How to Know the Value of a Baseball Card

Baseball cards have been popular collectors' items almost as long as baseball has been a popular sport. Cardboard pictures of baseball players go back to the early 1900s when they were included with packages of tobacco. Nowadays, they are not only fun--they are big business. Those early baseball cards can be worth thousands of dollars, and even cards only a few years old can be valuable.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Assess the condition of the card. Check the card's surface over for any scratches, loss of gloss or creases. Pay careful attention to the corners, a common place for damage. For maximum value, a baseball card's corners must remain sharp.
2. Check the centering of the baseball card. The card's picture should be centered in the middle of the card. If there is a border, it should be equal in width all the way around the card.
3. Know the rating system for baseball cards. Perfect cards are considered mint, and cards with slightly fuzzy corners or off-centering are considered near mint. Excellent cards have two minor problems, such as a fuzzy corner and surface imperfections. Very good cards have more than two problems and cards with creases, scuffing or major surface damage are considered good, fair or poor depending on the severity.
4. Find the price guide value of the card. Get a baseball card price guide from a newsstand and look up the value of the card. Most price guides list two prices. The price is a range of the lowest price you can expect the card to sell for and the higher price is the highest amount you could expect to sell the card for.
5. Factor in the condition of the baseball card. A card in excellent condition is worth 100 percent of the price guide value. A near-mint card is worth about 50 percent of the full value, an excellent card is worth about 20 percent of the value, a very good card is worth about 10 percent of the full value and anything less is worth about 5 percent of the full value.
6. Get the card professionally graded. If you have a card which you think might be exceptionally valuable, it's a good idea to get the card professionally graded so you can know it's exact quality and value. Go to the Professional Sports Authenicator website and click on "Submission Instructions" for information on how to get your card graded.