Lots of former collectors (people that collected 10+ years ago) are amazed by the Sports Cards being made today.
You can get Game Worn Jersey Cards and Autograph Cards out of every product these days. This is exciting and new to a lot of new/former collectors. There are also numerous low serial number inserts, rookies, base cards ect…and of course now you can grade cards.
Here is some advice that we pass on to those just getting back into collecting Sports Cards after collecting in the past:
- Complete Sets are a thing of the past-no use in trying to build them to sell later-UNOPENED HOBBY BOXES/CASES SELL BETTER THAN COMPLETE SETS. Only complete sets for your own enjoyment-not investment.
- Buying packs is gambling-The hobby is not cheap-if you want good cards-Manage your money well so you can get the most for your money. Research the products to find out which ones have the best bang for your buck. Every year a $3-$6 Pack product is better than a $8-$12 pack product. (Take 2006 Donruss Threads Football-Great product that was $4-$6 msrp-Liked it a lot more than pricier UD SPx)
- Single cards are often best found on eBay. No hobby shop is able to carry every card or every player. If you like a team, player, rookie cards, autograph cards, or expensive cards-eBay is the place to find them. You can find great values and extreme rip offs on eBay-so know what you are looking for.
Just as an example-I bought so many Chad Johnson 2001 Rookies on eBay before anyone knew who he was. I bought several SPx Autograph/Jersey rookie cards for less than $15 and now its a $100 card.
Tony Romo cards in the summer of ’06 and before that were all less than $50-Now look at his prices.
Tom Brady was the same way-So if you know what you are doing, and get the right players/cards-you can see huge value from your Sports Cards investment (so tell the wife you need to keep watching Sports Center and playing fantasy football so you can keep up on all the hot players) - “On-Card” Autograph cards are slightly more collectible than sticker autograph cards.
- The cards listed in Beckett magazine with the RC right next to them are slightly more collectible than the paralells you see listed after the base set. (Doesn’t mean they are more valuable-just slightly more collectible)
- Understand that cards/players will go up and down in popularity and value. Lots of rookies come out hot, then even if they have a great career-they may not be all that popular. A truly great player should go up near the end of his career if his cards were not collected all that much early in his career.
- SELL YOUR CARDS-Don’t think that every card/player is going to be worth something in the future. Not every player that has a great rookie year is a HOF. Very few players become legends-many are hot for a season or two then they cool. TRY AND SELL YOUR CARDS WHEN THE PLAYER IS HOT-
Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck would be two good examples of players that would have been good to sell during the Super Bowl-their cards have dipped. -DON’T GO TO HOBBY SHOPS TO SELL YOUR CARDS-IF ITS A HOT PLAYER/CARD-YOU WILL GET MORE MONEY ON eBay! (we own a hobby store-we need to resell the card-we would give you %50-%75 the price the card goes on eBay no matter what the player is-so you might as well become the dealer and sell it on eBay) -
GOOD LUCK-Just a few tips we have-Hope they help.
I have so many baseball football and basketball cards from 1968 to 2005 who’s interested in buying some