How to sell your pokemon cards

How to sell your Pokemon Cards without being an expert

There are many articles out there claiming that pokemon cards can be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. The odd few cards can be, but most general peoples collections are not going to be lucky enough to have these cards.

I have sold quite a few cards over the past 2 years and have brought in around £800 from ebay. I havn't been active at it; I probably could have sold a lot more cards in this time period if I had listed every card I had and kept the listings active.

Things to consider first:
Are my cards worth anything? DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST

Look up each card individually. How much do other people have it listed for? Is their condition better or worse than yours? There is no point listing a card with loads of imperfections for £20 if there are cards available in near mint condition for £20.

It really depends on the card and the collection it is in; so have a look at listings on ebay first to get a general price.

Shiny cards tend to be worth more than your cards with no shine at all; but even some of these normal cards can be worth £10 each which is still something! Take the time to research.

Are you happy to let your card go for this price?

Some people have a sentimental attachment to their cards and would only let it go for a certain price. Set your price to what you will be happy to let it go for. If you have allowed offers to be put in on your listing; do not feel pressured to accept the first one. You have the final say; don’t let people pressure your price but also try to remain realistic in the cards monetary worth.

How will you send it?

What mailing company will you use?
When working out potential profit for a card; work out first how much the postage will cost you. If you are willing to sell internationally, work out how much it may cost to send to certain countries.
What are the costs?

Ebay take 10% off your total sale price (including postage) as their fee. Paypal take 3.2% plus 40p per transaction. Postage in the UK for a card you want signed for can be around £2.18.

If your card is only up for £5.99, how much do you make once you have taken off all the fees and costs? Is it worth the time you spent listing and taking photos? Would you be willing to send this card cheaper as a 2nd class letter without it needing to be signed for? That can cut off £1.53 in postage fees but if it goes missing would you be happy to refund the £5.99 and lose out on the card and the postage fee (I’m pretty sure paypal and ebay take the fee costs back off when you refund the customer).

If you have a private account with ebay (not a business account), you get to list for free. If you are a new account; you may be limited to only 10 listings a month until you make a few sales and they decide to increase the limit. Sometimes they do offers where you pay a maximum of £1 for the final value fee if the item sells the first time it is listed, which is brilliant if you sell a card for say £50; you will only be paying £1 instead of £5 in fees.

Do you have a good quality camera?

Having high quality pictures can really make a difference in if your card sells.

The person viewing the listing cannot see the card in person; so getting pictures from different angles is needed. A good one of the front of the card; one at the side to show the edges; and the back are the basic 3 pictures you should have for every listing. If the card is a holo or a reverse holo; it is good to try and get a picture that shows the reflection off it; so that people can see it truly is genuine. Make sure to show any marks the card has. The person will want to see exactly what they are getting; and it helps you to cover yourself too.


Will you get it PSA graded?

 

PSA is a grading system in which a lot of people will use in their listing. If someone says their pokemon cards is PSA grade 10, that means they have had a professional authenticator look at the card and have graded it to be mint condition.

If you have not had a professional grade your card; do not use the words PSA graded. I personally have not used one as their services are not free and I have never had a really rare card that I have thought would be worth it. If you have a card that could be worth a couple hundred pounds, I would consider getting it graded.

How to search your card
 

I would look at the numbers in the bottom right hand corner of the card and type that alongside the cards name. If it is shiny in the background behind the pokemon it is generally called a 'holo'; and if the card is all shiny apart from the pokemon and the background; it is called a 'reverse holo'


For example
In ebay search I would type in 'Dark Blastoise 4/110 holo'

There is also a version of him available with the team rocket logo on the right hand side (just underneath the box with blastoise in it) instead of the little key logo. So double check when looking at the listings on there.

EXAMPLE OF A REAL SALE INCLUDING THE MATH
My card was in pretty good condition, I would not class it as mint as it has not been in a fully protected its whole life. On the back there was a slight white mark up the top edge; so classing it as mint or saying it is PSA graded would be false information. You should be completely honest when listing; or else you may have your future buyer return the card; ask for a full refund (you would lose out on postage and fees); and they could report you for the item not matching the description.

This card sold for £30 in December 2020
As you can see it is in good condition, but not anywhere near being mint or near mint.

The final value fee ebay took for the sale of Dark Blastoise was £3.

Paypal took £1.17 (2.9% plus 0.30p).

It cost £2.18 to send 2nd class signed for. I send them as a large letter through Royal Mail.

After paying out £6.35 in fees, I made £23.65. For a piece of card that was just sitting in a spare room doing nothing; I'm okay with the fees.

If you are sending two cards to the same person; it can work out cheaper as you only need to pay the one postage cost. However if your package is worth over £50, you may want to let Royal mail know as the option I used only covers up to £50 if the item gets lost.

There is an additional fee if you need cover for items worth more than £50; it once cost me £4.02 altogether in postage but I think that is cheap compared to risking losing cards worth £100 and only being able to claim £50 max for it. At this price, the card went through the 'royal mail tracked 24' service.



A little advice on packaging a card

Sending as a letter is the cheapest option but the thickness of the envelope needs to be pretty much flat. I like to put cardboard either side of my card to prevent it from getting easily bent through transit.

(I have seen the way post can sometimes been handled at the back of vans and in the warehouses; I wouldn’t hold your breath that they will treat the package with utmost care and not throw it about).

Sometimes I will also add a layer of bubble wrap for extra protection especially if sending during a wet season. It is also a good idea to send in a plastic mailing bag if it is bad weather as a brown envelope fairs a lot worse in rain; we don’t want to give any water easy access to get in and potentially ruin the value of our card!

If you need any tips or have a suggestion on what else I should add to this post to make it better; please feel free to drop me a comment on this post or send me an email via the 'contact' section