Ryan Barone (@ballcardgenius, Card Expert) is a lifelong member of the hobby. He has been quoted in PSA Magazine, and his content has regularly been mentioned in “Quick Rips” (the Topps RIPPED Newsletter) and across other hobby publications. hello@ballcardgenius.com; Last Time Ago LLC dba Ballcard Genius.
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Did you know there is an entire universe of online sports card auctions and platforms outside of eBay? Sure, eBay is one of the biggest, but it’s an online auction platform for everything. Plus, you as the seller have to list the card yourself, ship it, etc.
The other auction sites out there offer an entirely different experience. First of all, they are focused on sports cards—that’s it. Second, they are “handling” the auction for someone else as a consignment service. Meaning, a card owner takes their valuables to an expert middleman who has the reach and expertise to put the card up for auction, gain eyeballs, and get it sold.
So, in no particular order, here are 7 best sports card consignment options.
1. PWCC
PWCC is one of the biggest names in sports card consignment and online auctions in recent memory, not only known for their buying and selling platform, but for the “vault” concept that is sweeping over the hobby, being adopted recently by eBay and showcased by Alt and others.
If you aren’t familiar, a card vault is essentially a “virtual” holding place for your cards. If you’re familiar with buying and selling cards on COMC, you’re utilizing a vault that holds your inventory so you don’t have to handle the cards, ship them out, etc. PWCC offers much of the same, touting its vault as “The largest and most sophisticated trading card archival service in the world.”
I’ve never used the PWCC vault, but the beauty of a vault in general is liquidity—meaning not only can you purchase from a platform for placement into your vault, but you can also list to sell relatively quickly given the card is already on-site, and on-hand, and thus doesn’t require transit, and not usually requiring processing.
PWCC offers a few different marketplace experiences, with a weekly Sunday auction, a monthly Premier auction, and a fixed-price marketplace.
@CardLadder: “The 2008 Bowman Chrome Russell Westbrook Gold Refractor /50 #114 BGS 9.5 (pop 7) established a record high when it sold for $1,140.00 (Jan 22, 2023) via Auction with PWCC Weekly. The card sold for $405.01 (Dec 8, 2019) 3 years ago.”
2. Alt
Liquid auctions are a selling format offered by trading card platform Alt, as a way to “gain instant liquidity” with low transaction fees. The most popular form of submitting a card for liquid auction is doing so from your portfolio, which means your card is already vaulted with Alt. That said, if you have cards that aren’t vaulted, they can be added as “unvaulted assets” and must be sent to the Alt Vault before they can be auctioned.
Said simply, it’s an active way to “push” a card for sale rather than relying on potential buyers to come to you with offers. Think about it like having your card in the eBay vault and sending it to auction, or having your card with COMC and sending it to eBay auction. Same idea—the convenience of being able to auction a card and not having to handle it, ship it, deal with the buyer, etc.
@altxyzofficial: “We’ve got some incredible vintage cards ending this Thursday in Alt’s Liquid Auctions. Check them out ?✨ 1958 Alifabolaget Pele #635 – one of, if not the most iconic soccer card of all time!”
Alt’s Liquid Auctions end every Thursday, and if you feel like you might forget that, I like to follow Alt on Twitter and set notifications so I can not only see their reminder tweets, but also get clued in to what might be available.
3. Lelands
Lelands stands out as “The First Sports Memorabilia and Card Auction House in the World.” Founded in 1985 by Joshua Leland Evans, Lelands is a respected and premier house, handling some of the biggest items to ever hit the auction block including The Mickey Mantle Auction of the Greer Johnson Collection ($1.3M).
The Lelands “Classic” is a high-end event featuring “landmark” collection items—just right now as a part of their Winter Focus 2023, there are a handful of amazing items making their way toward auction completion including vintage cards like a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth SGC 3 a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 5.5, as well as more modern items like a 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Pick Autographs Black Wave Refractor BGS GEM MINT 9.5.
Lelands also offers “pop-up” auctions which are online-only and typically open at relatively lower bids. for example, the 2023 Winter Pop-Up saw a 2003-2004 Finest LeBron James PSA GEM MINT 10 sell for over $5,500 and an SGC 7 lot of 1967 Topps Baseball Hall of Famers with Mantle, Mays, and others selling for $2,198.
You might have also heard about Lelands Auctions around this time last year—they were the auction house that sold Tom Brady’s “last” touchdown pass before he unretired and returned to the Buccaneers to throw 25 more. (The sale was ultimately voided with the ball returned by the buyer.)
Lelands has 4.2 stars on 30 reviews.
4. Pristine
Family-owned and operating since 2010, Pristine offers auctions in a number of online formats including the Daily, Weekly, Elite Auctions, and more. Intriguingly, there is what sounds to be an exciting “Ten-Minute” auction which lasts just 10 minutes. On top of that, one of the items in a recent Ten-Minute auction for “Mystery Ink 10X Baseball Edition Mystery Box- 10 Autos / Jersey Relics / 1 of 1 Cards in Every Pack!”
Pristine is also a recognized leader, having been awarded the Industry Summit/Beckett Auction House of the Year in 2021. With sports memorabilia auctions ending every 24 hours, be sure to check out their 4.7 star rating on a whopping 1,000+ Google reviews.
5. SCP
If I ever got to the point of holding a card worth auctioning with a specialty collectibles house like any of those on this list, service and how I’d be treated would be at the top of the list. So, seeing SCP lead with a homepage note on “first-class” service sits very well with me.
Beyond that, per the video above “SCP is “committed to every consignor to SCP auctions whether it be a single item or an entire collection to deliver that person the greatest auction experience possible and the greatest financial rewards that can be had.”
Looking at the most recent February Finest auction, there was an incredible Lou Gehrig Autographed 1934 Goudey #37 Card PSA/DNA 7 Auto that sold for nearly $138K.
Have a peek at SCP’s 4.5 stars across 12 Google reviews.
6. Goldin
Another huge name in auctions, Goldin is a premier outlet for all things cards. Regarding the company’s founder, Ken Goldin: “Ken is one of the most widely recognized leaders in the collectibles industry and over the course of his career has sold more than $1.3 billion in memorabilia from many of the biggest names in sports, history, and pop culture.”
Looking back to the above entry, Goldin has a lot of similarities with PWCC. For instance, Goldin also utilizes three different experiences, including a Weekly Auction (items start as low as $5 in the weekly auction), an Elite Auction, and a Marketplace (where you can make an offer or buy outright). Goldin also offers a vault, and partners with PSA for safe and fast ways to sell your cards.
Goldin is also extremely active across different social media channels, including Twitter, making it easy to get to know the company, its offerings, and unique selling points.
7. Heritage
While all of the entries above focus on sports cards and collectibles, Heritage offers a number of auction categories including art and antiques, coins, comics and more. In fact, Heritage states they are the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer, offering expertise in all things collecting, a large base of engaged clients, marketing prowess, and other features to help sellers get the most for their valuables.
In terms of their “why”:
“Collecting valuable objects uniquely rewards owners with beauty, history, personal satisfaction, and more. Unfortunately, new collectors often overpay for these objects and become disillusioned, while inexperienced owners and heirs routinely receive too little when selling. For collecting to become a more credible and inclusive vehicle for wealth creation, the playing field between experts and novices must be level .”
If you’re on the fence and not sure what your card or collectible might bring in at auction Heritage offers free appraisal (auction evaluation) and “generoud cash advances.”
