Back when I was in school (10-15years ago) I used to collect sports cards.  I have baseball, basketball, football, nascar and a few hockey.  About 5 years ago I had a friend of mine go through my baseball cards, which made up the buld, so that I can get ride of the commons.  He only left cards with value or ones that he felt could have some value some day.  That eliminated 90% of them of my bulk.   I'm sure some have went to common status but for the most part my collection is made up of known sports players.

The question, how do I unload them?  

I'm not looking for 'book value' but at the same time I hate to just trash or donate these.  If I could make a few bucks I would like to.  I once looked at ebay but it was flooded with so many cards it looked like most poeople could not even give thiers away there.  Any ideas?

Quoted: Back when I was in school (10-15years ago) I used to collect sports cards.  I have baseball, basketball, football, nascar and a few hockey.  About 5 years ago I had a friend of mine go through my baseball cards, which made up the buld, so that I can get ride of the commons.  He only left cards with value or ones that he felt could have some value some day.  That eliminated 90% of them of my bulk.   I'm sure some have went to common status but for the most part my collection is made up of known sports players. The question, how do I unload them?   I'm not looking for 'book value' but at the same time I hate to just trash or donate these.  If I could make a few bucks I would like to.  I once looked at ebay but it was flooded with so many cards it looked like most poeople could not even give thiers away there.  Any ideas?

Unload them=sell them?

I think they have specialty stores you can sell that stuff at.  But I am not sure.  

eBay bidding changes a lot in the last few moments.  If you follow something and check the winning bid you'll have a better idea of the values these cards are getting.  

pages.ebay.com/sportscards/faq.html#B5

ebay would be your best bet for getting the most money out of them.

if you just want to get rid of them then take em to a card shop and bring along a bottle of vasaline to make the ass reaming go easyer.

ebay is where you will see what they are actually worth, what someone is really willing to pay.

...At a GUNshow....

The sportcard market has been pretty soft for quite a while now....pretty much since the early 90's.  The only things people seem to want are the hot rookies of the moment as well as the special inserts and then only if they are professionally graded by one of the better known graders....and high graded at that.  Everything else never sells for anywhere near "book".  I have a crapload of stuff myself....need to do like you did and get rid of the tens of thousands of "commons" too....man they do take up a lot of space.  Not worth selling, unless it's a hot card.....just nobody looking for the stuff unfortunately.

Quoted: The sportcard market has been pretty soft for quite a while now....pretty much since the early 90's.  The only things people seem to want are the hot rookies of the moment as well as the special inserts and then only if they are professionally graded by one of the better known graders....and high graded at that.  Everything else never sells for anywhere "book".  I have a crapload of stuff myself....nedd to do like you did and get rid of the tens of thousands of "commons" too....man they do take up a lot of space.  Not worth selling, unless it's a hot card.

If they are not graded they are not worth the time it would take to list one single card on egay.

What sucks is you see a lot of graded cards on Ebay that sell for less then what it would sometimes cost to HAVE a card graded....especially if you're just having one graded...they do give you a quantity break.  

I had a buddy who collected cards, coins and crap like that for years. when he was cash tight he took what had been portrayed as "thousands of dollars" worth of this crap to the same dealers he bought it from over the last 15 years and tried to cash it in.  He got fucked.  They offered 10-15 cents on the dollar, some stuff went for 50 cents on the dollar to book value.  The market as ALWAYS soft when you try and sell cards,coins, beanie babies or plates or whatever.

If you paid more than the value of paper for anything in the baseball card world, you got cheated.  Most of the "rare" crap in the 1990's was overprinted for collector's.  If you expect very little, you wont be disappointed.

I have a signed Ryan Leaf homecoming game booklet from WSU. He was the worst quarterback in NFL history and a total asshole at WSU and in high school.  I'm sure it has no value, nor does he as a person. But it is fun to offer it to my Wazzu buddies as a Christmas present if they are bad.

Thanks for the comments guys.  I'm not interested in selling one at a time unless I find out I have some jewel unknown to me.  Otherwise, I will probably try to sell them per sport.  Also, I suppose I should call around local card shops to see if they do buy collections.

I tried Ebay once a few years ago.  I did not scans the cards but rather listed in table form what I had.  I put a really low opening bid hoping to get a couple in a bidding war.  Was I ever surprised when I did not get the first bid.  I know I had a few cards in the pile that had to book for $50+.  Several not to mention a dozen or more $20+ cards.  Oh, the opening bid was for $15.  

Anyhow, I will look into what I have once again and see what I can do.  Thanks again for the suggestions.