Unveiling the World of Football Card Collecting: A Comprehensive Guide
The Rise of Football Cards in the Collectible Market
In recent years, the sports card industry has experienced a remarkable resurgence, with football cards emerging as coveted treasures for collectors and investors alike. This resurgence is fueled by the growing popularity of football, the sport’s rich history, and the increasing value of rare and vintage cards.
Understanding Card Types and Their Value
Rookie Cards
- Rookie cards, depicting players in their debut season, are often the most sought-after. These cards hold sentimental value and potential financial gain, especially if the player’s career soars. Here is a list of football cards to look into collecting.
Serial Numbered Cards
- Cards with a serial number are popular because they have a known print run so collectors know how many cards are out there. One-of-ones are collectible regardless of the player because there is just one of that card and if someone wants it they have to pay whatever the seller is asking. Panini and Topps have introduced various 1/1 cards in their sets in recent years so there are many out there to chase.
Autograph Cards
- Cards with an autograph are popular because it has a connection to the player. There are hard-signed autographs when the player signs on the card and there are sticker autographs where a player signs a sticker and then it is placed on the card. Collectors prefer hard-signed signatures, however, sticker autographs are valuable too.
Investing in Football Cards: Strategies and Considerations
Market Trends: Timing is Key
- Investing in football cards requires an understanding of market trends. Seasonal fluctuations often affect the value, with prices peaking during the football season.
Condition and Grading: Ensuring Authenticity and Quality
- The condition of a card is paramount. Cards are graded on a scale, with mint or near-mint conditions fetching the highest prices. Professional grading services provide authenticity and protect the card’s value. Card Grading: The Ultimate guide to BGS, PSA, SGC & CSG.
Collecting Football Cards
Collecting football cards is easy, fun, and a great hobby. Collectors come from all backgrounds; each collection is personal and reflects the individual owner. There are no rules for collecting.
Since card collecting is considered a hobby, what you collect, how much you collect, and how much time and money you spend collecting are entirely up to you. The funds you have available for collecting and your taste will determine how you collect.
Which Football Cards to Collect?
- It is impossible to collect every card ever produced. Therefore, it is best to specialize in some way. One of the reasons collecting is so popular is that collectors can collect in their way. There are a million different ways to collect. Below is a list of ways for beginners to approach collecting.
Completing Football Card Sets
- Compiling a set yourself is what the card hobby is based upon. When you buy packs or boxes of cards, the thrill is opening the packs, finding a favorite player, and perhaps finding valuable doubles for trading or selling.
- Many collectors select complete sets from particular years. For example, they may concentrate on assembling complete sets with popular rookies and stars. Earlier sets, like the 1965 Topps football set, are a great example.
Collecting Specific Football Players
- One of the most common types of collecting is “player collecting.” Collectors are fans who like to collect players from their favorite teams. They also collect players that are the best of the best. For example, if you go to www.pro-football-reference.com, you can find all the stats of every player ever to play football. Positions like running back, quarterback, and wide receiver are some of the best positions to collect.
Team Collecting
- Team collecting is simply collecting players from your favorite team. Many collectors have favorite teams and want players from that team. Or they’ll collect players wearing their favorite team’s jersey and colors. Although this is fun to collect, it’s not the best investment method.
- Many players will not produce great stats. Some players will get injured or potentially cut from the team. Spending money on these players could have been spent on players that will produce great stats and demand premium prices.
Collecting Football Rookie Cards
- More than any other hobby segment, the rookie card phenomenon is investor and speculator-driven. Rookie card collectors/investors buy cards and, in most cases, store them away or send them to be graded.
- Ideally, they’ll sell the cards for a substantial profit when the time is right. Not all rookie cards are collectible, and not all have value. So how do we know which cards to invest in?
Investing in Football Cards
When investing in football cards, you have two vehicles to get there. Collecting individual players and collecting complete sets. Most investors and speculators stock up on complete sets or quantities of players they think will have good investment potential. Hoarding Tom Brady rookie cards in 2001 would have been a better investment than buying stock in Google or Apple.
Which Football Cards to Invest in?
Some of the obvious questions are Which cards? When should I buy it? When should I sell? The best investment you can make is in your education. The more you know about your collection and the hobby, the more informed decisions you will make.
Buying Football Cards Can be Risky
There’s no assurance that collecting cards will yield a profitable return on investment. If you’re looking for a reliable financial strategy for retirement, consulting a financial advisor is a wiser approach than banking on sports cards. However, if you’re interested in a potentially lucrative yet enjoyable hobby, investing in card collecting could be for you.
Just keep in mind the significant amounts of money that have been spent on cards for players like Colin Kaepernick, Johnny Manziel, Michael Vick, and Ryan Leaf, without guaranteed returns.
Understanding the value
- Why are some cards more valuable than others? The economic laws of supply and demand apply to card collecting just as they are to any other field when a commodity is bought, sold, or traded in a free, unregulated market.
How high is the Demand
- Many factors influence the demand for a card. These include (1) the age of the card; (2) the number of cards printed; (3) the player portrayed on the card, (4) the attractiveness and popularity of the set; and (5) the physical condition of the card.
What is the Condition?
- When it comes to determining the value of a card, the condition is everything. To understand how to grade football cards read the in-depth guide to grading your sports cards. While those guidelines help establish a card’s value, the countless exceptions and peculiarities make any simple, direct mathematical formula to determine a card’s value impossible.
Where to get football cards graded
If you’re interested in getting your football cards graded, you have several avenues to explore. In this article, I cover the four main grading companies to consider.
How to buy football cards online
Before buying any card online or in a card shop, I check eBay. I look at the current buy-it-now prices and the recently sold auctions. The best way to determine the value of a card is by checking the recently sold auctions in the advanced search option on eBay. Collecting football cards can become quite expensive, and you don’t want to be overspending, so research before buying.
Using advanced search
Step 1.
Fill in the card, player, and year you want to research. Use can use advanced search commands to help find better results.
Step 2.
Be sure to tick the “sold listings” circle. You can also check the completed listings, which have ended with no buyers.
Step 3.
Click search, and you’re on the path to discovering current market value!
Sorting options
Auctions that recently ended
Be careful when reviewing the results. You may get the best match or newly listed results. You don’t want them sorted in either of these options. Be sure to choose ended recently. Other options exist, but when determining the current market value, sort them by ended recently.
Price Guides
Beckett price guides used to be the way to go when determining the value of a card. That’s not the case anymore. In my opinion, price guides are a thing of the past. Collectors don’t go by what Beckett price guides say the value of a card is anymore. We all go by what they’re selling for on eBay.
Additionally, a player’s value will dramatically plummet or increase overnight before the new price guide is released. So, to get up-to-date and accurate market values, I recommend using the above method. Use your judgment and knowledge when investing in sports cards.
Buying Football Cards Online
Here are some tips for buying football cards online.
Multiple listings from the same seller
- If you buy a single football card on eBay, the price paid will include the shipping cost. If you win a card at auction for .99 cents, that doesn’t mean you’re only paying .99 cents for it. Unless, of course, the seller offers free shipping.
Shipping discounts
- They should offer a shipping discount if you purchase multiple auctions from any seller. Be sure and ask for a combined invoice with a shipping discount if you did not get one during checkout when using the buy it now option.
Buy it now option
- My favorite eBay feature is the convenience of skipping the whole auction process and buying the card today. You don’t have to worry about other buyers jacking up the price at auction or sellers doing any shill bidding, which I’ve seen happen a time or two. If you see any signs of shill bidding, report it to eBay and let them deal with the seller. You’ll know when you see it.
- Another benefit to buying it now is how sellers sometimes list cards at prices well below the card’s market value. I spend a lot of time searching for these listings and jumping on them first.
Look for high-quality images of the front and back.
With all our technology today, posting a high-quality image is not challenging. There is no reason to have a blurry or dark image of anything you post for sale. Unless, of course, you’re trying to hide something.
- Be cautious when you come across a blurry or dark picture:
- Some eBay sellers submit high-quality pictures, while some post pictures that look like they were taken with a flip phone. These can be signs the seller is attempting to hide defects in the card.
- Look for sellers who post images of the card’s front and back:
- The centering and condition of the backs are just as crucial as the front when grading. Most sellers know this, and if the card has a weak back, will only post an image of the front. Just keep this in mind when browsing for cards. It’s not necessarily a full-blown deterrent for me to buy a card I use caution when putting a value on it.
Ensure the card has been taken care of
If the card is not in a penny sleeve, it’s not the end of the world. Some sellers take the cards out to get a better picture. Pay close attention to the corners and surface. You can zoom in on most phones. I browse from my desktop, allowing me to thoroughly inspect the card as long as the images are good.
Selling football cards online
Just about every collector sells cards or will sell cards eventually. Someday you may be interested in selling your duplicates or even your whole collection. You may sell to other collectors, friends, or dealers. Before selling your cards, do the research required to get the best deal. The best way to sell your cards today is online. You reach a bigger audience, which means competitive bidders.
Selling football cards online can be done on many websites. There are three leading platforms to sell your cards on, including COMC.com, Beckett Marketplace, and eBay. eBay is the go-to of the three big sites for faster selling times. Check out this article if you want to invest in a scanner to scan awesome images of your graded and raw cards.
Conclusion: football card collecting
Collectors are funny when determining the value of a piece of cardstock with a picture on it. The monetary value of football cards is subjective, yet, we spend thousands of dollars on them. To me, the historical value is worth more than the money.
Having an early rookie card of an NFL great like Johnny Unitas, Walter Payton, Joe Namath, or Lawrence Taylor is like having an original Michelangelo painting in your home. It comes with the responsibility of taking good care of the card to ensure the next generation of collectors can enjoy it.
From a young age, Matt dove deep into sports card valuation, turning to esteemed price guides like Beckett and Tuff Stuff. Eventually he extended to Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, and Yu-Gi-Oh!. With a vision to sustain and nurture the hobby he loved, Matt established the ‘Graded Card Investor’ YouTube channel and website. He aims to foster a healthy community and offer invaluable insights to those entering the world of sports cards and TCGs. His depth of understanding, from the card market’s 2020 pinnacle to its 1990s valleys, is consistently fortified by meticulous research.
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