If you want to sell a sports card collection, here is what working with us looks like from start to finish: you send photos, we give you a range before anyone drives anywhere, we look at the cards in person or by mail, and you get a written offer with the reasoning attached. You can say no at any point and it costs you nothing.
Mellenade is a family-run shop in Memphis. We buy collections outright, take consignment on higher-value single cards, and run live breaks on Whatnot and TikTok. Eric works regional card shows across Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama, which is often how we see collections outside Memphis.
This page explains the mechanics — including the parts where selling to us is the wrong move for you.
What we buy, and what we don’t
We buy: full collections regardless of size, vintage cards from any era, graded cards, modern parallels and autographs, unopened wax and sealed product, and mixed estate lots where nobody has sorted anything.
We generally don’t buy: water-damaged or mildewed cards, cards that have been trimmed or recolored (worth learning how to spot an altered card before you buy any yourself), memorabilia without provenance, and very large bulk lots of common cards from 1987 to 1994 in quantities we cannot move. That last one is the most common disappointment, so it is worth being direct: cards from that era were printed in enormous quantities and clean copies are everywhere. Value in a junk wax box, if any, is in the specific rookie cards and inserts, not the volume.
Step 1: Send photos before you pack anything
Almost every collection can be screened from photos, and the basics of photographing cards apply here too. What helps most:
- A wide shot showing how much there is — boxes, binders, stacks, whatever it is in.
- A photo of the top and bottom card of a few stacks so we can see the era and set.
- Close, flat, well-lit shots of anything that stands out: graded slabs (with the label readable), autographs, serial-numbered cards, anything before 1980.
- If there is unopened product, a photo of the box showing the year and brand.
You do not need to sort or list anything first. Sorting can help you understand what you have, but it is not a condition of getting a look from us.
Step 2: A range, before anyone commits
From photos we give you a range, not a firm number, and we tell you what would move it up or down. A range is honest at this stage because condition on raw cards cannot be judged reliably from a phone photo — centering, corner wear, and surface scratches all need the card in hand or under good light.
If the range is not interesting to you, that is a fine place to stop. Nobody has spent anything.
Step 3: The actual review
Three ways this happens, depending on where you are and how big the collection is:
- In person in Memphis. You bring it in or we come to it. Large estate collections usually make more sense to look at where they sit.
- At a card show. If we are already going to be at a show near you, bring the standout cards. This is also a good way to get several offers in one afternoon from different dealers, which we would encourage.
- By mail. For smaller or higher-value lots. Pack cards in penny sleeves and toploaders where possible, box them so nothing shifts, and use a service with tracking and insurance. Ask us for the current address and insurance instructions before you ship — never use an address you found in an old post.
Step 4: How the offer is built
An offer on a collection is not a percentage pulled out of the air. It is built from the bottom up, and we will show you the work:
- Recent sold comps on the cards that carry the value — not asking prices, actual completed sales, adjusted for condition.
- Minus the cost of selling. Marketplace fees, payment processing, shipping supplies, and shipping itself all come out of whatever the card eventually sells for. We use whatever the destination marketplace currently publishes in its fee schedule, and we tell you which one we assumed so you can check the rate.
- Minus time. Photographing, listing, packing, and answering questions on a few hundred cards is real labor.
- Adjusted for how fast it moves. A graded rookie of a current star sells the week it is listed — and if that player is mid-spike, selling into hype versus waiting is its own decision. A box of 1991 Fleer may sit for a year. Cards that move slowly get a lower percentage of comp value, because the money is tied up longer.
The result is a wholesale number. It will be below what the cards would bring one at a time on eBay over the following twelve months, and it should be — that gap is the fees, the labor, and the risk that we are wrong about a card, all of which move from you to us.
Outright purchase, consignment, or breaking
| Route | How it works | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| Outright purchase | We buy the collection, you are paid, we take it from there | You want to be finished, or the collection is mostly mid and low value |
| Consignment | We sell the cards for you and take a percentage of the sale, agreed in writing before anything is listed — how consignment math works is worth reading first | You have individual cards valuable enough to be worth waiting for the retail price |
| Live break | Sealed product is opened live and sold by team or spot | You have unopened modern wax, which often does better this way than as a sealed box sale |
Payment and timing
For an outright purchase, payment happens when the offer is accepted and the cards change hands. For consignment, you are paid after the cards sell, on the schedule we agree to in writing up front. Either way, get the terms in writing — from us or from anyone else you sell to. Ask for two things specifically: the payment method, and how many days after a sale you are paid. A buyer who will not put those in writing is not one to hand a collection to.
When you should not sell to us
We would rather tell you this than have you find out later:
- You have one genuinely high-end card. A single card worth many thousands usually does better at a major auction house, where the bidding pool is deep and the marketing is built for it.
- You enjoy the process and have time. Selling it yourself on eBay will net you more money. It will also cost you months of evenings. That is a fair trade for some people.
- You have not gotten a second opinion. If our offer is the only number you have seen, go get another one. A dealer who is uncomfortable with you shopping the offer is telling you something.
- You are not ready. If the collection belonged to someone you lost, there is no deadline. Cards keep. Store them somewhere dry and come back to it when you want to — we have a longer walk-through of what to do with an inherited collection.
How to start
Take the wide photo, take close photos of the five or ten cards that look most interesting to you, and send them over through the collection intake page, with a rough count of boxes or binders. A local shop, a show table, or an auction house takes the same photos — send them to two or three places at once. We will come back with a range and an explanation of what is driving it. If you would rather understand what you have before talking to any buyer, price ten of your best cards yourself first using eBay sold listings — you will follow the conversation better, and you should.
Common questions
Do I need to sort or organize the collection first?
No. We see unsorted estate collections regularly. Sorting by sport and decade helps you understand what you have, and pulling out anything graded, signed, or serial numbered is worth doing for your own sake, but it is not required.
Will you buy just part of a collection?
Sometimes, and it depends on what is left. Buying only the best twenty cards means someone still has to move the other 20,000, so an all-in offer and a cherry-picked offer are priced differently. We will quote both if that helps you compare.
How is your offer different from what eBay would bring?
It is lower, on purpose, and that is true of every dealer. eBay comps are retail prices earned over time with fees and labor deducted. A buy offer is money today with no fees, no listing, and no risk to you. Which is better depends entirely on what your time is worth to you.
What if I just want to know what it is worth and not sell?
That is fine, and it is a normal reason to send photos. If you tell us that up front, we will tell you what we see without a pitch attached.
