The best times to sell sports cards are when the players you’ve collected are on a hot streak, win a big award, win championships, have a ton of hype, or are in the news (retirement, hall of fame, or even passing away)
Since many of these aren’t hard-and-fast rules, we’re going to dive in deeper and talk about examples of each of these.
When Should I Sell My Sports Cards?
Well the obvious answer is that you sell them when they’re high—and hopefully higher than you paid for them.
Unfortunately, many of the established “rules” for timing your buys and sells don’t hold 100% across the board. If they did, then it would be too easy and everyone would do it.
And then of course, do you sell the player when they hit a new high, or do you hold them forever and hope you have a grail card on your hands? We’ll talk about all of that!
But BIG note before we dive in:
I’m not saying you should definitely sell your players off when these events happen—I’m just giving you the most common reasons a player can see sky-high value!
Sell Players on a Hot Streak
To me, this is perfectly seen with Lamar Jackson recently. MVP winner with an incredible season on an incredible team.
Here’s Lamar Jackson’s PSA 10 Donruss pricing:
That’s nearly triple in 3 months!
The reason I think he’s a great candidate for selling is that there’s not a whole lot more upside for him. I know he’s got 2 MVPs…but is he really going to have 3-4 at some time? With multiple Super Bowl rings?
Of course there’s a chance he keeps going and his prices keep going, but I’d be a seller now.
Sell Players About to Win a Big Award
So this is an interesting one, because at least in baseball and football, the awards are announced after the season is over. Basketball does this…sometimes?
When a season ends, there’s definitely a lull in the hobby love for that sport.
So what does that mean for someone winning MVP?
Usually, it means we don’t see a bump right then and there. Here, take a look at last year, when Jokic was announced as the MVP on June 8, 2021:
Granted, a lot of the drop we’re seeing is just the card market as a whole coming back down off its crazy highs…but nothing? Not even a single sale bouncing back higher when he won?
With these sorts of things, it’s almost better to sell before someone wins the MVP. Take a look at Ronald Acuna Jr. His pricing bump and then a subsequent drop happened well before he was announced for the award.
So maybe, MVP doesn’t matter…but hot streaks do? No one even knew Acuna would win the MVP in August…it was still pretty neck-and-neck with Mookie and Freeman.
Then when he got knocked out of the playoffs, his prices dropped.
In other words, expect the bump to come before actually winning the award!
Sell Players Close to a Championship or on Good Playoff Run
Playoffs are where legacies are made. Good players without playoff/championship runs will see a limit to their hobby potential.
On the other hand, young players who break out in the playoffs can see incredible spikes.
Exhibit A: Tyler Herro during the bubble playoffs in 2020:
I’m going to let you guess when the bubble NBA playoffs happened on this chart.
He averaged 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in the Eastern Conference Finals! How many rookies can say that, especially after averaging just 13.5 points in the regular season.
Sell Players With a Ton of Hype
The most out-of-whack pricing you’ll find in the entire hobby are when big rookies come onto the scene!
You can buy all-time greats often for less than it costs to buy a hyped-up rookie like Trevor Lawrence or Zion (a few years back).
From my perspective, everyone is gambling that this player could become the next Jordan or LeBron…but what are the odds of that?
Look back at the all-NBA team 20 years ago…how many of them are still hobby relevant?
First Team:
Tim Duncan – Criminally underpriced
Chris Webber – Not considered a top player
Shaquille O’neal – Most rookies go for a few bucks
Allen Iverson – Some hobby love
Jason Kidd – Most rookies dirt cheap
Second Team:
Kevin Garnett
Vince Carter
Dikembe Mutombo
Kobe Bryant
Tracy McGrady
Apart from Mutombo, this team probably gets more hobby love. But besides Kobe, none of those four are likely to outsell today’s top rookies for cards of similar quality/pop count.
Third Team:
Karl Malone
Dirk Nowitzki
David Robinson
Ray Allen
Gary Payton
I can tell you that few people really talk about Robinson, Allen, or Payton these days in the hobby. Malone is considered a failure, and only Dirk does pretty well to this day.
So what’s my point?
Very, very few players are still hobby relevant 20 years from now. Of ALL those guys on a list from 20 years ago, the only one that has sky-high prices is Kobe. So if you’re paying a huge premium for today’s rookies…just understand there’s about a 99% chance they’re not going to go up big time over the next 20 years.
I once pulled two Donruss Mac Jones rookies during his first year. I sold them raw for $66. Now, it’s a $1 card.
And all this insanity about gambling on brand new rookies?
It’s magnified 10x with baseball prospects!
Take Jasson Dominguez:
At one point in early 2021, people paid $500+ for a prospect non-auto card! The kid hadn’t even played in high-level minors yet. It’s insane, and why I will always sell these kinds of cards fast.
Sure, you can get lucky if he turns into a superstar, but right now we’re sooooo far from that.
In the News (Retirement, HOF, Pass Away)
Tom Brady (retirement), David Ortiz (hall of fame), and Kobe (passed away) are all prime examples of this bump.
Here’s a look at David Ortiz’s Fleer PSA 10 rookie:
Be warned, though:
We’re not seeing the same Hall of Fame bump for all players. We saw Tim Duncan enter (easily top 10 all-time) and not see any price increase at all.
Ortiz probably got a bump because people weren’t sure that he would get in due to his PED rumors.
Should You Hold Your Card for Decades?
Now here’s the big question:
You’ve got a nice card that’s already seen a good bump.
But is it time to sell now, or do you wait for a bigger increase? You see that some Brady cards sell for BIG money…same with Kobe, Jordan, and even the older guys like Jim Brown and Mickey Mantle. Is that Lamelo you’re holding going to be one of those cards?
If I knew this exact answer, well, I’d be retired.
But let me give you some ideas of what to consider!
- Don’t hold long-term unless you’ve got a guaranteed all-timer on your hands…and maybe not even then. It’s hard to predict which kinds of players will produce cards with 6- or 7-figure returns in the long run. Again, Tim Duncan is a prime example. I bought a PSA 9 Topps Finest for $150 a few years ago. It’s worth $20 right now.
- If you have multiples, I love the idea of holding a few and selling a few.
- First profit is best profit! In real estate investing, this phrase is used to mean that when flipping a house, it’s often best to take the first offer that represents something close to the profit you’re looking for! Often, the next offers that come in get lower and lower. With the majority of your cards, those players’ values will drop over time as people realize they’re not all-time great.
- Don’t look back! This might be the hardest of all. If you had a nice Tom Brady rookie and sold it for $6k…but now it’s worth $100k…that STINGS. However, chasing that next card to do that will cost you a ton of profit in the long run.
- All no-name rookies are holds. Okay, so I’m not talking about decades here, but I penny sleeve ALL my rookies. Jokic, anyone? Tom Brady? These are guys drafted late and with little hype but turned into big moneymakers. Hold onto them all for at least a few years.
Where to Sell Your Cards
EBay is always going to be the monster, but it’s not everyone’s favorite place to sell.
You get shenanigans, like people who win auctions but don’t pay, or sellers who cancel sales that didn’t fetch the right amount. Plus, they do charge more than most other platforms to sell.
There are plenty of other places to check out: