Under the Hammer: Goldin Auction House

One card, one auction house, one honest report card.

Aug 11, 2026

Not every card you pull out of a pack goes in the PC.

And when you pull something huge that you’ve got zero attachment to, it’s time to make some of your money back.

There are a ton of different way’s to unload a collectible. Today, we’re zeroing in on one of the more popular.

Auctions are a huge part of this hobby, whether you’re running one yourself on eBay or consigning with a bigger name. But with so many options out there, we want to know if there’s a right answer.

This post is kicking off Under the Hammer, a new series where we try out some of the most popular auction houses in the hobby and share our experience.

Today’s target: Goldin

Let’s rip in.

The Hobby Wire has no connection to any auction house. These posts are an independent review of our own experiences with each company.

The Goldin Touch: How Goldin Auctions Works

If there’s one thing Goldin is good at, it’s advertising.

If you have an interest in sports cards or other collectibles, odds are the algorithm has fed you Ken Goldin’s face at least once.

Goldin sells itself as the home for premier collectibles, touting their vast network of buyers and sellers and wide reach across the hobby.

Since starting up in 2012, they’ve turned their traditional auction house into a full-fledged media brand. Ken Goldin shows up on news segments pitching collectibles as an alternative asset class. They’ve got a show on Netflix. Add that to their huge social media presence and collaborations with names like Logan Paul, and you start to think they might be right when they say consigning with Goldin puts the most eyes on your card.

Seems simple enough. More visibility means more money.

At least that’s what went through out heads when we decided to consign a card with them.

Goldin runs auctions in two tiers. Weekly auctions are geared towards graded cards valued under $7,500. Monthly Elite Auctions are for the grails. The 1/1 Wembys, the LeBron Triple Logoman, cards like that.

The Card We Consigned

During our review of 2025 Topps Chrome Update Baseball, we pulled a pretty big card.

Mickey & Friends Mickey Mouse Rockies Black Refractor /10

You don’t come across a numbered SSP Insert every day, but we have less than zero interest in non-sport. This one went straight from the pack to PSA with every intention of flipping as soon as we got the grade back. Cards like this carry the most value right at release, so we sprung for the 20 day turnaround (though, it actually took closer to two and a half months. Thanks PSA).

Comping this card was no easy task. With only ten in existence, we couldn’t find a single sale of this exact card before we shipped it off. Closest we saw was a black Goofy that sold for $700 raw. When the raw version moves at that number, a 9 coming back isn’t the end of the world.

Turns out we didn’t need to worry at all.

PSA 10’s typically run 2-3x the price of a raw copy. So when the good news came back, we set our expectations around $1,800.

How the Auction Went

We made a big mistake right at the jump.

We sent this card straight to the PSA vault before we decided where we were selling it. Vaulting with PSA cost us over a month and a half. Two weeks before the card even landed in the Vault. Another twenty days to get it shipped from the Vault over to Goldin. Plus a fee for pulling it out before the 90 day mark.

Lesson learned. Don’t vault with PSA unless you’re planning to sell through PSA.

That aside, things started off well. We submitted our inquiry and a Goldin rep reached out to us same day with a plan and a contract. They penciled the card in for a weekly auction, with Goldin taking 5% of the sale price plus the entirety of the buyer’s premium. Made sense to us. We weren’t expecting to earn a down payment on a car out of this thing. We’ve heard the commission can move depending on the card.

Through the whole Vault fiasco, Goldin stayed communicative, promptly replying to emails we sent to confirm they’d received the card. Once it landed, they told us processing would take 2-3 weeks before it would hit the block. Our hope for selling this card ASAP started to turn to hope for selling this card eventually.

Then three weeks went by without a peep. We gave it one more, then reached out to follow up. It took another two weeks after that before we finally saw the card on the auction block.

The sale itself was quiet most of the week. Then the final day hit and the bids started stacking up. The card even went into extended bidding for about an hour.

Final Hammer Price: $1,647 (buyer’s premium included)

Our cut landed in our account within two weeks of closing. After everything it took to get this card on the auction block, the back end was the smoothest part of the whole process.

Report Card

When we grade these auction houses, we’re sticking to the same five criteria every time.

Support/Transparency: How communicative is the auction house through the process? Do they guide you or keep you in the dark? Do you get a real point of contact, or a general inbox and a ticket number?

Fees: Are commissions and fees reasonable or way out of line? This covers the consignor commission plus anything else deducted before you get paid.

Presentation: Are the scans and photos good enough to actually sell the card? Is the description accurate?

Speed: Once the card is in their possession, how quickly does it make it to the block?

Value: Did the card hit the price we expected? Or did we fall short of comps?

Support and Transparency — B

From the moment we put in our inquiry, we had a dedicated point person we could reach out to at any time. They were very helpful explaining the game plan and walking us through getting our card out of the PSA vault. We would’ve liked to get a few updates on where our card was during processing, especially after they blew past their own 2-3 week projections.

Fees — A

Every deducted fee was listed clearly in the consignment contract. 5% is more than reasonable given that eBay takes 12-13% and makes you do all the work. The buyer’s premium is what helps Goldin keep the seller side that low.

Presentation — A

High quality imaging, accurate description. Can’t ask for more here.

Speed — C+

We’re not faulting Goldin for our own blunder with the PSA vault. But their own three week delay to get this card on the block is cause for concern. Timing is everything with card sales. Know going in that if you’re trying to hit the start of a season or a playoff run, you might need to send it earlier than you think.

Value — A

We pegged this card around $1,800. A buyer paid $1,647 for it. On a card with ten copies in existence and not one public sale to comp against, landing that close is a win.

Final Grade — B+

Would we Use Them Again?

All in all, we wouldn’t mind consigning with Goldin again. Now that we’ve seen how the machine works, we’ve got a much better idea of how to play it next time.

First, have your card in hand and ship it directly. That gets it there weeks faster than triggering shipping from a vault.

Second, talk to your point person about timing before you sign anything. If they can’t hit your window, better to know now. You can always take your card elsewhere if it doesn’t seem like a good fit.

So is Goldin the best place to consign your cards? One house in, we’re not calling it yet. But they set a good baseline. Every review from here gets measured against it.

What auction house do you want us to cover next? Drop it in the comments

The Hobby Wire

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