Sports Card Strategy Show

Dapper Labs has done an amazing job removing the barrier to entry for NFTs. Normally, you'd have to get an Etherium Wallet, convert your FIAT currency into ETH (Ether), then remember how much the conversion is for each digital collectible you buy so you can keep track of how much you're actually acquiring it for.  But thanks to Dapper Labs, sports card collectors can easily flex into NFTs by acquiring TopShot moments using their regular bank accounts and credit cards.  You can even sell your digital NBA TopShot NFT trading cards on the marketplace after picking them out of packs like I do in this video.  But even more special, Dapper is making an upcoming release for new collectors only. A requirement for Release 37 on May 28, 2021, is that you can't have purchased more than 2 packs in order to get in on it.  While I was bummed to miss Release 37, I ultimately think it's the right thing for Dapper and the NBA to do, to ensure the long term health and accessibility of the digital trading card sector.  Living in Spain, not really having a reliable US Mailing Address at the moment - NBA TopShot Moments have become a way for my family and I to stay involved in something other than La Liga physical cards and stickers.  Now, to the pack reveal. Spoiler alert, in this reveal of my Base Set Series 2 Release 36, I pull a low-serial number Trae Young, a Rookie Minting of Onyeka Okungwu, a teammate of Young's who was the sixth overall pick in 2020, and Jarrett Allen - an underwhelming serial number but a player who is potentially going to play this summer for the USA Olympic Basketball team.  All-in-all, an amazingly fun investment for only $9.

When I first got back into The Hobby of sports card collecting back in January 2021 after a 30 year hiatus, I didn't really expect my kids to be interested in joining me for the journey.  But, I'm lucky that they have becomg super interested - especially in that one activity we all treasured as kids - RIPPING PACKS!  So I've decided that this could be a regular thing at NoOffseason.com, but we'll see.  In this video, my kids open up several packs of Panini Stickers, some very desirable, and others not so desirable.  The hot rips include NBA Stickers and Cards Collection, and La Liga 2020-21 Este Collecciones Stickers.  Even the Marvel 80th Anniversary collection of stickers is pretty sweet.  Then, there's the family inside joke - The Disney Incredibles Stickers.  I'd love your thoughts in the comments on our pulls, and on if you rip packs with your kids - how does it go? :)  Happy Collecting!

My first several months of getting back into the hobby, I had no strategy for what cards to buy. Nevermind which cards to sell or hold - I could only think of acquiring cards. And I know most of you out there are the exact same.  That's great! That's why they call it "The Hobby." You should be buying cards. But I think it's important to have a strategy as to which ones you're buying and why.  Using data from Starstock (I have no partnership with them - they definitely have no idea who I am as of this publishing date), I have been able to start to determine which players, which cards, and which grades of cards (including from which grading companies) I should buy, try to sell, or hold if I already own.  Using two players that I'm extremely high on right now, Angels P/DH Shohei Ohtani and Knicks PG RJ Barrett - I break down data from Starstock.  I love that Starstock shows you how many total cards they have in their vault, and how many of them are listed for sale. In general, the sports card strategy principle is - the lower the percentage of a player's cards for sale, the more valuable the collectors see the player's cards being long term.  Breaking that down further, on a per card basis, you can look at say Shohei Ohtani's 2018 Topps Chrome Rookie vs. his 2018 Topps Update Rookie and contrast the percentages. It may be that all Ohtani cards are mostly being held; or it may be that only a certain number of them are.  With Panini cards for example, you can do your own comparison of Prizm vs. Hoops (or another set).  Then, another one I'm fascinated by, is by grade and grading company.  So on the Ohtani comparison in this video, I find that his PSA cards are being held, but his SGC cards are being listed for sale. So PSA is still seen by collectors as the more valuable as a long term hold based on this data.  The Barrett data comparison supports the same conclusion, as the PSAs are being held, while the BGS graded Barretts are being listed.  I hope this content helps you in crafting your own data-based sports card strategy.  I'd love your thoughts in the comments.  Happy Collecting!

In this NBA TopShot pack reveal, I get the equivalent of an NBA TopShot "rookie card," which I'll explain, my favorite current player, and a totally forgotten about man in the NBA.  Now, I'm no certified baller, so please don't be intimidated at all by my pack reveals if you're just getting into NBA TopShot and trying to figure out how buying these moments are different from simply watching the highlights on YouTube.

I found my old sports card collection on January 4, 2021, and after a couple hours of Google'ing prices, I immediately knew I wanted to have about 200 cards graded by PSA.  After a month of organization and research, I made 6 submissions on February 21, 2021 - five cross gradings and one bulk submission of 178 cards - modern vintage NBA, NFL and MLB.  After 3 weeks with no confirmation of receipt of the packages, I was having heart attacks every hour, on the hour.  But then, in early March, I - like many of you - got an email blast from PSA President Steve Sloan stating that they had so many submissions that they couldn't even get to their PO Box to sort through them all and get them into their warehouse.  A few days after that, I started getting official confirmations from PSA that each of my 6 boxes had been received.  Whew. But then they doubled their prices. And then in April they stopped taking submissions. By this time I was fully back in the hobby and had acquired about another 200 modern cards that I wanted to send in for grading right away.  I was a bit disappointed, but on the bright side expected my earlier submissions to speed up, and they have!  As you can see in this video, my bulk submission is in Research and ID, and my cross gradings are now all in Grading!  I'm anticipating getting my Michael Jordans, Scottie Pippen Rookie, Reggie Miller Rookie, Dennis Rodman Rookie and Kobe Bryant Rookie back before PSA opens back up again on or before July 1.  Let's go!   Happy Collecting!

What is an NBA TopShot Moment? How do I get an NBA TopShot Pack? What is NBA TopShot Collectors Score? How do I price an NBA TopShot Moment?  These questions are answered in this video, as I reveal my most recent pack, talk about why I can't purchase a from an upcoming NBA TopShot Drop due to a low collectors score, and how I decided to price an NBA TopShot moment that I open in this pack!

I'm excited about the first real NBA rookie cards and stickers collection since Fleer 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 cards and stickers.  Living in Europe, have been able acquire sealed wax boxes and packs of the Panini NBA Sticker and Card Collection - of course available at NoOffseason.com - https://nooffseason.com/product/2020-... I've also acquired a couple lots of LaMelo Ball rookie stickers and cards as well as Anthony Edwards rookie stickers and cards.  They are already selling on eBay for as much or more in some cases as ungraded versions of the Donruss Rated Rookies and NBA Hoops Rookies for the same players.  I believe the 2020-21 Panini NBA Stickers and Cards Collection is a sleeper value pick to rise over time as Ball, Edwards and fellow rookies James Wiseman, Obi Toppin and more each have an official RC card, and two special insert rookie stickers in this collection.  I can't think of any other really valuable NBA rookie stickers, can you? Wink, wink.  Don't sleep on stickers peeps.  Happy Collecting!

ATTENTION: This is NOT financial advice, but I just want to give you some information and inform you of my position.  When I found out that Topps was going public, my "spidy senses" went off big time. There's going to be a chance that card collectors and hobbyists can actually OWN a piece of one of the best all-time sports card companies, Topps?  "Count me in," I thought. Then, as I was doing research about an IPO date (Initial Public Offering), I couldn't find any information on WHEN I could buy Topps stock.  This was probably a good thing, because as I explain in this video, I hate the stock market. I know NOTHING about it. I've never bought a stock in my life.  I happily keep all of my money in my family's money market account. I'm just conservative with my money like that. And that's an understatement.  With the exception of investing in Sports Cards, I basically have no investments.  I explain in this episode a little bit about how I already bought Topps shares, before the shares are officially pieces of the Topps company.

I've been seeing things recently that lead me to believe PSA will actually re-open their grading submissions earlier than July 1, 2021. As we all know, PSA raised their prices in March - wait, I mean DOUBLED their prices in March, then shut down all grading submission levels except for the $300 per card level in April, stating that if all goes well, they plan to re-open July 1.  What has ensued has been proven progress on the processing side of the house: my five orders (four cross grades and one bulk submission of 178 cards) have moved along into the Research and ID and even Grading Phase in early May.  Also, SGC recently announced that they are lowering their prices back down to $25-$30 per card from $75.  This, along with PSAs recent hires, changes in leadership, and acquisition of Gemamint, lead me to believe there's a very solid chance that PSA can re-open even prior to their July 1 target date.  After all, don't all good client service companies like to under promise and over-deliver?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.  Happy Collecting.

How To Avoid This Michael Jordan Rookie Card Scam (Beckett Authentic Altered).  Ah, The Michael Jordan 1986 Fleer Rookie Fakes. There are a ridiculous amount of them. Just Google “how to spot a fake Michael Jordan rookie.” Now, scams come in multiple shapes and sizes related to these fake cards. One easy scam is when people list this card ungraded on Facebook Marketplace for somewhere between $50 and $500. The ungraded nature of the card makes it hard to determine whether it’s an authentic original, altered, or straight up copy of the card. The temptation is to buy it, submit it to PSA, and get a slabbed grade of anything over a 4, which gives it immediate HUGE resale value. The thing to really look out for though, is the Beckett Slabbed Authentic Altered version of this, and other cards.  This leads me to my major scam alert. This is a bit more complicated. First, you have to understand Cross Grading. Cross Grading is a service that all of the major grading companies offer. The easiest way to explain it is - if I have a Gem Mint 10 from SGC, and it’s value is $150, but the PSA 10 value of the same card is $500, I can send my SGC slabbed card to PSA and for a $50 Cross Grading fee, PSA will break the SGC slab, grade it, and slab it. The strategy here is that if SGC graded it a 10 already, it has a higher probability of being graded a 10 by PSA than an ungraded card. So instead of selling it for $150, I can increase my profit margin by 100% to $300 by trying to turn it into a PSA 10.  Now to the scam. When a card has been altered (corners trimmed to appear sharper or rebacked, etc.) it has no value. None. But, different grading companies do different things with these kinds of cards. For example, you can still send it into BGS (Beckett Grading Services) and they will slab it in a professional slab, without a grade, with the words “AUTHENTIC ALTERED” on it.   Now, picture a listing on Facebook Marketplace or Etsy that is selling a card like the `86 Fleer Michael Jordan for example, that is slabbed and says AUTHENTIC ALTERED, say for $4,200, like in this video. Different then that ungraded version, right? You’d initially think, WOW! an authentic slabbed Jordan rookie that I could send into PSA for cross-grading, which is likely to be a 6 or better, and all of the sudden be worth $15k or more.  The problem is that Beckett slabs altered cards in this manner, but PSA doesn’t. PSA would receive this card and immediately break the slab, and send it back in a penny saver with a sticker on it that says “altered.”  OUCH. This card is worth NOTHING! You’re out $4,200 and you own a card nobody wants to touch.