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Good option for ungraded sports cards | Fees for cashing out sales |
| Good for sellers with large collections of cards | Requires you to wait for COMC to list your cards |
| Handles shipping and listing for you |
7. Beckett
Beckett is a popular platform where you can sell and trade sports cards. You can trade cards with registered members, but you’ll need to sign up as a registered dealer to sell cards.
How to Sell:
- Sign up as a member for $64.99 per year, contact the Beckett customer service team, and follow their registration instructions.
- Once you’re a verified dealer, you can start creating listings. Note that you can only list graded sports cards that will stand up to the team’s stringent authentication process.
- After having your cards verified, the site will publish your listings.
- Set your fixed price, wait for buyers to contact you, then approve offers.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Great for selling graded sports cards | Unable to sell mid and low end cards |
| Ability to trade with other members | Requires membership to sell cards |
8. StockX
Contrary to popular belief, you can sell more than just sneakers on StockX. The site has modern and vintage cards featuring baseball, football, hockey, soccer, and basketball players. With StockX, you'll be attracting more serious buyers who want to ensure the sports cards they buy are legitimate as StockX has a stringent verification process.
How to Sell:
- Create a StockX account.
- List your card, set your asking price, then wait for a buyer to contact you. They’ll either place a lower offer or follow the “Buy Now” price.
- Accept the offer you want.
- Pay the 10% transaction fee and 3% payment processing fee, although you can lower the transaction fee to 9% if you sell six orders for a total of $1,500.
- Send your products to StockX for authentication
- StockX will send your sports cards to the buyer and pay you once authentication is complete.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| StockX authenticates trading cards so your buyers know they're legit | High processing fees |
| StockX handles listing the products (photos, card details) | |
| Fair market as sellers information is hidden |
9. Card Shows
Selling sports cards at card shows can be a great way to earn some extra cash and enjoy your favorite hobby. The amount of time you spend selling your cards is usually on your own time, so you can sell when you want. You will need to spend some time setting up your table and making sure it is clear and easy for people to see your cards. Be sure to write down all of the information about your cards on a sign and make sure to have a price list.
One of the cons of selling at sports card shows is that it can be very hard to find good customers. Many people who attend card shows are looking for just one card, but not everyone is willing to pay the price. Another downside is that you have to work with people you don't know and don't trust. The last downside is that you have to deal with people who are sometimes dishonest.
It's easy to sell cards online or through online auctions, but you'll never know if you're missing out on some good opportunities to make money off your cards by selling them at card shows.
To find a sports card show near you, you can do a Google search or try this tool by Sports Cards Investor.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Selling at your own time | Effort in setting up and booking a sellers table |
| Opportunity to trade cards and connect with other collectors | People buying at card shows may be looking for the best deal so your cards may not sell at the highest price possible |
| You don't have to worry about shipping or listing on marketplaces if you make deals on the spot |
Summary
Overall, the past two years were fantastic for sports fans. Card trading boomed in 2020 since everyone needed alternative ways to make money, and we're here for it! If you are looking to sell your sports cards online, check out any of the platforms we have provided you to determine the best place to sell your trading cards. We hope that this list helps you save time on the process when selling your cards. If you enjoyed this article, do let us know!
Aidan has been writing about personal finance for over 6 years. Prior to this, he worked as a Corporate Finance Analyst where he specialized in Due Diligence, Company Valuations and more. He is a CFA charterholder.
