The 2018 baseball season brought with it a new crop of rookie cards, special inserts, and parallels to collect. With so many options on the market each year, it can be difficult to determine where to invest your money if you’re looking to build a collection or find deals. With a bit of research, collectors can take advantage of various promotions, product discounts, and secondary market deals to acquire 2018 baseball cards without breaking the bank.
Retailers like Target, Walmart, and hobby shops offered several 2018 baseball card products at affordable price points. The most accessible were likely Topps Series 1 and Series 2 hanger packs and blasters, which generally retailed between $5-15. These provided new collectors a fun, inexpensive way to accumulate base rookies and parallels of stars while experiencing the excitement of the pack-ripping hobby. Hanger packs in particular offered a good number of cards for the money.
For those looking to scratch the itch of a box break experience without the hefty box price, jumbo packs presented another budget-friendly option. Containing 30-50 cards apiece, jumbos from Topps, Panini, and Leaf delivered variety and chase hits at a lower per-card cost than traditional wax boxes. Promotions from sellers further reduced jumbo prices on release weekends.
Target frequently put Topps Series 1 and 2 blasters on clearance for $3-5 after a couple months on shelves. With patience, collectors could score these already-affordable products at a deep discount. Walmart also periodically marked down remaining 2018 stock. For those willing to hunt, clearance aisles provided opportunities to grab remaining stock of value packs and boxes for pennies on the dollar of original MSRP.
Online retailers offered even better deals if you kept an eye out. Sites like Steel City Collectibles, Blowout Cards, and DA Card World routinely ran promotions shaving 15-30% off MSRP during release windows. Subscribing to newsletters from these sellers ensured you didn’t miss out on flash sales and coupon codes. With free shipping included on most orders over $50, online shopping removed the temptation to overpay at local shops.
Breakers and group breaks on YouTube provided a fun, interactive way to acquire cards for a fraction of retail box costs. Sites like Blowout Cards hosted breaks with affordable spot prices, often $5-15 each. While you didn’t get to hand-pick your cards, breaks allowed accumulating a team’s or player’s entire rookie class and parallels for the cost of just a few packs. With popular breakers, the entertainment value outweighed the monetary investment.
The secondary market flourished with 2018 baseball cards as well. eBay remained a go-to for finding bargain bin singles, lots, and complete sets from releases like Topps Heritage, Stadium Club, and Allen & Ginter. With patience and savvy bidding, collectors acquired cards and sets for well under Beckett prices. Facebook trading groups also served as a forum to trade duplicates for needs or sell extras at fair secondary market values to recoup costs.
For investors, discount retail stores like Ollie’s and Big Lots periodically received shipments of overstocked wax boxes and jumbos from the prior year at deep discounts, 60-70% off MSRP. While you risked the boxes being picked through, diligent collectors occasionally found unsearched gems like autographed or numbered rookie parallels for a small fraction of PSA 10 pop report values.
Subscription services presented another cost-effective avenue, spreading the budget out over multiple monthly shipments. While the upfront costs seemed high, most offered generous bonuses, store credit, discounts on future subs, and the convenience of not having to hunt deals. Over the long run, subscription costs evened out or became a net savings versus buying retail.
For collectors on even tighter budgets, dollar stores stocked 2018 Topps Series 1 rack packs and Value Packs for a single dollar, providing five to ten cards each. Not the most exciting products, but they allowed accumulating affordable base rookies to fill out sets or trade. Combined with the many other discount sources, with patience and research collectors could build sizable 2018 collections without breaking the bank. The key was taking advantage of every promotional deal, clearance, and discount available across the various retail channels.
As cards from the 2018 season continue filtering onto the secondary market, more deals will surface in unexpected places. Keep an eye on auction sites like eBay for bargain lots and collections from sellers liquidating inventory. Sport lots provide value for pennies per card. Follow trading groups as members offload duplicates. Check local card shops for bargain bins, as over time, remaining stock gets marked down to move. With diligence, collectors can acquire desired 2018 rookies, stars, and inserts without paying peak retail prices. The deals are out there – it just takes some savvy shopping to uncover them.
