• Sports Card Show - Norwich, CT
• 2012 Baseball Card Show Calendar

Dear SportsCardRadio,
In the new prime cuts baseball I pulled 3 redemptions, 2 for prospect signature card # 107 and 1 for draft pick signature card # 171 .....do you have any idea who these players are?

• #107 Blake Snell #/299
• #171 is Taylor Jungmann #/249

Gentlemen,

Attached is a scan of a buy back card I pulled from this year's Topps Heritage. It is #17 Ryne Duren. Love the web site!

Reply:

Thanks for the e-mail!! Sweet card -- I love the buy-back stuff and wish they would do it more often. Hope you get some more good pulls like this one and feel free to share them with us when you have time.

Thanks again, good luck pulling more good ones.

My business plan would be to setup a supplies website on a 'free' option like ZenCart or something similar. Get SSL, and a domain/hosting for about $50-$75/year. Setup an account at BCW and UltraPro. Only order Soft-Sleeves, Top Loaders, Binder Pages, and some other small items in small quantities to start since you have no customers.

Then setup the site with all new product pages for your items..with photos and unique content about the supplies. This might take 4-8 weeks depending on how skilled you are at setting up a site. After that, you'll want to try and get some customers by using Twitter/Facebook - and maybe do a promotion where you give away a $40 - $75 box of cards if people signup for a newsletter or something like that. In 6-12 months, if you set your website up well, you should get traffic from Google searches, and that should keep the orders coming in.

Selling supplies ends up being the same margin as selling boxes, but you don't have a Blowout or DA Cards to compete with, and you don't have to be updating your website every day when a new product comes out. Plus boxes tend to go down in price after release, and unless you are selling very large volume, you will probably loose money because of this. If you build up a solid customer base by selling supplies - you could transition into selling boxes because you'd already have the customers buying supplies.

If you're interested in starting a business, you'll want to do some research in your home state about the process. I put up a list of where you can get your re-seller ID Here.

Hope that helps, if you have any other questions please contact us and we'll try to help you out. Thanks again for the e-mail.

Question:

I have a question about grading cards. What is the easiest way to get my cards graded? Which grading service? Can auto/memorablia cards be graded? And will getting my cards grade increase the value and would it be worth it. I really appreciate your advice and I hope to hear back from you soon.

Answer:
Good question, you can either send your cards into the two companies I recommend (PSA and BGS) via the mail, or you can bring them to a card show in your area where BGS and PSA show up to do on-site grading. Both methods are good, and if you only have 1 or 2 cards, sometimes just waiting for a show to come around is best.

You can grade almost any card, with some exceptions - but almost all modern cards can be graded. The value will all depend on the grade, and often how hard it is to obtain that grade. For example, some cards are made very well (Bowman Sterling is one example) and you get lots of PSA 10's and BGS 9.5's. Vintage cards and very condition sensitive cards often see the biggest boost in value from a high grade, as it's more rare to find those cards in good condition.

If you haven't already, check out the show notes to this podcast I did about grading your cards - you will find links to the price lists and a video of one of our submissions to BGS. Don't let anyone sell you on another grading company - at the moment the only 2 I would use would be PSA and Beckett.

Hope that helps, thanks for the e-mail

Question:

I was comparing some cards to the short print variation list and noticed that the Yu Darvish card has the same number as the CJ Wilson card. Is this a typo?

Answer:

Same card # on the Wilson and Darvish. For some reason they went with the same # even though C.J. has no SP. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Question:

I saw your list of allen & ginter very impressive. The only thing I pulled this in a pack and did not see it on the list. I was wondering if you knew what it was? I can not get a straight answer from Topps they most not open the letter. I have enclosed two photos of the card. I hope you can help. Thanks for your time.

Answer:

Thanks for the email. What you have there are Decipher Code Cards from '11 Ginter. I believe those were used in conjunction with the "Crack the Code" challenge that runs throughout the set. People trying to crack the code needed to see these cards I believe.

You can check out some of the cards here.

Let me know if that helps. If you need some more information on them let me know. I believe that are actually fairly hard to get - good luck with your collection!

Question:

First off, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PUTTING TOGETHER PHOTO CHECKLIST OF THESE CARDS!!!  You are seriously awesome and made my life so much easier.  A million thanks!  (all in all, you do a very good job with the site!  I first visited after seeing one of my cards in your card price tracker and I've been hooked since!  Thanks for all your hard work)

Ok, so I found a couple variations I didn't see on your list.  (*So far Ive just pulled the mini variations)

#152 Dan Uggla
(I think the base is dropping bat and sp is diving)

#289 Gio Gonzalez (base is red jersey, sp is gray)

#252  Tony Gwynn
This card is driving me nuts.  I think there may be a third version.  I have the 2 listed on your site, but I also pulled a mini where his stirrup is showing on his right  leg and I saw another one where there is more showing between his legs above "Gypsy Queen" logo.

Answer:

Thanks for the pictures. I am going to be using those on a page for the "mini variations".  So the page I put up with the 50 Sp Photo cards are for the "full sized variations".  Then, toward the bottom of the gypsy queen checklist page (i used the hunter pence card as example) they have these mini variations that supposedly were only going to be in the Box Loader packs. But I've heard people pull these cards out of regular packs as well.

So today I'll try and get through putting up a list of all the mini variations.
Thank you for the e-mail.

Question:

I have been enjoying your podcast sports card show.  It has helped me in a big way.

I have been collecting cards, mainly Baseball and Football for years. I am now interested in opening a store.  You mentioned in one of your shows that maybe you could help in directing listeners to some wholesale companies.

I have a sales tax number and need a company to get new stuff at a price where I can make some money. I live in Georgia and have usually bought retail or card shows and flea markets.

Would you please help me by giving me some names of places you trust that I can contact and purchase cards?  This will help me in a big way.

I am pretty small right now, but maybe a business that can provide both cards as well as supplies etc.  The only names I have currently are names I found online, but I have no idea if they are trustworthy.  I will feel good knowing your recommendation comes along with the company I use to stock my shelves.

I have really enjoyed your card shows.  I only recently found out about you guys.  I want to thank you so much for the information.  You have inspired me to try and earn some money with my hobby.

Answer:

Thanks for the e-mail.

Yes, there is a distributor I used in GA a while back, but still know they do good business and that's Peach State Sports. Give them a call and you should be able to find some products to sell.

If you haven't checked it out, I have a list of all the major ones I know of here, you might want to try some other ones too. I know someone near GA with a hobby shop and they like GTS as well.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions and I'd be happy to try and help you out. Thanks again for the e-mail.

Question:

Just wanted to share this. I'm selling a Jeremy Lin hoops #67 base card on ebay. It's now up to an amazing $61 with a day to go. Am I missing something?

Answer:

It's linsanity!! Hopefully you got paid, I've seen them sell on COMC & card shows for around $5 - $8 but people tend to go crazy on eBay trying to outbid people. Good job on the sale, hope you got paid and bought something else cool with the money.

Talk to you soon, thanks for the e-mail

(Updated: Provided link with auction that ended at $61 - and confirmed payment was received)

Question:

I see that you have a checklist for the avatar trading cards on your site. Do you know where I could buy them? Thanks.

Answer:

Unfortunately around the time that set was supposed to be released - it was cancelled. Probably due to some kind of licensing issue.

Question:

I have 2  DeSean Jackson, both red, but one of them says 54/77, and the other card says 55/77. Everything else about card is exactly the same. Even the card number 268. Just noticed the regular card in white which is also card number 268, same picture but white border.........just wondering if misprint?

Answer:

What you have there are 2 "Red Parallel" DeSean Jackson 2011 Topps Factory Set cards. Those cards are only found in 2011 Topps Factory Sets. They are "serial numbered" on the back to #/77. You have the numbers 54 & 55 in the total print run of 77.

Nice cards! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Question:

I have a 2011 topps Chuck Howley  S.B.L. auto  5/10 could you give a idea what it is worth?  I really would appreciate it !!!

Answer:

Hello, A 2011 Topps Check Howley Super Bowl Legends autograph - #3/10 - recently sold on eBay for $36.99.  Your card should be in the similar ballpark - $25-50 or so. Let me know if you have any other questions. Nice card!

Question:

I got some 2012 tops baseball cards the jumbo packs i got 4 golden giveaway cards I need to redeem them how do iI do this, thank you for helping me.

Answer:

Hello,
Start by going to this website: www.topps.com/golden

Then - in the upper right hand corner they have a red button that says "Register"

Question:

Hello! you’ve got a great website! I am trying to complete a 2011-2012 score hockey set. I need singles of mostly insert cards. can you please advise me of a dealer who sells insert singles for score hockey? I appreciate any help that you might offer. I have a checklist of the exact cards I need and would love to be able to obtain them all in one stop. thanks very much!

Answer:

That's a good question - browse this selection first - if you haven't seen these already.

I've used this site quite often to sell cards - their shipping ends up being reasonable if you purchase at least 10 cards or more.

You can "make offers" on individual cards up to 50% off. Most sellers are willing to come down at least a little bit.

Each individual card will be shipped from the same location. But each card is sold by a "different seller."  I'd go through the site - put cards in your "cart" that you need - and then when you are done looking see if there is enough of the cards you need to make it worth it for you.

If you have any questions about how to use COMC don't hesitate to ask me - I've been using that site quite often the last year.

But - if you have already looked at COMC - email me back - because I'll have to do some digging to see if there is someone else who would have a large quantity of singles available.

Good luck - let me know if you need some other options.

Question:

Was wondering if you know how I can obtain the 2011 Topps Inception rookie checklist?  I see that you don't show it and I checked the Topps website and they don't have any checklist for this product.  Please help?  Thanks.

Answer:

Hello,

The rookie card checklist is near the very top of the page Card #101-136. There are only autograph rookie cards and no base card RC cards. The base set #1-100 is listed at the bottom of the page.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Question:

Why are there no college decals on the helmets for Press Pass cards anymore?

Answer:

Good Question, Press Pass no longer has the required 'NCAA license' to use those logos. That now belongs to Upper Deck. It's also why Press Pass does not show NFL logos or team names, they are strictly un-licensed draft cards.

Question:

I've been unsuccessful in getting a response from Upper Deck, therefore sending this email hoping you have an answer. Per the checklist on UD's webpage and your webpage as well, in the 10-11 The CUP Signature Patches subset, it lists that there is a Eric Lindros card (#SP-EL).  I 've been working on this set since it was released last year, but still have never seen one of these Lindros cards anywhere - online or at shows???  Do you know if it actually exists?  have you seen one or been asked the same question from someone else?

Looking forward to hear back.

Answer:

Your research probably suggests that there is no Lindros Signature Patch card. For whatever reason, probably at the last minute - they probably didn't have those cards. Strange because he has the limited logos and maybe a few other autographs that are live in the set. While nobody has contacted me about that specific Lindros cards, I have gotten numerous emails about other Upper Deck cards that are on both checklists - but the card does not exist.

I'm going to remove that from the checklist, because if you have been searching for awhile now, a card to #/75 of Lindros would have shown up by now.

Let me know if you notice any other corrections or questions. Good luck with your collection!

Question:

Hey I have a couple of cards I can't find much about, could you explain more and possibly let me in on potential values. Thanks!!!

Answer:

Thanks for the e-mail, the photo is perfect - those I believe are minor league cards that were distributed mainly at minor league ballparks during the day via vending machines or team sets. Some of the cards from this era have value - typically star players, and the complete sets sometimes have value.

Question:

First I would like to say I am your biggest fan ever. So I was looking over some of your  videos and I noticed you did a card grading. So I have two nice cards that I want graded. A Jeremy Barfield gold refractor to 50 and a Oswaldo Arcia Purple refractor to 799. So if you can grade my cards I need to know the price, who to send it to, and what I should the cards in? Thank you so much for your time.

Answer:

Here are some things that should help you out:

If I were grading cards - there are two companies to go through that are the most respected and will allow your cards to go up in value if they get a good grade.

BGS = http://www.beckett.com/images/grading/BGS_subform.pdf

BGS is the grading service by Beckett Magazine. As far as price - it depends how quickly you want your cards back. The least is expensive option:

$9 Per Card ($18)
Insurance = $8
Shipping $14
Total: $40 for 2 cards.

It is expensive unless you are able to ship multiple cards - if you sent 10 in - it would work out to about $150 or $15 per card.

Cards should be shipped to them in a soft sleeve with a 'Card Saver 1 or 2" card holder. These are the flimsy card holders. They don't like 'rigid top loaders', snap cases or screw downs.

The other company is PSA http://www.psacard.com/fees/index.html

Similar fees - and they also like the 'card saver 1 & 2' card holders.

If you live near a bigger city - PSA & BGS will grade cards at large card shows for around  $10 each. Which cuts out all your shipping costs. Let me know if you need help finding a show in your area.

Check out those two sites - and let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks for supporting the site! we really appreciate it.

Question:

Hey. I started the Topps promo with the random redemption code to get a coin on the website . Its fun and all, but what's with the codes on the back-bottom of the 2012 Topps cards? Haven't collected in years and this was new to me. Just curious what that's all about

Answer:

I believe it's some kind of legal thing. If you go to this part of their website: http://www.topps.com/cpsia it shows something about entering the code #. I tried on a 2012 Topps card I have but nothing really showed up. Sort of a weird thing they must have to comply with. let me know if you have any other questions.

Question:

I went to that "diamond giveaway" online game. I set up an account when series one came out and had a
decent amount of diamond giveaway cards redeemed, I noticed that everyone (around 3000 people) wanted this Mickey Mantle ring. Not knowing that was the
hardest to find, i started trading rings and the next thing I knew we had all 60 rings.

So my question to you guys would be, what is going to be that hardest coin to find?

Answer:

That's a good question, I would think probably the Mantle coin will be once again the most rare - but I guess it's anyone's guess. Congrats on getting the Mantle ring from 2011. I know people who entered in over 1,000 codes and never got it!

Question:

when do you think Panini and Topps will release the first box containing Andrew Lucks rookie? and is that Panini prime signatures releasing in March, is that considered last seasons? Also, how much do you think retail is for a case and per box?

Answer:

Panini will probably release 2012 Prestige Football around the same time they did last year - which was May 5th. Topps first product was 2011 Topps Rising Rookies Football which was on June 3rd. Should be around those times again this year.

Prime Signatures will be a 2011 release and will include those rookies.

Tough to say because there might be a little more hype this year with Luck. Last years Prestige did not have Cam Newton autographs. They didn't get a deal done until the Premiere Photo Shoot. So be a little cautious until you know 100% Luck has autographs in the product especially if you are looking to sell those cards. A case should be 12 boxes - around $65-70 per box on the cheap = $840-850 for a case. They might try to sell them for $85 a box which would be $1020.

The topps product will probably be in the same ballpark - perhaps a little bit cheaper.

It will come down to how excited people get about Luck and RG3

Question:

Do you know if this years 2012 Topps Tribute Baseball offering will be released in factory form just like the regular topps factory set.

Answer:

Thanks for the e-mail, for this set ... I doubt it because it's a premium set and they tend to only release the mass-produced sets in factory form. Your best bet is to try and collect this by hand on the secondary market ... or purchase from someone that has broken enough product to complete the set. Hope that helps, this set really took off in price last season, and it will be interesting to see if it does it again this year.