Hello,
My name is Scott and I am the owner of "The Dugout Cards & Comics" , e-Bay User Id : thedugout . One of e-Bay's original from back in 1997. Just thought I'd share a few helpful hints when to sell sportscards online. I see alot of users selling at just the worst times possible wasting their investment money. I'll detail below a few examples and when and how to sell your cards.
Everyone whom collects has done it, we watch the games and a player hits 3 homeruns or scores 2 TD's and runs for 150 yards and all of the sudden we are on the computer bidding higher than we should be on every card we like of that player. As a seller we need to think about posting cards at the best possible times, say right after a big game with 1-day auctions or checking out a players schedule and posting to end 7-days from when their next game will end, ect. How many fans just watched a game and are trying to outbid others on their favorite players ? You'll find that the highest some of these cards sell for is right after a great game, a couple of days to a week later a seller can try to sell those exact same cards and get a far less sale price, sometimes as low as half the going price.
Some of the worst times to sell can be found early in the work week, MON-THUR usually, during early hours of the day (anytime before 11:00a.m.). The majority of people get paid late in the week and have extra spending cash to spend online between Thursday evening through Sunday evening, by Monday morning everyone is focused on getting through another weeks work. One of the worst times to sell cards of your favorite player is during a game they are playing. There isn't a worst time to sell live auctions of Tom Brady on e-Bay than auctions ending while the Patriots are playing on Sunday. Why you may ask ? Well a large percentage of Brady's biggest fans are away from their computers watching the football game while countless auctions of Brady are ending every couple of minutes for far less than they'll end right after the game. Posting your auctions to end at just the right time can make all the difference in sale price in the live auction world. Save your best cards of a player for the right times during the season. Selling high dollar Atlanta Braves cards were good when they were still in the playoffs, selling them now is too late. In turn, Astros's , esp. Roger Clemens cards, are hotter than ever and any ending in the next few days will bring far greater prices than 2-weeks earlier or maybe even 2-weeks from now.
Most sellers tend to collect and sell more than one sport and another way to save large dollar amounts is to limit your buying during that sports "in" season. The worst time to buy Derek Jeter cards would be when the Yankees are in the playoffs, the best time would be in the middle of winter, say Dec/Jan range for almost all of your baseball purchases. Try to buy a Peyton Manning rookie card after a Sunday football game where he throws 4 TD's compared to buying that exact same rookie card in April when sports fans minds are focused on spring training in baseball , ect. You can save yourself hundreds of dollars by watching and enjoying the games in the sports you like but do your buying during the off season and your selling during the "in" season. Another good idea is to buy up rookie lots and hang on to any of the not so popular rookie cards for at least 3-4 years after they come into the league. Many players take 3 or 4 years to fully develop into semi-star and super-star players.
Rookie cards are the key for investment in the sportcard market, as they have been for years. The rookie card has held value through the insert card craze and through the memorablia craze with the jersey's, auto's, pieces of this and pieces of that added to cards. Always check your Beckett price guide for the "RC" or "XRC" symbol next to a card to make sure Beckett recognizes it as a "True Rookie". Limited edition true rookie cards with serial numbers of 1,000 or less are the way to go and a true rookie card with an autograph is hobby gold !
Well, thank you for your attention and hope this info helps. Another great way to buy is searching through e-Bay's e-Stores. My e-Store has over 2,300+ seperate listings , mostly rookie cards, certified jersey & autographed cards, ser#'ed cards in football and baseball with many players such as Eli Manning, Julius Jones, LeBron James, Albert Pujols, and many more with over 100+ different cards each.
Sincerely,
Scott
thedugout
)