As a sports card collector since birth (my dad is a huge collector whose collection dwarfs my own in both quality and quantity), I’ve often had to maneuver within this hobby with little to no money. It may not be as glamorous and adrenaline-pumping as buying thousands of dollars worth of Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow rookie autos, but value card collecting can be extremely fun and rewarding, especially for beginners.
Hunt For Individual Cards
The best value in trading cards, especially for people on a strict budget, is as far away from boxes and packs as possible. Individual cards are definitely the way to go, as they are generally cheaper than buying packs straight from the card company. They also change the whole perspective from a game of chance to a game of skill. When you pick specific cards that you think will increase in value, you are making a calculated decision, a decision (depending on your knowledge of sports and trading cards) that will almost always be more informed and more successful than a straight game of chance.
Visit Card Shows
If you want to get into the individual card hobby with a small amount of money, the best place to go is a card show. I recommend skipping the visit to your local card shop until you have sufficient funds and a solid understanding of the hobby. It’s great to support local shops, but you need to understand that their prices are often inflated to help cover the costs of running the shop. At a card show, traveling card dealers bring with them just a handful of glass display cases and a dozen or so (or more) cardboard boxes filled with cards of varying prices, typically in either soft or hard plastic protectors.
These cardboard boxes are where a value collector thrives. Often, these boxes will be marked with a price (e.g., $0.50 a card, $1 a card, $5 a card, etc.). This is where you can build up your collection even if you’ve only got a couple of twenties in your wallet. While a lot of the “big dogs” are buying, selling, and trading hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of cards right next to you at the glass display cases, it’s the job of the value collector not to get distracted and focus on your box.
My recommendation is to go through the boxes and pull out:
- Cards of young players that could develop into stars
- Low-numbered cards of well-known players
- Rookie cards of players destined for the Hall of Fame
- Any card of your favorite player
- On-card autographs of players that you like or players on your favorite teams
- Unique or cool-looking cards of players that you like or players on your teams
- Any card that strikes you as potentially a good deal (i.e., you could sell it for double its value or more on eBay or at that same card show).
These categories help build a balanced collection of cards featuring players you like, which you can display in your collection, as well as cards that can be investments in the future. You can hold onto these cards until their value increases, and then you can cash out or trade them for a potentially more valuable card, and repeat the process. It’s a good way to continue growing your collection, even if you don’t have a consistent stream of income that can help you grow your collection.
This is where the math starts (your math teacher told you you would need it!).
- Establish Your Budget: How much money do you have? Or, how much money are you willing to spend at this dealer’s table?
- Locate the Sellers: There are usually between 10 and 50 different dealers, depending on the size of your city or town. There are also larger regional and national shows that host hundreds of dealers.
- Calculate Before Spending: Add up the prices of all the cards. Often, the boxes will be marked to indicate that all the cards in a particular box are sold at one price. Sometimes, they’ll be individually added price stickers on the plastic protectors of the cards. And sometimes you may even need to ask the dealer how much each card is—some dealers throw at you what they think the card is worth at the time, while other dealers will check the card’s price on eBay in a lengthy process that usually results in a bad deal.
- Accept Some Sacrifices: You’ll probably have to put some cards back to balance out your budget, how much you want to add to your collection, and how many “investment cards” you want to add.
Source From eBay
eBay is also a huge source of value in the individual card scene as you can buy and sell cards all across the globe, with tens of thousands of card sellers all competing with each other. The prices on eBay are often buyer-friendly, sometimes more so than at card shows.
The problem with eBay is the shipping cost. That usually drives the price above card show values for small purchases. The other inherent problems with eBay are scams and untrustworthy sellers, a problem that has gotten better over the years but persists, especially for buyers who may not know what to look out for. Be cautious and review previous buyer feedback!
