Need Advice - Selling Cards Online

So I've been toying with the idea of starting to sell some of my extras on eBay as a way to partially fund my ongoing card purchases (Don't worry, I'll still keep plenty of stuff around for trades.  :)  ).  I know many of you sell some cards online, so I thought I would solicit my fellow bloggers for advice.  Tips on any topic would be welcome - Should I limit how many listings I have active at once? Do you find selling lots of common cards worthwhile? Shipping - how much to charge? Ship internationally or just US? Any issues with managing Paypal payments?  Any problems you've had I should watch out for? etc, etc, etc.....

Perhaps most importantly, do you find the money you make justifies the effort??

Thanks in advance!

Buy It Now~!

This made me laugh.  This card is currently listed on eBay:


Undeniably an awesome card, and one I would love to own personally.  But check out the "buy it now" price:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-G-Monsters-Mesozoic-Ankylosaurus-RARE-/220766315776?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item3366b2a500

Come on dude, let's try to stay somewhere in the vicinity of reality here.  But hey, at least he is offering free shipping...

Sweet new Griffey

I turned to eBay for the latest addition to my collection.  This card makes me miss the 90s, because we rarely get die-cut awesomeness like this anymore:

1997 Flair Showcase Diamond Cuts

 

As usual, my scanner does NO justice to this card - it looks so freakin' cool.  The top is sort of hologram-ish with a diamond design.  I also lucked out, because despite all the extra edges the card I got is in perfect condition!  Definitely a recommended purchase for anyone collecting any of these players:

 

1997 Flair Showcase Diamond Cuts Checklist:

1 - Jeff Bagwell
2 - Albert Belle
3 - Ken Caminiti
4 - Juan Gonzalez
5 - Ken Griffey Jr.
6 - Tony Gwynn
7 - Todd Hundley
8 - Andruw Jones
9 - Chipper Jones
10 - Greg Maddux
11 - Mark McGwire
12 - Mike Piazza
13 - Derek Jeter
14 - Manny Ramirez
15 - Cal Ripken
16 - Alex Rodriguez
17 - Frank Thomas
18 - Mo Vaughn
19 - Bernie Williams
20 - Matt Williams

Previous Trivia Question:

 

What stadium served as the home of Philadelphia baseball for 67 years beginning in 1909?

 

A: Shibe Park (later renamed Connie Mack Stadium) was the home of the Philadelphia A's and Phillies

 

Today's Trivia Question:

 

Which two American League teams list their Spring Training home as Surprise, Arizona?

When the Diamond Giveaway Gives You Lemons....

...make Robin-ade~!



(That's an actual product by the way.  Good stuff.)

But seriously, my luck with the Diamond Giveaway codes wasn't great this year, there were few pre-1970 cards to be found in my stack.  But when I found out that I was going to get free shipping (for 25 cards, at least) thanks to reaching the 45-ring mark, I got an idea - why not work the trade wires and convert all these random cards into random Brewer cards??  By the time I was done, I had a collection chock full of Milwaukee Brewer history! Unfortunately no cards of Mr. Yount though...

This one is my personal favorite of the lot.  That mustache makes a statement, and that statement is that this man is most definitely Randy and Ready.

Another favorite pickup was this 1977 Brewers Team Card:

And of course I really like my two Diamond Die Cuts.  The scan really doesn't do them justice:

Sadly I had a third diamond die cut of Chris Young from the Diamondbacks, but I was unable to convert that card into a Rickie Weeks diamond die cut.  Available for trade for any Arizona fans out there!

And now, the rest!:

1973 Topps #74 - Billy Champion



1974 Topps #12 - Dave May
1974 Topps #525 - Clyde Wright
1974 Topps #574 - Bill Parsons
1975 Topps #305 - Jim Colborn
1975 Topps #456 - Bob Coluccio
1976 Topps #244 - Bill Sharp
1976 Topps #479 - Bobby Mitchell

1977 Topps #307 - Gary Sutherland

1978 Topps #77 - Ed Kirkpatrick

1978 Topps #51 - Charlie Moore

1978 Topps #24 - Don Money

1978 Topps #474 - Jim Slaton

1978 Topps #95 - Jamie Quirk

1979 Topps #285 - Don Money

1979 Topps #243 - Buck Martinez

1979 Topps #213 - Bill Travers

1979 Topps #133 - Bill Castro

1979 Topps #108 - Eduardo Rodriguez

1980 Topps #24 - Jim Slaton

1980 Topps #579 - Charlie Moore

1980 Topps #357 - Bob McClure

1980 Topps #668 - Brewers Future Stars: Danny Boitano, Willie Mueller, Lenn Sakata

1981 Topps #183 - Dick Davis

1981 Topps #25 - Sixto Lezcano

1982 Topps #378 - Mike Caldwell

1982 Topps #466 - Randy Lerch

1983 Topps #10 - Gorman Thomas

1984 Topps #298 - Jim Gantner

1985 Topps #317 - Jack Lazorko

1986 Topps #137 - Charlie Moore

1986 Topps #662 - Bill Schroeder

All told, I picked up 36 Brewers for my team binder.  Not too shabby at all!

Previous Trivia Question:

Who delivered the famous "The Giants win the pennant!" radio call for Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World"?

 

A:  Russ Hodges was the voice behind this famous moment in baseball history.

 

Today's Trivia Question:

 

What stadium served as the home of Philadelphia baseball for 67 years beginning in 1909?

Found Cards From The Lost Collector

Things have been a little slow here at the blog the last couple weeks - too much of that darn "real life" getting in the way of baseball cards - but I hope to get back in the swing of things over the next week.  For today I have a short post of a few cards I got as a surprise from AJ at The Lost Collector.  First, he sent a nice refractor-y Griffey for my collection:

And second, he was kind enough to contribute a couple more Diamonds to my set (now over 400 cards!):

Thanks a lot AJ!

Congrats Mr. Larkin

So it looks like it's just Barry Larkin for the HOF this year.  Congratulations to him and Reds fans everywhere!



I hope Bagwell gets more love over time.  I think he deserves to be in, especially considering he played half his career in the Astrodome!

Super Bowl Contest~!

Cynical Buddha over at Collector's Crack is hosting his second annual Super Bowl contest.  It's really simple - just pick the winner! (and a few other details for tiebreakers)  He has some nice vintage football cards and a couple recent patch cards available as prizes.  Hit the link below and check it out!:

http://www.collectorscrack.blogspot.com/2012/01/2nd-annual-almost-easiest-super-bowl.html

Go Pack Go~!

My 2011 Greatest Hits List

It was hard to make a list of just 10 favorite additions to my card collection in 2011, since it was certainly a busy year of collecting (probably too busy when I look at my wallet...).  But here, in no particular order, are some of the standout cards I picked up in 2011:

2011 Topps Corey Hart Diamond Die Cut

How acquired: trade on the Topps Diamond Giveaway site

I got my first shipment of cards from the Diamond Giveaway last week, and I must say these Diamond Die Cuts are very, very cool.  The scan doesn't do the card justice, it is very shiny and looks like a refractor.  The cards are really thick as well, so hopefully they won't ding as easily as some of the old die cuts from the 90s.

2010 Panini Epix Ryan Mathews Football Field Auto

How acquired: pulled from a pack

These are some of the coolest on card autos I've seen.  I was very happy to pull one, and even happier to have pulled a pretty good player!

2011 UD Goodwin Animal Kingdom Prairie Dog Patch

How acquired: trade with The Lifetime Topps Project

I still can't get over my good fortune that one of the bloggers I trade with had the exact Animal Kingdom patch card I was looking for.  I expect you'll be seeing more of these posted to my blog in 2012.

1996 Studio Ken Griffey Jr. Stained Glass Stars

How acquired: purchased on eBay



This is an awesome concept for an insert set and immediately became one of my favorites in my whole Griffey collection.  I wouldn't mind trying to put together the whole set of these someday.

2011 Topps Mark "The Bird" Fidrych Auto

How acquired: pulled from a pack

Outside of my one Griffey autographed card, this is probably my favorite auto in my entire card collection.  A nice card of one of the great characters of baseball history.

2011 Topps Platinum Diamonds (over 400 and counting....)

How acquired: every way I could

I couldn't do this list without including the insert set that has so dominated my attention in the past year.  It's going to be an awful long time before I can complete the whole set, but I still remain committed to my goal.

2001 Topps Archives Paul Hornung Milwaukee County Stadium Seat Relic

How acquired: spin on the "crack wheel" at the local card store

 My LCS has a wheel with numbers 1-25 on it that you can spin for $10, and the lower the number you get the better the card you can win.  My fiance dubbed it the "crack wheel" because she was so addicted to playing their little game (not that I complained too much - I've picked up a whole lot of nice autos and patch cards from her spins.)  This one is my favorite though - a card with a piece of a seat from the Brewers' previous home, good old County Stadium.  I especially love that it is a "2 color" paint patch from one of the very old seats.  It goes well with my other County Stadium relics:

That chair has a place of honor next to the TV in my living room.  My chair is also both of those shades of green, so this is one Topps relic that I KNOW is legit!  :)  I also have a brick from the stadium around here somewhere...

2010 Topps Magic Roger Stauback Chrome Refractor Auto  #9 of 10

How acquired: pulled from a pack

 Definitely the most valuable card I added to the collection in 2011.  I pulled this all the way back in January, and I said then that it would be awful hard to top this card when I put together a list of my best pulls of the year.  I wish my scanner did better with refractors, because this one looks so cool in person.

2011 Topps Ken Griffey Jr. Platinum Diamond(?????)

How acquired: from multiple sources

My lovely fiance felt bad that there were no Griffey Platinum Diamonds for me to get in this year's set, so she decided to put her craft skills to work creating one for me!  She had me order a second copy of the 1993 Upper Deck Triple Crown Contenders Griffey (one of my favorites, as I've posted before), and she carved out the border, background and logos from a couple of platinum diamond duplicates I had lying around.  Who says the best cards have to all be real?  :)

2011 Tristar TNA Signature Impact Rob Van Dam/Sting Dual Auto

How acquired: pulled from a pack

 And finally, my first ever double autograph card was a good one, with a pair of stars from the squared circle. 

I have one last card to put up - the booby prize for my WORST "hit" of the year.  It's always a bit of a letdown when you pull a no-name player's auto from a pack. It's even more of a letdown when that player plays for your team's most hated rival.  But the final insult is the sheer laziness of this signature....

2010 Panini Certified Corey Wootton "Autograph"

How acquired: pulled from a pack

Honestly, would you take a look at that crap?  I'm left wondering if this guy is that lazy or if he doesn't know how to spell his own name.  At least it gave me something funny to wrap up the year in review with.  :)

That's it for me today.  I look forward to reading about everybody's big hits in the coming year!!