Iowans Look to Trading Cards as Source of Income. Here’s My Experience (OPINION)

In the spring of 2023, I began collecting sports cards for the hell of it. No real reason. I love football and basketball, I'm a die-hard (long-suffering) Chicago Bears fan, and seeing some videos online that flaunted the colorful cardboard designs of sports players caught my eye.

Fast-forward to today, and I have a collection of over 4,000 cards. The beautiful part about collecting cards is everyone in the sports card world (colloquially referred to as "the hobby") has a story behind who/what they acquire. How I see it, my card collection is predicated on a few different pillars:

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• Chicago Bears players
• New Orleans Pelicans players
• Quarterbacks from any/every era
• Cards I simply think look "cool" or unique
• Cards I plan on selling down the road

My best friend loves looking through my collection because of how "random" it appears. While I'm loyal to a few random players — Joe Namath is a personal idol; I'll never quit believing Zion Williamson can be something special — I love building a collection that's diverse and spans every era. I'm not a big baseball fan, but I love collecting cards of players pre-1960. I'm all over the place, I know.

Why am I bothering to write any of this? WHO 13 recently did a story on how Iowans are looking towards sports cards as a source of income. The pandemic ushered in a whole new era of collecting. I'm glad I didn't go down this rabbit hole in 2020 or 2021. Card prices were absolutely insane.

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How the Pandemic Changed the Card Collecting World:

For example, Karl-Anthony Towns is a very good player for the New York Knicks (previously the Minnesota Timberwolves). His 2015 Panini Prizm base rookie ("base" meaning it's the most common variant of that particular card) was selling for an average of $60. At present, it's a $9 card. The pandemic-inflated bubble burst a long time ago.

There is a lot of money to be made in this hobby. I, however, do not have the disposable income for cards that run $500 - $10,000 (I work in radio, after all). I've seen cards on eBay sell for more than my yearly salary. That said, I do make some pretty respectable pocket money selling cards online.

My Advice for Anyone Getting Into Collecting/Selling Cards:

As is the case with any hobby in the modern day, social media pages, YouTube videos, and online guides offer a solid mix of insights, but unfortunately, are prone to a lot of the cynicism and toxicity that can sully anyone's passion.

I was fortunate to learn some of the card-collecting basics from Mark's Card Shop in Downers Grove, IL, near where I grew up. His philosophy is not only predicated on "giving back" to kids and the community in which he works, but to implore people to collect the cards they want to collect. If you're looking for some of my insights into collecting/selling cards, here's what I got for you:

NOW OPEN: New Card, Gaming Shop Open at Dubuque's Kennedy Mall

• Zero in on your favorite player(s) or team(s) to start.
• Buy single cards from local card shops and/or online retailers. Boxes of cards are insanely high right now, and the sad fact is, in most cases, you end up with a lot of cards you don't want and might have a hard time selling.
• Find your "comp" site to check prices. Personally, I use/love/pay $7 per month for SportsCardPro.
• Invest in three items: penny sleeves, top loaders, and white card storage boxes to keep your collection safe and neat.
• When it comes to selling cards, instead of chasing the "big fish," remember this: selling a card for $3 that you purchased for $1 is still profit.
• You can offset the losses you take on selling single cards by selling more valuable cards, even if that "more valuable" card is $15 - $50.
• Cards are like stocks, but more colorful and fun. For cards you're looking to flip, you have to make the call on when to sell them. For example, I sold a Daniel Jones rookie card for $30 mid-season last year. He suffered a season-ending injury a few weeks later. I would not get $30 for that card today. However, I sold a Sam Darnold rookie card for $20 back in August 2024. He just won the Super Bowl, and in the immediate aftermath of the game, that card was selling for around $90. Thems the breaks.
• Finally, nail down the reason why you want to start collecting cards. I don't collect to flaunt on social media, but there's nothing wrong with that (I consume card collecting videos like so many do). I collect because I love their designs, the players, the stories each one tells, the stats, and ultimately, the stories/anecdotes on the back. Find your why.

Read more about how Iowans have turned to card collecting as a source of income on WHO 13's website.