Blog
Answers to the things collectors actually ask, written for the UK market. How this is written.
Latest
What makes a rookie card valuable
Four things drive it, and the one people focus on is fourth.
Rookies. . 1 min read.
Rookies
- 1 min
Prospect cards versus rookie cards
A card can show a player years before they are eligible for a rookie card.
- 1 min
Why players have multiple rookie cards
Several cards, one title, and a market that has to decide between them.
- 1 min
How to tell if a card is a rookie card
The logo helps. It does not settle it, and here is what does.
Sets and products
- 1 min
On-card versus sticker autographs
Why two signed cards of the same player sell for very different money.
- 1 min
What are insert sets?
Not a parallel, not a base card. A third category that confuses pricing constantly.
- 1 min
Why card licences move between companies
Licences are contracts with end dates, and what happens when one changes hands.
- 1 min
Champions League cards explained
The set that matters most to European collectors, and why it behaves differently.
- 1 min
What is a Topps Now card?
A card whose print run is set by how many people bought it.
- 1 min
Numbered parallels explained
What 25/99 actually tells you, and the part of it that moves the price.
- 1 min
Hobby, retail and blaster boxes
Same set, different packaging, genuinely different contents.
- 1 min
Topps Chrome versus Panini Prizm
Two products doing a similar job, and the comparison people actually want is narrower than they think.
- 1 min
What is Panini Prizm?
A chromium set built around a colour ladder, and how to read where a card sits on it.
- 1 min
What is Topps Chrome?
The same checklist on different card stock, and why that changes everything about the price.
Buying and selling
- 1 min
UK card shows: what to expect
Cash, a loupe, and a number you decided before you walked in.
- 1 min
Avoiding scams when buying cards
Most of it comes down to payment method and photographs of the actual card.
- 1 min
Auction versus fixed price
Auctions find the market. Fixed prices bracket it. Which you want depends on the card.
- 1 min
How to write a card listing that sells
Most cards that sell badly were never found. The title is doing that damage.
- 1 min
Buying cards from US sellers
The listed price is about two thirds of what you will actually pay.
- 1 min
Importing sports cards to the UK
Three separate charges, only one of which people expect.
- 2 min
Do I pay tax on selling sports cards in the UK?
Two entirely different tax treatments, and which applies depends on what you are doing.
- 1 min
How to post trading cards safely
Sleeve, rigid, rigid, envelope. And the one thing that ruins cards in transit.
- 1 min
eBay UK selling fees for trading cards
How to work out what actually lands in your account, before you price anything.
- 1 min
Where to sell sports cards in the UK
Five routes, with what each really costs you once fees and effort are counted.
Grading
- 1 min
How to pre-grade your own cards
Twenty minutes with a loupe saves the fee on cards that were never going to grade well.
- 1 min
Why cards get rejected by graders
Not every submission comes back with a number. Here is what the alternatives mean.
- 1 min
Crossover and reholder explained
Moving a card between slabs, and the condition that protects you when you do.
- 1 min
How long does card grading take?
The quoted turnaround and the time you actually wait are different numbers.
- 1 min
How to read a population report
The supply side of a card price, published free, and widely misread.
- 1 min
What is a PSA 10?
What the top grade means, and the one flaw that most often prevents it.
- 1 min
PSA, BGS and SGC compared
Three companies, three scales, and a market that does not value them equally.
- 2 min
How to submit cards for grading from the UK
The mechanics, including the customs step that catches people out.
- 2 min
What card grading costs in the UK
The grading fee is rarely the largest number. Here is the rest of it.
- 2 min
Is grading worth it?
One sum answers this, and most people get one term of it badly wrong.
Valuing cards
- 1 min
Why your card is worth less than the listings say
The gap between the listings and the sales is not pessimism. It is arithmetic.
- 1 min
Price guides versus real sales
Where guide numbers come from, and why they disagree with what you can actually get.
- 1 min
How often do card prices change?
Some cards reprice in an afternoon. Others have not moved in three years.
- 1 min
How to value a whole collection
Valuing five hundred cards is not valuing one card five hundred times.
- 1 min
Best Offer sales and hidden prices
Some sold listings show a price that nobody paid. Here is how to spot them.
- 1 min
Does postage count in a card value?
A small question that quietly distorts every comparison if you answer it inconsistently.
- 1 min
Valuing a card with no recent sales
Sometimes the search comes back empty. That is an answer too, and here is how to work with it.
- 2 min
What is my sports card worth?
The question everyone starts with, and the method that answers it in about five minutes.
- 1 min
How to check eBay sold listings for cards
Two clicks most people never find, and the filtering that has to happen after them.
- 2 min
Why the same card sells for different prices
Two sales of the same card, weeks apart, at very different prices. Usually one of six things.