Does anyone buy sports cards anymore

We are in prime real estate. Fewer flippers trying to make easy money, at least theoretically, when combined with purchase limits for specific items, would make for more product available for consumers on a regular basis. Before the Target shutdown, we saw that happen when stores limited customers to one item per trip. They might not individually spend a ton of money, but there are a ton of those types out there, and their voices are important.

It absolutely should not be a hassle. Topps has its Opening Day baseball product, which fills the lower-cost slot. Once Target started limiting customers to three items each — and especially when it went down to one — Opening Day packs and boxes were almost all available.

Back in , Panini revived the Triple Play brand, a line of Donruss cards that were around for a couple of years starting in That lasted just one year. Triple Play was a victim, when we tried that for this exact reason, to make a kids-type product. Could we bring that back now, in this environment?

We probably could support it, and maybe we will. We do need to get more products into the marketplace that are affordable. I recognize that. Panini is introducing a product aimed at kids this summer, the Kids Crate.

Panini expects these to be available in mid-July. I wrote this in a previous column, but as a kid I built my collection — and obsession with the hobby — one or two packs at a time, buying cards every time I rode my bike up to the local gas station, or when my mom or dad stopped the car to fill up the tank, or when they went grocery shopping.

I could go on and on. More important, PSA gave the market detailed information about supply. Each time it grades a card, the company logs the grade in a publicly accessible database, which has had a profound effect on pricing. Perhaps the most coveted card from that era is Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck printed more than 1 million of them. G rading returned scarcity to the market, and the card companies that survived the bust took notice.

Today, the baseball-card business is driven by demand for limited-edition cards that are scarce by design. Back in , all of the Ken Griffey Jr. Last year, by contrast, the Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani appeared on at least 2, distinct rookie cards manufactured by just two companies, Topps and Panini.

That might not sound much like scarcity, but nearly all of the variants were produced in limited runs—the more limited, the more valuable the card. The market for the new hit cards has been fueled by a new generation of young buyers. Chiong is a high-end broker-dealer and card-buying consultant with a network of clients around the world. Born in Manila and raised in Queens, Chiong collected basketball cards as a fan during the last boom but came to cards as a profession only after leaving the diamond trade.

Some collect anew the cards that had filled childhood closets, only now they are seeking ones in Gem Mint 10 condition; others are drawn by the limited-edition-hit craze. Lately, Chiong has seen an uptick in slightly less affluent clients looking to invest four- or five-figure sums made from flipping other nontraditional assets, such as Bitcoin or limited-edition sneakers.

The hobby now competes in an entertainment landscape that includes Twitch which has turned video gaming into a spectator sport and DraftKings a blend of fantasy sports and gambling. The live break borrows elements from both, turning the hunt for high-value cards into a communal online experience—one that even a cranky old collector like myself can enjoy. Still, as entertaining as I came to find breaking, it exists on an almost entirely different plane from traditional collecting and quaint notions of fandom.

No serious collector buys into a break hoping for a veteran star, let alone a favorite journeyman shortstop. Use Google Images or even YouTube to help you narrow down your results. If traditional searching produces no results, try scanning an image of your card , and then using Google's reverse image search feature. This will let you search using an image instead of text. Go to Google Images and click the camera icon on the search bar to use this handy feature. If a set is pre and post WWII it's considered vintage , if it's from before WWII it's considered pre-war , and anything post is considered modern.

Typically, vintage and pre-war collections command a much higher value than modern cards assuming they're in good condition. The value of any set or collection of cards is directly proportional to the number of star cards it includes. A collection of 10 baseball cards with three superstars is usually more valuable than a collection of cards with only one superstar. There are, of course, exceptions including Old Judges and Ts.

If you fail to identify all of the superstars in your collection you might accidentally sell your cards for much less than you should have. If you don't know who the stars are, cross-reference your collection with some online lists of the greatest athletes of all time.

Once you know what you have, what era it's from, and what stars are involved, you're well on your way to determining the value of your collection. A Bowman Jackie Robinson one of his most coveted cards. Step 2: Evaluate the condition of your cards Do your best to analyze the condition of your cards.

If you're able to find problems, your potential buyer will surely find them and probably others as well. Any flaw in a card will affect its overall value. Baseball card flaws can be as simple as corner wear, creases, surface scuffs, off-centering, paper loss, being out of focus, and writing on the card. A common misconception is that all cards fresh out of the pack are in mint condition.

Vintage and prewar cards were manufactured using older printing processes and equipment and therefore frequently display print defects, centering issues, and miscuts. Manufacturing-related flaws will all factor into the condition and value of the card and are unfortunately entirely out of your control. Once you've identified your cards and inspected their condition, make sure you place the important ones into plastic sleeves, toploaders, or in plastic sheets in binders or albums.

This will ensure that they won't be subjected to any additional wear and tear and will preserve the value of your cards. A Topps Tom Seaver rookie card with slight corner wear and centering issues.

Step 3: Get familiar with the grading system One of the most important things to understand when evaluating your trading card collection is how the grading system works.

By authenticating cards and providing a uniform standard for condition, third-party experts like Professional Sports Authenticator PSA , Sports Card Guarantee SGC , and Beckett all help people put a value on vintage cards and memorabilia. PSA the largest of the three major grading companies uses a point grading scale to assess every piece. The higher the grade, the more valuable the card. Important: Judging condition and understanding the grading system will allow you to see what similar cards have sold for.

If you are too eager to grade, you might end up spending more on fees, insurance, and shipping costs than your cards are actually worth.

Go onto eBay and perform a search of a particular card in your collection. For best results, add in condition information as well. Then, filter your results and show only Sold items. This will give you an idea of what recent final sale prices have been for similar cards on eBay. Keep in mind though that you likely won't be able to fetch those prices, as there are additional costs associated with using eBay and Paypal.

Recent sales of a search for "T Lajoie. Step 5: Research ways to sell your cards. One option that everyone usually thinks of first is selling on eBay.