Sports Card Strategy Show

There's an awful lot of debate going on in the hobby right now. But one thing sports card collectors can agree on is that grabbing the best rookie cards is the smartest move from a collecting and investing standpoint.  But that's super hard to know, because before the pro uniform stuff has even come out, we already have at least 11 different types of rookie cards in college uniforms in 2021.  Let's break this down a bit...

I don't have a high NBA TopShot Collector's Score, so it's been a few weeks since my last TopShot pack reveal, but recently Dapper Labs opened things back up to us regular collectors at the $14 level for the Series 2, Release 1 of NBA TopShot Playoff Packs.  I wanted to share with you my pack reveal, and let you know that there's only one LE (Limited Edition) NBA Playoffs Moment per 3-moment Pack.  Check out who I got, and also help me out by joining Market Movers App - https://marketmoversapp.com and use the promo code: nooffseason at checkout for 20% off!  Or use this referral link to join - https://www.sportscardinvestor.com/plans/?ref=63&campaign=topshotplayoffpackreveal https://nooffseason.com http://happycollecting.club http://competitivecardcollecting.com

Should I Grade My Cards?  This might be the most common question among collectors and investors in the sports card space right now.  And it might be the most relevant and evergreen question at all times.  Regardless of our angle, passion, PC, etc., the reality is that we all want to make money from our cards, or at least be holding cards at all times that are worth more than what we paid for them.  And perhaps the easiest way to lose money on cards these days is by sending them in for grading.  This was not the case necessarily just six months ago, but the landscape has changed. Grading companies have hiked up fees, some have shut down their common submission levels, and just about all of them have increased the difficulty of their grading standards.  In this video, I update some content from my book, What To Do After You Find Your Old Sports Card Collection: The Middle-Aged Dude's Guide To Selling Old Sports Cards (available at https://nooffseason.com/book), to not only include the updated grading landscape, but also to include more modern cards.  It's not rocket science, but it does take discipline and organization.

But seriously, in addition to our earlier suggestions for "dad" of ToppsNOW, Panini Instant, Topps Project70 cards and my book - What To Do After You Find Your Old Sports Card Collection: The Middle Aged Dude's Guide To Buying Old Sports Cards (https://nooffseason.com/book), we've got a 20% promo code for Market Movers App (marketmoversapp.com), and two new awesome products brought to you by awesome business owners.  Let's start with the addition of the Market Movers App promo code. Market Movers from Sports Card Investor is the best way to track the ever-changing value of not only your collection, but to help you make decisions on what cards to buy and WHEN to buy them. Click this link or use promo code nooffseason to save 20% - https://www.sportscardinvestor.com/pl... Next addition to the top Father's Day gift ideas for sports card collectors is SlabShelf. Go to https://SlabShelf.com and find the best display case I've ever seen for "dad's graded/slabbed cards.  Mom's should appreciate this because it's not gaudy at all, and it limits dad to displaying only eight of his favorite cards. So you can barely see it, and it limits him to make a decision and not go nuts displaying cards!  Dad will love slab shelf because it fits easily wherever he wants to display his graded cards. Slab Shelf is a perfect gift for anyone who doesn't know which cards to buy for dad.  Next up is KidCardClub.com. I am super passionate about kids getting into the hobby and loving sports cards and collectables. Not only is it amazing bonding and super fun, but it's important for the future of the sports cards business.  At Kid Cards Club, YOU are the coach. Pick your favorite sport, team, and player, and let them knock it out of the park! They custom build and ship the perfect box for you and your child based on your choices each month.

Wow, what a crazy time. In just six months I've invested time and money into a new sports cards start-up company, NoOffseason.com.   During those six months, the sports cards market has shown a ridiculous amount of volatility in pricing, as well as a stupid amount of internal conflict and debate. As you can imagine, the sports cards community is made up of some major factions. One being the people who have collected sports cards for the last 30-40 years and have deeply experienced many different phases of the business.  Another being the investors. These are the people with a lot of money who are willing to drop thousands of dollars on single cards and sealed boxes of vintage cards. Investors are typically not emotionally attached to particular cards, and view them as stocks that they can invest in for the short term or long term. They don't care how much they pay for cards - they just want their values to increase over months and years.  Then, you have the flippers. These are the people that rush to the retail stores to buy as many boxes as they can for the MSRP, only to list them an hour later on eBay and cash out for 5x-10x what they paid for them.  The latter two groups have made the most headlines recently, buying cards at auctions for millions of dollars and pulling guns on each other in Target parking lots, respectively.  In spite of the righteousness of group 1, and the controversy surrounding groups 2 and 3, I have no problem with any of these three groups.  More power to all of them.  But I'm here to say I'm not interested in being in any of them.  Oh, and I forgot a fourth group that likely overlaps these three. The content creators. These include breakers, razzers and YouTubers. The latter of which LOVES the click-baity headlines like "THE SPORTS CARD MARKET IS CRASHING!!!!"  I'm sick of it honestly. And I'm doing something about it at NoOffseason.com. In this video/podcast I explain how I'm combining what I've learned throughout my 20 year business career in professional sports, fantasy sports, business, marketing and web design with what I've learned over the last six months deeply entrenched in the sports cards industry and my lifelong passion for sports and sports cards into berthing a new start-up business at NoOffseason.com  I'd love it if you join me on my mission to taking the pricing volatility and stress out of collecting sports cards - https://nooffseason.com/product/premi... Let's avoid all the B.S. and just be Happy Collecting.  #sportscards #sportscardscollecting #sportscardscollector #sportscardcollector #sportscardinvesting

At NoOffseason.com, we strive to appeal to any and all collectors who want to be happy collecting.  Any number of things can make collectors happy. Low prices, hot cards, free stuff, nice people. We want to provide all of the above.  At NoOffseason.com, there's nothing intimidating. We are not sports cards experts. We are simply happy collecting and we want you to be too.  That's why every once in a while I rip packs with my kids and create content out of it.  My business is based out of the US, but my family and I live in Spain, so it's sometimes hard for me to scratch the itch of opening my favorite NBA, NFL and MLB cards (all of which I grew up collecting and are my favorite types of cards to buy).   But it would be silly of my not to take advantage of the fact that I live in the soccer mecca and rip some La Liga Soccer Cards. So my son and I have gotten into doing just that. While Panini MegaCracks are the high end cards in Spain, Max told me that actually Panini La Liga Premium Adrenalyn packs are some of his favorites to rip.   Mainly because out of the 10 cards you get in the Premium Adrenalyn packs, five of them are special cards like Super Cracks, Edicion Limitadas, Idolos, Diamantes and more.   Retailing for 5 Euro in Spain per pack (about $7 USD), they're available. We're selling them at NoOffseason.com for a little more than that, but the singles are available in our Dollar Bin, which can be found at the bottom of our Soccer Page on NoOffseason.com.  Anyone who thinks Adrenalyn cards are just an overproduced card game, I beg to differ. They're solid collectibles that can hold value and keep both adults and kids happy for years to come.  If you're just getting back into The Hobby and/or an avid sports card investor / collector or even flipper, I've got two great tools for you.  The first is Market Movers, by Sports Card Investor. It's what I use to track the historical value of tens of thousands of cards to make informed decisions about which cards to buy, sell and hold. If you're interested in Market Movers and want to help me out too, please use this referral link to sign up for Market Movers - https://www.sportscardinvestor.com/pl... - You'll get 20% off your first payment by using this link!  The second is my book - What To Do After You Find Your Old Sports Card Collection, available on Amazon here - https://nooffseason.com/book Happy Collecting!

I want to share all of my ups and downs of sports card collecting with all of you. It's very easy to copy what everyone else is doing. I don't want to do that. No "is the sports card or NFT market crashing?" click-baity headlines here people. Just true, real world experiences as I re-enter the hobby strong.  Ups and DOWNS. My first PSA submission was returned, with a HORRIBLE result. I thought I could make a profit via Cross-Grading. I talk about it more in my book, available at https://nooffseason.com/book, but it's essentially where you buy a slabbed/graded card from a lesser tier grading company with a high grade, and send it in to a reputable grading company like PSA or SGC to have them re-grade it and slab it.  This, assuming it gets graded and slabbed, results in an easy 3x-5x return on your investment.  So, what happened to me?  Well, I bought a Michael Jordan 1990 Skybox card, graded GEM MINT 10 by GEM GRADING, INC.  I paid around $60-70 for it.  I knew sending it into PSA would cost me $64, regardless of how PSA returned it to me.    I even knew there was a risk that PSA wouldn't grade it at all and I'd be out all $125-$130.  Well, that my friends is what happenend.  PSA found that the card had been altered. Trimmed in fact.  When this happens, PSA simply returns it with no grade, in a Card Saver I case.  So, I bought the world's most expensive single empty Card Saver.  Am I disappointed? Absolutely. Am I mad or upset? No.  Did I get scammed by the seller? Maybe, but probably not.  The real scammers are two fold:  1. The person who trimmed the card and submitted it to GEM GRADING. 2. GEM GRADING, for grading all of their cards 10s regardless of true grade or alternations.  The reality is that this card is worth NOTHING.  This experience actually makes me thankful to legit grading companies like PSA and others for maintaining integrity.  This is a data point for me to get better as an investor and businessperson, and collector of course.  This is also a valuable piece of content I can share with you all. And with my first ever real grading submission a complete disaster, there's nowhere to go but up for me!!!!  Do not buy anything ever that says GEM GRADING on it, and don't ever assume that just because one company has graded a card high, that a cross-grading to PSA will result in a desirable outcome.

When I first got back into The Hobby in early January of 2021, I really didn't know I'd be where I am today. I've launched an eCommerce membership-based website now that focuses as much on families having fun with cards as it does on serious investors and flippers getting what they need also. I'll admit, early on, I was focused on making a buck doing what I love. Now, I'm more focused on just doing what I love. Case in point, ripping packs with my kids. The NBA Stickers & Cards Collection is the perfect mix of family fun and potential reward from a monetary standpoint. It features premier rare rookie cards and stickers of the top guys like LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards and James Wiseman. In addition, ballers with serious potential, like Obi Toppin, Patrick Williams, Devin Vassell and more have rookie and draft stickers and official "RC" cards that standout in the collection. The NBA Stickers & Cards Collection also has really cool inserts and parallels like shiny holo stickers of the top players from each team, new Fathead stickers of the top players from each team, All-Star stickers, team holo logos and several Logoman Puzzle-piece stickers. There's also regular season highlights and playoff highlights featuring the top players from each team. And, let's not forget, for the kids who want to collect the whole set, the sticker album itself. It's like a magazine, binder and checklist all-in-one. When I first started acquiring the sealed boxes and packs of the NBA Stickers & Cards Collection, my thought was that I'd keep them all sealed and sell them at NoOffseason.com for a mark-up, since they sold out pretty quickly online at PaniniAmerica.net. Living in Spain, I can still get them at retail, and online at Panini's Spanish Website. While I still have several sealed boxes and packs available for purchase, I have to say, I've had more fun than imagined ripping packs with my son and daughter, which is why I wanted to share this video with you so you can see what this collection is like and who we've pulled over the last few weeks. This compilation video features some cards that are now available on our NBA page here.

On our recent family vacation to Barcelona, Spain, my kids and I picked up some packs we've always wanted to rip together - the Topps 2020-21 UEFA Champions League Sticker Collection.  They're not available everywhere in Europe, and are very hard to find in the United States, so we're selling some on our website. The Topps 2020-21 UEFA Champions League Sticker Collection is super fun to rip. In each pack there are 10 stickers, including one oversized sticker that is more often than not a Rising Star shiny holo.  The ultimate for any soccer fan, this collection features the top players from La Liga, The Premier League, Bundesliga, and the Italian and French leagues.  You have a chance to get everyone from Harry Kane to Mbappe, Messi, Fati and Ronaldo.  Comment below if you want to hear a funny story about how we bought these packs!  Happy Collecting!

The Proof Is In The Data. It's now officially recommended that you submit your cards to SGC during the PSA shutdown. Their short term and long term value will not only be fine; it may be amazing.  After spending January - March of 2021 researching graded card data on the market, I was shocked to find how quickly and drastically things have changed in just a few months.  SGC has come back strong, scaling and proving their ability to provide top notch customer service, turn around times and competitive pricing. But let's be honest, that's NOT enough for us competitive sports card collectors to give in and abandon our trusted industry leader, PSA.  We need to see some real data that compares the sales prices of SGC graded cards against their PSA equivalents.  In this episode of Sports Card Strategy, I do a shallow - but deep enough dive - into three relevant cards with both PSA and SGC sales data.  Thanks to Sports Card Investor and Starstock, I was able to find some super interesting takeways that may shock you.  I'd love it if you watch and comment!  Happy Collecting!