Trading cards have grown in popularity year after year. Collectors are often willing to spend quite a bit of money on rare or hard to find cards. Whether you are are trading cards for professional sports or for a specific card game, there are many different factors that might impact the value of a card. With more and more people buying trading cards, doing card reveals on social media, and sharing their finds on the internet, the demand for unique and rare cards continues to grow. If you are looking to sell card, the best step to take is to have the card professionally graded. This can be done in-person or via some mobile apps. In this article, we will discuss the factors that make a card valuable, how and where to get cards graded, and how getting your cards graded can help you sell them to pawn stores. If you have a valuable graded card that you are looking to sell in NYC, contact Paradise Pawn. We buy and sell rare trading cards.
What Makes A Trading Card Valuable?
Trading card companies understand the importance of creating limited supplies to drive up demand. In many different ways from doing extremely limited prints, to adding markings to cards that indicate rarity, card companies will make it clear when you have something special.
Rarity: Almost every trading card company has limited edition sets or different editions. There are sometimes huge demands for first edition cards for trading card brands that have been around for a few decades. A huge part of trading cards is how they are built around rarity. With some cards being almost impossible to find in a card pack, it is easy to understand why some fans will pay thousands of dollars for that one rare card that stopped being printed a decade ago.
Condition: Like with anything you are trying to resell one of the biggest factors in worth is the condition of the item. People are not willing to spend a lot of money or sometimes any money if a trading card is torn, bent, or has creases. That is why trading card enthuasists make sure to properly care for their cards by storing them safely and handling them correctly.
Unique Factors: Different types of cards like Pokemon cards or Magic The Gathering cards have ways to indicating value. Famously, Pokemon cards are sometimes holographic which indicates rarity and increased value. Trading cards sometimes have a number that indicates that this card was part of the first print of the design.
How To Get My Cards Graded In Person
Card conventions are often one of the easiest ways to get cards rated in person. Most conventions that feature trading card games, merch and memorabilia, will also have people who can professionally grade cards. It is important to check online how the convention handles drop-offs and whether or not you need to contact the graders in advance. Because of the demand for card grading, many card graders have sign-up sheets that can be filled in weeks before the in-person event. Other card graders will sometimes take your cards to their office for grading and mail them back when they are finished grading them.
Outside of conventions there are often comic book stores or other physical locations that provide this service. Checking out your local comic book store or collectible store can either help you find a grader or tell you where the nearest one is. Understand that card grading tends to cost anywhere from $10 to $100 per card based on where you go or and whether or not the cards have to be shipped back and forth. So you probably won’t want to grade any common or damaged cards.
Online Card Grading Apps
Many trading card companies and trading card collector communities have invested in creating apps or online services where you take photos of a card and the app can provide an estimate of value. This value might not be 100% accurate since certain factors cannot be ascertained over digital communication like wear and tear. But it might be a good step if you want a ballpark number before you decide to pay a grader to grade the card.
Selling Trading Cards in New York City
If you live in and around New York City and are interested in selling graded cards or buying graded cards. Please contact our team or visit one of our two locations in the Bronx.
