Sports cards are a great way to build an investment portfolio and remember your favorite childhood memories. It’s also a fun activity that can be done by anyone no matter their age or financial means. However, many people don’t know much about it because most people don’t buy cards as often as someone who collects them.
In other words, it can be an expensive hobby if you want to keep up with the prices of new cards regularly. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to enjoy sports card collecting without breaking the bank. Here are top tips to make it easier for you:
Create A Budget Before Buying New Cards
When collecting Sports Cards, there are a few very important things to keep in mind. First, you have to decide how much you can afford to spend on them each year. The most expensive sports card set, Upper Deck High Series, can cost between $1,000 and $1,200 each year.
This means a card like a rookie card of the $200 Jason Witten could be over $6,000 in just one year. Many people would love to be able to buy cards like this, but most people can’t afford to spend that much on just one hobby. When determining how much you can spend on cards, also consider other hobbies and how often you spend money on them.
If you often spend $100 on wine every month, you can probably afford to spend around $300 on a hobby like sports cards each year. These hobbies can be expensive, so you have to make sure you keep them within your budget.
Buy Condition-Appropriate Cards
Most cards are printed with the highest quality, but some cards will inevitably be printed with a lower quality. This is called “condition” and there are many different ways to label each card. You can look at the card as unopened or in “mint” condition, or you can state that it has been opened. The best thing to do is to ask sellers what they consider to be “mint” condition and then buy cards in that condition.
New cards are generally more expensive than cards that are at least a few years old, so if you want to buy new cards, you have to pay more for them. Therefore, even if the prices of new cards were cheaper, it wouldn’t be worth it because you’ll only end up spending more on new cards than you would on older cards.
Use Price Guides And Other Resources To Identify Good Deals
One of the best ways to make your sports card hobby easier is to use price guides and other resources to identify good deals. Although many websites sell cards for less than what the cards cost, there are also plenty of websites that sell cards for more than the value listed in the guide.
The best idea is to use a few different resources and compare the values of your cards. You might be pleasantly surprised to find that your card is worth more than what you paid. When you’re using a resource like this, you don’t need to read the guide from top to bottom.
Instead, take one card at a time and scan the guide for that card. If the card is worth more than what you paid, keep it. If not, sell it and put the money towards another card you’d like. This will help you keep your focus on the long-term goal of building a collection.