There are really only a handful of ways to turn a card collection into money, and every one of them trades the same two things against each other: how much you end up with, and how much work and waiting it takes to get it. None of them is the right answer for every collection. This page sets out each route, what it costs, how long it takes, and the kind of collection it suits — so that whichever you choose, you chose it.
It does not tell you what your cards are worth, and it does not point you at a particular house. For that side-by-side, every auction house we follow is on one page.
1. Consign to an auction house
You hand the cards to a house; it photographs, describes and catalogs them, markets the sale to specialist bidders, and pays you after the auction closes. For a card, or a group of cards, worth several thousand dollars or more — and for most serious vintage — this is where the strongest bidders are.
What it costs you. The seller's commission. Most houses do not publish it; it is negotiated, and it usually falls as the value of what you bring rises. The one house that has given us a figure quotes 5–10%, depending on the consignment. Ask for it in writing, and ask whether anything else is charged — photography, insurance, or the return of lots that do not sell.
What the buyer pays. A buyer's premium of 18–28% on top of the hammer price, depending on the house. It is not your cost, but bidders know it is coming and bid accordingly. Every house's premium, side by side.
How long it takes. Weeks to months. Catalog sales close to new consignments well before they run, and houses that publish it pay out 21 to 45 days after the auction closes. Where a minimum is published, the smallest lot a house will take runs from $150 to $500.
Suits: valuable single cards, vintage, and collections that deserve a proper catalog. Less suited to: large piles of common cards, which rarely justify the fees.
2. Consign to an online marketplace that runs auctions
A newer kind of venue: it takes consignments like a house, but runs frequent online auctions rather than a few catalogs a year, and sells around the clock. The fee structures vary more than the houses’ do — at least one charges the seller nothing on its auctions and pays the consignor more than the hammer price, funded by the buyer's premium. The house table has each one's terms.
Suits: graded cards, modern and vintage, and sellers who would rather not wait for a catalog.
3. Sell it yourself on eBay
No one takes the collection off your hands. You photograph each card, write the listing, set the price or the auction, answer the questions, pack, insure and ship it, and handle any return. In exchange you keep more of the sale and set your own timetable.
What it costs you. 13.25% of the total sale up to $7,500, then 2.35% above, plus $0.30–$0.40 per order. There is no buyer's premium.
Smaller marketplaces built for graded cards charge less — around 3% in one published fee table — in exchange for a smaller audience.
Suits: graded cards worth a few hundred dollars each, and anyone with the time to do it properly. Less suited to: a very valuable card, where a mistake in the listing or the shipping is expensive, and a large collection, where the work multiplies with every card.
4. Sell to a dealer or a local card shop
The fastest route: you can often walk out with a check the same day. The price reflects that. A dealer is buying to resell, so the offer has to leave room for their time, their risk and their margin, and there is no published rate for how much room. Offers vary widely from one buyer to the next.
Suits: large, unsorted collections of common cards; anyone who needs the matter settled quickly. Get more than one offer, and be wary of anyone who found you rather than the other way around.
5. Take it to a card show
A show puts dozens of dealers in one room, which makes it the easiest way to collect several offers in an afternoon. The offers are still dealer offers, with the same arithmetic as above — but comparing them side by side is how you learn quickly what a fair one looks like.
6. Sell privately to someone you know
No commission and no premium. Everything else is on you: agreeing a fair price, confirming the card is what the label says, and getting paid safely. The public auction record for the same card at the same grade is the best reference either side has, and a paid, insured, trackable exchange protects you both.
Before you choose any of them
Know roughly what is there. Which cards matter, which are graded, and which are not. Documenting a collection walks through it, and how grading works explains when grading a card first is worth the fee — and when it is not.
Ask more than one. And check who owns whom: some houses are the same company, and asking both is not a second opinion. The house table shows which.
Read the agreement. Commission, any extra charges, when you are paid, and what happens to anything that does not sell.
Remember the tax. A card sold for more than it cost is taxed as a collectible, and inherited cards follow their own rules. What happens to the tax bill when cards are inherited.
If you would rather not work it out alone, tell us what is in the collection and we will point you to the two or three of the 15 houses we follow that suit it. It is free, and nothing is committed.