The Ultimate Playbook to Make Money Selling Sports Cards

This is perhaps the single most important post on this site if you’re in this hobby to make money! I’m going to put it all together in this one post so that you’ll never have to read anything else.

When you’re finished, you’ll have my complete guide to making money with sports cards. You’ll know exactly how to profit.

1. Buy Raw Cards and Get Graded

With this strategy, you’re just buying the raw version of the card (on eBay, Facebook groups, or your LCS), and often people are buying 5-10 of these at once if it’s a cheaper card.

Then when you get the card, you inspect it for grading purposes. If you think you can submit and make a good profit on the card, you send it in.

Here’s an example. I’ve had my eye on an Anthony Edwards Silver Prizm rookie:

Since I’m looking on eBay, I’m going to pass over any that don’t have high quality pics! I need to be as sure as possible that my card is going to grade 10 (depending on which company I submit to).

Raw, you can see above that it’s selling for around $90.

Now, let’s check on eBay to see what comps are selling for if I were to get that card graded:

At $25 a card to get graded by PSA, I turn a MASSIVE profit if it grades a 10

The BIG problem with this strategy is what if I send it in and I get a 9?

Well now I’m screwed. This is why the strategy of buying raw online doesn’t always work—how can you be sure that you’ll get a 10? One option is to buy a whole bunch of them and hope to get a few 10s out of the process—which could work considering you’d make about 5x your money on a 10.

While there’s definitely money to be made, it’s a bit of a crapshoot.

How to Buy Raw to Get Graded

1. Pull your Comps for All Possible Grades – In general, if a 9 would have me break even (don’t forget to take into account selling and grading fees!) then I think it’s a decent risk. For example, this strategy is unlikely to work buying $3 cards because even a 10 rarely will give you the return you need.
   
2. Be Patient and Wait for Great Pics – Do not buy online unless you can see the card VERY clearly! You need a clear view of all four corners, as well as the ability to tell if the card if centered well. It might appear to be centered, but a card shot at an angle makes it more difficult to tell. Pass on anything with poor lighting or (of course) cards with obvious flaws. Buying in person definitely makes this strategy easier as you can visually inspect the card before purchase, although you may not be able to have your magnifying glass and great lighting on hand.
   
3. Buy and Inspect RUTHLESSLY – Once you get the card, be extremely harsh. I use strong lighting with a magnifying glass to look over the card. If I can’t find anything wrong, I assume I’ll get a 9 and hope for a 10. If I can profit decently on a 9, I may submit if the card is pristine minus one teeny error. The biggest mistake is thinking you’ve got a 9, and then the pros get their hands on it and find what you didn’t—and you get an 8 and lose a bundle.
   
4. Grade or Keep/Sell Raw – One beauty of this strategy is that if you think the player you’re collecting will go up in the future (or at least remain stable in pricing), then selling it raw shouldn’t be a big deal later on. You might lose a little, but it’s not something you’ll go broke on. The only time you get REALLY screwed is if the market crashes on that player or if you grade out lower than a 9.

2. Buy & Hold Retail and Hobby Boxes

In the long run, this is probably the most stable and consistent way to make money.

Think about it like this:

Scarcity drives up pricing, right? It’s why older cards (of good players) tend to go up in value. There are fewer in good condition, or cards get forgotten or thrown away.

Every box of a new product that gets opened means there is one less in the future!

So if you buy a box today and wait 5 years, there are going to be MUCH fewer of those on the market, right?

I did a deep dive into what types of packs/boxes you should hold onto for maximum profit: What Are the Best Card Packs to Flip?

But here’s a quick example:

These boxes are the same brand, with the same number of cards in each box. They box guarantee 2 autos and 22 prizms…

But the one from just one year earlier is worth DOUBLE what the other is!

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, is that the box is older and more scarce (as mentioned above). Second, Zion and Ja have real star power (more so Ja these days). There are some other solid rookies—Darius Garland and Tyler Herro come to mind.

Yes, there’s risk in this strategy. It could be a terrible draft class. But almost always there will be a few players to chase!

How to Buy & Hold Wax

1. Pick Your Target – Once again, here’s that post I mentioned above where I dove DEEP into which brands/sports you could best use this strategy with, backed by research: What Are the Best Card Packs to Flip? Basketball and football usually do the best, but make sure there’s a strong draft class. For example, if you’d purchased and held onto boxes from the 2020 NFL season…well, you’d be doing okay with Justin Herbert, Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts, and Joe Burrow.
   
2. Buy a Hobby box at your LCS, eBay, or on a manufacturer’s website – With hobby, often the prices aren’t that much different where you buy them between these three sources. Sometimes they will be a little cheaper buying them right off the manufacturer’s site when they’re released, but they often go fast and many times don’t really sell for cheaper than eBay.
   
3. Buy Retail Boxes on Target.com or in Stores (if Possible) – This strategy is unlikely to work if you’re paying eBay prices for retail boxes. If you’re buying a quality brand (like Prizm) then those are likely good flip candidates. Just be careful—it’s not like 2020 and 2021 where you could buy just about any brand at retail prices and flip for profit. I know finding the quality brands in the wild is hard, but I talked about where I find retail boxes in this article.
   
4. Hold & Sell Later – The trick is to not open them! Store your boxes somewhere where you won’t be tempted to open them.

3. Flip Packs/Boxes Immediately

This can be a very profitable strategy resulting in quick profits if you:

1. Know what you’re doing
2. Can resist opening boxes!

A lot of my quest since getting back into cards has been to understand which sports and brands have the best resale value. I’ve bought a lot of stuff only to find out it just wasn’t a great deal.

First, I went on eBay to buy retail boxes so I could get the ones I wanted. It was only later I realized that buying Hoops and Donruss (NBA) at eBay prices is a quick way to go broke. NBA is my favorite and I had lots of fun opening those…but just too darn expensive.

I’ve also bought newly released cards at retail prices, only to find out they would resell for the same price on eBay. In that case, I just rip the box. The problem is that in this market, boxes without a decent resale usually aren’t worth opening except for fun.

However, if you can find a consistent source of the right retail boxes, you can flip them for a decent price.

The Hate Against Wax Flippers

I see a LOT of hate online against people who buy retail boxes and then resell them for a profit. The flippers are supposedly ruining the hobby.

I see no problem with it.

As long as people are willing to hop on eBay and buy the secondary market prices on boxes, there will always be flippers. If I can buy a box of NBA Prizm for $30 and resell for $60…well that’s hard not to do.

The people who complain about this I suspect would buy up everything in Walmart if they happened to walk past as the shelves were being restocked. It’s called capitalism. I’m good with it.

I do agree it’s not a great look when grown men hang out in a Walmart all day waiting, or get to a store at 2 am and wait for awhile…but hey, it’s their time and money.

Pretty much every business “flips” for profit. A manufacturer produces something, sells it to a company that then resells it at a higher price. I don’t see the problem.

How to Flip Packs/Boxes Immediately

1. Do Your Research – Don’t be like me at first and start buying boxes because they look fun. Buy the ones that are reselling on eBay for a profit you’d be happy with. Don’t forget to take into account eBay fees (as of now, 12.5% + $0.30 per transaction).
   
2. Find a Consistent Source – Banking on Walmart restocks is going to be tough for most people. My Walmart would restock every Friday for awhile, but now it’s inconsistent. They also had a limit of one item per person, so when I get something it’s just for me to rip. Not all Walmarts are like that though. Now I get most stuff on Target.com. As of now, they drop cards early in the morning—between 7am – 8am EST on random days. The stuff that resells for the most profit sells out almost instantly. However, I can usually still buy stuff that I can resell for a little. Fanatics.com has become a nice source, and they give you 24 hours where you can place an order and then hope you randomly get selected.
   
3. Resell – The easy part…just list on eBay! I can make $100 a week or so with very little effort. If I get lucky and grab something more profitable (like NBA Prizm), I can make an easy $300 in a week. That goes into buying cards for me to flip later.

4. Buy & Open Boxes to Sell the Cards

Okay, we’re starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel as far as profit is concerned.

However, there is still profit to be made on opening boxes…if you’re patient and willing to hustle a little.

For a few months after I re-entered the hobby, I bought boxes at retail prices and opened them! It was (and still is, really) my favorite activity in the hobby.

However, it didn’t really go how I planned:

That’s the bottom of my spreadsheet where I tracked the ROI on ripping boxes and packs.

Now that number isn’t totally fair…I still had quite a few things up on eBay and I kept a few more PC…but overall, I couldn’t deny that I was getting hammered doing this!

So I revamped my strategy.

I became much more picky about which boxes I bought. In fact, my goal was to break even before I even opened a box!

How did I do that?

I combined this strategy with reselling boxes.

For example, I started only buying boxes that I could sell for a higher price on eBay. So let’s say I bought 3 NBA Prizm Mega Boxes.

That would run me about $160 with tax.

However, each box is selling for $80 on eBay.

So when I get my three boxes, I could sell two of them, and break even before I even ripped my remaining box! I still got to do my favorite thing and guaranteed myself a profit.

The hobby became even more fun for me after I started doing that.

How to Buy & Open Boxes to Sell Cards

1. Only buy boxes at retail prices (not secondary market prices like on eBay)
   
2. Only buy the brands that have a good resale value (like Prizm, Select, Bowman, etc.)
   
3. Sell enough boxes to offset the price of the ones You rip
   
4. Sell the ones you don’t want to keep! – The beauty of already making a profit is that you don’t have to sell anything if you don’t want to. You can play the long game and make a profit in the future. However, I like to sell the cards that I don’t think will go up in the future, like inserts or autos of rookies that I don’t think will go far. Selling lots of cheap cards is something I like to do, increases my ROI (albeit a little), and gets my eBay feedback up which has resulted in higher auction prices!

5. Crack Slabs & Submit to Another Grading Company

The strategy is this:

You buy a graded card (or have one that you sent in yourself) that you want to crack open the slab and resubmit the card!

Why would someone want to do this?

• You have a card graded by a worthless company (GMA for example)
• You believe your card received an unfairly low grade
• You submit a high value card graded by a decent company to have graded by PSA (like cracking an SGC 10 to submit to PSA).

If you’re in a hurry, you can send cards to SGA because they can get cards back in weeks, not months. This can be a good barometer for if the card will do well at PSA.

Of course this is an extremely risky strategy. Cracking open the slab can result in a card being damaged.

In many cases, you’re taking a card that’s already slabbed and protected and carries some value. You’re losing something guaranteed for a shot at something bigger that could be pretty expensive.

6. Deep Dive: How to Flip Singles

This is the most popular way that card flippers make money! So I’m going to dive into what I’ve learned.

Target the Right Types of Players

If you’re in this to truly make money, there are a few common rules to follow:

Only target quarterbacks in football, target home run hitters in baseball, and stay away from big men in the NBA.

There are exceptions to every rule, but quarterbacks always rule football! Even a great wide receiver or running back will be overshadowed each year by a decent quarterback with some hype…and it’s not even close.

In baseball, well chicks dig the long ball! Pitchers don’t play as much, get injured more often, and can be more unreliable year to year.

In basketball, there’s a reason Michael and Kobe rule the hobby—they were exciting playmakers with the ball in their hands. They take the last shot and win games. And they do it with style, as opposed to say, Shaq.

I love me some Shaq, but I’d stay away from traditional big men when targeting a player to invest in!

How to Pick a Player to Invest In

If I’m targeting a player to flip sometimes in the next 3-6 months, here’s what I’m looking for (in addition to the type of player talked about above):

• A player who’s starting to play well but their prices haven’t caught up (George Pickens – he finished with over 1,100 yards with one of the worst QB situations)
• A player who I think will have a big playoff run (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)
• Good players who have been injured for awhile (or play for bad teams) and their prices have dipped (Anthony Richardson)
• Players who I believe will break out (Jalen Johnson)
• Players with less hype than I think they should have (Jalen Hurts—a bit overshadowed by his draftmates despite a Super Bowl run)
• Players who switch to a bigger market (Shohei!)

Of course, it goes without saying that I’m looking for someone who’s prices have dipped, or they haven’t caught up to their contemporaries!

As a counterpoint, I’m not that interested in investing in Justin Herbert because his prices are already sky high. To me, he’ll have to turn into an MVP candidate or win a Super Bowl. There isn’t enough value for him. I’d only invest now if you think he’s an all-time great and you want to hold him for a long while.

Decide on Your Strategy

Picking your player also depends on what your goals are:

Are you looking for those quick flips?

Or…

Do you want stable, steady cards that you’re going to have forever?

I already talked about the quick flips, but I also do some “forever” investing. In a perfect world, you would intersect your personal collection (PC) with cards that will carry value forever.

I’m a massive Lakers fan and Kobe and Shaq are my two favorite players ever. So when I want cards for my PC, I’m lucky that by buying those guys, I’m getting players that should rise forever. It’s something I can enjoy along the way and also fund my retirement!

Rapid-Fire Advice For Flipping Singles

• List Your Flip Cards on eBay as Soon as You Get Them – Just throw it up there at the price you want to sell it at…even if it’s too high now. That way when their price does rise, you can be positioned to sell it quick without having to hustle to list it or monitor prices daily. I also find this is a good way to track your collection…just go look at your active listings on eBay and you have pictures and descriptions right there.
  
• Buy Cards Cheaper than you can Get Them Graded – I bought 2 Alex Bregman PSA 10 rookies last year because they were about $20 apiece! You can’t even grade them for that price. I sold them later for about $35 apiece. Not a huge profit, but it’s still a fun flip game to play.
  
• Buy Graded Cards when Flipping – They’re easier to sell, already protected, and you don’t have to play the “I hope this card is in good condition” game.
  
• Use CardLadder’s Watch List and Price Alert features – If there’s a card I’m targeting, I’ll set a price alert. This means that if the card drops to the price I want to purchase it at, I get an email. Then I can hop on eBay and try to find one at the price. So much easier than constantly surfing.
  
• Be Good to Your Buyers on Ebay – It may seem like an impersonal platform, but you’d be surprised how many people who have a good experience will come back and see what else you have to sell. I recently had a guy purchase 10 different cards I had on 10 different listings!

Can I Make Money By Joining Breaks?

I’m going to include this one here as a warning:

Breaks are FUN. If you’re in it for the thrill of the gamble, the hope of hitting something big…basically you crave that rush of dopamine…

Then by all means, buy into breaks.

They will make you money about as often as a slot machine.

I’ve bought into probably a dozen, spending nearly $1,000. I’ve received maybe $100 worth of cards back! Curious about other people’s experience, I’ve searched in Facebook Groups and online forums.

All the comments are basically the same:

“Can’t make money.”

“Breakers are ruining the hobby.” (Disagree with this one, but it’s a very common sentiment)

“Only for fun.”

“STAY AWAY if you’re looking for ROI.”

But it’s SO addicting to watch someone open several hundred cards from nice brands that you normally couldn’t afford. You’ll see some BIG hits…but the odds of it actually being your card are very small.

And when you do get a nice card, it feels nice. You’re pumped to get your card in the mail. Then you realize that it’s a $25 card and you paid $100 for the break.

I had to drop out of all the breaking groups I’m in so I’d stop getting notified on Facebook.