Once upon a time, collectors’ items were only antiques or family heirlooms – fancy items. Now, now you can collect so many things, and for sports enthusiasts, there is one obvious choice!
We collected them as kids, growing up collecting them from magazines, gift stores, forums and so on… that’s right… sports cards!
Sports cards can be any sport – baseball, football, soccer, whatever you want. There are so many out there, and collecting them can be really lucrative. In fact, sports cards are seen as an investment for the long term.
They are something to show off to your friends, family, and when you are old and gray… your grandkids will definitely get a kick out of them and think you are super cool!
Intro To Sports Cards
Remember the good old days? Visiting your local toy store with a few dollars in your pocket and between the candy and pop you would grab a couple of packs of trading cards. You couldn’t afford memorabilia, but this was good enough.
You could flex how loyal you were to your favorite teams with your collection, boast to the other kids, and build up a collection you could just stare at all night long.
It’s crazy that even now, we are still doing it, although the pandemic sure helped us get back to our youth and rediscover how much our sports card collections meant to us.
Trading back then was different, but now, it’s worth actual money and is seen as an investment.
So, what can you do about it these days?
Let’s get started in the obvious place.
Buying
Local card stores are the first stop. You can find card stores that will usually have a selection of sports cards available. You can also check out comic book stores because some of them have also taken to this.
Sounds weird? Well, not so much. Many Comic-con events now also host sports personalities. MMA and WWE are often featured at Comic-Con events, so it’s no surprise that the sports trading card universe has merged with them.
We cannot guarantee this in every store, but if you walk past one, why not have a look? You might get lucky!
You can also buy your sports cards online. After all, you can buy anything online these days, people will sell cards on eBay, Amazon, Facebook, and other places. If you are looking for a specific card just type in what it is on Google followed by ‘buy’ and you will surely find it somewhere.
However, you need to remember market values, prices can shoot up and people won’t be afraid to rip you off. Check out sites that will give you a true evaluation of the card you’re looking for.
Selling
What about selling? Well, this is not all that shocking. You can sell on forums. Yeah, we all kind of guessed that one. There are so many forums for sports card trading. Take your pick! Join sports card training groups on Facebook and try there.
Ask moderators if you can and then get to posting. Maybe even auction your cards.
Doing things like this gives you the chance to talk sports, and you can avoid seller fees too!
Resale apps are another good place too. They will give you protection from scams, so if this is a concern of yours, hit up eBay. Here, you can enjoy smooth transactions and the reassurance of a straightforward process. However, you will have to cough up some money in seller fees.
Trading
What if you don’t want to sell, what if you want to trade, just like in the good old days?
Well, you can try local card stores again. Hobby stores are a great resource for this, and you can usually trade your cards for what they have.
If you know the team running the store well, you may even be able to get them to hold cards for you.
Forums, again, are another good place. Moderated forums will allow you a safe space to trade, sell, and buy. However, you should always make sure whatever trades you complete are to your benefit.
They are not as popular since the pandemic, but why not hit up a trading show? There are conventions for this exact purpose, and you will find collectors, dealers, and more who will talk with you about your favorite teams.
Collectors can get together and do what they do best.
Some comic-con events may also have a section just for this. Join groups online and find the best place to get in some trading activity.