The Emerging Popularity of Sports Card Trading
- logan.bushwell
- Oct 16, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 16, 2020
In American society, there are so many people who dedicate a lot of time each week towards watching sports. The emergence of the coronavirus completely halted the entire sports world in a matter of seconds. Sports quickly become a missing component of the lives of so many people and people began searching for ways to fill this void. As Americans, began to quarantine throughout the nation, the sports card world began to see its biggest boom yet. While many people like to collect sports cards and trade with their friends, there are actually ways to turn this into a good money making opportunity. As many sports card and memorabilia shops have closed down over time, this has left the door open for individuals to engage in trading.
The first thing anyone looking to enter the business and make money should do is to evaluate any sports cards you already have and identify their value. “Look at the year and manufacturer of each card. If you're not sure how to tell what year a card is from, look on the back. If there are statistics listed, look for the last year mentioned on the player's stats” (Looking to Sell Baseball Cards? Here’s How (and Where) to Do It, 2019). Buying and selling sports cards is all about understanding value and exploiting opportunities. I recently interview a friend from my home-town in Livingston, New Jersey who has spent years engaging in the trade in the sports card industry. He outlined to me the two main processes for buying and selling sports cards. The first strategy revolves around buying ungraded cards overseas. He described how this is the less common practice; however it is the best way to make money. The other strategy is focused on buying undervalued graded cards within the United States and flipping for more money. When I asked what the biggest challenge of buying and selling sports cards, my friend emphasized that this hobby is all about patience.
After conducting additional research about the two strategies, it quickly became apparent what is necessary to be successful within the sports cards industry. There is a huge international market for ungraded cards. After buying the card for a cheap price, which varies based on the card, traders send their cards in to grading companies. The most important thing about selling cards is understanding the value of the cards. In order to be viewed as credible within the market, it is necessary to sell cards that are officially graded. “Card grading is the practice of submitting a trading card to a third-party service. The card is inspected for authenticity and ranked, usually on a 10-point scale, for the condition. The card is then assigned an overall grade, sealed in a tamper-proof holder and, finally, assigned a cataloged serial number” (Comprehensive Guide to Card Grading, 2020). This biggest grading companies in the United States are Professional Sports Authenticators, Beckett Grading Services, and Sportscard Guaranty. If the card comes back from grading as a 10, it could be worth over ten times its original value while if it comes back as a 9 it is about two to three times initial value. Anything lower will result in little to no value at all. Given the frequency of high quality cards from this international market, there is plenty of money making opportunities.
The strategy which involves buying already graded cards on open marketplace is way simpler and more adequate for people looking to put only an hour or two a week into this hobby. There will be times that a card is undervalued on a marketplace; however, a major part of this strategy is using your sports knowledge to make money. Just like any market, a particular person’s value goes up if they perform well. Fans could predict which players they believe will do well in the future and invest in that player’s stock through a baseball card. This is a very fun way to invest and watch sports simultaneously. This is a marketplace that involves trust which is why it is essential to “Build a positive eBay reputation as soon as you can, and especially before you try to sell” (Wilson, 2020).
Learning how to successful buy and sell sports cards will take some time. For any sports fans looking for an extra hobby, this is definitely a great way to invest some money while also having fun and enjoying sports!
Works Cited:
Comprehensive Guide to Card Grading. (2020, October 04). Retrieved October 16, 2020, from http://www.cardboardconnection.com/comprehensive-guide-card-grading.
Looking to Sell Baseball Cards? Here’s How (and Where) to Do It. (2019). Retrieved October 16, 2020, from http://www.justcollect.com/sell-your-baseball-card-collection/
Wilson, G. (2020, June 23). 20 Things New Sports Card Investors Must Know. Retrieved October 16, 2020, from http://www.sportscardinvestor.com/2019/12/15/20-things-new-sports-card-investors-must-know/
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