Sports Cards Hobby Thread

[SFH]

Checked out the card aisle at Target today. Wiped out like Roanoke island.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Checked out the card aisle at Target today. Wiped out like Roanoke island.

Yeah. I've seen videos of people talking about going to like 6+ Targets or Walmarts just trying to find retail of anything and it being wiped out. One guy, The Card Dojo, only got a Blaster Box because one of the two guys taking all of them literally handed it to him. Feel bad for the kids trying to get into the hobby who can't rip anything unless it's a year or more old and don't have the $$ to waste it on even a $70-$90 Hobby Box.

 

[snuffbox]

I hope this doesn't keep going until the bubble bursts. I was seeing more and more kids at card shows the last few years. I fear another generation is going to be pushed away from the hobby due to this "investing" stuff.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I hope this doesn't keep going until the bubble bursts. I was seeing more and more kids at card shows the last few years. I fear another generation is going to be pushed away from the hobby due to this "investing" stuff.

A lot of these new people aren't even "investors" either. They're flippers at best and the equivalent of people day trading the stock market who call themselves personal finance professionals. The guys who are now selling the Michael Jordans, LeBron James, Mike Trouts for tons of money weren't buying these guys up and flipping them 3-5 months later like the doofuses buying up Luis Robert and Ja Morant.

If you want to flip for the $$, go for it. Just don't act like you're not a prospecting flipper but an "investor" when you're buying in on rookies, getting them graded, and selling them at high profits within months of the purchases. Those are the types who'll bounce immediately if the market downturns at all.

The smarter "investors" are the guys who recognize guys like Lonzo Ball aren't good long term investments. They'll buy up the Zions, Ja Morants, Lukas, and Bookers then hold them and garner a lot more of a profit in 5-8+ years when they reach the Anthony Davis/Giannis levels. It's not like Devin Booker came out of nowhere, guy was scoring a ton since his 2nd Season.

 

[snuffbox]

It's not helpful that some of these individuals are hording unopened product as well.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

It's not helpful that some of these individuals are hording unopened product as well.

Agreed but if people are willing to spend $400 or $900 on a sealed box just to hold it hoping that box contains a super hot rookie class, good luck to them. The odds of anything not Prizm being a big investment down the road seems pretty small to me and I think Prizm may not beable to sustain its own hot demand over time. A lot of people entering the hobby are being inundated with, "Prizm Silvers! Buy 'em all!" and aren't realizing the lack of scarcity for those particular cards even among the grading.

Zion Silver Prizm is currently at a 2,108 POP Report (and climbing probably) with 770 at PSA 10 (37%) and 1,161 at PSA 9 (55%).

 

[fazzle]

Other than the odd retail box (which is fucking impossible to find) I haven't purchased any boxes myself in a long damn time. The prices are just too insane to justify

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I've gotten more singles that I legit like/think look great in the past 2-3 months through Beckett & Ebay than I probably got in breaking boxes for the past 5+ years to be honest. And the best part is that you can get some great autos, jersey patch/mem, low serial #'d stuff for the price of or far, far less than breaking an entire box would get you.

Rather than paying $2,800 for a 2018 National Treasures I got 2 cards from that "box" for $17.50. Then got 2 #'d cards of Julio Jones for $8.80, a Tyreek Hill #'d /25 and a Michael Thomas #'d /50 for $12.00. For something like $25 or so I managed to pick up 3 #'d Christian McCaffrey cards with 2 from a growing product in Select and a high-ish end product in Origins.

The A.J. Green Auto/Patch I just ordered for $21 I could probably buy 5+ boxes at $120 a pop and never land.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Some random price comparisons I've noticed in Ebay sales. Kind of crazy seeing the Rated Rookie Optic prices rising up a ton now. And the Prizm Silvers are seeping over from the NBA market, which I'm all for as I zig to focus on the auto/patch stuff that will hold up longer term and sell better long term IMO.

The more I'm comparing these prices and seeing what people are spending on even graded 'Silver' Prizms in comparison to Autos or Jerseys or RPAs is just utterly baffling to me and something I struggle to comprehend.

Baker Mayfield Donruss Optic RR Silver Holo = $90.00, Pink Parallel = $51.00, Bronze Refractor = $59.99
Baker Mayfield National Treasures RPA /99 = $171.00
Baker Mayfield Absolute Auto 4 Quad Patch RPA /25 = $139.50

Baker Mayfield's "Silver" Prizms are going for literally $300 raw and graded. Baker has a PSA POP of 51 Silver Prizms (not numbered as far as I know) and Red Wave #'d /149 has a PSA POP of 45. Those are going for $145 - $155 raw.

Nick Chubb PSA 10 Select Silver Prizm = $138.50 and $74.00, PSA 10 Select Premier Level = $40.00
Nick Chubb Plates & Patches RPA /99 = $38.00, Certified RPA /99 = $21.00 (misspelled Gertified in title), Origins Turquoise RPA /25 = $61.00, Immaculate 2 Patch RPA /99 = $50.00

You could've gotten 3 Nick Chubb RPAs at $132.00 (say Certified, Origins, and Immaculate) for less than the PSA 10 Select Silver Prizm...

 

[SFH]

Mentioned in NFL thread that the Saints moved Tommy Stevens from QB to TE. In a corresponding move all of the Stevens autos I have on my watch list are now being offered by sellers for really marked down prices. I guess that bubble burst.

 

[SFH]

Just got hit up for one of my Facebook marketplace listings by a local guy. Guy asked if I can bring it by his card shop. I respond, "wait Nowheresville has a card shop?!" Sends me the address and of course I Google the shit out of it. It's in the middle of a zoned residential subdivision, the house is sporting a 2 car garage. Online ownership records indicate he bought the property in 2017. He said they've been open a week now.

The photos are really creative in making it look bigger than it is, not unlike the camera tricks used by live events. Still vetting him, I've already identified one local card guy on his friend's list that is a notorious dirt bag (and wife beater but I'm not supposed to have *that* knowledge). But he has 4,999 friends, I guess I can't expect him to be choosy when starting a business.

He already flaked out on the listing he messaged me about (14 graded rookies for a Saints draft bust) after he realized it was all the same player. Asking me for any other rookies/graded stuff I'd want to part with. I might go poke around on a day off but I'm feeling kind of a mixture of leery but excited.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

My mail day today

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1294379525036548096

 

[snuffbox]

I just took leave of my senses and bought another T206. Nap Lajoie, portrait version, PSA 2.5

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Picked up the following game-used jersey cards for around $36: Philip Rivers - 2007 Ultimate Collection Materials Gold /99 for $8.40. LaDainian Tomlinson - 2008 UD Heroes Jersey Gold /35 for $10.50(!). And Matt Stafford - 2016 Limited Spotlight Jerseys /25 for $10.00(!) & 2016 Absolute Air Raid Materials /100 for $8.00.

I've noticed lately that Topps and Panini (even in higher end product) are using more player-worn stuff which takes a bit away from the NFL History aspect of owning such a jersey card in my opinion. Same goes for rookie materials taken from Rookie Premiere events which makes sense but I'd rather own a game used jersey from their rookie year from a 2nd year card then. Price point and a low enough serial # will matter for me but if given the option, I'd rather take the actual game used material.

You can get some good steals via Beckett with HOFers on cards from the early to mid 2000s e.g. I saw a /100 Jerome Bettis/Hines Ward dual game used jersey card for around $8 that I opted not to pick up.

 

[SFH]

Turned a $3 Joe Burrow Leaf base into $20. Threw in a base Taysom Hill as a bonus. Also doing all the leg work in trying to help her get Taysom to sign the freebie. It's a $59 per item private signing in Florida. I'm willing to bet there's going to be something in state at a more reasonable rate once the season starts rolling along or wraps up.

Sending in for a Thomas Morstead (Saints punter) private signing. Sent my four options to some sports fans and some artists to get different opinions and literally all four options have at least 2 votes a piece with the full color one being the least voted on on the context that black sharpie would blend too much on any non-white part of the card art.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I'd go for the black/white Pro Bowl simply because the black sharpie would blend with the color scheme and probably show up the best on that one. The NT would be the ideal choice but there's little room to sign anywhere and may actually ruin the card value if you can't sell it as an authentic signature.

 

[snuffbox]

Or gold sharpie on the black/white.

 

[SFH]

Back burner PC since 2010: Saints autos for Super Bowl Roster. A lot of the lower tiered players do not have autographed cards and very many immediately split for other teams in the subsequent years. I've occasionally grabbed the occasional ebay purchase here and there and I have a binder of cards to use for "through the mail" autos. I have not obtained where to send the cards, though. With the above mentioned Morstead signing being near, I decided to revisit this PC.

I've had a Pierson Prioleau (DB) 8x10 auto on my watch list since 2011/2012 since he's one without cards. Upon my recheck last night, nothing new in that regard, nothing really attractive for him other than the 8x10, $24.99. Seems a little steep for a lower tiered player who spent a brief time with my team. Figuring the worst the guy can do is tell me, "no" I sent an offer for $10 to see if he'd counter. Well, he did. He countered $21 and raised it to $34.99 buy now. This tactic is common and I see a lot of card communities share this experience and how frustrating it is. I've also seen the same groups band together and flood the original listing with similar offers to drive home the point that to the seller that maybe after 8 years of this not being sold, you might want to come down a little more on your price. I wasn't about to seek out that sort of group project. It's not like I'm chasing down a NNOF Frank Thomas or something. It's just an auto'd 8x10 for a C level defensive player from 9-10 years ago. So instead I logged into my wife's account and sent a $12 offer and went to bed. I woke up with the news that the $12 offer was accepted.

Now if I can find my list, I can scratch that name off.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Andy aka The Fantasy Football Card Quest will be doing his mail day including the unboxing of what I sent him as a personal thanks for his contributions in my picking up a good handful of cards including the recent Le'Veon Bell BGS 10 purchase along with a Tyreek Hill /25 card. The video will be up at 8:30 PM ET/5:30 PM PT and I'll be in the YT chat as usual with his videos.

 

[SFH]

That was a lot of sweet cards, well done. I need to see what Saints are available on that pendant card set.

Also to echo his observation: Great penmanship. According to...everyone, I have the handwriting of a serial killer.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I blame it on school and 3rd grade literally having us not only doing all of our homework in cursive but they had to be within the single spaced lines of those old blue composition books.

I wanted to diversify the cards I sent (and make it TB heavy) and partially show him a bunch of different brands from the 90s and 00s since Andy's started in basically March or April so he's still pretty new to all of this. Plus I knew he'd geek out over some of the cards in particular such as the John Lynch and Mike Evans ones.

I know myself as a Patriots fan guys like Kevin Faulk, Mike Vrabel, Asante Samuel, Tedy Bruschi, Ty Law, Deion Branch, Troy Brown, etc. may not mean much to Joe Card Collector in Ohio but to a guy in MA they would be fantastic personal collection players to own so I wanted to give Andy that collector/child like glee aspect I get when my cards come in mail day wise.

 

[SFH]

Yeah, it definitely resonated that you took great care to hit all the highlights of TB players through the decades. The Testaverde gave me a chuckle, friend's mom used to refer to him as "waste of a Heisman" and I could never get that out of my head anytime someone else signed him.

Interesting about 3rd grade. My sis had the same 3rd grade teacher as me 6-7 years later. Teacher asked if my handwriting had improved, sis said, "no" so the teacher sent her home with extra hand writing sheets for me. I was in high school at this point.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Picked up several National Treasures cards, a 2019 Panini XR Trios Jersey /49 of Brees & Thomas & Kamara, and a couple 2019 cards of Lamar Jackson with one being /100 and a Certified Mirrors /35. Even the two latter were $11 and around $14 respectively(!)

The NTs were around $10 except for the Bengals one, which was only $6.90. Finally gonna be taking a break after this to try and save up some $$ and continue trimming my car payment down (aiming to get it down to around the $3,000 mark after August).

2015 NT Quad Jerseys /49: Marvin Jones/A.J. Green/Andy Dalton/Tyler Eifert
2017 NT Rookie Combo Materials /99: Leonard Fournette/Dalvin Cook
2019 NT Rookie Combo Materials /99: D.K. Metcalf/A.J. Brown
2019 NT Franchise Materials /25: Mike Williams (LA Chargers)
2019 Panini XR Trio Materials Blue /49: Drew Brees/Michael Thomas/Alvin Kamara ($13.35)
2019 Lamar Jackson - Panini Luminance Lightspeed - Orange /100 for $11.92
2019 Lamar Jackson - Certified Diamonds Mirror Teal /35 for $14.90

 

[SFH]

Nice haul! I have a few NTs in my Beckett cart that I'm going to hit submit on as soon as my direct deposit hits Wednesday. Nothing spectacular, I just had not checked that resource in a while and your post reminded me.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Yeah, I like targeting the NTs because they are a very 'high end' football product in general (with fans chasing the RPAs mainly) where you can get some great jersey cards that are serial #'d for fairly cheap prices depending on what you're targeting. Certified has quickly gotten up there as one of my favorite brands alongside the old school SP Authentic/SPx brand.

I'm so glad I moved onto singles rather than still ripping boxes. In June just before I stopped, I had picked up 15 Boxes and averaged about $48 per box (mostly Blasters and Mega Boxes). A lot of those Blaster Boxes were at $35 or under $30.

- The 2018 Contenders Blaster Box? Gone up $30 to about $75 (Special Sales Price)
- The 2018 Panini Prestige Blaster Box? Gone up $20 to about $45
- The 2007 UD Premier Hobby Box? Gone up $36 to about $128
Total = $248

Just bonkers. My last 4 orders from Beckett = 23 Cards for $187.80

 

[SFH]

Speaking of National Treasures:

I have no illusions of getting $80 off the card, but it's #'d to 9 and we're IN the market for the player in question. It's not like we're in Seattle and I'm trying to get 50-60 for a #'9 Brees National Treasures. Apparently, insulting the seller has worked for him in the past?


EDIT: Appears to be a burner account. Only has two friends and I don't think his listed last name is an actual last name, seems like a business.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

It's pretty clear they had to be trollers. Anybody seriously into cards would've known $40-60 even for a #'d/9 NT Patch would be a pretty good deal and their obvious 'joke' about buying an NT 1/1 for just $25 is bullshit IMO. Even guys like James Laurinaitis have Immaculates #'d /25 being offered for at least $25 over on Ebay.

A Drew Brees 2016 NT Patch /25 went for $46.99 off 9 Bids. A 2018 Colossal Patch /25 (Probstein) went for $26.76 off 17 Bids. A 2016 NT Purdue /5 went for $50. I think expecting $60-$70 for that card is pretty reasonable.

I'll be the first to say these sellers asking for like $90+ on guys like Connor Cook, Kevin Hogan, Isaiah Pead, etc. are probably way overasking but that's part of the problem with these new people coming into the hobby seeing everything exploding upwards in price. They also probably don't budge much on their cards. I made an offer for a Kenny Golloday patch being offered at $36 with $27 (a shade more than other past sales which were around $24) and the guy countered with $30 so I moved on. I think he actually ended up selling it to somebody at the original $36. I expect card prices to start dropping during the season if players get hurt, etc. so I wasn't in a hurry to pay that much for a Golloday card.

One thing I have noticed is that patch cards still tend to lag for whatever reason, even with low serial numbers. Some of it I get, such as if it was player worn only, but I think it's also dependent on the sellers. If you're selling a card, you need to pimp it up a little bit and tell the buyer why he wants that particular card.

This is the description for a 2019 Immaculate /49 Auto Patch of Isaac Bruce being offered for just $25: " 2019 Immaculate Football Isaac Bruce Eye Black Patch Auto #14/49 2 Color Patch. Condition is Like New. Shipped with USPS First Class Package."

How bland. Spice that shit up... "Fantastic card of the 2020 Hall of Fame Class wide receiver Isaac Bruce. 5th All-Time in receiving yards and a key to the Greatest Show on Turf. Patch is two colors, the Rams classic yellow and blue jersey. Very high end product card serial numbered to just /49 in the world.

Condition is like New. Shipped with USPS First Class Package."

It may not get a sale but if I offered that card at say $40, I'm pretty sure somebody would bite on that written up hook. Maybe that person doesn't know who Bruce is/was but they do a little research and go, "Hey, this guy was pretty great," or "I grew up watching the Rams and this guy was my Dad's favorite player."

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Flipped a couple cards recently on COMC: 2017 Donruss Optic RR Red & Yellow Alvin Kamara PSA 9 for $27 (spent $19.99 to purchase) and a 2017 Select Silver Prizm Concourse Aaron Jones for $10 (spent $4.99). The Kamara I just wanted to sell and get any money back, didn't really care how much. Pleasantly surprised at getting 2X from the Jones though.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Mail Day time courtesy of Triple Play Sports! The LT2 /35, Rivers /99, Staffords /100 (Right) and /25 (Bottom)

 

[snuffbox]

I hope there can be card shows again next year. I miss trying to swing big trades.