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There are a few major factors that determine the value of a Baseball card:
- Player/Subject - Stars/Hall of Fame players are in the most demand; e.g., Mickey Mantle cards consistently get the highest prices.
- Age - Generally speaking, the older, the better ... but not always.
- Scarcity - Some cards have great value just because they are rare; if they are rare AND have the first two factors, you have a very valuable card.
- Personal - Some buyers have a personal interest in certain cards and will pay more for them than the average collector would.
- Condition - In most cases, this is the most important factor; in fact, there are several professional grading companies. Most serious collectors expect cards to be as close to brand-new as possible, but the first four factors -- especially age -- can reduce the expectation for top condition.
The difficulty with researching the value of your baseball cards online, especially if it is a "high end" card, is that any serious buyer is going to want to know details of the card's condition ... which typically can be done only by personally examining the card(s). It is having a buyer that determines the value of a card. If no one's interested in the card, it has no value.
Professional grading companies, such as PCGS (pcgs.com), and Beckett (beckett.com) charge fees for grading cards, which can be as much as $20 or $30 per card! Obviously that's only worth it for higher end baseball cards. Professional baseball card buyers, however, will typically offer a free baseball card appraisal, if you are interested in selling the card(s), and will make you an offer to buy the card, which you can accept or reject. An example would be BaseballCardBuyer.com Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota (baseballcardbuyer.com).
Beckett and other companies also publish baseball card price guides (e.g., the "Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards and Collectibles", Sports Collectors' Digest "Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards"), which are typically nearly 2,000 pages of cards and prices! Since they sell these books, they are not going to give the information free online.
So where is the best place to find baseball card values online? If you're not interested in selling the cards, but want to know the value, the best place is on eBay (eBay.com). Again, the value of a card is determined by what someone will actually pay for it. If your card is being sold on eBay, you will get an excellent idea of what it's worth to another collector.
If you are interested in selling your cards, then you need to contact a professional dealer/buyer such as BaseballCardBuyer.com Inc., named above. If you call them, they may give you a "ballpark" range (pun intended) of the value of your cards, but they will need to see it/them before making a final and specific offer. Dealers/buyers typically offer quite a bit less than collectors buying on eBay would offer. They are in business to make a profit and will not buy cards unless they can - A. make some money on it, and - B. are fairly sure they have a collector/client who would be interested in the card.
BOTTOM LINE: You can find out the value of your baseball cards in terms of what it's worth to other collectors, for example, by checking prices on eBay. If your main desire is to sell a collection though, you want to contact a professional dealer.
You can find prices on your cards for free on WikiAnswers. To determine a value of your card ask the question providing the following important information: The year the card was issued, the company that issued the card, the player, and the card number.
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FranBeckett Baseball Card Monthly magazine. They're sold mostly at either Wal-Marts or bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, etc. Also, "Tuff-Stuff", less used and less the "authority" like Beckett is, is sold in those same places and features prices on different cards if you're looking for that "oddball" card.
You can also SUBSCRIBE to Beckett and others ONLINE for a decent price.
You can visit the Beckett.com website.You will have to subscribe for a fee of $5.95 a month, but you will be able to tap into a large data base of prices, and more.
eBay is a good place to see what collectors are currently paying for a card, and this is what the value of a card is based on. Do a completed items search on eBay for the card you are looking for. Note the condition of the card that sells as compared to the card you have. Base your price on a number auction results.
The condition of the card holds the bulk of the value. Be sure to take note if the card is graded or non-graded. Graded cards can sell as high as twice the market value or more. If your card is not graded you can not use this price as a yardstick.
You can find prices on your cards for free on WikiAnswers. To determine a value of your card ask the question providing the following important information: The year the card was issued, the company that issued the card, the player, and the card number. Note that the year the card was issued is typically the year after the last year listed on the card.
The condition of the card has tremendous impact on the value. For example, cards in "Good" condition are worth only about 25% of the "book value", while "Mint" cards may be worth 4 times book values. Information about how to grade your own cards can also be found at the portasite.com and beckett.com web sites.
Be sure to take note if the card has been professionally graded. Graded cards will be inside a thick protective plastic container with information as to who graded it, and what condition it was found to be in. Professionally graded cards typically sell for more than twice as much as ungraded cards.
You can also find price information for your cards for free on WikiAnswers. To determine a value of your card, simply ask the question providing the following important information: The year the card was issued, the company that issued the card, the player, and the card number. (Note that the year the card was issued is typically the year after the last year listed on the card.)
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