How to Buy, Sell, or Trade Cards on Facebook

Learn the Lingo and Best Way to Flip Your Cards on Social Media

You’ve noticed the increasing values of your old sports cards the last few months, and you’re thinking about unloading the cards you hoarded in school.  Maybe you want to take that cash from your flips to get back into the game!  Sadly, you see retail shelves are completely empty, leaving little to no product for your hands. Before you start searching all over eBay, let’s chat how you can save money on buying and selling your cards, stock up on your favorites, as well how to make some new friends while doing all of that, too; welcome to dealing on Facebook.

Getting Back into the Game; Three Big Obstacles

With economic factors driving the value of sports cards to new heights, you’re itching to flip your stacks of 1990’s Ken Griffey Jr. and Michael Jordan cards for big cash.  You may also be looking to get back into collecting to put away the next generation of stars like Jasson Dominguez and Zion Williamson. You know the players ready to bring you a big pay day and you know where to make the deals.  You’re still not cashing in big, though.  What’s the problem!?  Three big obstacles:

1. There is NO product available in retail stores
2. eBay fees are cutting into your profits
3. You’re not sure about newer products; so much has changed since 1998

If you can’t buy any new products, you’re not going to put anything for sale up on eBay.  If you’re trying to maximize your profits off your Jr and MJ cards, you cringe when those eBay fee start to pile up.  What the heck is the difference between a Blaster box and a Hobby box?!  Don’t worry – there is one spot where you can dodge these issues, and we’re going to teach you the new lingo you’ll need to deal on … Facebook.

This blog is sponsored by JUST COLLECT where we specialize in buying vintage cards, autographs, and collections. Interested in selling? If you have any of THESE cards on our BUY LIST, we'd love to hear from you!

Plenty of ways to reach out to us:

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• info@justcollect.com
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Benefits of Using Facebook to Deal Cards

There are ENDLESS positives on how using Facebook to buy, sell, or trade your cards.  We’ll highlight just a few of the incredible bonuses that using social media will bring you during a deal.

PRODUCT

Perhaps your local Walmart has ZERO packs of sports cards.  Mine might, though!  Whether I’m looking to profit or just help our other collectors that would do the same for me, it is possible I could buy a box not available in your area simply because few people in my town collect.  The same idea would hold true for vintage cards, too.  Being in the North East, I could have plenty of Yankees or Knicks cards that you may not see many of if you live out West. 

CUSTOM PHOTOS

How many times have you tried to zoom in on eBay photos, or ask a seller for pictures of the back of a card?  A seller on Facebook is more apt to get that request quickly and post new photos, or even send photos via DM.  Maybe a video of the surface of a refractor could be provided if you asked pretty please. 

NO FEES

eBay fees can really cut into your profits while selling or even cost you extra as a buyer!  There are fees to create your listing, optional fees to promote your item, extra fees if you want your item to have bold text, more loot to have as subtitle.  There is State tax if you’re a buyer.  Either buyer or seller, the more expensive the card, the more you pay – even a 10 % fee total can really dig into your wallet.  There are NO fees to deal on Facebook.

VARIETY

You can really narrow down your searches with such a wide variety of available Facebook groups.  If you have a very specific card to sell, like a 2018 Topps Raphael Devers rainbow foil rookie card, you would have a hard time selling that card in a New York Yankees fan group.  Luckily for you, there are countless pages available to get very granular or to cast huge net.  Groups such as Topps Rookie cards, Baseball Cards for Sale, or Aaron Judge fans; you can find the right spot to sell, or buy that Devers card.  Get into your search bar and look for the perfect group for you! 

MULTIPLE SALES

Unlike eBay, you can easily post a Griffey card in one photo, a full set of 1993 Topps baseball in another photo, and then an autographed card in a third photo, and make ONE post!  Unlike three different eBay auctions, you could easily manage three sales at once, all in the comments.  How easy is that?

FRIENDS

Making new friends has TONS of advantages!  First, you get to enjoy talking cards all day with people that share the passion.  Can’t tell you how many times my wife tells me to stop rambling about Topps…  the other collectors in Facebook groups love it, though!

If you friend others in Facebook groups, you’ll often find people being on the lookout for you.  You’re looking for 1984 Topps for a Mattingly rookie, and you may find friends in the group having a few to sell.  People in the group might have that 2020 Bowman box for you that your Target doesn’t.  Friends always have your back and maybe they’ll vouch for you to new customers that want to buy your cards but aren’t quite sure you’re reputable. 

Who knows – maybe you’ll end up being buddies with celeb collectors in groups like we did with our good friend, Gary V.

Learning the Lingo:

Now that you know Facebook is a great place for your wheeling and dealing, it is paramount you know exactly what you are getting into.  Imagine if you thought you were buying a whole case of cards and end up with nothing!  Before you get scared off, read how easy it is to not make such a mistake. 

• Hobby VS Retail: This is pretty simple.  Hobby products come from the manufacturer and are sold to your local card shops and dealers.  Retail products are sold in stores such as Walmart and Target.  While number of cards and insert odds vary per product, you’re usually able to get better inserts out of Hobby products.  Conversely, some retail packs may have store-exclusive cards inserted you’re searching for; don’t buy a hobby box to look for retail inserts.  Most retail boxes are smaller, contain fewer cards, and are called “BLASTER” boxes. 

Here is a “blaster” box opening:

Here is a “hobby” box opening:

• NFS/NFT: Not for Sale/Not for Trade.  Collectors are just showing off their goods.  This is similar to PC = Personal Collection
• Raw: An ungraded (not encapsulated by PSA, SGC, BGS, etc.) card.
• Single, Lot, Set, Gaggle – one card, a batch of cards, a whole set of cards, and just another fun way to say “bunch”. Say Gaggle without laughing. 
• W = watch. When someone posts a W on a post, they just want to be notified when new comments are added. 
• Break: When buying into a BREAK, you’re only receiving a portion of the product. For example, a PACK BREAK means you’re not getting every card in the pack, but either a single card, or perhaps all cards from a certain team.  Let’s break (hey yo) down further:
  • Case break: all boxes in the case are being opened
  • Box break: all packs in a box are being opened
  • Pack break: all cards in the pack are being dispersed

Know what portion of the break you’re getting, too.  Sellers will offer a single box, pack, or card, a whole team, or a set of teams such as a division.  Maybe you’ve purchased or were randomly drawn the AL East for a baseball box break – you would get all the Yankees cards but no cards from the Angels as they reside in the AL West.  If your break is randomized, the cost should be the same for all spots.  However, if you’re able to pick and choose your break, expect the cost for premium spots to be much higher.  A spot with a Mike Trout card would obviously cost more than a spot with Francisco Cervelli.  Sorry, ‘cisco.  Be careful if you buy a team or player break; you may get zip, and that’s not the breaker’s fault.

• RAZZ: A Razz is almost like a lottery, and you usually come up empty-handed.  Picture a $100, ungraded 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr.  If you don’t have $100, and a seller is having a hard time finding a buyer that does, a RAZZ may be offered at 10 spots which cost ten bucks each.  If you buy one spot for $10, you may get lucky and win that $100 Griffey.  However, this means there are nine buyers that get NOTHING, so be in-the-know.
• Coin a Card: The coin in photos is merely to show you or the seller owns the product to sell. Some sellers will write their name on a sheet of paper, too, and place that next to the card they’re selling. This prevents people from stealing photos of items they don’t own.
• S/A, Still Available, or Bump: The seller is alerting you that the cards are still for sale. Usually anyone with a W on the comment wants to see that so they can re-evaluate and maybe make a lower offer.
• *SOLD*: If you WANT to buy, quickly comment SOLD in the post! This will allow the seller to reach out and offer you the cards.  Also, this will tell you if a post is sold or not, too.  Don’t make offers on posts with SOLD; the cards aren’t available any more.
• PayPal Friends and Family or Goods and Services: The easiest route to pay is usually PayPal.  Once you have decided upon a price, send your e-mail for PayPal via DM and choose Friends and Family (no fees) or Goods and Services (fees, but has some helpful insurances)

A Facebook Group to get you Started:

Just Collect has a sister site that deals in breaks.  While we BUY collections, Vintage Breaks sells those “breaks” we just talked about.  Our sister site has an AWESOME Buy, Sell, and Trade Facebook page that contains customers and friends that often buy from our sites.  Click HERE to get to know the Community, and make your first deal.