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Figured this would work best in the Sports Folder. Inspired by Bored's article and Fazzle's last post (any pictures?).
Our Tips, Tricks, and Random Notes
#1: Have Fun! It's a Hobby! Collect what & who you want first regardless of what others think.
What To Buy
#2: Hobby Boxes are the go to products. Retail Mega Boxes/Blasters/Hangers are more affordable but usually far less bang for your buck. Hobby Boxes are for the gamblers hoping to hit the high end cards (and get them graded afterwards). Think of them like a Casino, you're going to lose money on 90% of the boxes you buy and break even at best.
#3: Rookie Card Focus = NBA - Panini Prizm (Silvers are HOT), NFL - National Treasures for Auto/Jerseys & Panini Contenders, NHL = Upper Deck (Young Guns), and MLB = Topps Series 1 & 2/Topps Update and Bowman Chrome for Autos. A lot of these brands also do autos too.
#4: Autos are a gold standard. Rookie Patch Autos aka RPAs are the ideal for collectors. On card autographs are better than sticker autos. NFL = National Treasures, Flawless, or Exquisite. NHL = Upper Deck's The Cup. MLB = Bowman Chrome, Topps Museum Collection. NBA = National Treasures, Panini Flawless, & Panini Immaculate.
#12: Jersey Cards are also known as Patch Cards. Some have 'Dual Material' (e.g. two players or three players), some have a Jumbo patch, some have three or four patches of a single player. Game-Worn tends to be preferred by buyers but starting around 2011-2012 a lot of Patch cards tend to be more Player-Worn or Event-Worn in the case of rookies. Panini tends to be notorious for this.
Where To Buy
#8: Use COMC or StarStock as an alternative to Ebay for selling cards. They do most of the legwork shipping, etc. for you but look at the fees. StarStock is geared more towards specific sets of rookies but you can ship Beckett orders directly to StarStock.
#9: Beckett Marketplace is a great resource for buying singles of specific cards for your collection. Site is not easy to use but can be a gold mine if you have the patience for it. Warning: Pictures can be hard to find so you may be doing a bit of a risky blind buying in some cases. A lot of the sellers are actual cards shops so they are usually more reputable in what you're getting quality wise but not always. Some dealers may require certain thresholds to be met for free shipping such as $30 or $50. Build up your cart over a period of days or weeks to meet that criteria. You'll save a lot of money this way.
#10: Ebay is the place to go if you want to buy graded cards. Having a Paypal account is a necessity with sellers usually requiring payment within 3 days of winning an auction or BIN. Be careful when buying cards in auctions via Probstein or PWCC due to card trimming scandals and shill bidders pushing the prices up. Know what you're bidding on.
Card Sets and Card Particulars
#4: Use htpps://www.tcdb.com to look through Card Sets and find Short Print variations aka SP/SSP/SSSP of cards. Know what you're looking for. Sometimes they can sell for far more than a base card, sometimes not. Cardboard Connection is another great site for modern day sports card sets in terms of previewing card designs, checklists, and new inserts that may not have been featured in past sets of a brand.
#5: Serial #'s matter to an extent. Lower/more scarce the better but brand also matters. An NFL National Treasures Jersey /99 will probably sell more than an Absolute Jersey /49.
#6: Parallel cards are usually variations of the base card e.g. a Green Border /299, Orange Border /199, Red Border /99, Purple Border /49, Gold Border /10, and Black Border 1/1. Most are usually serial #'d to help but Hobby Boxes usually show what the pack odds are of pulling each card to help give an idea of scarcity. Retail products are starting to insert their own exclusive parallels e.g. Walmart may have a Camo Parallel while Target has a Pink Parallel.
Grading Cards
#7: Graded cards come from PSA, BGS (Beckett), SGC, and GMA. The 10s are the gold standard but 9s & even 8.5s can be much more affordable from a collection budget perspective. PSA or BGS are the way to go if you want to make the most profit you can wring out on a sale. Turnaround times can be very lengthy, 2-4 Months as of September 2020, and prices can be in the mid-hundreds when submitting cards. SGC and GMA are comparable in grading quality of actual cards but fetch lower prices, usually, unless you're patient and refuse to accept low ball offers. There are groups out there via Facebook or BlowoutCards Forum that will offer bulk submissions where you send them your cards and they will do all of the physical boxing, labels, sending out, etc.
#15: PSA (and BGS I believe) do include POP Reports aka Population Reports of graded cards. This will give you a better idea of how many cards have been submitted for grading, how many got 10s/9s/8s, and the relative scarcity of that card in general. If there are 10,000 Zion Williamson Cards and 8,000 are 10s vs. 4,000 Ja Morants with only 800 being 10s... the Ja Morants are much scarcer and harder to obtain a 10 Grade out of meaning they'll likely fetch a higher premium price.
#18: More companies are now popping up such as HGA (Hybrid Grading) and also CSG Grading with CSG being a spin-off from the very popular CGC best known for their Comic Book Grading.
When To Buy or Sell
#6: Good time to target last year's rookies in the offseason. Spotlight guys who performed well enough but are under the radar a bit. QBs will always fetch a premium even if they struggled.
#11: Early offseason is a prime time to start buying cards and right before the regular season starts is a prime time to sell cards. Hype will always outsell production (99% of the time).
General Beliefs/Guides - Note: Some of This is Changing Market Wise
#13: Focus on hitters in MLB, scorers in NBA & NHL, and QBs in the NFL. Fantasy Sports is changing this a little as RBs/WRs/TEs/Defense is getting some card love but QBs are the safer & higher reward play usually.
#14: Rookie Cards are usually the be all/end all for investors and collectors. This is slightly changing thanks to the craziness over Prizm Silvers but rookie years generally meant lower print runs. This also is slightly changing thanks to modern sets & base card rookies but don't fall for the hype.
#15: Avoid Junk Wax (1987-1993) cards (Rookies from these years are the exception) if possible unless you can get a graded one for cheap. Serial #'d were rare and some Inserts were parallels of the main sets but they usually fetch a high price. If you can get a Junk Wax card in '10' condition and get it graded, go for it but you may need to buy a dozen of the same card to get that level quality. More risk than reward.
#16: Avoid Base Cards unless they are rookies. Ignore the craziness of the market. They will plummet hard, fast immediately if the market starts to tank at all. A rookie card /299 is still worth more than a generic Base Rookie Card from that same set but the latter is easier to buy & submit for grading.
#17: Scarcity is king. The late 2000s (2009-2013) started featuring smaller print runs when the Hobby market was struggling so they could be an underrated area to focus upon. Serial #'d and cards that are tough to get 9s or 10s graded > base cards generally. Vintage is its own beast in this regard, however.
General Notes on Print Runs of Products
Starting around 1981 through 1993 Baseball was approaching 1,000,000+ print runs for its base cards
1987-88 Fleer Basketball had a smaller print run than the '86-'87 year
1988 Fleer Baseball supposedly had a dip in production print run wise
1992 Donruss Baseball "severely curtailed production" presumably to 1987 levels while 1994 Donruss Baseball is believed to have its lowest print run since 1985
1996 Topps Baseball lowest print run (base card wise) since 1965 supposedly
2002 Donruss Diamond Kings estimated 41,000 Hobby Boxes
2007-08 Upper Deck Premier Basketball limited to just 499 Cases and 2007-08 SP Rookie Threads limited to just 599 Cases
2014 Topps Archives Baseball had a smaller print run due to 'slow' 2013 sales
Our Tips, Tricks, and Random Notes
#1: Have Fun! It's a Hobby! Collect what & who you want first regardless of what others think.
What To Buy
#2: Hobby Boxes are the go to products. Retail Mega Boxes/Blasters/Hangers are more affordable but usually far less bang for your buck. Hobby Boxes are for the gamblers hoping to hit the high end cards (and get them graded afterwards). Think of them like a Casino, you're going to lose money on 90% of the boxes you buy and break even at best.
#3: Rookie Card Focus = NBA - Panini Prizm (Silvers are HOT), NFL - National Treasures for Auto/Jerseys & Panini Contenders, NHL = Upper Deck (Young Guns), and MLB = Topps Series 1 & 2/Topps Update and Bowman Chrome for Autos. A lot of these brands also do autos too.
#4: Autos are a gold standard. Rookie Patch Autos aka RPAs are the ideal for collectors. On card autographs are better than sticker autos. NFL = National Treasures, Flawless, or Exquisite. NHL = Upper Deck's The Cup. MLB = Bowman Chrome, Topps Museum Collection. NBA = National Treasures, Panini Flawless, & Panini Immaculate.
#12: Jersey Cards are also known as Patch Cards. Some have 'Dual Material' (e.g. two players or three players), some have a Jumbo patch, some have three or four patches of a single player. Game-Worn tends to be preferred by buyers but starting around 2011-2012 a lot of Patch cards tend to be more Player-Worn or Event-Worn in the case of rookies. Panini tends to be notorious for this.
Where To Buy
#8: Use COMC or StarStock as an alternative to Ebay for selling cards. They do most of the legwork shipping, etc. for you but look at the fees. StarStock is geared more towards specific sets of rookies but you can ship Beckett orders directly to StarStock.
#9: Beckett Marketplace is a great resource for buying singles of specific cards for your collection. Site is not easy to use but can be a gold mine if you have the patience for it. Warning: Pictures can be hard to find so you may be doing a bit of a risky blind buying in some cases. A lot of the sellers are actual cards shops so they are usually more reputable in what you're getting quality wise but not always. Some dealers may require certain thresholds to be met for free shipping such as $30 or $50. Build up your cart over a period of days or weeks to meet that criteria. You'll save a lot of money this way.
#10: Ebay is the place to go if you want to buy graded cards. Having a Paypal account is a necessity with sellers usually requiring payment within 3 days of winning an auction or BIN. Be careful when buying cards in auctions via Probstein or PWCC due to card trimming scandals and shill bidders pushing the prices up. Know what you're bidding on.
Card Sets and Card Particulars
#4: Use htpps://www.tcdb.com to look through Card Sets and find Short Print variations aka SP/SSP/SSSP of cards. Know what you're looking for. Sometimes they can sell for far more than a base card, sometimes not. Cardboard Connection is another great site for modern day sports card sets in terms of previewing card designs, checklists, and new inserts that may not have been featured in past sets of a brand.
#5: Serial #'s matter to an extent. Lower/more scarce the better but brand also matters. An NFL National Treasures Jersey /99 will probably sell more than an Absolute Jersey /49.
#6: Parallel cards are usually variations of the base card e.g. a Green Border /299, Orange Border /199, Red Border /99, Purple Border /49, Gold Border /10, and Black Border 1/1. Most are usually serial #'d to help but Hobby Boxes usually show what the pack odds are of pulling each card to help give an idea of scarcity. Retail products are starting to insert their own exclusive parallels e.g. Walmart may have a Camo Parallel while Target has a Pink Parallel.
Grading Cards
#7: Graded cards come from PSA, BGS (Beckett), SGC, and GMA. The 10s are the gold standard but 9s & even 8.5s can be much more affordable from a collection budget perspective. PSA or BGS are the way to go if you want to make the most profit you can wring out on a sale. Turnaround times can be very lengthy, 2-4 Months as of September 2020, and prices can be in the mid-hundreds when submitting cards. SGC and GMA are comparable in grading quality of actual cards but fetch lower prices, usually, unless you're patient and refuse to accept low ball offers. There are groups out there via Facebook or BlowoutCards Forum that will offer bulk submissions where you send them your cards and they will do all of the physical boxing, labels, sending out, etc.
#15: PSA (and BGS I believe) do include POP Reports aka Population Reports of graded cards. This will give you a better idea of how many cards have been submitted for grading, how many got 10s/9s/8s, and the relative scarcity of that card in general. If there are 10,000 Zion Williamson Cards and 8,000 are 10s vs. 4,000 Ja Morants with only 800 being 10s... the Ja Morants are much scarcer and harder to obtain a 10 Grade out of meaning they'll likely fetch a higher premium price.
#18: More companies are now popping up such as HGA (Hybrid Grading) and also CSG Grading with CSG being a spin-off from the very popular CGC best known for their Comic Book Grading.
When To Buy or Sell
#6: Good time to target last year's rookies in the offseason. Spotlight guys who performed well enough but are under the radar a bit. QBs will always fetch a premium even if they struggled.
#11: Early offseason is a prime time to start buying cards and right before the regular season starts is a prime time to sell cards. Hype will always outsell production (99% of the time).
General Beliefs/Guides - Note: Some of This is Changing Market Wise
#13: Focus on hitters in MLB, scorers in NBA & NHL, and QBs in the NFL. Fantasy Sports is changing this a little as RBs/WRs/TEs/Defense is getting some card love but QBs are the safer & higher reward play usually.
#14: Rookie Cards are usually the be all/end all for investors and collectors. This is slightly changing thanks to the craziness over Prizm Silvers but rookie years generally meant lower print runs. This also is slightly changing thanks to modern sets & base card rookies but don't fall for the hype.
#15: Avoid Junk Wax (1987-1993) cards (Rookies from these years are the exception) if possible unless you can get a graded one for cheap. Serial #'d were rare and some Inserts were parallels of the main sets but they usually fetch a high price. If you can get a Junk Wax card in '10' condition and get it graded, go for it but you may need to buy a dozen of the same card to get that level quality. More risk than reward.
#16: Avoid Base Cards unless they are rookies. Ignore the craziness of the market. They will plummet hard, fast immediately if the market starts to tank at all. A rookie card /299 is still worth more than a generic Base Rookie Card from that same set but the latter is easier to buy & submit for grading.
#17: Scarcity is king. The late 2000s (2009-2013) started featuring smaller print runs when the Hobby market was struggling so they could be an underrated area to focus upon. Serial #'d and cards that are tough to get 9s or 10s graded > base cards generally. Vintage is its own beast in this regard, however.
General Notes on Print Runs of Products
Starting around 1981 through 1993 Baseball was approaching 1,000,000+ print runs for its base cards
1987-88 Fleer Basketball had a smaller print run than the '86-'87 year
1988 Fleer Baseball supposedly had a dip in production print run wise
1992 Donruss Baseball "severely curtailed production" presumably to 1987 levels while 1994 Donruss Baseball is believed to have its lowest print run since 1985
1996 Topps Baseball lowest print run (base card wise) since 1965 supposedly
2002 Donruss Diamond Kings estimated 41,000 Hobby Boxes
2007-08 Upper Deck Premier Basketball limited to just 499 Cases and 2007-08 SP Rookie Threads limited to just 599 Cases
2014 Topps Archives Baseball had a smaller print run due to 'slow' 2013 sales
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