We created these tips for new card collectors hoping to save them both time and money in this hobby, which can be pretty difficult to understand at times.
65 Tips For New Card Collectors (and Veterans!)
Sometimes, we forget that there are new card collectors every single day. Can you imagine stepping into this sports card collecting hobby right now? Or even stepping back into it after not collecting baseball cards for a couple decades? Things are crazy!
We wanted to do a quick hit list of tips for new card collectors that will at least get them started on their way. In reality, experience in buying cards you like (and finding out which cards you don’t like), is part of growing as a sports card collector. But my hope is that this list of tips for new card collectors will at least be able to save some money!
Here we go…
65 Tips For New Card Collectors!
1. Inserts aren’t as cool as you’d think. Short prints are big deals, but you have to figure out that they are short prints (image variations, design variation, etc.)
2. Collect Hall of Famers, Rookie Cards, Superstars, and All-Stars in that order.
3. Rookie cards, autos or numbered cards of players from big market teams often have higher values because more people try to collect them.
4. An error card doesn’t automatically make it valuable — it’s erroneous to think any other way.
5. Chromium cards are generally more sought after than paper cards — we’re talking about Topps Chrome in baseball, Panini Prizm Silver or Holo cards in football and basketball. Patrick Imhoff will tell us the hockey Chromium equivalent in the comments!
6. Get into auctions that end at weird times, like Wednesday morning at 9am.
7. Getting a card graded equal to the decade is generally a good thing. ‘50s = 5, ‘60s =6, 80s = 8, etc.
8. Think of Vintage cards as blue-chip stocks and ultra-modern cards as penny stocks — not that they’re worth less, just that they’re incredibly volatile. If Nolan Ryan needs TJS, it won’t affect his cards and Frank Robinson isn’t going to get arrested for sexual assault.
9. Buying raw vintage cards on eBay can be troublesome because many people trim or alter older cards. Think about buying graded instead — even if it’s a lower grade, at least you know it’s authentic and not trimmed.
10. Collecting Future HOF is smart.
11. Collecting Current HOF is even smarter.
12. Age makes a big difference in baseball prospect collectability. One rookie might be 4 years older than another rookie — so they have four fewer years to accumulate counting stats that might get them into in the HOF.
13. Pitchers aren’t that collectable.
14. Catchers are often less collectable than pitchers. (Look at the top catchers right now: William Contreras, Adley and Will Smith under $5 combined!
15. There are thick sleeves and thick top loaders for thick cards — and you can send thick cards in for grading in a thick top loader, you don’t have to squeeze into a card saver.
16. PSA 8 modern cards are generally similar in value as raw cards.
17. PSA 10 modern cards used to be worth much more, but there are so many cards out there now, you can get most cards cheaper than a few years ago.
18. A major miscut is more of a novelty than a valuable card. — for instance, look at this card Chris Goff asked me about — not always valuable unless a major card.
19. Scarcity sometimes trumps everything. A 1/1 is one of a kind, don’t worry about getting it graded if you’re trying to sell it.
20. Joining a break can be fun and exhilarating, but your chances of making your money back are pretty low.
21. Buying wax (packs or boxes of cards) can be fun and exhilarating, but your chances of making your money back are pretty low.
22. Buying singles can be boring, but at least you get the cards you want.
23. Die-cut cards are cool, but difficult to get good grades on because of all the corners!
24. Low-Numbered rookie parallels and autographed rookie cards are generally what everyone is seeking.
25. If you ever ship cards to someone, always secure them with either a toploader and blue tape across the top (not scotch tape) or a cardsaver with cardboard support.
26. Buy the best grade for the oldest card of the player you like. If you can’t afford their rookie card, check out some of the best 2nd-year baseball cards ever.
27. Cards with players in their college jerseys are worth less than the same player in his pro jersey.
28. Panini’s flagship product is Prizm, which are the true rookie cards for basketball and football, but Prizm Draft Picks are college cards, as is Bowman U from Topps.
29. Breakers often must buy product they don’t want, so they can keep buying the product they do want. You don’t have to, though.
30. Rookie Patch Auto is what everyone wants for rookie cards. RPA – The 3 main features!
31. PSA 10 cards are generally worth 3 to 4x more than PSA 9s.
32. Defense is not very collectable: Pitchers, Shot blockers, Sack artists, Goaltenders. Collectors don’t want low scores.
33. Unlicensed cards aren’t as good as licensed. But if you want autos for your PC, you can get great deals on unlicensed cards.
34. Silver Prizm and Holo are the same things, and the way you know the cards from Prizm, Optic, Select and Mosaic are Silvers is that on the back, it will say Prizm in a spot where it doesn’t say it on other cards.
35. Grades below 4 can often mean there is a tear, crease or mark on the card.
36. 1st Bowman cards of stars are big deals — most other base Bowman cards are not — except if they are rookie cards of international signees.
37. You can find the 1st Bowman cards (AKA Bowman 1st cards) for the Top 100 MLB Prospects.
38. Graded card rankings in resale value: 1-PSA, 2-SGC, 3-Beckett, 4-CGC, everything else.
39. Beckett is not the top-shelf company you once remembered it as.
40. CGC grading company is mostly a big deal for TCG cards because they also grade comic books, coins and currency.
41. If you have trouble putting cards in sleeves, snip the top corner of a sleeve to make it easier.
42. There are cheap, medium and premium cards for each sport.
43. SGC grades 9.5, but PSA doesn’t — which means an SGC 9.5 could either be a PSA 9 or a PSA 10.
44. Rookie Debut cards aren’t as cool/valuable as true rookie cards.
45. Grading is based on CCES: Centering, Corners, Edges and Surface
46. Your cards from the ’80s and ’90s are probably not in the condition you think they are. If they aren’t already in top-loaders, then they definitely aren’t in great condition.
47. Your cards from the ’80s and ’90s are probably not as valuable as you think they are.
48. It can be difficult to get rid of commons in a way you feel good about. Find a young collector, and make his day with free cards — but don’t stick around to see his disappointment that you didn’t give him all Luka and Shohei rookie cards.
50. You don’t have to buy things everyone else wants. There are advantages to buying less popular players, grades or sets, including lower prices and more availability.
51. There are many, many, many different products released in each sport, throughout the year. Try some to figure out what you like, but try not to buy everything.
52. Help a young collector appreciate putting complete sets together and you will save him a lot of money in his lifetime.
53. Sell cards you don’t want as quickly as possible.
54. Rookie cards of players who already changed teams usually lose a little luster compared to RCs of homegrown stars.
55. The only people selling a card for 100% comps are card show dealers, local card shops, or social media sellers. You and I have to pay eBay fees if we sell to consumers, and if we try to sell to a store, we’re not going to get anything above 80% comps, and often quite less than that.
56. Rookie Cards that come out of packs are generally a bigger deal than cards you can buy singularly, like Topps Now, Topps Living or Topps Throwback cards.
57. Sell cards you don’t want to fund cards you do want.
58. Colored cards that match the player’s team jersey are more collectable!
59. Numbered cards that match the player’s jersey number is even more collectable!
60. Auctions usually mean cheaper prices, whereas BIN means more expensive – a convenience tax.
61. Explain to your significant other that your money wasn’t wasted on cards – THESE act as a savings account for when you are desperate for money. UNLESS YOU HAVE NOTHING BUT WANDER FRANCO CARDS.
62. Find every good rookie worth collecting from every year in every sport in these articles:
- Best Baseball Rookie Cards Ever
- Best Basketball Rookie Cards Ever
- Best Football Rookie Cards Ever
- Best Hockey Rookie Cards Ever
63. You can’t collect everything. Give yourself time to get some of the things you want. You have the rest of your life — and there are new rookies every single year in every single sport.
64. If I said a tip you didn’t understand, comment below and I’ll expound on it.
65. Read the comments below from my very smart viewers for even more great tips!
I hope these tips for new card collectors help you understand the hobby a little bit better! Please leave some comments below if I can help you out in any other way!
David Gonos
David Gonos spent 5 years as a CBSSports.com Senior Fantasy Writer and three more years writing with SI.com. Over the past 17 years, his work has been published on NFL.com, MLB.com, FanDuel, FoxSports.com and USA Today. Since 2001, he has been tracking down the Top 50-plus Free Fantasy Football Draft Tools online. You can contact David Gonos here.
