Welcome to the world’s largest sports card shop! You won’t find more cards available anywhere, and the competition helps keep prices down. Gone are the days of walking into a local card shop without an idea of what a card costs elsewhere. Shopping for card on eBay has become one of the main facets of building up a collection. 

We’re sharing some tried and true tips for shopping on eBay, so you can smartly improve your collection with the least amount of problems.

1. The “Watchlist” is Your Best Friend

When shopping for a specific card, you’ll ideally have some time to make your decision. If you need the card now, you’ll pay a premium. But if you can be patient, click the “Add to Watchlist” ❤️ button, which allows you to save it to a list to come back to when you are ready to buy. 

First, the “Watchlist” is nice for keeping track of your prospective cards so you don't forget about them. 

But second, the “Watchlist” informs the seller you are at least interested in the card – and a smart seller might reach out and offer you a discount to help you make that decision quicker than normal. Many sellers will send offers that are 10-to-20% off their original price, but the offer will only good for 48 hours, and will be sent out to all the people who added that card to their “Watchlist.” So, you’ll want to move fast if you do like the offer, or else you might lose it.

2. “Best Offer” Sales Means Discounts For You

Similar to receiving an offer is the ability to make an offer on card listings that show they’ll accept offers. If a seller allows for Best Offers on Buy It Now listings, you can assume they are willing to sell this card for an amount lower than the price they’ve listed. 

Don’t lowball them with an offer, or else they might choose not to sell to you at all, even if you are willing to pay a higher price. We recommend offering between 10 and 20% lower than the listed price. The seller will have 24 hours to accept, counter or decline the offer before it expires.

3. Look at Seller’s Feedback To Find Out Why It’s Not 100%

Some buyers refuse to buy from eBay sellers with feedback below 100%, but that could create an opportunity for you. If a seller has a high, five-digit number of sales, with negative feedback on only one or two transactions, then you should be able to feel comfortable shopping with them. 

Even if someone has just 200 sales, but they have a feedback score under 100%, check out the negative feedback to see if the reason for the less-than-perfect feedback matters for your shopping experience. People often submit negative feedback for reasons things that won’t affect you.

4. Target Auctions Ending at Weird Times

Sunday night seems to be the most competitive time for buying sports cards. It’s the end of the weekend, games are mostly completed, and people are ready to buy. That’s good for sellers, but bad for buyers. 

The patient buyer should target auctions ending at strange times, when there might not be a lot of competition fighting for that card. 

For instance, if you find a card with an auction ending Tuesday morning at 11am your time, you won’t be fighting with people who are stuck at work, in a meeting, or working on the road. 

5. Beware of Seller Tricks

Some sellers use unscrupulous tactics (shocker!), so be diligent before making a purchase. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Some sellers will list “reprint” cards at a price just below the true rookie card’s price, trying to trick you into purchasing a card that was printed decades after the original. (Look at the back of the card to see the copyright date to see when it was manufactured).

Other sellers will list a card as a rookie card, when it is actually their second-year card. Topps, for instance, prints All-Star Rookie Cups on the best rookies at their position the previous season. In some cases, it’s their rookie card, like Adley Rutschman. But in other cases, the player’s true rookie card might have been on a multi-player card featuring great prospects, like the 1963 Topps Pete Rose or the 1968 Topps Johnny Bench cards. Both players also have Topps All-Star Rookie Cup cards in 1964 and 1969 respectively. Those cards are amazing in their own right, but they shouldn’t draw the premium price as the true rookie cards.

Finally, beware of sellers listing “digital cards,” which look like an awesome real card, but aren’t. Digital cards have become a popular thing in the past few years, but they often just cause confusion for many eBay buyers. The seller will often just say “digital card” at the end of their listing’s title, so take notice!

Did we miss any tips for buying a card on eBay? Let us know in the comments!