Tips Tuesday: How do I know the value of my cards?

Today’s tip is more geared to newcomers in the hobby as it’s a question I get all the time from people entering the hockey card world: “How much are my cards worth?”.

Welcome back to another installment of Tips Tuesday where I provide collectors of all levels a little information to help them in their journey through the hobby. I believe our website can be a vessel to help grow the hobby one collector at a time, and that education is key to making that happen.

Today’s tip is more geared to newcomers in the hobby as it’s a question I get all the time from people entering the hockey card world: “How much are my cards worth?”

I joined Michael Traikos and Ryan Kennedy on ‘The Hockey News Pre-Game Show’ a couple of weeks ago and we busted into a box of 2023-24 Upper Deck Series 1 and the question I was asked after our first decent hit was: “How much is that worth?”

This is obviously a very important question as knowing card values is imperative. However, I find that newcomers or outsiders to the hobby don’t know where to look to find card values.

Well, today I’ll give you some good resources to find the answer to that question.

Firstly, I should note that this is not an exact science, but rather a method to give you a good idea of a price range or a comparison of card values. Also, remember that not all cards are built the same as condition plays a role in values as well… but that’s a conversation for another day.

There are three primary methods to finding the value of your cards, or cards that you are purchasing or trading for, and those would be eBay sold listings, 130point.com, and the Beckett Guide.

The Beckett guide is a little outdated for most modern collectors, but a lot of old-school hobbyists still view it as the bible of sports card collecting. The Beckett book is a monthly subscription magazine (now also digitized online) that comes out with card values for almost every single card out there dating back to the pre-50s right up to the most recent release. 

Prior to the internet age, this was the gold standard in determining card valuations. “What does it book for?” was a commonly used phrase to ask how much a card was worth. The problem with the guide in today’s market is that card values are so fluid and the Beckett price quickly becomes outdated - either too high or too low - before the magazines even reach store shelves.

Thus, eBay sold listings and 130point.com have become the more modern resources for figuring out the current values within the hockey card market.

We’ll start with a quick discussion about eBay because it has to be used properly to be an accurate source. Too often I’ll be set up at a show and someone will bring a card up to my table to try and sell it saying it’s worth $1,500 because they saw that price on eBay. What often happens is people look up the card and see an asking price of $1,500 and automatically assume that’s the value. This is a common mistake made by new collectors.

People can ask for whatever they want online, but it doesn't mean it's going to sell for that amount. To find the true market value of your item on eBay you have to look at the actual sold listings of your card by checking off the “sold items” box on the filters sidebar.

Sometimes you’ll come across a sold listing that has the number crossed out like in the photo below. 

This means that the seller accepted an offer for a lower amount than the listed price. However, eBay does not show the exact number at which the card was accepted and purchased.

Which brings me to the next good resource: 130point.com.

This website has become a staple for sports card enthusiasts as it seems to give the most accurate representation of card values. 130point will not only show sales from eBay, but also sales from the big auction retailers as well, such as Goldin, PWCC, or Heritage Auctions.

The reason why this site is becoming increasingly popular is that, unlike eBay, 130point does in fact show the accepted offer values on cards.

This is the exact same eBay sale as previously shown (currency converted to CAD on eBay sale). However, as you'll see, this site gives the exact sale price as the accepted offer amount is shown at $50 less than the asking price, thus giving us a clearer indication of the value of the item.

However, not all cards will have sales online, especially those that are low-numbered or short-printed. In these cases, the best method is to find a player of similar value in the overall market and see if that person has a sold listing of that card or a card with a similar print run ( /5, /25, /50, etc.).

When all else fails and you can’t find a comparable value online, ask a friend in the hobby or a veteran collector for their opinion. There are some great people in sports card collecting and they’ll certainly guide you in the right direction if you ask.

Put the tip to the test. Pull out your collection and look up some card values using these methods. Who knows, maybe you have a more expensive card in your collection than you thought!