Baseball card shops: Dedicated baseball card shops are probably the best place to find the widest selection of cards. These shops focus exclusively on buying, selling, trading, and collecting baseball cards. They’ll have cards from the current season all the way back to the very first issued baseball cards from the late 1800s. Serious card shops will be organized by sport, team, player, year, and set to make browsing large collections easy. Many will also offer supplies for storing, organizing, and protecting card collections. Local card shops can be found in most cities, and there are also large regional and national card shop chains.
Sport card shows/conventions: Periodically throughout the year, typically on weekends, large sport card shows are held where dozens or even hundreds of vendors rent tables to sell cards. These shows are great places to spend a day browsing thousands of cards under one roof from many different sellers. Vendors may haveCommons, stars, memorabilia cards, autographed cards, and more. Prices can range from pennies to thousands depending on how rare a card is. Show schedules can be found online. Major cities often host larger annual conventions that are essentially just very large card shows.
Online sports auction sites: Websites like eBay allows anyone to sell cards they have listed in online auctions. This opens up the potential buyer pool to a huge international audience. On eBay, you’ll find commons, stars, memorabilia, autograph cards, complete sets, and more – often at competitive auction prices. Make sure to check seller feedback. Some other card auction sites include HeritageAuctions.com and Lelands.com.
Big box retailers: Larger retailers like Target and Walmart usually carry some supply of baseball card packs, boxes, and occasionally loose packs in their toy aisles. These will include only the most recent few years of cards from the Topps flagship set. Prices tend to be a bit higher than at dedicated card shops.
Online card shops: Fully online shops like DaMgmTradingCards.com, SteelCityCollectibles.com, BlowoutCards.com sell cards. Selections rival local card shops with thousands of cards searchable online. Shipping cards safely is an important skill for online sellers. Reputable ones offer grading service authentication too.
Peer-to-peer sites: Sites like Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, Letgo and Craigslist allow anyone locally to sell cards they have. Selection is random based on users in the area. Meeting in public, bringing a friend, and checking condition closely is advised for safety when purchasing from individuals.
Card shows, online auctions sites, and dedicated shops will offer the widest selections across all price points. Local card shops offer convenience for handling and researching cards in-person before purchase which beginners may prefer. Web stores have huge searchable inventories but require shipping. With ample research into sellers, any of these can become a baseball card buyer’s first stop.
