‘Influencer’ and ‘Investor’ Have Become the Two Dirtiest Words in the Hobby

Ive been around this hobby since I was 6 years old, buying some of my favorite Twins players as a kid, biking to my local card shop and opening cards with my brother and dad. Im now a month away from 40, and Im still here, with some breaks in between, trying to figure out my place in an ecosystem that is enjoying a boom that I could have only dreamed about. In addition to participating in the hobby, Ive written enough about sports cards since 2007 to fill multiple books. Since 2007, multiple things I have done have required public responses from card manufacturers and entities, including my extensive work on fakes and forgeries. Although my reach was small in the grand scheme of the hobby, I was featured on ESPN, Deadspin, and other sites multiple times. In the most marginal sense of the word, you could say I was one of the original card influencers – before that was a thing, and before it was important.

SCU’s original look from 2008!

Today, my influence is small enough to fit on the tip of a needle, as my work and multiple kids has forced me into a place where my love of writing was trumped by a need to live my life. All the fun we used to have on twitter and youtube has been replaced with mega influencers and investors changing the conversation to a focus on money and what they are buying and selling. My focus in the hobby media was always talking about the cards and how they were presented. The new dialogue is all about the deals – buying and selling cards that have become the hottest investment piece since Beanie Babies in the 90s. With the gigantic trajectory of value and interest, a new culture of content and business has been created to match the demand of the population. As people have seen this take place, a divide amongst the previous inhabitants has also risen.

You know what’s interesting though? I enjoy a lot of the content. I love economics, I love cards, and putting them together strikes a chord with me that I never expected. The problem is, most of the biggest voices in the hobby have seen their content explode in popularity to a similar degree as the cards themselves. Tens of thousands of people are hungry to consume sports card content, especially well produced content. As expected, with that attention comes two very specific elements that have made this newfound landscape so problematic in nature.

The first is power. If you have reach and an audience, you have power. Power to change people’s minds, power to move a population, and the power to form an agenda. The thing about agendas, is that they are rarely done for the good of the audience you are influencing. Most of the time, its to further the growth of power one has over their audience, or demean and belittle those who disagree with it. Most influencers will need a steady growth of audience to maintain their production and revenue, and without creating a cult like response to their content, its hard to do that. Therefore, the agenda becomes the content, and its clear that most collectors will have a very dynamic reaction to that – either they love it or they hate it. There are very few indifferent people. Oddly enough, this is the goal, as people who love the agenda will surround themselves with it, and people who hate the agenda will similarly consume the content just to trigger their own emotional responses of hatred. Its a vicious circle that leads to a culture shift, one that has taken over the lexicon we use every day.

The second thing is money. From what I can tell, many of the biggest influencers also have big portfolios of cards, something that in other markets is a required disclosure. Trading cards have only recently entered the national consciousness in terms of investment potential, and other investment assets have tons of content built around them as well. The difference is, the government regulates how those influencers are able to showcase assets they have a position in. If someone on TV is talking about a stock they own, they must disclose that publicly. For cards, the asset group hasnt reached a maturity level where that is required, despite some of them being seven figures in value. As a result, influencers in cards can pump up their owned assets without punitive responses about disclosure. This power has led to resentment from the base of audience they hope to target, but also that love / hate response they use to build new viewership.

Honestly, this is where the influencers and investors have become the new targets for hobby trolling, as people start to revolt against the way they have changed the market overall. The funny thing is, this happens in every market, and the response is not only expected, its the goal. Americans are some of the most emotion driven people on the planet. They want things to be so black and white, as to fuel the tribalism we see when there is a major point of view. The question is, for a hobby ive been around for 30 plus years, is this what I want to happen? That’s where Im not so sure.

This is where the second population of people, the investors, come in. If you ask some of the people that have joined the hobby over the last 2 years, many of them will likely believe that investors are a recent phenomenon within the market. This could not be further from the truth. Going back to the 1950s, people have placed value on trading cards, and if you have gone to a national convention before 2015, you saw the people who have invested in that value setting up year after year. Investors have always seen trading cards as an asset, to a point where we had a similar boom in the 1990s on the back of big sales of collectibles across the country. My dad bought boxes of junk wax that sit in our garage to this day, thinking they would be as valuable as the cards he collected as a kid.

The difference between the 1990s and today is clear, mainly due to the scale in which cards are invested in, but also the scale in which people have made and derived products and services around that part of the market. Today’s hobby has entire business models built around tools for investors, and beyond that, a dedicated community on social media to communicate with like minded individuals. For the first time in the history of hobby investing, the people who are the main players arent huddling in back rooms at big card shows, they are out in the open, sharing what they are doing. Not only that, but the content they create is really fucking interesting. There are even documentary films in the works that talk about how this all came to be.

I remember living in Los Angeles around the time I started writing about cards, and talking with some of the dealers who made a living investing in cards. I thought they were crazy, because the dialogue around cards was so small. I remember getting 2,000 hits a day on my blog posts and being proud of my accomplishments. Now, most of the content creators are driving 200 times that without putting in much effort to furthering any new conversation. For them, as mentioned, the conversation isnt about the cards, where there are limited topics to cover. The deals and money are center stage, where there is an unlimited amount of content to deliver. They have integrated sports commentary as well, given that production on the fields of play contribute so much to potential value.

With such a giant shift in the way people talk about cards, it shouldnt be a surprise that there is a negative reaction from people who hate that this is what the hobby has become. Even though most of the people who revolt against the new world order are very vocal about their feelings, most still operate with the assumptions in value that these influencers and investors have brought to their benefit. Because almost every collectors trades, buys and sells cards, the market value derived from the growth in the hobby does exist to the benefit of all collectors. The so called ‘haters’ will still sell, trade and buy their collection pieces the same way the investors due, while taking pot shots at their methods. Its very odd to witness.

Similarly, these individuals label themselves with a gatekeeping term that gives them a pass to do so. Because they are a ‘true collector’ they feel that their actions are justified to operate in the same manner as the people that they despise. Personally, nothing triggers an emotional response in me more than hearing someone volley ‘true collector’ status around like its actually a thing. Gatekeeping sucks, and as much as investors have drawn ire from the hobby, some of them have actually figured out how fun collecting can really be. Like there is no real way to classify what makes someone a ‘true collector’ versus any other type of hobby participant, there is no reason to make this a derogatory accusation either. I dont understand the desire to keep people out, especially when card value has become the primary thread in this hobby for almost 100 years. More people bringing demand to a market is a good thing, overall. Period.

Does this mean that we should not shine a flashlight on the misdeeds of people who seek to exploit the new found glory? Absolutely not, but the bitterness and resentment seems empty. Americans love celebrity culture, but loathe the way celebrities can spend their money in insane ways. I feel the same thing is true for celebrity card culture – a fascination with their hobby lives, while loathing the impact that investor spending has changed the market. Its so weird to see in action.

Overall, people seem to hate what they cant understand, and for a lot of reasons, there seems to be a general lack of understanding across the hobby that has perpetuated a negative view towards influencers and investors. Some of them absolutely deserve it for a lot of the reasons described above. They are either obviously pushing an agenda, furthering their own investment portfolio, or both. Others seem to be genuinely passionate about their hobby love. I think the discussion around both in the hobby is far from over, but its riveting to see people try to formulate a narrative that fits their own personalities. Some are very successful, others not as much. For me, the hobby is changed forever, and still as fun as it was back when I started writing in 2007. I dont think that will change anytime soon, either.

Quality Issues with WWE Prizm Continue to Be a Major Problem

When Panini announced that they had acquired the WWE license, many collectors were excited at the potential massive growth that was going to come to wrestling cards. Others were not thrilled that prices for wax and certain singles would be jumping in price. Some collectors were concerned that Panini’s history of problems with customer service and QC would be a detriment to the brand. I want to focus on the problems today, because there are some big ones with Prizm that are hurting values and brand perception within the product.

Centering Issues

We all know the way that cards are made and how challenging it is for the manufacturers to avoid issues with collation, condition and overall quality. Prizm’s rush to the press and into packs seems to have caused some issues with a few aspects of the release.

Even though I have a horrifically negative view of the grading business and their intrinsic conflicts of interest, grading potential has a huge impact on the way the Prizm market functions. No matter how many times I stomp my feet over how much of a problem grading is for the hobby in general, it wont change the impact it has on the value of any given product.

One of the most easily identifiable challenges with Prizm is the centering on entire runs of the product, including the expensive White Sparkle variants that were offered in packs through dutch auctions. For almost every vertically oriented card, massive centering problems have drawn the ire of collectors all over social media. Panini has had problems with this in the past, and the ongoing issues with responses from customer service to everyday collectors makes getting compensation for factory defects even more of a problem.

The General Customer Service Problem

One could say that grading potential is not a part of the manufacturer’s commitment to delivering quality in their product, but when entire print runs have issues, Im not sure that argument has water. The rush job of Prizm WWE likely had huge impact on these things, and with other sets still pending from mid 2021, it could be impossible to reprint or correct without throwing a wrench in the rest of the calendar. Being that Panini sees that millions of dollars is on the line with delivering their backlog, certain aspects of the business are facing a “damned if you do and damned if you dont” scenario.

With that scenario in place, there remains a bunch of questions about how Panini could let it get to this point with so much growth in the market over the last few years. The answer likely hinges on a few levers, and one of them is profit margin, or the fact that these things sell out despite the issues. The second is that this has been their business model since the beginning. I have said a ton of horrible things about Panini over the years, and many of them are echoed by many other collectors who feel the same way. The fact of the matter is that to the customer – it seems as though the corporate policy is to only spend money on things that make money, instead of providing a better overall experience for their customer across all aspects of their engagement.

Given the resources that Panini has acquired through the boom, hiring more people to make the ship run should have been a huge focus in a very public way. If the business wants to keep that planning private, then the actions should speak for the plan. I have seen no indication on social media that any positive impact has been achieved, and because of the sales volume, they might not see a need to address it.

Many corporations use this model to success, but they are also the businesses with the lowest brand loyalty numbers, and lowest net promoter scores around. Comcast should come to mind immediately, as should EA games, and things like airlines. Businesses that only try to add profit by adding to sales, rather than loyalty and experience driving more sales per customer.

We have already seen heavy indicators that the hobby market trajectory has started to trend downwards, and Panini also knows that come 2026, everything goes away. Thanks to Fanatics, Panini has seen a bleak license-less future in the major sports, and could be doing everything in their power to build as much of a war chest as they can before they are forced to the curb. However, with downturns in process, they might see this approach come back to bite them.

Factory Blemishes

Usually when someone buys a couch and it has a tear in the fabric, the company will do something to help the customer get full value for their purchase. Here, that isnt and hasnt been the case. I have already heard of major pulls from the product not being able to make even a raw equivalent grade due to problems with dents, scratches, and other defects to the cards, and that is a huge problem.

Imagine pulling a five figure card, only to see it cant achieve its full value potential because it isnt able to hit the stupid grading standards set by the hobby’s secondary market. Its like buying a luxury car and seeing that there are paint defects all around it as you leave the lot.

This goes back to customer service, which I know many people have tried to engage with as they find these issues in the wild. It has caused a huge amount of anger and frustration, and so far nothing has come of it, because as described above, what can come of it with no ability to reprint or fix a card? Similarly, there is no guarantee of condition out of the pack, so no real responsibility to address the issue.

The funny thing is, Panini has offered graded cards in a packed out product before, and their relationship with the grading companies is deep rooted. Every person in their product development is quite aware of the importance here, but might be powerless to fix it. That situation, in itself, is a gigantic problem for their employees and their company.

Upside Down Stickers

I love autographs, and over the last 15 years, I have come to tolerate the need for stickers to make autographed trading cards. Production timelines are tight, flexibility is needed, and subjects are notoriously hard to deal with. If I have an opportunity to choose hard signed autographs over stickers, I always choose hard signed. Most people do.

Prizm was subject to a license that began 4 months before release, and a history of sticker autographs across its run. Similarly, Prizm has never been about the autos, so Panini rarely saw it as a focus area for improvement. What they didnt understand was how dependent on autograph cards the WWE market remains to be, and the lack of hard signed cards has been a problem for a landmark set like this.

Even more problematic is multiple examples of upside down stickers on cards, or autographs signed in a foreign language that requires a vertical reading path. If the autographs were truly meant to be a focus, these things wouldnt be a problem.

Examples include Asuka, Sheamus and Xia Li, all of whose stickers arent applied correctly, or cant be applied correctly. This takes away from the value of the card, and highlights the success Topps had building WWE products for decades. Since 2018, Topps has switched from a sticker focused autograph presentation to almost entirely on card, and the market has reacted kindly. We will have to see how this plays out in future WWE products, but right now, its a big question mark.

Impact of the Problem

Right now, Prizm WWE has shown to be one of the most top heavy products ever made. The biggest hits in the product are breaking sales records left and right, while the rest of the checklist holds onto its value with a flimsy disposition. Unfortunately, with challenges adding fuel to the fire around condition and other controllable mistakes, values have continued to come up short on cards that should be more expensive.

The impact is huge, because comp related dominoes fall differently according to sales done on the tentpole cards holding up a set, and these issues documented above can have long lasting impact for many cards that should be more valuable.

When wax is as expensive as it is, customers expect a certain delivery of value. Instead they are treated with factory problems, no customer service presence, and many mistakes that could have been avoided. Its not a good foot to start on.

My Sleeper Picks for WWE Prizm Deal Hunting

Like I have done over the last few months, I have started building stashes of some superstars that I feel are flying under the radar a bit. Because of the top heavy nature of the product, there are an absolute shit ton of great deals that can be had for very affordable prices regardless of your budget. I want to spend a bit of time walking through the people I have been targeting, as well as some I am planning on going after. We all want to get the Rock and Bron Breakker, but there are so many other people who deserve the love.

Trish Stratus and Lita

As important as the women have become to WWE’s success, it wouldnt have been possible without both Trish and Lita’s contribution during the end of the attitude era and throughout the reality era. I have picked up some of the higher numbered parallels of both, with Blue, Purple and Orange still being very inexpensive compared to similar stars on the same level. Both have autographs in the product, but picking up a blue for 10-20 bucks seems like a no-brainer.

Carmelo Hayes

Right now, Bron Breakker is the rookie of choice for this product, but I am loving Carmelo Hayes on NXT 2.0. His first cards are right here, and as he always says, Melo dont miss. Unlike some of the other people on this list who have already carved out their legacy, he has yet to really get established in any real form to understand what his long term trajectory will be like. As with every member of the developmental roster, risk is heavily assumed. I think this guy has the tools to be successful anywhere.

Walter/Gunther

When it comes to the black and gold era of NXT and NXT UK, I literally made an appointment to watch every Walter match. He is a monster of a man, and he wrestles with such a style that really isnt present in the WWE system, outside of some of what Drew McIntyre and Sheamus are doing right now. I have bought a few of his cards just because I love his character and presentation, but I seriously think he has some potential to be a long time top of the card heel in the near future. His cards are cheap still, but in terms of a long term hold, Im in. The name change sucks, but it wont even be a thought long term.

Asuka

What is not to love about her? Not only has she accomplished everything there is to accomplish in WWE, but her colorful personality and impeccable work in the ring should have gotten her a lot more. After being injured at Money in the Bank last year, she is finally back, and I cannot be more happy. Her cards have already jumped since the return, but her Prizm stuff is still pretty easy to come by. I wish there was a color blast for her, but maybe we can get it year two. The only drawback to Asuka is that she is already an older star at 40 years old, but as we have seen, age is just a number with her. She hasnt shown it at all.

Rhea Ripley

For someone that has had as much success so early in her career, Rhea Ripley has cooled off a bit with collectors mainly due to the amount of cards she has had in recent products. She is under 25 and already working like a top star, about to open up a new persona as a top heel under Becky Lynch on RAW. While prepping for this run, Rhea has been stuck in tag division obscurity, but I feel like she is about to explode. Ive been picking up her stuff for a while, and her Prizm stuff is no exception. Mark my words, she will be an all timer when it is all said and done.

Seth Rollins

Its hard to put the drip god on this list, because he has been creeping up in value since the beginning of the modern boom. That being said, his cards are still dirt fucking cheap for someone who has been setting the tone for WWE success since 2013. They have purposefully kept him away from a title reign of any sort to ensure he had time to redefine his presence, but I fully expect the story is there for him to take one of the belts off Roman if they want to build to that. Even without another title run, Rollins has already done more on the biggest stage than most of the major prospects driving value in this set. Invest in the visionary!

Austin Theory

Lets lay out the last few months of what Austin Theory has accomplished. Featured with Vince McMahon on TV? Check. Won a US Title? Check. Stunned by Steve Austin at WM after a featured match? Check. This kid is getting the treatment, and I am excited for his future. Although he might actually be the most expensive star on this list, its worth a look to see if you can get some deals on his Prizm parallels. He is as young as Rhea Ripley is, and just set the record for the youngest US title holder in WWE history. If you arent paying attention to him yet, you should be.

Drew McIntyre

Like Rollins, I feel like McIntyre has gotten lost in the shuffle with collectors. He has accomplished a lot, and is still young enough to really make a huge push towards a stint in the main event again. Like Asuka, McIntyre did what he could to carry things through the thunderdome era, but once in front of crowds again, he has been tangled up lower down the card with people not on his level. A rumored push to work with Roman has been everywhere, and I feel as soon as this week we could see him get a shot. His cards are affordable for any collector, and he deserves a lot more value across the board.

If you are one of those collectors that is still ringing the bell around Prizm not being something that everyone can participate in, you are not seeing the massive opportunity to get involved with some of the people on this list, plus others. Sure, Roman Reigns is expensive as hell, but the investment potential in other superstars dwarfs the fun factor of wheeling and dealing with this level of stuff. Just keeping your ear to the ground and following the dirt sheets can give some key indicators on who is next to get the rocket strapped to their back. Prizm provides so many new ways to engage with Wrestling cards, and I have had an absolute blast working in a new environment. Hopefully others have as well.

My Terrible Experience With the eBay Authenticity Program

If you have been a part of the crowd buying and selling on eBay lately, you have likely run into the new program that accompanies all raw cards in the trading card category. Basically, for all unsigned raw cards above 250 dollars in value to be shipped to the customer, it is now required to go through a verification process that checks that the item is authentic and that the “item matches description.” I want to go through a few points of the reasons why this program was created, and why it is responsible for one of the most frustrating experiences I have had buying and selling online.

Background

For those unfamiliar, the program was created to try to limit fraud within the category. Two things were happening: too many cards were being sold as real that weren’t, and sellers were often caught in difficult situations where returns were being completed over cards that didnt match a buyer’s desired perfect grading condition. As a result, both buyers and sellers were leaving eBay, especially for high dollar items, to go to other platforms. This had never really been a thing until the recent boom, so its not a shock that this program was created to help curb that loss.

It had also been done in shoes and handbags with some level of success, but with cards, it presents a whole different level of challenges that I doubt eBay really thought about. Their goal was not to ensure their customers received authentic goods that matched descriptions, no. They are a business and they wanted to make sure their revenue on completed sales was protected. Too many times the final value fees of a trading card would be lost over cases opened revealed fraudulent items, or returns were opened because a card wasnt a PSA 10. Instead of approaching this realistically, sweeping changes were instituted based on a process from other sales categories.

For vintage cards and cards that are frequently the victim of fakes, the program makes a lot of sense. Because cards have become some of the most valuable collectibles on the planet, scammers have made it a frequent target. The one place this program succeeds is preventing all those fakes from entering the market.

How it Works

Basically, a seller posts an item with certain identifiers and pricing. It triggers a set of circumstances in the application that automatically forces the item to go to the hub. This intake is run by a grading company that is supposed to review two things – authenticity and description of the item. When the item is won, the seller ships to the intake, where in a day or two it is authenticated or denied. If authenticated, the hub ships to the buyer. If denied, it goes back to the seller and the buyer is given a refund automatically.

There is no way to challenge the ruling, and the buyer has no input in the process. There is no opt out, and there is no way to reverse a claim if an item is declined or approved. Similarly, there are no returns if the item is approved and sent to the buyer. They cannot do anything to overturn the sale, and I have not yet heard about what happens if the item is damaged post authentication.

This creates a huge set of challenges on both ends of the process, including added shipping time, and potential negative feedback if the buyer wants to challenge the rulings. Sellers can also get around the program by listing in alternate categories, or adding terms to the description. Its a complete shit show that only impacts the buyers and sellers who arent savvy enough to figure out how to game the system.

My Experience

Ive had a few cards go through this program in which condition was not important to me. They were RARE PC cards that I wasnt planning on grading. Unlike most of the hobby, I think grading is a scam and have no desire to get involved. Because I am in the minority there, Im still subject to a program that is designed to curb people playing the myriad of scams that have become a standard.

One card made it to the program, was authenticated and sent to me without an issue. The extra delays in shipping were annoying, but I didnt care as long as it got to me and wasnt destroyed. Unfortunately the second time wasnt as helpful.

I won a Becky Lynch color blast in an auction for a price that was WELL above the threshold for this program. I knew the program would be a factor here, but never thought it would work against me. The seller had a ton of good feedback and the card looked clean. These cards are exceptionally expensive and exceptionally hard to get, so I just wanted to check this one off my target list. The card was shipped same day and arrived at the hub. A day later, I got an email saying that my card didnt pass authentication, with very little explanation. I was ready to flip over a table.

Not only was I going to miss out on this card, but I would now have to find another one, and it was for a reason that I absolutely didnt care about. In getting a more detailed description of the process, no real understanding was conveyed. All it provided was that something in the item page didnt match up with what they reviewed, so it was declined.

Obviously, the first thing I did was contact the seller. They didnt respond. I contacted eBay, and they didnt really give me much option in overturning their decision. As a result of this stupid fucking program, I am out a huge PC card, and there is nothing I can do about it without the seller cooperating. Because they didnt respond to my messages, its over.

What Can Be Done?

If eBay’s goal is truly to avoid fraud in selling fake cards and buyer’s remorse leading to returns on cards that dont meat the hyper-mint condition standards created by the grading companies, they need to be more in tune with how this business actually works. This means pre-auction reviews instead of post auction reviews, and more escrow style transactions where items and money are held with clear expectations and a way for the two parties to agree on outcomes.

Ebay has already shown that they want to invest more in their sports card business, offering vault services coming up, and likely expanding this program to include every card sold on their platform. There is a business growth model for the grading companies involved in it too, mainly because so many cards are involved here.

So far, this is a free service that is granted to both buyer and seller. I doubt that continues to be a cost free venture. If there is money to be made in making the involved parties pay for the service as a captive audience, a corporate entity beholden to its shareholders will have to take advantage of it.

With the trading card boom still in full effect, I doubt the flow of cards will slow down anytime soon. Even before the boom, cards and sports collectibles made up a huge portion of revenue on eBay. That wont change even if things shrink a bit closer to where it was before 2020.

In the end, there needs to be risk avoidance for eBay, and that means some sort of opt out with consequences. Basically buyers and sellers can opt out of the program, but they will need to give something in return. Likely buyers giving up their right to return an item and leave negative feedback, something that will give eBay what they need, and sellers still get their sales.

The program is just going to get bigger and bigger, and the one place I hope it expands to is autographs, where its clear that there is a gigantic problem of sellers forging autographs on items and selling without repercussions. Like I said, if eBay truly had the interest of the collector at heart, they would really double down instead of this type of cop out solution.

Looking at the WWE Prizm Secondary Market Sales Strategy

As much as I would love to focus on the good for all the records that have been set for the debut release of WWE Prizm, unfortunately there are a lot of problems with the way it is performing on the secondary market. We have seen huge, gigantic, enormous sales at the top end of this release, but as I have mentioned multiple times, the stuff on the bottom tiers of this set have settled hard. There are a few reasons for this, and most of them are pretty typical of every Prizm set across every major sport it has been released in. Its time to walk through some of these situations.

Market Population Makeup

WWE is still very much a niche market, and unlike the NBA and NFL, there isnt a built in population of hundreds of thousands of people that are invested across all aspects of the spectrum. Usually, there are a few levels to a Prizm release, and all of them drive specific facets of the secondary sales we see on eBay.

First, there are the high end investors, who chase the top cards of the top players. They will use apps like CardLadder, SlabStox and other platforms to determine the best places to buy and when to buy them. Most of them will buy cards they have targeted for each previous year, and prospect on a few rookies. Then there are the mid tier collectors and flippers who want to get some of the stars of the set, grade them and flip them for a profit. They target specific types of cards that they can get at a reasonable price, and can use the graded card market to make money. Then there are the set collectors – the people who go through each year and buy cards to tick off their sheet. Believe it or not, the sets drive a huge portion of low end business in each release, something that even a market explosion couldnt destroy.

Because each of these market segments have built an ecosystem, its easy to see where each Prizm year has been ultimately successful to a vast degree. Right now, Wrestling has none of that built, and many of the previous market has been so angry with the increase in wax prices, they havent even bothered to see how easy it is to find deals for the people that they collect. Some have already started to come back to the fold, as the secondary market takes shape, pushing autograph cards higher in value than they usually are selling for in other sports.

Selling the Top Tier Cards in the Product

Example Names: The Rock, Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan

Parts of the Product: Gold /10, Black 1/1, Color Blast, FOTL exclusives, Sparkle Exclusives

If we want a representation of where Prizm WWE has been the most successful, its at the top end of the scale, with so many of the big named stars selling for vast sums of money. We have already seen more five figure sales in this product than in any other modern product in WWE history. For a pack pulled raw card, that can likely be extended to ever in the history of wrestling.

Most of the main investors in the product have come in from other sports with lots of weight to throw around in a burgeoning space with very little competition. As I have said on a few podcasts recently, it can take as little as 100k to really tip some dominoes in this dark corner of the hobby.

So far, we havent seen the main cards hit the market in any real way that makes sense, and that’s because there is a tried and true method for selling the top cards in a Prizm set. Rip the wax, assess the cards, grade the big ones and send it to an auction house, or try your luck on eBay. Selling big cards in an auction format on eBay probably isnt the best way to do it, especially if they are raw examples. As much as I hate grading, its almost a necessity with any chrome stock product. Because people are still so unsure of what is going on with WWE, the desire to wait out a PSA sub isnt as prevalent as it would be with NBA.

As a result, we have seen some of the major cards sell raw for giant prices, but likely not the full realized value until they are graded. I hate grading, and I feel like a dirty bastard telling people to grade cards, but the pragmatist in me is unable to avoid this part of the equation.

For those that are unsure of how to approach a card in this section, ask someone who knows what they are doing. Most of the breakers who pull these cards have rarely done wrestling and will not have good info to provide. If I pulled a major card like this, I would grade it through one of the major hubs, and start looking on instagram for people who have a ton of high end wrestling stuff on their page. I would send them messages and ask if they know anyone in the market. Then start selling my ass off. If that didnt work, I would approach an auction house to see what some of the appraisals might look like through a place like Goldin, Heritage or a similarly important hobby platform. In the meantime, I would have the card up on eBay with a vastly overinflated BIN and take offers from anyone who sees it posted.

At no point would I trust an auction to sell a card that could be five figures. Its a good way to lose an absolute ton of money. People rarely have the opportunity to sell a card like this, and most are unprepared or underprepared. They post it with a stupid low BIN because they dont know what they had, or they post it for auction because they want their money now. Sometimes it pays to be patient, sometimes to the tune of thousands of dollars. Avoiding eBay auction style listings is going to be a common theme here, so just be expecting that.

Selling the Mid Tier Cards in the Product

Example Names: Triple H, Brock Lesnar, Sasha Banks

Parts of the Product: Retail big hits, Mojo /25, White Sparkle, Big Star Orange and below

This is where things have really gotten depressing, mainly because the way people are going about these sales is not helpful to setting a market floor to prop up values, or positioning a sale to get back the most money. Prizm auctions have been poorly titled, poorly photographed, and ended at some awful times of the day. As a rule of thumb, ending auctions in the middle of the night or early in the morning is a terrible idea. Even worse, ending them at a time where a ton of other stuff is ending is a bad idea as well. Sadly, that’s exactly what has happened.

Because Wrestling has been featured with many mainstream breakers and mid tier breakers en masse for the first time, there are a lot of people buying in who were only chasing cards in the section above. It leaves a lot of credit card bills to be paid, and a lot of singles to unload. This has led to 17,000 auction style listings to be done within the first 3 weeks of the product release. You can imagine, this probably isnt the best course of action with a market that has yet to be established for a debut brand.

This begs the question of what to do with cards that arent going to bring the same type of attention that the top card will bring, and how to go about selling them to avoid a huge dip. Honestly, the best thing to do right now is hold. There are too many cards being unloaded for nothing right now, and that will slow down now that the breakers have moved onto the next releases.

Another big issue is that grading costs are exceptionally high right now, to boot. Despite GIANT conflicts of interest in the entirety of the grading business model (go search at the top if you need a refresher), the hobby responds much more appropriately to graded card examples versus raw cards. Its a shitty fact of life for most of the market right now. This means that all the cards that would have likely been graded and sold in the past are now in a weird limbo zone that is hard to navigate.

If I had one of these cards to sell, something I will have to consider in the future, the key here is to avoid dumping them in an auction, grade them if you can, and sit on the market until it shakes out a bit more. Not everyone has this luxury, but if you can find a way to make it through the next few months, a lot of this bulk action will be done, and there will be a much more open spot to unload.

Selling Everything Else

Example Names: Low Tier WWE stars that are not in any storyline on TV

Part of the Product: ANY unnumbered Prizm cards, high numbered parallels of those stars

This is where Panini’s business model rears its ugly head. Unlike Topps, who has printed to order before things exploded, Panini has made it a point to capitalize on the popularity of their products and run presses to exploit the demand. That means that unnumbered cards can be printed to the moon, and there is no way to get a sense of how many actually exist at any time. More importantly, with a market settling the way this has been settling, these bulk cards are a dime a dozen.

For people ripping cases of Prizm, most of these cards just need to go somewhere, so they will end up dumped on eBay or sent to COMC to unload. With every set, these types of cards always drop in value, mainly because they keep showing up. There is no limit to how they go about being obtained, and there are set collectors that will build sets if things are cheap enough.

Most of us that have done any sort of engagement with Prizm wax are likely inundated with these types of cards, which include some lower numbered parallels of people that probably shouldnt have been on this checklist. Prizm has a giant list of cards included there, and it has highlighted why Topps usually avoided doing things this big.

I have actually added search terms to my saved eBay searches to avoid even seeing the bulk show up, and I assume most of the other investors have done the same long before I did. If there are people who bought in hard here, Im sorry for your loss. Its not going to get much better. Remember when the Silvers were valuable in a Prizm set? Pepperidge Farms remembers.

Understanding Where to Invest

Right now, I have been targeting very specific areas of Prizm to spend money, because there are some amazing opportunities I see with cards that are not going into my PC. I like what I am seeing on a few things, but overall, Prizm is an investor’s set. Here is where I am seeing the best places to drop a bit of money. Of course, this is just my opinion, and it should be taken as that.

As things slow down in the middle part of Prizm, I have already seen specific things starting to bounce back from the dip. Oranges are the poor man’s golds, as I have found out, and many of them are still taking in some nice values, even when sold in a stupid manner. Similarly the Blue parallels are really nice looking with the royal border, and with most of the Smackdown superstars using this color pallet for their gear, it usually looks pretty cool. Most of the major stars of today’s era can be had for cheap, and I have found myself buying them in bulk.

I have also put a huge focus on those transcendent stars that have crossed over to other areas of entertainment, as well as accomplished champions who will be a focus for years to come on the TV products. People like John Cena, Batista, Brock Lesnar, Trish Stratus, Charlotte Flair and AJ Styles. I would love to go after Steve Austin and the Rock, but they are still too high to fall into my range.

Lastly, I love rookies and exploding stars, and guys like Carmelo Hayes and Walter (now Gunther) have been some of my top targets. I would put Bron Breakker on this list too, but like Rock and Austin, he is out of my range for this project.

If you want to go back and look at some of the other stuff I have written about Prizm, I discuss some of the things to look for pretty frequently. Big sales of top tier cards can start frenzies of FOMO in the hobby so be ready to rock when that happens. Other than that, just keep your eyes open and always have an exit strategy. There is still a ton of fun left to be had in Prizm, and hopefully it starts sooner rather than later.