It’s no secret that being a sports card collector is a popular hobby. In retrospect, it was a method to demonstrate your loyalty to a certain player or team in the sport that you followed. To get a few miniature cards, you need to open a card pack, conceal them, and swap them with your buddies.
After reaching a point of stagnation, the hobby had a significant renaissance during the COVID-19 epidemic. With Kobe Bryant’s passing and the release of the Michael Jordan documentary, many fans were likely to stay indoors and reflect on their favorite players’ lives rather than watch a sporting event.
Here are five recommendations to keep in mind if you start a new hobby, such as sports card collecting.
5 Tips For Being Sports Card Collectors
1. Do Your Homework
There is a lot of background knowledge required for sports card collecting. Make sure you complete your homework.
For instance, there is no assurance that the title of the item listed on eBay is true. You can’t accept a card’s stated worth at current prices if it’s labeled as a “rookie.”
You should ensure you are aware of when a player’s rookie card will be released since information of this kind can be found nowadays with a Google search in just 10 seconds.
On the other hand, if you are familiar with a player’s rookie card and know how to look for it, you do not need to include the term “rookie” in your search. This may help you locate an identical card for a much lower cost.
Doing your research on pricing is another good suggestion. If you are conscious of the most recent prices that have been on sale, you will be able to find the greatest discounts and ensure that you are not spending more than necessary.
2. Check the Condition
It is of the utmost importance to examine the state of the collection cards you own, particularly if your goal is to profit from selling them.
It might be challenging to accurately assess the condition at first look, particularly if you are purchasing online or if the seller keeps them behind glass or is unwilling to send them for examination.
However, to the best of your abilities, I strongly advise that you spend at least a little time attempting to acquire a feel for the state of your cards so that you can make an informed decision about how to proceed.
Inspect the item for any indications of wear and tear. It is inevitable that older collections, such as originals from the 1930s, would show at least some symptoms of wear after a long time. Considering how old they are, it is to be anticipated.
On the other hand, you can conduct some research to find out what circumstances are considered acceptable by other purchasers and then base your decision on that information. Since the value of an object decreases in direct proportion to the degree to which it has been damaged, you should not pay more than the usual price for it.
However, this does not imply that you should avoid purchasing a damaged card. Certainly, if you are purchasing items for the simple pleasure and fond memories associated with collecting, then you may not find this to be a problem for you. Evaluate the issue in light of the ideas you have laid out for the collection.
3. Find and Buy from a Reputable Seller
Most of the buying and selling of sports cards now occurs on the internet. There can be situations when you won’t be able to identify the vendor. These days, everything is a part of the game, even this. On the other hand, you can do a few things to maximize your level of protection.
People might grumble about the costs associated with using eBay, yet the company provides excellent customer care for purchasers. Avoid making purchases using the “Friends and Family” feature of PayPal with persons you do not know.
Many vendors recommend paying through PayPal’s Friends & Family option to minimize transaction costs. However, I wouldn’t recommend this since it effectively waives your consumer protections and leaves you with little recourse in case of a dispute.
Take precautions while dealing with open markets such as Facebook. The Facebook marketplace is a great location to buy cards. However, it may be risky sometimes, and almost no buyer assistance is available via the network. Despite this, I have made several purchases there in the past.
Purchase from hobby shop stores. Nowadays, almost all card shops have an internet presence, complete with websites. These are frequently feasible methods.
You can purchase and sell trading cards using online marketplaces such as StarStock and ComC without worrying about the items’ physical delivery. It’s almost like a one-stop shop for both purchasing and storing solutions.
4. Consider How To Store Them
Consider the many options available for displaying your card collection, such as card boxes, plastic sleeves, top loaders, and one-touch cases.
Consider using a safety deposit container to store the collection if you don’t want to show it off and would rather keep it protected until it is right to sell. When storing the collection, you should ensure that the box offers enough protection from moisture, vermin, and dust.
To ensure that your valuable playing cards remain in pristine condition at all times, you may put a humidity gauge in your safe.
5. Keep Collecting Fun
Because individual cards and sets can bring in significant sums of money, there is a large incentive to start a collection of sports trading cards.
On the other hand, if purchasing and collecting trading cards isn’t something you love doing in the first place, it’s quite doubtful that you’ll be able to maintain a regular approach to the hobby.
Be sure that collecting cards are something you love doing! The excitement of the hunt while searching for rare card sets from decades past on the internet can be a lot of fun.
Additionally, the hobby community is full of so many wonderful individuals. Social media, blogs, podcasts, and just about everything else out there now provide excellent opportunities to network with other collectors. Through participating in this activity, people from all around the globe have become some of my closest friends.
Even though I have sold cards for a significant profit over what I spent for them, it still makes me feel a little concerned when I talk to other individuals who are “spending” a lot of money on sports cards without even being sure that they like collecting them as a pastime in the first place.
This is not the financial industry, and the cards do not constitute assets that generate money. They have some value due to the opinions of those who participate in the hobby and believe they have some value.
There is no reliable method to determine whether your cards’ cost will go up in the years to come. Therefore, you can be paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars right now just to find out that they have significantly decreased in price or at the very most, remained the same.
The way I look at it, I shouldn’t spend any money I wouldn’t want to throw away, and I shouldn’t purchase something I wouldn’t want to have forever.
However, this is really one person’s view, and if you are interested in trading cards simply as a chance for financial gain, that is completely OK. On the other hand, there is no reason why a pastime can’t be made a little bit more enjoyable as it progresses.
Summary
These days, looking through one’s card collection is more than just a trip back in time. There’s much more to it than just getting a rush from remembering the good old days when you could spend hours poring over trading cards of your childhood heroes.
Have fun with your purchases!
