Selling Your Michael Jordan Auto?

Some tips on what to sell when prices are falling

We’ve talked at length on the show about depressed prices for Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Hall of Fame Autographs and other high-end sports cards during this economic downturn.

2 Reasons for this:

1. People need money so they are selling the easiest (and highest $) cards they have.
2. High number of sellers vrs. low number of buyers with disposable income.

The problem I have with unloading your BEST cards in this economy is that you are committing the #1 sin of investing….selling low!

The questions I ask you is simple. Think about all the “other” cards you have in your collection.  The base cards that are stacking up, the COOL (currently out of league) autographs and game-used cards you have sitting around.

How much was your scrap worth 12 months ago?
“Nothing”

How much is that scrap worth today?
“Nothing”

How much will it be worth 12 months from today?
“Nothing”

I put “nothing” in quotations because we all know that if you group it together right you can sell these cards (not individually) but by “combining” it together with other cards to make it more attractive.

Ask yourself the same questions above with your Michael Jordan Autograph…or any other HOF or Super Star player and I think you will see where I am getting with this.

Your garbage cards were worth nothing, are worth nothing and will be worth nothing no matter what the economy looks like…So SELL THOSE CARDS INSTEAD!!

I can’t guess how many base cards and worthless cardboard you have sitting around, but I have BOXES and BOXES of commons that would never go anywhere on their own. However I do have some decent…non autographed or game used Rookies or Inserts that I don’t mind parting with now because I can keep the Joe Montana Auto’s and the PC safe.

Take 4-8 “good” cards-this can be common game-used or autographs (because companies are paying $1-$1.50 per jersey or auto card so they can repackage at retail level) or it can be decent rookies with a  $5.00+ Book Value.  Then load in 30-40 “base” cards to sweeten it up a little and you will see that you get $5-$10+ per auction. Put on 50-100 auctions and you can get what selling your Jordan Auto would have netted you.

But putting on 50-100 auctions takes time!! I never said it was easy to sell your common cards. But do you really want to part with your Jordan Auto and watch prices climb year over year as the economy turns around?

I practice what I preach….I’ve done this since Jan 1 and have sold over $600 worth of cards that I would have taken $100 for all at once.  It takes time (sometimes all day) to list 20-30 auctions, but at least I still will have the nice pieces in my collection and a lot more room in the closet.