A Guide to Trading Baseball Cards on ebay

If you're like me then you're always looking for ways to make money on the side. With mortgage payments, insurance payments, and gas prices on the rise it seems my bank account numbers have dwindled down as quickly as Nicole Ritchie's weight loss.

A great way to make some extra income is trading baseball cards. With modern technology and Internet auction websites such as EBay, it's relatively simple to turn a small hobby into a thousand dollar per month business. Before you dive in head first, however, please understand that you need a distinct understanding of baseball cards, current values, trends, and demand. Here are a few ways you can increase your chances of being successful in trading baseball cards:

1) There are better deals during odd times of the day.
This is an important one. When sellers list cards on EBay for sale, most of the time it's from 6:00 P.M.-10:00 P.M. Obviously, this is when most of America's E-Bayers are home from work and they have a few spare hours before going to bed. This is NOT the best time to buy baseball cards. There are thousands of beady little eyes watching the auctions as they countdown to zero. If there's a deal and a card is under priced, then be assured that by the time the auction ends then bidding will most likely reach market value. It's best to do searching during the day or late at night. If you catch a deal during this time, your odds are better, and you'll have no problem clicking that "Buy It Now" tab.

2) Buy cards from reputable people.
Like any EBay auction, there's a certain comfort level that comes with buying a product from an EBayer with 100% feedback. Baseball cards are no exception. Before you buy, look at their feedback. Did the product get shipped without damage? How long did it take before the buyer received the product? Also, look at what items the Seller has sold in the past. If they have generally sold items other than baseball cards, then you could be sitting on a goldmine. They may not know the current value of the card they're holding. It could be an ex-wife looking to sell off her ex-husbands entire baseball card collection and all she wants is a few dollars and to get it out of her house. Be careful, however, because although it could be a great deal buying from those who are not knowledgeable in the field you must check to see what kind of condition the card is in. And that brings me to my next point.

3) Grading.
This is the most important factor in buying baseball cards. Grading is a process that rates the card on a scale from 1-10. (1 being the worst, and 10 being the best) There are companies that professional grade cards. This allows buyers to comfortably buy knowing that a third party has taken the time to look at the card and evaluate it. If the cards you are looking at are graded, make sure they are from a reputable company such as Beckett or PSA. Beckett's grading guidelines are known to be very strict. Other companies, in my opinion, such as Gem Mint overlook soft corners, off center printing, and sides that have been cropped. On the other hand, buying a card that has been ungraded could be a wise investment. Most baseball card collectors don't go through the trouble of sending their cards off by mail to a company like Beckett, pay ten dollars, only to receive them two weeks later. It's quite possible to buy an ungraded card, send it off, and once it has been graded by a reputable company you could easily sell it for three times the amount you originally paid for it.

4) Misspelled EBay listing.
This is a tip I take great pride in. In fact, it's my secret recipe to buying baseball cards. Remember, think outside of the box when buying. If you're searching for a 1952 Mickey Mantle, chances are you're going to retrieve several listings, all of which are being watched like a hawk by thousands of card collectors. What if you searched for "Mantel" instead of "Mantle?" It's quite possible, with America's illiteracy rates on the rise, that a seller accidentally misspelled a name. So when that happens and a seller has no bids, no watchers, and no one has even seen the listing because of the typo then you know you're going to get a deal. Aside from misspelled names, if you're searching for something such as tobacco cards, instead of searching the obvious you should try searching related topics such as "Cigarette collectible" or "Tobacco." Again, you want your search criteria to be different from the guy that is next to you. Who knows, maybe once you sort through the mess you could find a diamond in the rough!

5) Find a niche and fill it.
Develop a reputation for a specific genre in baseball collections. Become the "go to" person in a specific era. When selling, credibility is everything. Become known as the ultimate Mantle collector, or an expert in trading tobacco cards. Once you target your specialty, start your search aggressively. Put ads in local magazines wanting to buy baseball cards. But EBay remains as the most effective source of trading cards.

Once you've weighed all of these factors, you can make an educated decision on buying baseball cards as a business investment. Buy low. Sell high. That's all it takes to play this game. But you've got to be smart and find the deals. I hope these tools help in your hunting. Good luck and good bidding.