To answer the title of this video: just buy cards that you like and because it's fun, and if they turn out to be worth anything that's icing on the cake.

We are already in a big crash Inflation is a catastrophe. This CPI report is a colossal failure. To bring the housing market to a halt, the FED will have to pull all the stops. The unfortunate issue is that other markets are being decimated. If you want to stay green, you have to rely on a lot of diversification. Currently up 14% and being careful. Still a better deal than leaving it in a savings or checking account yielding 0-1 percent interest.

Are sports cards a good investment? Yes, yes they are! For more info on sports card investing and tools to track the market, check out our KZfaq channel and www.sportscardinvestor.com

With this type of card investments.....the real losers are kids like my son who is 8 years old trying to buy his favorite players. Instead middle aged men are price gouging my son when guys sit at Walmart's and Convenience stores waiting for the truck to unload so they can re-sell them to screw 8 year old kids out of cards.

Sport Cards is the earliest gambling a kid in school will face with buying a pack of cards.

There have always been collectable items. People in the comments really act like this is new, then they go and pay real money for a digital item in a video game.

Grading is critical. Grade can make the difference between a $10 card and a $500 card.

What they didn’t mention is how the industry is pricing out regular collectors like myself. As a teacher, I can’t afford a $200 box of cards. Since the pandemic started, you can’t even find a $20 box of cards at Target or Walmart anymore. Too many people are cleaning them out and selling them on EBay or Facebook Marketplace. It’s sad.

They don’t mention scalping and vendors telling their friends to come with them to take all the product to resell.

Good investments over time dont go through fad periods of consumerism. This is why the sports card industry had a bust period between the 80s-early 90s boom and this one. Too many people acting as though a mass produced consumer product was like a stock share. With so many of these stupid "card investor" channels popping up on KZfaq, many of which are just outlets for pumping certain players, I'm beginning to see folks repeating the same mistake.

I've been in this game a long time. The best way to make money is to invest in older cars of superstars that are in fantastic condition. I don't remember Mickey Mantle cards ever going down in value. Remember Zion Williamson is one career-ending injury away from his cards being worthless.

Been doing this a long time... you don't 'Invest' in baseball cards - you 'speculate'... if you think you're investing your in trouble👍

I have been a collector since I was a kid in the 60's, always for fun not investment, I concentrate on 60's and mid 70's baseball cards for enjoyment only. This is another crash in the making. Look at it this way, a card company prints a card, slaps a piece of a jersey and boom it's value is automatically over $100K? This is not making sense to me.

As a collector and reseller I want more people to buy buy buy because the value has gone so high on unopened boxes that most of these new buyers will realize they are losing money and stop. A $19.99 blaster box now sells for $39.99 and the value isn't there. A $5 card I used to buy is now $20 so it's hurting my collection. As soon as the pandemic is over, people will start to move away from cards.

If you are new to the hobby I recommend buying rookies already graded in the highest grade you can afford. If you try and open the packs yourselves and submit them in for grading it can become extremely expensive, take a very long time, and also it's very disappointing when you don't receive the grades you were expecting.

I started collecting cards in 1954 when I was 5 years old and stopped buying them in the 1980's because there were too many cards being produced. I have most of the old sets and never considered selling them. I am a true collector and not an investor. I think only about 5 % of people today are like that. I have no use for grading and limited edition cards. Most of my old cards are in vg condition and that is good enough for me.

Great Video. Sports cards have gone wild this year. One thing, if buying active players, don’t be slow to sell them when they have a good year or their card prices go up. Any single active players cards are just a torn ACL or public arrest away from their card prices instantly crashing. So if you’re invested in younger active players, sell when your up!

You should have reported on the incompetence, favoritisms, and straight corruption in the grading companies. Cards being purchased graded, cracked open and trimmed and altered then resubmitted for higher grades to boost profits. That’s the whole purpose of these companies, to authenticate and grade. Or where the FBI investigation in these matters currently stands. A graded card compared to a non graded card can fluctuate price from hundreds to thousands. But does the average collector have the same high grades chance as those that are in the “club”. Or maybe a story bout how long it takes for them to grade the avg Joes cards (6 months plus ) compared to others who bulk submit all the time and are in the club. I would like to see a story on these topics.

my 1988 Donruss baseball card set is on fire, it went up from $5.00 to $5.50 just in the last year.

I've been in and out of this hobby since 1986. Happened to travel to Atlantic city NJ the same weekend as the sports card national a couple of years ago. I had the chance to meet David Liner in this video. One of the greatest baseball card moments. Sitting talking Baseball cards with a industry icon.

Most “Investors” or newbie baseball card collectors don’t remember the 1990’s. Investments are only good if you can sell them in hard times. These are for fun.

RIP Black Mamba. His RCs have been an incredible investment.

Definitely not Topps 2019 Series 1

The intrinsic value is money laundering ability XD

It’s not a fun time to get back into collecting. Fighting for sealed wax, insane markups on every product on the 2nd market, and card prices changing with every game played. It’s a blood sport out there y’all!

Best for investing: 1-High end graded VINTAGE cards 2-Unopened material (generally older, with some exceptions). Anyone thinking how collecting NOW is going to remain that way, you must've just gotten into it.

If I had a time machine, I would take $5000 with me and go back to 1971 and buy as many Topps baseball cards as I could. That set never decreases in value

I had a friend who made a million in the 80s on cards. He had a whole warehouse: fork lifts, an illegal family with a rice cooker sorting---crazy. He kind of went crazy working 24/7. He cashed out and went into gambling counting cards in Vegas. Probably blew it all. Lost touch. Sad though what weirdo adults did to a kids hobby. Remember a girlfriend's kid showing me his card collection: they were all in plastic folders. Pathetic. And these guys are pathetic. Just a symptom of America where everything is commodified. I gave mine to a kid. Made him really happy. Glad to be done with it. These are the kind of guys that would drive around buying up all the hand sanitizer and then turning a profit on Ebay. Little wonder the country's going to hell with reptiles like this. People are getting thrown out on the street and people are buying pieces of cardboard for millions. It's beyond perverse

Thank you Sam Rega and CNBC for including us in your story.

What about doing a story on Pokémon cards and their values?? lol

In what scenario would Alt ever sell a card? I’d imagine the cards would come toppling down if they ever need to do such a thing

The mistakes of the past are soon repeated

Loved this. He's exactly right. As a boy I collected sports cards,mostly baseball. It was every boys hobby then! I recently accumulated a full,high grade '61 set,because I can now afford it. I hope kids can renew this enthusiasm for the hobby.

Ive been collecting baseball/basketball/football and hockey packs/boxes/cases since 1976. I could not even venture a guess how many cards, unopened boxes and cases I have. One bedroom is filled floor to ceiling. They are not as valuable as they used to be. Now it will cost you a small fortune to even buy a box of "premier" packs whereas before Upper Deck and the mid 90 market flooding, it was still inexpensive. My collection was probably worth 25% more pre-1995/96ish. The unopened packs and boxes are where the money is. Fresh sealed wax packs still with factory seals get me the highest offers from dealers/collectors when they find out what I have.

If this isn't proof of the asset bubble, nothing is.

Can't go wrong with a Mike Trout baseball card.

Seems like the hobby started peaking in 2016. Noticed in March/April during lockdown a lot of people found the hobby again. And KZfaq "break" channels have become very popular.

Vegas Dave might be the most annoying Tool alive.

Baseball cards nowadays (or better yet, _basketball and football_ cards) are a good investment just so long as you study a particular scouting report and decide when exactly to flip that player's card. For instance, November and December have always been the worst months to sell for profit, while the beginning of Spring training (i.e. March/April) has usually been one of the better times to sell. EDIT: There are actually so many other variables to list as far as when to sell, including when a player is in the middle of a hot streak or when they've reached their athletic prime (usually around ages 26-28) and so forth. And also, deciding which brand type to invest in (such as Topps flagship, Topps Chrome, Bowman Chrome, etc.) could also play a huge factor as well.

I collected as a kid, came back as an adult. The same people that ruined sneaker collecting are going to ruin this hobby. These aren't investments, unless you are buying super high end stuff. Most people are merely gambling, chasing hits which are usually crap.

Greed by the company destroyed the card and comic book industry so interesting.

Problem for collecting now is availability. I have not be able to find ANYTHING at the normal retail locations. It’s actually pretty frustrating.

I remember seeing a bunch of cards packs at dollar tree about 3 years ago. I bought some so I could use the cards as bookmarks

Same thing for Pokemon, Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh All these markets keep rising and these 3 card games have collectability and playability

not sure I really buy it, pun intended. Only the very high priced cards seem to be going up. I keep a ledger of all the cards I purchased on ebay back in 2012 (such as Earl Campbell RC PSA 8), etc. They haven't gone up by that much, only the super rare insert cards are going up. When you compare the growth of the sp500 vs those buys, sp500 did substantially better. Besides under-performing the sp500, another problem with sports cards is, they only go up in value while the player is known, over time even very famous players are nobodies to most people and the value of their card goes down substantially. Then again, I mostly avoided any card older than 1989. I never saw the appeal of sticking a piece of jersey on a card, only putting 25 of them in circulation and expecting people to either want to hit the lottery or shell out 1k$ for a piece of cardboard that doesn't appreciate as fast as other asset classes. My suggestion is, if you really want a card to appreciate over time - pick a 100% mint card that is very rare and a very very well known player. A player a non-sports fan would know who they were 10 years after the person retires. Also its position specific. For example, in football Quarterbacks - ignore all other positions. But then comes the problem of keeping the 'investment' in mint condition. Card's can decline over time even in those PSA protected plastics.

A great mini documentary about the current state of the sports card market! Very well done!

If something was made to be collected they will never be worth anywhere near the cards that were made several decades ago. Back then most ppl didn’t really think they were worth anything so as a result most were thrown away or destroyed over time that’s why they cost so much money.

Hopefully. My dad has thousands of them from back in the day sitting in his basement lol

Luka Doncic is the guy who really spiked this hobby the past few years 🔥

adults are just grown up kids

Are baseball cards a good investment? Yes Are pokemon cards a potential life changing investment? Yes

Has that “fund manager” been able to sell those cards yet to another sucker? ”Greater Fool” is in full effect with this BS.

I just bought an uncirculated Vanderbilt Football Kicker Sarah Fuller Card for $459.97 because it'll double in value in the New York Jets draft her in the first round...😳

Baseball cards used to a decoration "noise maker" on bicycles in the past.

Wow. A few months ago I purchased a Mark McQwire Donruss Rookie card. No clue it’s been a craze.

Its a good investment if you can get them cheap, with Panini jacking there prices up on hobby packs and boxes, only the rich can really afford to rip packs, and with retail being so hard to find becauseof the flippers, it's becoming harder and harder to collect

Don't forget David Justice, Ron Howard, Josh Hamilton, Will Clark.....................................................................................

I don't know who needs to hear this but stop saving all your money. Invest some of it if you want financial freedom.

If it wasn’t hard enough to find cards in retail stores as it is this is gonna make it worse

Those 86 Fleer basketball cards will never be worth anything said the collector in 1987.

The European market is waiting for the Formula 1 cards like crazy. The Formula 1 Topps Chrome Hobby Box is going for $350 USD right now on pre-order. Mark my words, the Formula 1 Topps Chrome Hobby Box will be going for $1000 USD by the end of next year and continue to go up. The first cards for Lewis Hamilton (one of the most famous athletes on the planet), Max Verstappen, Lando Norris. This will be like Panini Prizm 2012 Basketball.......this is the exact same product for F1 fans.......that box is going for over $6000 USD right now and that doesn't even have the European market driving up the prices. Whoever reads this, enjoy the low prices while you can! I was talking with some of the workers at Topps and Panini who I deal with on a daily basis and they are saying the same thing as me. The Formula 1 Topps Chrome Hobby Box will be a product where people say this in 5 years, "I wish I bought 10 of those boxes when they came out".

2021 is going to be disastrous there’s an asset bubble in everything..... stocks, real estate, Bitcoin, sports card 🤦‍♂️

If people think these companies won't start overprinting again, you've lost your minds. They make their money either way, they do not care if the cards go up in value or become absolutely worthless.

Investment? Yes, I agree. I am a collector as well as a reseller. Not a wholesaler or breaker. Since I spend my own money on breaks, nothing more is upsetting than receiving a "redemption" from Panini. I would like for CNBC to do a follow up on how Panini with their lack of fulfillment of redemptions in addition to their current state of lacking communication with those seeking customer service. Panini needs to stop the sale of something they may not be able to fulfill. Period

I collected baseball, football and basketball cards in the 90s. All gone. Those things ended up being worth nothing in the end. It's easy to say a card is word millions, but there has to be a buyer and nobody buys cards like they did before, that's why the generation after mine stopped collecting. They went onto non-sports card collecting like Pokemon (which I was into too). Today, unlike sports cards, rare Pokemon cards and booster pack boxes actually sell.

The demand is based on speculation, not fundamentals hence the mania. It's a trend. Cards are in a big bubble just like the real estate market, bond market, stock market. All based on exuberance. "If something cannot continue on forever, it will stop"----Stein's Law

The baseball cards at worth as much as people are going to pay for them. Sports card market needs to crash to go back to normal. How get your cards worth any money to get them graded.

In 2016 I bought a 1985 PSA 10 Jordan Nike Promo for $850 dollars. Fast forward to 2020 and the same card has sold for $15k+

Invest in the “Kobe Hall of Fame basketball” by Spalding. Price will go higher next year when he gets inducted in the 2020 hall of fame.

This is inflation at it's purest form

I've read PSA isn't as great as Beckett's grading.

it is not supply demand --cards are only worth what someone is willing to pay for it -- to say this is different -- its a volatile market with many different ways to collect --if you chose to invest know its a volatile market period -- and grading is still an opinion not a universal standard-- things in this hobby need to change before it becomes a investment and even then it will never be a safe bet or investment when its based on percieved value

this is almost as bad as gambling. and most of the time you lose...

So when are these company's gonna start cutting their cards straight? Horrible to pull a numbered card and it's off center 80/20.

i am in the process of liquidating a michael jordan collection that i purchased off ebay 15 years ago. the ROI has been outstanding so far. i cannot give away baseball cards from 1980s-1990s. will still hold some for nostalgia of course.

Ammo is a good investment. Baseball cards show the decline in value of the US dollar

Baseball cards are back!

I'm here just thinking about a box of baseball cards I found in a house we moved in about 25 years ago. Someone had them on a very tall shelf, the only thing left behind. Me being a 12 or 13 year old didn't really think about them possibly being of value and somewhere along different moves from house to house,they got lost.I often wonder who got them and were they worth anything.

Grown men with pictures of other grown men in their pockets? Sus

Nope it's a hobby not an investment.

Have 100's of MLB cards from late 60's to mid 70's. you name the star I have the card. what is the best way to get an idea of value? They have all been in plastic for over thirty years.

People who starred buying cards for money 🧢🤡🧢🤡

If this has value then Bitcoin definitely is worth something.

This is no different than the reselling of sneakers. People have turned to reselling shoes and cards as a way to make money.

Word of advice for newbies wanting to make $$$. Do your research. Don't think you'll strike it rich by knowing nothing and get lucky. Remember, there are thousands of people who know the hobby. You aren't going to stumble upon a find. Do it for fun. See what players you like. Most of us got in the hobby for the love.

Wow that's awesome used to collect them myself as a kid.

Follow up episode on Pokemon cards would be awesome!

The insert cards are too gimmicky in my opinion. I feel they make the packs too pricey to buy. I was buying Topps cards in 1987 for .40 and now a pack is nearly $5 in 2023 and you get less cards in the pack.

Imagine holding the value of a mansion in your hand sheesh

Love how they open 2019 series 1 and not like 2019 series 2

Kids now dont collect cards at all, they dont even like baseball... consider that

Very enlightening & informative video. My immediate reaction to think about all your other common collectables like stamps, coins, antiques cars & so on. Do all these miniature markets experience similar cycles?

What will happen when things hopefully go back to normal and half these people stop buying?? Careful people

*Bubble* .... *Everywhere in Every Country There are many Bubbles Swelling like Crazy*

no doubt these things will be great but the real money has and always will be in vintage , t206 wagner ect not these 1 of cards cards , all the packs opened to find them will in the end fall with the 80 junk wax era sadly the big mike trout sell that hold the record many high end dealer and auctions house have said if a mid grade 206 wagner comes up for sale it will blow that trout out of the water , and many one of will go into private collections never to be heard from again and forgotten about over time , plus 2020 prices on all collectables are expected to have a retrace in the comming year

The video is probably pretty accurate but how risky is this as an investment class really? All the people in the video are biased because they are directly involved so it sounds like the hottest market. It seems scary if you are investing say millions when the card producer could suddenly go mad and start producing a few more than normal.

For all you noobs here. Cards are here and legit. I’m 20 and have collected since I was 11. Cards have gone up since then slowly but surely. It’s special, you can get an autograph of mike trout, Zion, Lebron, Patrick Mahomes, etc. and you can keep what you want and sell what you don’t. It’s fun and can be an amazing side hustle.

So sick of people blaming card companies for making too many. Theyre not in business to make collectors rich with low print cards. The more people buy them, the more they're going to print. If people got into cards as a get-rich-quick scheme then they're the problem, not the card makers.

Football and basketball cards have much much higher value. Theres a reason you see baseball on every shelf but no football or basketball

Funny how Vaynerchuk began with this and now everyone following the train.. This has existed before but Vayner placed it on the map.. Not judging.. Just a great market..