Sports Card Price Guides

[Gamblor]

I used to love collecting hockey and baseball cards.

I found my collection at my parents' house the other day, and since I'm too lazy to actually go out and buy a Beckett, does anyone know of any free online price guides?

[jnalpak]

[ QUOTE ]

I found my collection at my parents' house the other day

[/ QUOTE ]

as did i which prompted me to get a hold of this gem:

http://www.jnalpak.com/photos/uncategorized/ripken.jpg

[bball233]

Cards went so downhill so quickly. I wouldn't even bother looking up prices. Some are still worth money like 68 Tops set (Ryan rookie), but that even dropped dramatically in value. Plus there is almost no market for cards anymore. And to actually answer your question... don't know any online price checks and always too lazy to try to even look.

[krazyace5]

I think Beckett.com gives you a few free prices a day, try looking them up there. The best price guide is Ebay though, just see what they are going for. Most cards from the late 80's thru today are worthless though, major overproduction. There are some exceptions though.

[theredpill5]

Cards went down in value once Upper Deck started producing cards. Then the whole damn market went crazy with flashy cards. I own a ton of cards but I'm pissed at what Upper Deck did to the market. It was bound to happen I guess. I got Nolan Ryan's 1976 and 77 cards. I got Wade Boggs rookie. I got Barry Bond's rookie, too.

[krazyace5]

I don't know if they still are but Upper Deck used to be really crooked.

[ttleistdci]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I found my collection at my parents' house the other day

[/ QUOTE ]

as did i which prompted me to get a hold of this gem:

http://www.jnalpak.com/photos/uncategorized/ripken.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the best thing I've seen all day. I actually had to google it to make sure it wasn't just a hoax.

[theredpill5]

I remember going with a friend of mine to get this card at a card shop. It used to be very popular. The first year it came out the error was worth about $25 and the whited out version was also worth about $25. I'm not sure how much it is worth now, though.

[texaspimp]

The best part of the whole Bill Ripken [censored] face fiasco was the pack searching. My best friend and I were in the card business then and, like many others, had the card sequence for this card. We bought half of a case (10 boxes)of Fleer from a guy for around $500.

He had searched the boxes and left us with only about five Ripken's. We had the last laugh though, as he later went to pound-me-in-the-ass prison for embezzlement!!

[bdk3clash]

You could just search eBay for completed auctions of cards you suspect are worth something, but I say just suck it up and buy Beckett's at your favorite mega bookstore chain.

If you have cards that are worth a decent amount that you'd like to sell it's probably worth it to get them graded by PSA or Beckett and sell them on eBay. Or find some young kids that you can rip off, like the local baseball card shop owner used to do to me.

[Uston]

Beckett's prices are very inflated, as are the prices of every other guide I've seen. If you really want to know what a card is worth, search for it on eBay.

[Roan]

I found my collection a few months back too. I poked around for prices online, Ebay was the best source I found. I think there's a principle of economics that says that something is only worth what someone will pay for it.

In general though if you're like me (stopped collecting in the early 90s) this will be a disappointing experience for you. Most of my "best cards" aren't worth anything anymore. And cards are pretty worthless unless they're graded, which none of mine are.

[siccjay]

I'm in the same boat. I have a shitload of cards that may be worth somethin if they graded good but ungraded they will pull about 1/4th of book value. It's very disappointing. I'd like to sell most of my cards and put the money down on a house but I can't seem to do it.

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
And cards are pretty worthless unless they're graded, which none of mine are.

[/ QUOTE ]

Graded, or still in their unopened packaging. (Yes, I always look for a reason to post this pic.) /images/graemlins/grin.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/nolanfan34/79packs.jpg

[brassnuts]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I found my collection at my parents' house the other day

[/ QUOTE ]

as did i which prompted me to get a hold of this gem:

http://www.jnalpak.com/photos/uncategorized/ripken.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the best thing I've seen all day. I actually had to google it to make sure it wasn't just a hoax.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, not a hoax. I actually have this card somewhere.

[bwana devil]

very sweet nolanfan. what is that '78 topps?

i went to the round rock express (triple A) game this past saturday and they gave away commemerative nolan ryan minature "statues" to the first 3000 fans through the door. i got there about an hour early to be sure to get mine. i was sure ryan was going to be there too but no such luck. i think they're pretty cool and figured you'd like them.

someone's ebay page (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50133&item=5202885 261&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW)

[nolanfan34]

Cool, thanks for the link. The next item I need to get is a copy of my avatar pic, framed.

The front rack pack in my pic is 78, correct. The yellow packs in the wax trays are from 1979.

[Slacker13]

One day I pulled a Kurt Werner Jersey card valued around $600, and a Ron Dayne rookie jersey card valued around $350. Like a dumbass I hold on to them and couldn't get 25$ for both at this point. It's a damn shame.

[Slacker13]

[ QUOTE ]
I got Nolan Ryan's 1976 and 77 cards. I got Wade Boggs rookie. I got Barry Bond's rookie, too.

[/ QUOTE ]
I still have a few good rookies that I am holding on to such as Brett Favre, Steve Young, cal ripken.

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
The next item I need to get is a copy of my avatar pic, framed.

[/ QUOTE ]

my buddy lives in dallas and there's a bar we'd go to that your avatar pic was painted on the wall inside the bar. the painting was about 15 feet x 15 feet. poor robin ventura.

[jnalpak]

[ QUOTE ]
like many others, had the card sequence for this card.

[/ QUOTE ]

whatya mean card sequence? I would definitly be interested in this b/c maybe it confirms my conspiricy theory with my local baseball card shop when i was younger. THEY ALWAYS HAD THE BEST CARDS and i knew they didnt just open up boxes..

please help me obi won....you are my only hope

[krazyace5]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
And cards are pretty worthless unless they're graded, which none of mine are.

[/ QUOTE ]

Graded, or still in their unopened packaging. (Yes, I always look for a reason to post this pic.) /images/graemlins/grin.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/nolanfan34/79packs.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

You can get packs and rack packs graded too.

[krazyace5]

[ QUOTE ]
One day I pulled a Kurt Werner Jersey card valued around $600, and a Ron Dayne rookie jersey card valued around $350. Like a dumbass I hold on to them and couldn't get 25$ for both at this point. It's a damn shame.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah you gotta sell these things right away during the hype, hardly anything holds its value these days.

[krazyace5]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
like many others, had the card sequence for this card.

[/ QUOTE ]

whatya mean card sequence? I would definitly be interested in this b/c maybe it confirms my conspiricy theory with my local baseball card shop when i was younger. THEY ALWAYS HAD THE BEST CARDS and i knew they didnt just open up boxes..

please help me obi won....you are my only hope

[/ QUOTE ]

If you are gonna buy boxes, buy unopened factory sealed boxes, most everything else has probably been searched.

[jnalpak]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
like many others, had the card sequence for this card.

[/ QUOTE ]

whatya mean card sequence? I would definitly be interested in this b/c maybe it confirms my conspiricy theory with my local baseball card shop when i was younger. THEY ALWAYS HAD THE BEST CARDS and i knew they didnt just open up boxes..

please help me obi won....you are my only hope

[/ QUOTE ]

If you are gonna buy boxes, buy unopened factory sealed boxes, most everything else has probably been searched.

[/ QUOTE ]

i used to buy factory sealed upper deack hockey/baseball but how would you "search" a box...the poster bf noted that he new the "sequence" of the cards so WTF does that mean?

i dont collect, im just an interested party who used to collect as a youngen

[bball233]

I'm not positive if this is what he meant by "sequence" but it could mean pattern.. I know in some boxes if there was a certain top card in the box, it would be like the 3rd pack down on the left side.. this happened with the David Robinson rookies I believe in whatever year Hoops.

[siccjay]

I have 2 or 3 of those Jack Morris rookies. Not very good shape though. They used to be worth a little.

[Gamblor]

My best friend and I were in the card business then and, like many others, had the card sequence for this card.

I always suspected that the cards were not distributed randomly - many packs contained the same 5 out of 10 cards.

What exactly is this?

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
You can get packs and rack packs graded too.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I know, I'm waiting for some market competition to drop the prices first. It's a big pricey still to get packs graded. I've heard of some fraudulent packs getting through the grading process too, which sucks.

As for the randomness of packs, most packs in the late 80s that I can remember did have a sequence of cards. They were usually printed on 132 card sheets, and then cut from that. My guess is that the sorting machine would always group certain cut cards together, so there are small runs that would be consistent.

Makes some sense when you think about it - I remember Fleer specifically you could count on buying a box, and getting virtually no duplicate cards.

Upper Deck on the other hand was one of the first companies to randomize the packs somehow. I remember seeing someone open a 1989 pack that had 3 Griffey RC's in it. Of course this meant you had to buy a lot more packs to make a set, since you'd receive a large amount of doubles.

Just a few theories.

[offTopic]

[ QUOTE ]
Upper Deck on the other hand was one of the first companies to randomize the packs somehow. I remember seeing someone open a 1989 pack that had 3 Griffey RC's in it. Of course this meant you had to buy a lot more packs to make a set, since you'd receive a large amount of doubles.


[/ QUOTE ]

Trying to assemble a UD set pack-by-pack = sheer folly. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

One of the big non-random culprits was that '90 Leaf baseball set. Buying single packs at a card show during FrankThomasMania was like setting $14 on fire. I also worked in a shop, and whenever we opened fresh wax, we always shuffled all of the packs...I agree with whoever said - if you're selling packs and have TONS of the key singles in the case, that can be (though not always, of course) a red flag.