How to Invest in Sports Cards on a Budget

News about the sports card world usually revolves around a $5 million Luka sale, or someone finding a million dollar Brady card in their attic.

What you don’t see is the entire chunk of the market that invests and produces an ROI on the margins! You can make money without a big budget.

To invest in sports cards on a budget, you’ll want to stick to flipping lower-end singles and stay away from breaks and ripping boxes. Also, make sure to give yourself a budget and keep a ledger of your expenses and income so it doesn’t get out of hand.

What Are the Different Ways to Invest in Sports Cards?

Sealed Boxes to Hold – When you buy a box or a case to hold onto for a while. Many in the hobby agree this is the safest long-term investment. In virtually every class, one or more players will break out and become stars, making unopened product a valuable chase. (Also read: Which Basketball Card Brand is the Best for Flipping?)

Graded Singles (Usually Rookies) – Buying cards at their lows and then reselling at peaks. This is most commonly done with rookies, and many investors prefer graded cards because their condition won’t change over time.

Ungraded singles (keep raw OR grade) – Other collectors like to focus on ungraded singles, because they’re cheaper and you have the option to grade them yourself or flip as-is when the time is right. 

For Entertainment Only (Breaks & Rips) – Some think this is a way of investing in the hobby. It’s not. Breaks and rips (you can read what breaks are here) are a losing proposition 90% of the time, but collectors love the thrill of the chase. I love to rip boxes, but I know it’s not for investing purposes.

Best Ways to Invest on a Budget

First of all, let’s rule out buying sealed boxes. If you’re in the buy & hold game, you’ve typically got to have some cash on hand at first. 

Sure, you can buy cheaper packs and boxes and hold them, and they’ll go up eventually. But let’s say that you have a budget of $100 per month, and you buy a box for that price. You’re out of the game for the rest of the month, and all you have is an unopened box to show for it. If that’s your thing, go for it…but waiting years for a smaller ROI because it’s a cheap product isn’t worth it to me.

Your best answer is buying graded or ungraded singles. Here’s why:

• You can buy $10 cards and try to resell later for $15 or $20. There’s no need to buy Patrick Mahomes rookies to get in the game.
• You get to enjoy the card in your collection (as opposed to a box).
• You can enjoy the sport along with having your collection. I follow the NBA closest, and it’s fun to “invest” in my takes…like if I think Tyler Herro is going to have a big playoffs, I can buy him and get rewarded if I’m right.

What Types of Players Should You Invest in on a Budget?

To me, there are four different kinds of players to invest in:

1. Established All-Time Greats (Brady, Jim Brown, Jordan, Mantle)
2. Established Superstars (Patrick Mahomes, Luka Doncic, Mookie Betts)
3. Borderline All-Stars/Solid Starters (Lamelo Ball, Trevor Lawrence, Bo Bichette)
4. Young Players With Promise (Paolo Banchero, Jordan Love, Elly De La Cruz)

In truth, you could break that down into more categories, but these are the main ones that I’m interested in investing in. Let’s talk about them.

Investing in All-Time Greats on a Budget

Let’s get this one out of the way:

On a budget, you’re only going to be investing in very low-end products of these guys, as autos or rookies are going to be massively priced. 

However, if you want some Kobe base, or a cool Brady insert, you still can. For investing, I like rookies as those always hold value. A base or insert can go in or out of fashion. 

One tier I didn’t mention are those all-time greats that don’t get much hobby love. For example, I have a PSA 9 Tim Duncan rookie that currently goes for around $20 (I won’t mention what I paid for it…). If you PC (personally collect) those guys, that’s cool. However, those tier 2 all-time greats sometimes get forgotten.

Established Superstars on a Budget

Here’s another group that I only invest in occasionally. For example, despite being a huge NBA fan, I have no Luka rookies. They’re too expensive, and at this point he has to win MVPs and championships to justify his price. I’d have to buy super low-end products, and I’d rather not.

That’s often the case with this entire group of players, unless you’re investing in baseball. Often baseball tends to be a bit cheaper, so I do have some Soto and Acuna Jr., but in general I look for cheaper players than these for investing.

Borderline All-Stars/Solid Starters on a Budget

This is my favorite place to be for investing. Better players are too expensive, and less established players are more of a crapshoot. For example, I like Cade Cunningham as a long-term hold—injury-riddled second year and a terrible team after that…but long-term, he could put up huge numbers.

My favorites are players who are being overlooked, but seem on their way to stardom. That’s another problem with a player like Trevor Lawrence—a super-hyped up rookie carries a high price tag, even multiple years in their career.

So, an overlooked player who’s on the rise is what I’m after. For me Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a big one this year. He makes 1st-team All NBA and his prices didn’t do a whole lot. Now, he’s on a great team and he’s in the MVP conversation and I’m betting on playoff success.

Now, of course he’s a superstar, but he had been priced like a solid-starter/all-star.

Young Players With Promise

I often don’t go out of my way to invest in these players, but if I pull a nice card of one, I’ll often keep it. For me, a lot of it depends on hype.

A few seasons ago, I pulled two Mac Jones Donruss rookies. I sold them together for $66…which is insane. 

Of course, you could probably buy 100 of them now for $66.

How I Invest in Sports Cards on a Budget

I don’t have a huge budget for buying/selling sports cards, but here’s what I do:

1. Keep a Ledger – I have a spreadsheet (download it here) where in one column I put what I make selling cards, and the other what I spend. Then I subtract the expenses from the income. This way I don’t overspend the money I have.
   
2. Add $100 per Month to my Income Column – This is my total budget for cards per month. Of course when I sell stuff, then I add that to my income column as well. Birthday and Christmas money often finds its way into my income column as well.
   
3. Buy/Sell Singles – I outlined a bit of my strategy above, but you’ll also want to read The Ultimate Playbook to Make Money Selling Sports Cards. As I mentioned, I usually focus on overlooked players who I think could be all-stars soon. I’ve got my eye on Tyrese Maxey.
   
4. Use Profits to Buy Long-Term PC Investments – If you look back at history, it’s only the true all-time greats that stick in our minds and carry awesome hobby value. For example, I don’t really understand people who invest heavily in someone like Khris Middleton. He’ll be forgotten. In my perfect world, I’d only own a couple hundred cards, but they would be worth several hundred to thousands each and be Kobes, LeBrons, Jordans, Mahomes, Trout, etc. I would enjoy these cards the most, they’ll consistently go up in value in the long run, and they’ll be worth the most. I do small flips to buy these sorts of cards.