Admit it. You're a pack rat. You collect stuff. Perhaps it's a pile of books from yesteryear. Or an old baseball card collection in a corner closet. Maybe its an army of Pez dispensers collecting dust on a bedroom shelf?

Bottom line: You have stuff, and you want to get rid of it. Not only that, but you want to make the maximum amount of cash in the purging process. The experts say it's not impossible to turn a nice profit on your treasures, but there's always work involved.

Getting Started

Perhaps you're a 37-year-old guy with a sports card collection from 25 years ago and you want to cash in. The first step is to document exactly what you have. Make a list, especially if you're planning to sell the collection to a corner card shop.

Tim Smith, a suburban Minneapolis sports card dealer, says he wants to see the list -- first and foremost.

"I want to know that it's going to be worth my time to even look at (the pile of cards)," Smith said. "I'm not going to inventory someone's collection because they're too lazy to do it themselves -- or they have no clue what they have."

Brace Yourself For A Letdown

Once a dealer has your list, and is interested in a few items, you should then be realistic about profit margins. If a Cal Ripken Jr. card is listed for $20 in a collector's guide (there are collectors guides for almost everything), be prepared for a letdown.

"You have to take the discount," Smith explains. "A card worth $20, you may only get $5 for it."

That's simply because secondhand retailers have overhead costs. Lights. Heat. Employees. You don't. They're the ones who get to sell it at "book value."

"The dealer has to make something," said rare coin broker John Ferm. "If you understand that, then you're OK."

More Work, More Money

Can you do better? Absolutely. A little Web site called eBay makes it possible. But again, it's work.

Before jumping on, About.com's collectibles author Barbara Crews suggests hitting Google first to get a general idea of what you have. Then research price guides to get a ballpark figure of what your item is worth. The last stop before eBay, she says, is to check out clubs or associations related to that item.

Have a pristine 1966 Batman lunch box? (If you do, please contact me. Really.) Chances are there's some sort of Superhero Lunch Box Society out there. (They told me to get a life, and I did.) Hey, the Web is a vast universe of surprises.

One you know what you have, how much it might be worth and who might be interested buyers, then dive into eBay. Crews says check current auctions to see how popular an item is, and be aware that a lot of factors are involved in the eBay dance, such as when it's put for sale, how the item is described -- even the photographs associated with the item.

"If you want to get the most bang for your buck, you want to put your stuff on eBay," said Mike Harmon, a collectible toys and comics expert. "You will certainly get more for them than selling them to a retailer."

Acknowledge Your Junk

Harmon warns, however, that ordinary stuff doesn't move as fast as rarer items. That's a no-brainer, but he's seen his share of people who have wanted to unload junk.

"For every comic book that's worth something, there are thousands of comics that aren't worth the paper they're printed on," he said.

Smith agrees, harkening back to the baseball card bust years of 1988-1992, when great rookies were rare but the presses printed day and night anyway.

"That stuff is just kindling," Smith said. "Junk is junk."

Try Table Talk

So if you don't have junk, can one do better than eBay? There are collectible conventions, where you can rent a table and set out your stuff. They're nothing more than glorified garage sales, but targeted at a specific audience. You're the dealer naming your own price. But instead of just posting something on eBay, you have overhead (the rented space), and you're spending time sitting at a table hoping someone will buy.

"It's not an easy thing to do," said Ferm. "It's work."

Not only that, but you're surrounded by hordes of consumers actually looking for a bargain!

"Most people go to conventions looking for deals," Harmon said. "If you're looking for the maximum return on your treasures, eBay is generally the way to go."

So, what is your stuff worth? Oftentimes, plenty. But unless you can offer a rarity, it'll take old-fashioned elbow grease to make it disappear.