When do you throw away it all away?

[crazy4kinsler]

There's an LCS about 15 minutes here that'll give like $10-$15 trade credit for large 3200 count boxes of base. More if it's got hot brands or hot players. Less if it's like 1990s junk. They then sell those cards for 10 cents each or $20 for the box.

Originally Posted by oldgoldy97

Does anyone around here to that?

[WillBaseball]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Not true at all.

Maybe 99.9% of kids whose parents are wealthy enough to get them into youth baseball travel teams don't care about commons & minor stars, but that's a very small percentage of kids overall.

Everyone I give them to (kids at a much lower income-level who cannot otherwise afford to buy cards) greatly appreciates them.

Alright, valid point, points taken. Appreciate you

[WillBaseball]

Originally Posted by crazy4kinsler

There's an LCS about 15 minutes here that'll give like $10-$15 trade credit for large 3200 count boxes of base. More if it's got hot brands or hot players. Less if it's like 1990s junk. They then sell those cards for 10 cents each or $20 for the box.

You’re trying to get to a million? I guess everything is bigger in tx including your space for all these cards! LOL.
Do doubles count? Like 100x the same card of whatever common from whatever set would work for you and whatever you’re trying to do?

[yoadrian49]

Originally Posted by premium1981

Flat rate box and auction on eBay. Takes almost no time.. I’ll never understand throwing away money.

When you sell lots of inserts, do you try to sell each insert set lot by itself or all of the insert sets as one lot?

[TheFrenzy]

Congratulations!

[UCCF]

I'm doing it now. I'm getting ready to move, and I was unwilling to pay to move 500,000+ unsorted base cards. So I've been going through and putting stuff into piles that I figure someone might want - Hall of Famers, current hobby stars (about 15 players), rookie cards, 1st bowman chrome, Sapphire releases, Heritage SPs, Ginter hot box foils, Ginter minis. That's stuff I know I can turn into lots and sell without any real trouble.

Everything else is going to the recycling bin. If I had infinite time and infinite space (by which I mean 6 months off from work and a 2000 square foot finished basement lined with sorting tables) then I'd keep everything, sort it into sets and team lots, and sell it that way. But the return on that, compared to the time I'd have to spend to do it, just isn't worth it.

[K111]

People legit just throw cards away? I am aware at least 90% of cards are or are almost worthless but I can't have it in me to throw them away, eventually I will take them to a donation bin or something

[kingofsnake]

For products with a lot of base (Topps, Ginter, etc...) I'll save rookies and superstar base, sleeve them, and use them as giveaways/padding. Everything else gets thrown away.

[bryanscs]

If anyone is near me, I will buy baseball base within the past 2 years or so for $10 per row ($30 for a 3 row/$50 for a 5 row).

Just shoot me a message!

[Platman]

I knew I would find use for this pic some day!!!



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[boxbuster7]

anybody that throws cards away is a moron

[Slette]

At worst, you could always list them on Facebook Marketplace for a fairly low price. If you have cards that are at least boxed in 3200 count boxes, they will already present better than the shopping bags of cards I see advertised in my area. You may only get a few bucks, but half a tank of gas is better than just pitching them in my eyes.

[Raleigh504]

Originally Posted by premium1981

Flat rate box and auction on eBay. Takes almost no time.. I’ll never understand throwing away money.

This is what I do (non-new releases), never have enough to get a whole box of a certain set/year. Add this to collections I buy that aren't worth listing individually too.

After awhile I go through listings and remove some that don't make sense anymore.

[WillBaseball]

If you’re building sets; that’s awesome (then what do you do with them?). If you’re local to the fellow here offering cash in Kentucky; that’s an easy button. But anything else: to me; that’s a whole lot of work for $10 or less, which barely moves the needle on my gas tank.

Isn’t minimum wage like 13 or 16 dollars an hour? Throw it away (or recycle or use it for the fireplace or art or something) and get back to work (in my opinion). Any minimum wage or better paying work is a more lucrative side hustle than trying to squeeze a couple bucks out of the lotto ticket that you just lost on, which unfortunately is what it often is, regardless of when or who is the industry that shifted it that way. And assuming that you make more than minimum wage (because you’ve found space in your budget to buy this ultra modern ephemera in this increasingly expensive country) only amplifies your precious time being worth more than these cards that you’re telling yourself is some passion project. Time is money! Saving it for later is just pushing off the inevitable too (throwing it away when you move or it doesn’t sell or basement floods or you downsize or find gold in them hills, etcetcetc).

It took me a real long gradual while to get to this point, but once out from under the black cloud of junk collecting, I’ve realized that for me and possibly a lot of us who don’t set-build, commons died way back in the junk wax era.

[DoneWrite]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned yet but if there’s an auction house or antique store near you that lists on Hibid, there’s always 3200 count boxes on there with decent final strike amounts. $15-30 per box depending on what’s showcased in the listing. Reach out to them and see if they’d be interested in listing for you. You’d be surprised what some of the leftovers go for.

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by WillBaseball

If you’re building sets; that’s awesome (then what do you do with them?). If you’re local to the fellow here offering cash in Kentucky; that’s an easy button. But anything else: to me; that’s a whole lot of work for $10 or less, which barely moves the needle on my gas tank.

Isn’t minimum wage like 13 or 16 dollars an hour? Throw it away (or recycle or use it for the fireplace or art or something) and get back to work (in my opinion). Any minimum wage or better paying work is a more lucrative side hustle than trying to squeeze a couple bucks out of the lotto ticket that you just lost on, which unfortunately is what it often is, regardless of when or who is the industry that shifted it that way. And assuming that you make more than minimum wage (because you’ve found space in your budget to buy this ultra modern ephemera in this increasingly expensive country) only amplifies your precious time being worth more than these cards that you’re telling yourself is some passion project. Time is money! Saving it for later is just pushing off the inevitable too (throwing it away when you move or it doesn’t sell or basement floods or you downsize or find gold in them hills, etcetcetc).

It took me a real long gradual while to get to this point, but once out from under the black cloud of junk collecting, I’ve realized that for me and possibly a lot of us who don’t set-build, commons died way back in the junk wax era.

You are looking at collecting all wrong. It's not about money. Time doesn't equal money in a hobby. Time equals enjoyment. Some of use get enjoyment from collecting, looking at, sorting, organizing, even shipping cards. So it's not about how little the money is compared to the time we spend. And I don't view base as "worthless" or trash. Just because someone won't pay money for something doesn't mean it doesn't have worth. Monetary value is only one type of worth.

I get that you have come to the point where you see base as worthless and not worth your time. But understand, not everyone is like you. Someone out there might enjoy them. If you want to throw your base away as trash, that's your prerogative. I can't fault you for that. If you view it from a time=money standpoint and it's not worth your time to move them to someone else who might enjoy them, that's absolutely fine. But you haven't reached some epiphany level of enlightenment that others just haven't reached yet. You just have a different point of view about the hobby and how to enjoy it.

[bigdog2003]

I use to give all base away to the kids I taught. Rookies, stars, anything that wasn't a parallel or insert. I probably gave away 200 Travis Kelce rookies.

[WillBaseball]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

You are looking at collecting all wrong. It's not about money. Time doesn't equal money in a hobby. Time equals enjoyment. Some of use get enjoyment from collecting, looking at, sorting, organizing, even shipping cards. So it's not about how little the money is compared to the time we spend. And I don't view base as "worthless" or trash. Just because someone won't pay money for something doesn't mean it doesn't have worth. Monetary value is only one type of worth.

I get that you have come to the point where you see base as worthless and not worth your time. But understand, not everyone is like you. Someone out there might enjoy them. If you want to throw your base away as trash, that's your prerogative. I can't fault you for that. If you view it from a time=money standpoint and it's not worth your time to move them to someone else who might enjoy them, that's absolutely fine. But you haven't reached some epiphany level of enlightenment that others just haven't reached yet. You just have a different point of view about the hobby and how to enjoy it.

I do truly completely get all of that, and have tried to highlight that these are just my opinions as much as possible. I also get that my opinions are not a one size fits all that will work for everyone. I get a lot of those same enjoyments, I just throw it away when done.

[josefmtz]

i put together boxes and post on local buy-nothing groups of facebook for free -- usually gone within one hour.

[whitmm]

I am still very confused at what the OP wants exactly. Wants to rip packs, but doesn't want a bunch of commons, yet would buy cases of products that are designed for set builders. Wants the "1st, coolest cards" of stars, but doesn't buy right away. Wants specific cards of players, but refuses to just buy singles. Asks what do with all the "worthless" base cards, but decides every option other than throwing them in the trash isn't worth the time, because it's not going to make him enough money to be worth it.

Will, there's no option for your commons that is going to meet your monetary requirements, especially if you aren't buying at release and putting in the time right away. Save yourself some time and just open your packs over the trash can for easy disposal. Don't waste your time pulling out the lesser rookies, since most of them aren't going to turn into a big money name in the hobby.

[Jazz Chisholm]

When available space becomes a more valuable commodity than the cards taking it up. I recently threw away 70k of the 125k cards I own. Absolute junk like 1995 Fleer commons and 20-count lots of 2006 Bowman Draft Cyle Hankerd. Having that much stuff takes up an entire closet or an entire small storage unit. The older you get, the more stuff you acquire, and the less important crap like quarter century-old baseball commons become

I quit busting wax five years ago and only stick to PC singles now, so this isn't a problem that will come up again

[UCCF]

Originally Posted by WillBaseball

If you’re building sets; that’s awesome (then what do you do with them?). If you’re local to the fellow here offering cash in Kentucky; that’s an easy button. But anything else: to me; that’s a whole lot of work for $10 or less, which barely moves the needle on my gas tank.

And that's exactly where I landed. I don't particularly enjoy throwing out cards, but I tried getting rid of them other ways. No one wants to pay you to ship heavy boxes of base cards. Hospitals around here, they don't want all of this. Card shops didn't want it. Goodwill didn't want it. I don't have ready access to hundreds of children to give them away to. I've been giving away Pokemon base cards to kids, and that's easy. But no kid is dying for a big bag of my old 2018 Heritage base cards (now with more Justin Bour!).

And frankly with the level of crime in the city here, I don't want to advertise that I have a large collection of baseball cards and people should just drop by the house if they want some (but on the same level, I don't want to spend my nights and weekends as a base card delivery person). I joined a Facebook group for local collectors, and there are plenty of people on there who are also trying to get rid of their base cards. I'm not alone in this. Theoretically someone should be willing to give me $30 for a big box of cards. In practice, it's not always so easy.

If I wasn't moving, then I'd live with the cards and slowly sort them down in my golden years. But we're talking hundreds of pounds of cards here that I would need to pay to move, then unpack and reorganize in a new house, and then still be stuck with the question of what to do with them. And that's not how I want to spend my hobby time.

[Bcr]

Time is money and most of the time it isn't worth selling or storing common junk.

[WillBaseball]

Originally Posted by whitmm

I am still very confused at what the OP wants exactly. Wants to rip packs, but doesn't want a bunch of commons, yet would buy cases of products that are designed for set builders. Wants the "1st, coolest cards" of stars, but doesn't buy right away. Wants specific cards of players, but refuses to just buy singles. Asks what do with all the "worthless" base cards, but decides every option other than throwing them in the trash isn't worth the time, because it's not going to make him enough money to be worth it.

Will, there's no option for your commons that is going to meet your monetary requirements, especially if you aren't buying at release and putting in the time right away. Save yourself some time and just open your packs over the trash can for easy disposal. Don't waste your time pulling out the lesser rookies, since most of them aren't going to turn into a big money name in the hobby.

I hope I’m not confusing. Some people seem to be getting it. I just want to talk about it on this forum. @UCCF (and others) is exactly who I suspected was also out there somewhere and I want to and look forward to hearing his, and other’s takes on this; including yours! I want to hear your opinion. And offering mine up, take it or leave it or change my mind or explain your superiority or don’t. Not wanting anything else, and not trying to rile anyone up. Just going where the conversation takes us.

The replier who suggested the woman’s shelter?- that’s brilliant! The replier who is offering cash for cards?- awesome but unfortunately many states away from me.

[hermanotarjeta]

Throwing away cards is the only way to increase scarcity, I’ll encourage anyone to do it.

That’s how many cards from pre-1970 became more valuable and hard to find.