Sports Cards

[DasTex]

Anyone jump back into the hobby or just started? My 7 yr old is wrapped up in it now (Even started his own YouTube channel where he opens cards and mispronounces names).

The cost is absolutely nuts and the resale markets guys are making a killing. The problem is, they take all the retail up packs and boxes and leave nothing for someone who is just doing it for enjoyment.

 

[RS12]

Yeah some of the old baseball cards, Mantle rookie and Honus Wagner sell in the millions at auction regularly. Think a short printed LeBron James rookie topped a million recently as well.

 

[big dog cowboy]

The cost is absolutely nuts and the resale markets guys are making a killing. The problem is, they take all the retail up packs and boxes and leave nothing for someone who is just doing it for enjoyment.

Actually the days of making a killing are over. Earlier this year, that was absolutely true. Since then, things have really changed. Retailers have raise their prices so high the profit margins are very low now. The days of 'taking everything' are limited to certain products. The rest is left on the shelf. Soccer, hockey, baseball, those sports are very easy to find on the shelf. The demand is very low. I am very active in buying and selling cards almost every day. If you have any questions let me know. Knowing when and where to go for cards is the trick. Master that and buying cards is easier.

 

[DasTex]

Actually the days of making a killing are over. Earlier this year, that was absolutely true. Since then, things have really changed. Retailers have raise their prices so high the profit margins are very low now. The days of 'taking everything' are limited to certain products. The rest is left on the shelf. Soccer, hockey, baseball, those sports are very easy to find on the shelf. The demand is very low. I am very active in buying and selling cards almost every day. If you have any questions let me know. Knowing when and where to go for cards is the trick. Master that and buying cards is easier.

I'm gonna have to take you up on that.
I've gotten some off Target for him but not much else. Items here in Austin are typically gone.

Those guys are Ebay doing team breaks and player breaks are making some decent money. Just not sure where they get all the retail boxes.

Heck I just want some for him to open on his youtube.

 

[SlammedZero]

I have a big box full of random cards I collected over the years as a youth I've been considering trying to sell. Where do you guys go to find the values of them? Beckett still a thing?

 

[Tabascocat]

I collected as a kid, had every Topps collection in a box for every year from ‘75 to about ‘86. I had Clemens, Griffey among many others rookie cards. It did have some value but a hurricane destroyed most of it. My mom has what is left somewhere. We will be going to see her for the holidays.

If there is anything good left, I’ll send them to you…..free of charge

 

[DasTex]

To give you an idea of how crazy the market is

On ebay, guys will have say 4 boxes of cards that each have 8 packs and 5 cards in each pack. These are retail boxes that you use to be able to get at Target for 19.99.

They put an auction up for every team.
Teams like the Timberwolves and Hornets will sale for 50-60 dollars each on smaller breaks like that.

Larger ones with hobby boxes and more cards can reach the $1000's for those hotter rookies. That's just for the chance to get a good hit.

Then they open the cards live on multiple formats and if they pull a card from that team, it's yours...they mail the card to you. If you get zero players pulled from that team...you get nada.

Some even do an auction for all possible players you could pull...say over 300 different auctions on 1 break. Most will sale for 3-7 each but some reach in the hundreds, depending on the possible hit.

It's amazing to see where this has all gone in such a short period of time.

It's basically gambling with trading cards...

 

[DasTex]

I collected as a kid, had every Topps collection in a box for every year from ‘75 to about ‘86. I had Clemens, Griffey among many others rookie cards. It did have some value but a hurricane destroyed most of it. My mom has what is left somewhere. We will be going to see her for the holidays.

If there is anything good left, I’ll send them to you…..free of charge

That'd be fun to see what you still have. You'll probably be surprised at what you find. When I did that recently with my son, it brought back a ton of memories about opening certain cards.

 

[Reality]

To give you an idea of how crazy the market is

On ebay, guys will have say 4 boxes of cards that each have 8 packs and 5 cards in each pack. These are retail boxes that you use to be able to get at Target for 19.99.

They put an auction up for every team.
Teams like the Timberwolves and Hornets will sale for 50-60 dollars each on smaller breaks like that.

Larger ones with hobby boxes and more cards can reach the $1000's for those hotter rookies. That's just for the chance to get a good hit.

Then they open the cards live on multiple formats and if they pull a card from that team, it's yours...they mail the card to you. If you get zero players pulled from that team...you get nada.

Some even do an auction for all possible players you could pull...say over 300 different auctions on 1 break. Most will sale for 3-7 each but some reach in the hundreds, depending on the possible hit.

It's amazing to see where this has all gone in such a short period of time.

It's basically gambling with trading cards...

That's only due to scalping which is affecting several enthusiast markets right now.

For example, game systems (PlayStation 5, Xbox, etc.) and PC gaming video cards are hard to find in retail but there are a lot of them on Ebay. While there is a silicon shortage impacting the tech market, the manufacturers are still producing more than enough of those products if it were not for scalpers buying them constantly to re-sell.

The same goes for Pokemon and other trading card games which led to a lot of fights and threats at Walmarts and Targets to the point they either stopped carrying some items in their stores or they made you have to ask for them at the front desk.

Eventually the prices on all of those things will die down as interest and supply of desperate buyers for heavily scalped items declines, but until then it is definitely a seller's market.

My only advice is if you overpay a lot for heavily scalped items either plan to resell them in the near future or plan to absorb the loss when the market price for the items drops back down to normal at some point over the next 1-2 years.

 

[DasTex]

That's only due to scalping which is affecting several enthusiast markets right now.

For example, game systems (PlayStation 5, Xbox, etc.) and PC gaming video cards are hard to find in retail but there are a lot of them on Ebay. While there is a silicon shortage impacting the tech market, the manufacturers are still producing more than enough of those products if it were not for scalpers buying them constantly to re-sell.

The same goes for Pokemon and other trading card games which led to a lot of fights and threats at Walmarts and Targets to the point they either stopped carrying some items in their stores or they made you have to ask for them at the front desk.

Eventually the prices on all of those things will die down as interest and supply of desperate buyers for heavily scalped items declines, but until then it is definitely a seller's market.

My only advice is if you overpay a lot for heavily scalped items either plan to resell them in the near future or plan to absorb the loss when the market price for the items drops back down to normal at some point over the next 1-2 years.

Yup, definitely an inflated market, even depressing when all someone like me wants is to get some cards for my kid to open (ok, and myself since he's pulling me back into the game). We've done a couple of the team breaks on Ebay and they are fun, but will get expensive really quick.

The prices will surely come down some given the amount of product they seem to be putting out there, but I'm guessing it still stays pretty high.
With the amount of "hits" they are putting in cards now, it's just like a treasure hunt. So many short prints, autos, and such that it keeps people chasing.
On top of that, when you have cards like Luka's rookie 1/1 selling for $4.5 million - that is gonna keep the chase going for the next big card.

My son's Youtube channel is PackBeast is you want to check it out. Lots of hard names in the NBA these days and he tried his best...haha.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

Actually the days of making a killing are over. Earlier this year, that was absolutely true. Since then, things have really changed. Retailers have raise their prices so high the profit margins are very low now. The days of 'taking everything' are limited to certain products. The rest is left on the shelf. Soccer, hockey, baseball, those sports are very easy to find on the shelf. The demand is very low. I am very active in buying and selling cards almost every day. If you have any questions let me know. Knowing when and where to go for cards is the trick. Master that and buying cards is easier.

That’s my understanding as well.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I have a big box full of random cards I collected over the years as a youth I've been considering trying to sell. Where do you guys go to find the values of them? Beckett still a thing?

Yes. If you haven't bought one in a while be prepared. As with everything else, the price has gone up.

Some think eBay is a better tool to find an accurate price on specific cards because that is what someone is willing to pay for them.

For example, if Beckett has a value of $100 for a card yet it only sells for $75, which is the true value of it?

 

[big dog cowboy]

My only advice is if you overpay a lot for heavily scalped items either plan to resell them in the near future or plan to absorb the loss when the market price for the items drops back down to normal at some point over the next 1-2 years.

This is so true. I know many people who think the day is fast approaching when the value of cards takes a hit. Within 2 years at the most and all agree it won't take that long.

 

[RaZon]

Had to give it up, it got too expensive way too many companies involved.

But, do own over 20,000 football cards, yep, boxes on top of boxes on top of boxes. 20 or so binders.

This one gets special treatment.

As does this one.....

 

[SlammedZero]

Yes. If you haven't bought one in a while be prepared. As with everything else, the price has gone up.

Some think eBay is a better tool to find an accurate price on specific cards because that is what someone is willing to pay for them.

For example, if Beckett has a value of $100 for a card yet it only sells for $75, which is the true value of it?

Thanks!!! I may have to go through them here soon and see what I've got. I'm not looking to strike big with them, nor do I think I have anything of great value, but they just sit here in a box in my closet. If I can move them to somebody who might enjoy them, then great!

 

[Reality]

For example, if Beckett has a value of $100 for a card yet it only sells for $75, which is the true value of it?

As my dad always said, something is only worth what someone else is willing to give you for it.

 

[Reality]

From an investment standpoint, I think the biggest problem with many sports trading card series printed since the 1990s is that they have been printing too many of them each year combined with much broader access to buy the cards since the beginning of the internet.

It is the same with other collectibles as most have become more saturated in numbers to ever mature into great investments except in a few situations.

There are exceptions though such as limited printed card sets or groups of cards within larger and more common sets, but since those tend to be the most sought after so the manufacturers are incentivized to print more of them than they should.

 

[Reality]

I enjoy collecting things that have a sequential series which is why I enjoyed collecting baseball and football cards as a kid. After that though I went many years without trying to collect anything.

Several years ago I started collecting the original Batman series of comic books but I started realizing how the valuation amounts would drop significantly at certain issue number points rather than maintaining a consistent decline based on age (with a few outlier exceptions of course).

I first thought it was story-based, and there were some story arcs that led to higher values, but for the most part my theory was it was due to circulation (printed) numbers more than anything.

I eventually lost interest though and sold a lot of them in batches on Ebay when I was cleaning out my storage unit.

The reason I chose the original Batman series of comic books was because they were more in-demand which increased the odds of making them a beneficial investment, and they were.

I am not really collecting anything right now, but I think the next time I do I will focus on older series of collectibles that are still priced quite low today. In other words, I want to focus on collecting things for completionist reasons more so than investment reasons.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

I have a cool baseball card story for y’all.

My dad was stationed in Bahrain during the Gulf War. At that time companies were sending tons a free goodies to the troops in support be it shampoo, tooth brushes, snacks, et cetera.

Topps ended up sending tons of 1991 baseball cards packs. However, what made these cards unique was that they were specially embossed with a gold stamp on each card that said “Operation Desert Shield.”

My dad told me there were storage sheds full of them. Guys and gals would just open up the packs for the gum and toss the cards, use them as fire tinder, et cetera. So, if the limited amount of cards that were sent there, many ended up destroyed or trashed.

I was 13-14 years old and living in Arlington, Texas, at this time. My dad knew I was a big sports fan and collected cards so he sent me a couple of shoe boxes full of these cards. On whim during the summer I went to my local card shop and brought a Juan Gonzalez card with the stamp on it to simply find out what it was worth because it wasn’t listed in the Beckett’s Guide. I remember the shop just looking in disbelief and telling me the card was worth $300-$400.

Obviously, the next time I was able to talk to my dad I let him know what I had been told. The next thing I know I’m getting big boxes (24” X 24”) sent from overseas to our house filled with these cards. We ended up being able to make like 8-9 complete sets and thousands of single cards.

When my dad finally got back he and my mom started setting up at card conventions selling these cards and making a killing. The culminating event led them to a big convention at the Houston Astrodome. A card dealer came to our table and offered to buy us completely out, which my folks took up. They ended up getting something in the order of $22,000+ which factoring in for inflation would be apx. $43,000 today.

We ended up buying a new car directly from that money. I still have a complete set to this day that I’m saving for my son. I haven’t had any of the cards graded but to give you an idea of the potential value see the following:

 

[big dog cowboy]

Thanks!!! I may have to go through them here soon and see what I've got. I'm not looking to strike big with them, nor do I think I have anything of great value, but they just sit here in a box in my closet. If I can move them to somebody who might enjoy them, then great!

My neighbor recently passed. Because they had no family and they knew I collected cards, I got a box with around 4000 baseball cards given to me and my son. I don't like or follow baseball. So I'm putting off trying to sort them and see what there is until after the holidays when there is no football and snow on the ground. Lol!