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If you’re looking to sell or trade cards, a good place to start is the internet. From special sites devoted to collectors such as Sportsology.net to auction sites like eBay and Yahoo! Auctions, the choices are plentiful. Special website search engines can also give you many options, sending you to dealer and collector websites. On many of these other collecting-oriented websites, you can often find message boards where people post their collecting wants as well as trade offers. Selling or trading is as simple as sending an e-mail to them.
Card shows are another good venue for selling and trading cards. Shows will usually have a number of dealers and collectors who may be interested in what you have to offer for a sale or trade. The same holds true for hobby stores, where the store owner might deal with you or know of a fellow store owner or customer who is looking for your card(s).
Another way to sell or trade your cards is to place an ad in a hobby publication such as Sports Collectors Digest. The magazine is widely read in the industry and your ad is sure to attract attention.
Clearly, the marketplace for trading cards is huge. Part of the fun of collecting is looking for the cards you want and helping other collectors with their searches. So, what are you waiting for? Get out and enjoy the hobby!
Are there any industry newsletters/magazines that I can get to better educate myself on card collecting?
One of the best ways to learn more about what’s going on in the industry is to subscribe to a monthly hobby magazine for the particular sport you’re following. Each month it has feature articles about players who are hot in the industry, updates on what companies have in store for collectors in coming months and a plethora of facts and figures (often with box breakdown) on the latest releases.
In addition, nearly every card is accounted for in the price guide section, giving collectors (serious and casual) a good idea of their card’s value. The arrows indicate if a card’s value has risen or fallen since the last publication, and certain notations tell whether the card is a limited run or has some extra special value.
Tuff Stuff magazine has a multitude of features each month, recapping the goings-on in the marketplace while also serving as a full-service price guide. Focusing on rookies, why player’s values fluctuate and the state of the industry, Tuff Stuff provides its readers with large amounts of information every time it hits the shelf. It also stays very up-to-date on the latest developments from each of the major manufacturers, providing readers with worthwhile insight.
Card Trade is a monthly publication, which focuses a bit more on how dealers are faring and what’s hot based on feedback from well-known and respected industry sources. It also touches on promotions being offered here and there, and what’s happening in the marketplace. As with the other publications, it touches on new technologies and different trends in sports collectibles, while featuring the newest and hottest products to hit the market. The magazine also focuses on activities in the sports world, and how those will impact the sports card business.
In addition to uppperdeck.com, there are also a multitude of web sites that will help collectors from beginning to advanced levels continue to learn more and enjoy the hobby of trading card collecting.
- Bordered design - These designs have a white or other colored border around the card. This separates the photo and design from the edge of the card.
- Collation - The overall mixing of cards within a production run, so that a collector doesn’t continuously get the same cards within a given pack, box or case. If a product has good collation, then the collector will not got several duplicates of one commonly printed player while completely missing a number of other commonly printed players. The term good collation is also used when the intended insert ratios printed on the packaging are found within the respective pack, box, or case.
- Condition - Trading cards (even cards taken directly from factory sealed products) have a wide range of condition types depending on several factors like card being centered, crisp and sharp edges, no print spots, perfect gloss, and no surface flaws.
Conditions range from Poor (the lowest) to Pristine (the best). Several categories in between from Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent, Excellent-Mint, Near Mint, Near Mint-Mint, Mint, and Gem Mint complete the entire realm of possible conditions for a card.
- Crash numbering (also known as sequential numbering) - Adding numbering to a card front or back to make known the actual print run of a particular set. Cards are numbered in order up to a certain number either by foil stamp, ink jet printing, or by hand using a pen. For example the first card in the run could be "1/100," which would mean it is #1 of 100 total. The second card in the run would then be "2/100." The third card would be "3/100," and the numbering would continue up to "100/100."
- Die Cutting - The process of cutting away a portion of one side or multiple sides of a trading card. Die cuts are sometimes made into unique shapes or to fit within a theme of a particular set.
- Embossing - This technology process adds a raised texture to trading cards to make the cards seem more 3-D.
- Foil stamping - Decorative foil can be added to a standard paper trading card with varying degrees of coverage. Foil stamping adds texture, color, and shine to the card.
- Full bleed design - This is when the design of the card utilizes the entire 2.5" x 3.5" card area, "bleeding" to the edge of the card. The design incorporates the entire photo all the way to the borders (or edges) of the card.
- Insert ratio - These numbers are associated with cards that are not commonly available within the packs of cards. The ratio indicates what the odds are of finding such a card within packs. This is generally communicated on the packaging of a product with a ratio after a specific name, such as “Top Hitters 1:24,” which would indicate that the subset or insert set called Top Hitters is short printed (vs. the rest of the set) and will fall at an approximate ratio of 1 in every 24 packs. Sometimes, just the total number of cards produced for a specific short printed card is announced, as these cards are generally sequentially numbered and no approximate ratios are available at that time.
- Legal line - This is the area on the card, packaging, solicitation, advertising, etc. that states all of the legalities and rights granted, in order to produce the card set.
- Pack-out (also known as Configuration) - Refers to the number of cards found in each pack, the number of packs found within each store box (or display box), and the number of boxes within each case.
- Paper stock - Generally, the thicker the paper that the cards are printed on, the more expensive the product is for collectors to purchase. Paper stock ranges are graded by points of thickness with most card companies using between 12-point up to 24-point stock. Sometimes, multiple sheets are laminated together to create thicker cards and a more premium feel.
- Security foil - The Upper Deck Company uses a special trademarked hologram foil stamp on the backs of cards to verify that the card is not a forgery and is, in fact, printed by the company.
- Swatch - Generally used to describe a piece of game used memorabilia pieces that have been cut out of the original item (such as a jersey) and then used on a trading card.
- UV coating - A protective coating that is placed on cards to make them look glossy.
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