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Last Updated On: January 17th, 2024
NEW: Try our Card Consignment Calculator to quickly find the cheapest consignor based on the estimated value of your card. Click below!
Card Consignment Calculator: Compare Fees to Save Money
Not only has eBay made finding your dream card easier than ever before, but it’s also opened up myriad opportunities for sellers to get their products into the hands of buyers. The only snag? Many buyers only trust reputable sellers online (read: sellers with many, many positive reviews).
Enter eBay consignment for cards. Many different consignment services are operating on eBay, but deciding which is best for you is difficult. Do you go by rates? Payout time? Ease of submission process?
After reaching out to each of the consignors included in this post, we compiled all of the information you need to sell with the largest eBay consignors. In this post, we’ll discuss the top five consignors on eBay, including deep dives into each one’s process, fees, and payout times. We’ll wrap up with a look at each company’s most recent reviews.
Let’s explore!
Table of Contents
Overview: eBay Consignment for Cards
eBay consignment is the process of working with an established eBay seller to sell your cards.
Generally speaking, you would begin by contacting one of the consignors regarding your card. Then, you’d ship the card to the consignor, who handles photography, marketing, and selling the card. When all is said and done, you get a nice check in the mail.
But the final sum you receive will be less than the card’s final sale amount. That’s because by working with a consignor, you agree that they will deduct a slice of the final sale price as their consignment rate or fee. This makes sense: you’re essentially paying for someone else to do the lion’s share of selling your card.
Note: the final sale amount used to calculate the fee can be higher than the price you see when the auction ends. That’s because if the buyer is expected to pay shipping, or the card will ship to a state that collects sales tax (most do, except a handful), the final sale amount will include those charges as well (e.g. auction ends at $200 + 7.5% tax + $4.99 shipping = $219.99 final sale amount to calculate fees).
Let’s consider the advantages and disadvantages of using consignment services:
Advantages
- Savings: Generally, a consignor will offer lower fees than selling directly as an individual on eBay. For instance, MC Sports Cards offers a rate of 12% for a $250 sale, while eBay takes out 13.25% for the same sale.
- Convenience: when you use an eBay consignor for cards, the hardest work is to type out a query to the shop and/or walk to your mailbox to grab your check. You don’t have to worry about taking professional photos or curating an item description.
- Ship Once: If you have a few cards going to various buyers, you inevitably will pack multiple boxes and print multiple shipping labels. With an eBay consignor, you send your entire product haul to them, and they’ll handle the rest!
- Leverage Their Feedback: Buyers will be far more trusting of a known consignor with loads of reviews over a first-time seller with little feedback. In this sense, you get to leverage a consignor’s legitimacy for your own gain (literally in higher sales prices).
- Anonymous: You get to operate in the background and preserve anonymity, which is especially nice when dealing with angry buyers. Speaking of…
- Avoid Customer Service: Is there anything worse than an irate customer asking to speak to a manager? Consignors handle this part of the process, as well, including processing returns and answering a buyer’s questions.
Disadvantages
Like anything, there are disadvantages to using an eBay consignor for cards. Here are a few:
- Can’t Build Your Brand: If you’re looking to get into selling cards and developing your own brand to do so, you probably won’t get far with a consignor. That’s because a consignor is going to take the credit (and positive feedback) while you’re left in the dark.
- Lack of Flexibility: Once you agree to work with a consignor and ship off your card, your options are extremely limited. Selling on your own ensures you have a full suite of options available.
- Fees: Unfortunately, this is just part of working with others to achieve a goal. You’re paying for a valuable service, but for some, it may not be worth it. Also, some consignors may charge additional flat fees to sell lower-value cards, or offer rigid payment terms (e.g. more fees to get your money) as we’ll see with COMC later.
- Slower Process: The beauty of eBay is that you can list a card on auction within minutes of deciding. But with consignment, you first need to ship your card, and depending on a consignor’s turnaround time, it could be days or weeks before your cards make it to auction, let alone to get paid.
Best eBay Consignment Rates (Ranked)
The following are the top five sellers on eBay ranked by consignment rates. Since these rates vary, we’re going to go with the best rates at the $250/card mark, a common benchmark among eBay consignors.
1) MC_sportscards
View MC_sportscards on eBay
Current eBay Active Listings
Website
One popular destination of eBay consignment for cards is MC Sports Cards (ebay user MC_sportscards). A newer consignment shop, MC Sports Cards was founded in 2017 by Michael Cancelliere and has since grown severalfold and completed nine figures worth of deals.
MC Sports Cards’ claim to fame is its “top tier customer service and fast turnaround times,” a representative of MC Sports Cards told Only Greats. “We are very straight edge and crack down as much as possible on prohibited practices.”
Here’s how to go about listing with them:
Listing With MC Sports Cards
MC Sports Cards provides a handy-dandy consignment form on its website. On it are the company’s consignment rates, a table where sellers can list their cards, and a choice of payment method.
This form is then inserted into the box used to ship one’s cards to MC Sports Cards. Generally, it takes 1-2 days to get a card up on their page upon receipt.
Then, cards are put up for a seven day auction, after which MC Sports Cards provides a detailed written report about the auction, and payment is submitted to the seller. Payment almost always comes within seven days of the auction’s conclusion.
Consignment Rates
Seller Payout for $250 auction: $220
| Final Auction Price | Payout Rate of Final Sale |
| $10,000 or More | 95% |
| $5,000 – $9,999.99 | 93% |
| $2,500 – $4,999.99 | 92% |
| $1,000 – $2,499.99 | 91% |
| $150 – $999.99 | 88% |
| $50.00 – $149.99 | 85% |
| $0 – $49.99 | 85% of the full sale price, minus $3 |
The first company on our list, organized by competitive rates, just barely nudges out its competition in the $250 category. By offering 88% (as opposed to the next consignor on our list, which clocks in at 87%) for $250 auctions, MC Sports Cards has a slight edge despite its more recent entrance to the hobby. This means you, the seller, get to keep 88% of the total sales price.
MC Sports Cards offers an average consignment rate of 92.75% for cards that sell for $1,000 or more. Higher ticket items valued at $1,000 or more can be featured in a special rolling 10-day auction called “MC Mondays”. It’s a neat value proposition explained as:
MC MONDAY is our high end only focus auction. We showcase our client’s best items available in this 10 day auction. All items in MC Mondays will be featured in numerous social media posts/ads to increase exposure to the listings. Keep an eye on our social media to get a closer look at these incredible cards.
When it comes to receiving payment, MC Sports Cards may charge fees based on the type of deposit. While a direct deposit is free, a $15 fee comes with payment by check and a $25 fee comes with a same-day wire. PayPal fees are not covered by MC Sports Cards.
2) Probstein123
View Probstein123 on eBay
Current eBay Active Listings
Website
Founded in 2005, Probstein123 is one of the most well-known consignors on eBay. With $125 million in annual sales and over four million total sales, Probstein123 prides itself on offering “the lowest consignment rates in the industry” (more on that below).
Probstein123’s eBay consignment shop is reserved exclusively for auctions, and according to one representative, the average auction sale price is around $250. They’re happy to auction anything from sports cards, trading cards including Pokémon TCG and Magic: The Gathering, video games, and memorabilia.
Listing With Probstein123
You won’t find any forms on Probstein123’s website, paper or otherwise. That’s because the consignment shop prefers that prospective sellers include their contact information inside the box used to ship your cards.
From there, Probstein123 will determine the card’s value. A total of 25 team members work to handle volume, giving preference to graded and high-value cards, which are normally easier to list.
Generally, slabbed items valued over $100 are posted on the site quickly, and 95% of sellers receive payment within one week of the auction’s close. Accordingly, Probstein123 offers cash advances (in the form of the final auction price) to the other 5% of sellers whose items take longer than one week to confirm the sale. Payment typically comes in the form of ACH direct deposit or business checks, while PayPal is limited to international accounts.
If an item is returned or unpaid, Probstein123 will relist the card. And if the initial payment for the card has already gone through to a seller before a relist, the seller would still owe the difference between the first and second sale price, if any.
Consignment Rates
Seller Payout for $250 auction: $217.50
The table below captures Probstein123’s official consignment rates for cards. As we’ll see in a larger comparison below, these rates are among the most competitive in the industry.
| Auction Final Sale Price | Payout Rate of Final Sale |
| Less than $100 | 85% |
| $100 – $249 | 86% |
| $250 – $499 | 87% |
| $500 – $749 | 88% |
| $750 – $999 | 90% |
| $1000 and More | 95% |
Additionally, Probstein123 pays all eBay fees (which is customary for the other names on this list as well). It’s an exceptionally clean and easy-to-understand rate system that allows a seller to properly plan for a card’s total cost to consign.
Probstein123’s biggest selling point is its payout rate for high-priced cards. With an average consignment rate of 95% for cards that sell for more than $1,000, Probstein123 packs the most value for expensive product. While it may be just a tick behind the competition in cards worth $250, collectors with big-ticket items should strongly consider Probstein123.
We should emphasize, however, that despite Probstein123 coming in at second, it really ranks as 1a and 1b with MC Sports Cards when it comes to selling higher-end product. But at our $250 line in the sand, MC Sports Cards takes the slight edge.
Even Probstein123’s 90% payout for cards that sell between $750 and $999 is several percentage points better than most consignors on this list.
3) COMC_Consignment
View COMC_Consignment on eBay
Current eBay Active Listings
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While third on our list, COMC — or Check Out My Cards — belongs in a category all to its own. For starters, it’s one of the most well-known and well-regarded eBay consignors for cards out there, with over five million items sold since starting on eBay in 2016.
Additionally, COMC is partnered with Blowout Cards, which provides an excellent forum for collectors to swap info, stories, and advice.
And perhaps more than any other consignor on this list, COMC deals in far more than just sports cards; gaming cards, comic books, and memorabilia are all well represented in the company’s arsenal.
Listing With COMC
COMC runs two different consignment shops concurrently, one through its website and another via eBay. Since this post is about eBay consignment for cards, we’ll mainly stick with the latter shop. That said, COMC’s own shop has a substantial product base and is certainly worth checking out.
To consign on eBay with COMC, one first needs to set up an account on the company’s website. Unlike other consignors on this list that prefer pen and paper, COMC’s pre-ship process is entirely digital.
After making an account, you’ll head to the Submission Wizard and complete the process of submitting cards for consignment. If cards are ungraded, make sure you put them in a toploader or plastic sleeve and not a screw-down case. Also, make sure your cards are valued at $50 minimum, another requirement for consignment.
One can expect their cards to be listed within 2-3 weeks of receipt by COMC.
Once the seven-day auction is complete, sellers will see their payout available in their account as a store credit.This is an extremely important departure from the other consignors on this list, and a facet we’ll explore in more detail below.
Sellers can use their store credit to purchase more cards through COMC’s website shop or through its eBay auctions.
Consignment Rates
Seller Payout for $250 auction: $217.13*
At first blush, COMC would appear to have some of the lowest rates of any name on this list. That’s because the consignor offers a staggered fee structure that’s hard-capped at $35. Here’s how that transaction fee shakes out:
| Auction Final Sale Price | Transaction Fee |
| $100 – $1,000 | 3.50% |
| $2,000 – $2,999 | 1.75% |
| $3,000 – $3,999 | 1.20% |
| $4,000 – $4,999 | 0.88% |
| $5,000 or more | 0.70% (maximum $35 fee) |
Seems too good to be true, right? After all, a $250 card would earn a net payout of $241.75 according to that structure.
Here’s where the fact that the payout is distributed as store credit matters. When a seller goes to withdraw their money, an additional 10% cash out fee is applied to the balance. Thus, after withdrawal, the once $250 sale becomes $217.13 after every fee is tacked on.
Ultimately, you have something that looks a bit like this:
The cash-out fee is there for one specific purpose: to incentivize sellers to also become buyers. By keeping their money in their COMC account, sellers can quickly flip the money into more cards available on COMC’s site.
Think about it: if you’re an avid collector, what are you going to do with the money you make from consigning a card? Purchase more cards. COMC knows this and sets up their system in a way to make it easy for sellers to find their next purchase.
4) PC_Sportscards
View PC_Sportscards on eBay
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Sometimes two brains are better than one, and that’s certainly the case for PC Sports Cards. Founded in 2016 by two competitors-turned-business partners, PC Sports Cards offers a wide array of services, including consignment and grading submissions.
PC Sports Cards deals almost exclusively with raw and graded cards. In fact, they expressly prohibit auctioning magazines and books, with memorabilia requiring pre-clearance. While not necessarily required, PC Sports Cards recommends only sending cards that will auction for at least $10.
Listing With PC Sports Cards
To list with PC Sports Cards, one can either complete an optional online consignment form or include their name and email in the box of shipped cards. From there, someone from PC Sports Cards will get in touch with a seller to prepare for listing.
PC Sports Cards advises that items will be listed within three weeks of receipt (typically within one week for shipments of less than 50 cards). Larger shipments (50+ cards) will likely be listed in batches over the course of several weeks. This listing timeframe is one of the longer ones among the consignors we’ve explored here.
After an auction, sellers have a choice of payout methods, which are stored in your member account. You can receive payment via request through several methods:
- PayPal: completed two business days after an auction ends and the company does not use Friends and Family (meaning you’ll pay a 2.99% fee from the final transferred sum)
- ACH Direct Deposit: completed two business days following a sale and comes with a $5 fee
- Check: mailed five business days after a request and comes with a $10 fee for priority mail and tracking
Consignment Rates
Seller Payout for $250 auction: $215.00
| Final Auction Sale Price | Payout Rate of Final Sale |
| $50.00 to $99.99 | 85% |
| $100.00 to $499.99 | 86% |
| $500.00 to $999.99 | 87% |
| $1,000 to $2,499.99 | 88% |
| $2,500 to $4,999.99 | 90% |
| $5,000 to $9,999.99 | 92% |
| $10,000 and up | 95% |
The 86% consignment rate for cards that sell for $250 is one of the lowest payout rates on this list. When you calculate an additional $5 fee for direct deposit or $10 for check, your $250 shrinks even further.
Even higher-ticket cards valued at $1,000 or more have a lower average payout rate (91.25%) than the higher consignors on this list. And keep in mind a few percentage points may not seem like much, but the difference between 88% on a $2,000 card ($1,760) and 95% for the same ($1,900) isn’t nothing.
5) dcsports87
View dcsports87 on eBay
Current eBay Active Listings
Website
dcsports87 has been a big name in the eBay consignment for cards business since opening an online shop in 2012. Over the course of a decade-plus in the hobby, dcsports87 has carved out a pretty impressive niche geared around one critical factor: speed.
Whether it’s a same-day listing time or a single business day for payment, dcsports87’s quickness is almost Olympic. But before you receive any dough, you’ll need to list. Here’s how:
Listing With dcsports87
Unlike Probstein123, which provides a one-size-fits-all approach to listing, dcsports87 does things a tad differently. To begin with, there are three different “levels” a seller can choose to consign their cards at:
- Standard: Any number of cards; each card must be valued at $5.00 or more; listing time varies (typically around two-weeks, currently at 10 business days as noted at the top of their site)
- Express: 20 cards or less; each card must be valued $25.00 or more; listing time within 3 business days of receipt guaranteed
- Premium: Any number of cards (wax and memorabilia not allowed); no value limit; listing time within 1 business day of receipt guaranteed; $5.00 additional charge per card
If speed is the name of your game and you don’t mind paying a premium (no pun intended) for quick service, then the Premium level is tough to beat.
To list with dcsports87, a seller is required to set up an account on their website, where they can also print off a form noting which level of service they wish to utilize.
A few important notes when it comes to packaging: all ungraded cards must be in sleeves and toploaders. Additionally, while tape isn’t prohibited by dcsports87, the company will not remove tape and thus could hinder the card’s presentation during auction. With their lightning fast listing time, it seems like a reasonable ask to put the onus on you, the seller.
Once dcsports87 has received a seller’s order, they notify them via their account and provide an estimated listing date, which looks like this:
3:14 PM 4/24/2023
dcsports87 Support
Hi
Just letting you know we received your package and have added it to your account!
Service Type: Under 20
Received: Apr 24, 2023
Package ID: 86223
We expect to have the items from this package processed and uploaded to eBay by Apr 26, 2023
Thanks for consigning with desports87!
At the end of an auction, a seller can complete a payout request via their online account. And once again, speed is dcsports87’s calling card: payment is processed the following business day after a request. This means a direct deposit hits your account two days after the request, PayPal is completed instantly, and checks are mailed accordingly.
Consignment Rates
Seller Payout for $250 auction: $212
| Auction Final Sale Price | Payout Rate of Final Sale |
| $10.00 – $24.99 | 80% (minus $0.50 per listing) |
| $25.00 – $999.99 | 85% (minus $0.50 per listing) |
| $1,000.00 – $4,999.99 | 90% |
| $5,000+ | 97% (minus $300.00 per listing) |
A few things stand out, especially for sellers of high-end product. While Probstein123 offers a blanket 95% payout rate for items over $1,000, dcsports87 does not, instead opting for a two-tiered system that averages out to 93.5% for cards over $1,000.
But the kicker is that $300.00 fee for cards over $5,000. It’s the largest flat-rate fee of any consignor on this list, and can make for a rude wake-up call for unaware sellers. Then again, if you’re selling product in the $10,000, $15,000, or more range, $300 could be a drop in the bucket.
Additionally, those wishing to consign non-sports cards (like Funko-Pops or memorabilia) are subject to a 20% consignment fee plus an additional $0.50 per listing.
If you’re craving speed and don’t mind paying a bit extra for it, dcsports87 could be the right fit for you!
Consignor Comparison Table (Net Payouts)
This table neatly summarizes net payouts expected based on final auction price for all the consignors discussed above (rounded to nearest whole dollar).
Note: this bears repeating because it’s important to remember — the net payouts below can differ from actual results in the event a buyer is paying shipping, and/or takes delivery in a sales tax-collecting state.
Net Payouts based on Final Auction Price
| Final Auction Price | MC Sports Cards | Probstein123 | COMC (after Cash-Out Fee) | PC Sports Cards | dcsports87 |
| $100 | $85 | $86 | $87 | $85 | $85 |
| $250 | $220 | $218 | $217 | $215 | $212 |
| $1,000 | $910 | $950 | $869 | $880 | $900 |
| $5,000 | $4,650 | $4,750 | $4,469 | $4,600 | $4,350 |
| $10,000 | $9,500 | $9,500 | $8,969 | $9,500 | $9,400 |
It’s pretty apparent that little separates most of these consignors (with the exception of COMC, for the reasons listed above).
But once we get into the higher-end cards, namely the price points between $1,000 and $4,999, Probstein123 is unbeatable. And for high-end collectors, that’s the first place to check out.
But for lower-price cards, MC Sports Cards has a slight advantage. But if price isn’t your sole interest, perhaps one of the speedier options like dcsports87 or even the credit-centric COMC might be for you.
Top Sellers by Total Feedback
Rates aren’t the only metric worth measuring consignors by. Here’s a table measuring the five consignors on this list by Total Feedback, Feedback Rating, and Active Listings. The Feedback data is taken from the 12 months prior, while the Active Listings are current as of Jan. 10.
| eBay Seller ID | Total Feedback | Feedback Rating | Active Listings |
| MC Sports Cards | 34,333 | 99.97% | 3,080 |
| PC Sports Cards | 64,505 | 99.94% | 5,544 |
| dcsports87 | 474,652 | 99.86% | 13,975 |
| COMC | 374,629 | 99.84% | 6,989,919 |
| Probstein123 | 239,213 | 99.24% | 22,501 |
As the Feedback Rating figures suggest, these are all extremely reputable companies who take pride in handling consignments in a friendly, efficient manner.
Where the numbers truly differ is in the amount of feedback and product each company has received. COMC is far and away the leader in both, suggesting that folks are perfectly fine dealing with the company’s fees. Another implication may be that COMC knows it can charge those fees because it has the muscle of nearly seven million in product on its virtual shelves.
dcsports87 and Probstein123 also project strongly in the Active Listings and Total Feedback categories. Clearly, both consignors have no problem finding clientele, likely due to their calling cards of speed and low rates for high-price cards, respectively.
But what about the top name on our list, MC Sports Cards. Their smaller Active Listings count and Total Feedback reflects their status as a newer company. It helps explain why they charge less in the $250 category: as the new kids on the block, it’s likely they are dealing in lower-priced goods. Offering a highly competitive rate in that price range, then, is unsurprising and smart.
Final Verdict: Top Picks For…
Here’s what we recommend for those looking to consign:
- Lower-priced cards: MC Sports Cards
- Higher-priced cards: Probstein123
- Biggest name: COMC; especially to use store credit to buy more cards
- Speed: dcsports87
eBay consignment for cards isn’t the only way to get your cards in front of an interested buyer. Don’t forget online consignment auction houses like Fanatics and Goldin (which charge their own fees), and the relatively low-fee alternative MySlabs (you’ll be listing your own cards though).
And for those that are especially savvy, it’s still possible to sell cards on social media, if you’re willing to network and put the time in. But for those who are a tad technologically challenged or don’t have the time, eBay consignment is an excellent option.
Have any experience using the consignors on this list? Which is your favorite? Why? We want to hear all about your own experiences below!