You might think of them as a place to buy books, music or maybe a gift for your Aunt Jane but some collectors have discovered that buying sports cards on Amazon (and other sports memorabilia) is a viable option with some benefits.
Some of the biggest sports card dealers in North America have their inventory on the website, but so do thousands of other sports memorabilia dealers, big and small. Amazon also has a partnership with sites like COMC, offering access to millions of items.
A few years ago, Amazon ramped up its commitment to the sports collectible market. The company has been a sponsor at the National Sports Collectors Convention, taking a more active role than eBay. A few years ago, it launched its Sports Collectibles section, which encompasses everything from the newest unopened boxes to autographed memorabilia to ticket stubs.
If you are a sports card collector, it’s just one click to the Trading Cards category, which offers over 12 million single sports cards for sale, more than 96,000 complete sets (including many team sets), nearly 4,000 hobby and retail boxes and over 3,000 lots. Amazon offers a very attractive and graphically enhanced organizational breakdown there that allows you to immediately shop for graded cards, vintage, factory sets, inserts or rookie cards. You can refine by year, by sport, by team (very useful for team collectors) and use other filters as well.
Amazon has added thousands of private dealers, some of whom actually prefer to sell there over eBay so the selection of cards is very broad. You can find out about selling on Amazon here (there are requirements).
Some cards purchased through Amazon are eligible for free shipping through Prime, a subscription service that carries multiple benefits including video downloads. They typically offer a free 30-day trial period, which can help you determine whether it’s worth it. One thing Amazon is very good at is efficient shipping. They generally hold sellers to a high standard and items bought through Amazon will likely ship very, very fast thanks to their massive and widespread distribution center facilities.
Also note that Amazon listings also offer the option for buyers to rate a product, which can be especially helpful when buying sports card boxes. You can also help others find a lower price on an item through Amazon’s rating system.
While the site may not be as user friendly as eBay in some respects, using the search bar at the top of the page should help you find exactly what you’re looking for. If you haven’t been to the site searching for cards, supplies, autographed memorabilia or anything else sports collectible-related, it’s probably worth exploring.
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