The market doesn't reward truth, it rewards timing.

In this episode of Slabnomics, I break down the concept of DEMAND WINDOWS and why understanding the direction of capital flow is the key to profiting in sports cards in 2026.

Key insights from this episode:
→ Why "a rising tide lifts all boats" is WRONG for card investing
→ The supply absorption capacity concept explained
→ Sport-by-sport breakdown: Soccer, Basketball, Football, Baseball, Pokémon
→ Why vintage Pokémon acts like bonds in your portfolio
→ The "Studs and Duds" strategy for 2026
→ My 4-question checklist before ANY purchase

This episode builds on last week's State of the Hobby data analysis—now with actionable strategies you can implement immediately.

📊 THE CHECKLIST (from this episode):
1. What tier is this card in?
2. What direction is demand flowing in this market?
3. Has this tier received capital or is it waiting?
4. Am I positioned ahead of the flow or behind it?

🔗 CONNECT:
Instagram: @slabnomics

Website: Slabnomics.com
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State of the Hobby 2025

Everyone keeps saying this is 2021 again. They're wrong. And if you're positioning like it's 2021, you're going to get hurt. 

I spent weeks treating the card market like an equity analyst treats a stock: pulling index data, PSA submission numbers from SEC filings, volume metrics by price tier. What I found changed how I'm positioning for 2026. 

In this episode: THE CORE INSIGHT, THE PSA PROOF, THE DEMAND SHIFT, CATEGORY BREAKDOWN (by sport+Pokemon), THE BILLIONAIRE SIGNAL, MY POSITIONING

Website: Slabnomics.com
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PSA has officially acquired Beckett, and this is more than breaking news. It’s a structural shift in the sports card market.

In this episode of Slabnomics, we break down what the PSA–Beckett acquisition actually means for collectors, investors, and flippers. We zoom out to examine where we are in the market cycle, explain why this moment signals consolidation, and then zoom all the way in to the microeconomics of cards and sets...the containers that ultimately determine long-term value.

This episode is designed to help you make better financial decisions in sports cards, not chase headlines.

🧠 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

🔹 PSA Buying Beckett and Why This Matters
🔹 Market Cycles Explained 

🔹 Why Consolidation Changes Everything

🔹 Sets as Market Containers (Micro View)

🔹 Who Wins During Consolidation

🔹 What to Avoid
 

🏆 Key Takeaway

Understanding where we are in the cycle helps you position ahead of the market instead of reacting after the fact.

Website: Slabnomics.com
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In this episode of Slabnomics, I’m joined by Tyler “T-Pott” Nethercott: Senior VP of Product at Sports Card Investor and one of the key minds behind the Market Movers app.

Tyler walks through his journey from banking, risk analysis, and SAP data projects into building one of the most important sports card data platforms in the hobby. From there, we dive deep into what actually separates successful investors and collectors from everyone else: critical thinking, probability, and good decision-making frameworks.

We talk about:

• The early days of Market Movers, beta testing, and building a massive card database
• Why critical thinking & problem solving beat “knowing every checklist”
• Using floor, ceiling, probability, and opportunity cost to guide card buys
• How Market Movers thinks about roadmapping, parity vs differentiation, and user feedback
• The future of AI, exploration, and augmented discovery in sports card apps
• How to find mispriced opportunities by understanding why certain cards are expensive and applying that logic to overlooked segments
• The difference between collecting what you like and investing in what others like and will like later

If you’re serious about sports card investing, want to get smarter with data and tools, or you’re curious how AI might change the way we search for and value cards, this conversation will give you a ton to think about.

This episode is for you if:

• You want to level up from beginner to intermediate (or beyond) in the hobby
• You care about sports cards as an alternative asset class
• You want frameworks, not just “buy this card” calls

Connect:

• Follow Tyler on YouTube: @MarketMovers
• Follow me and Tyler on Instagram: @Slabnomics, #drummondcardcollector
• Watch full episodes on YouTube: Slabnomics

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
• Share it with a friend who loves data, tools, and nerdy hobby talk

Whether you’re investing or collecting…
 Keep building.

Website: Slabnomics.com
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Over the last few episodes, I walked through my first full year of selling sports cards...my wins, my mistakes, and what I learned in buying, selling, and grading. Today is different. This one is slower, more reflective, and honestly one of the most important frameworks I’ve shared:

 How time actually works in the sports card market.

In this episode I cover:

• Market cycles & engineered scarcity
  • Why we’re living in an era of engineered scarcity
  • How Kabooms became the “reserve currency of flippers”
  • Why bull markets push money into SSPs and inserts… until liquidity tightens
• Risk-on vs risk-off and the flight to safety
  • What happens when geopolitical risk and macro events flip the switch
  • How smart money quietly rotates out of hype and into safer stores of value
  • Why modern parallels get hit first when the music stops
• The three time taxes on every card you buy
  1. Narrative decay – media hype, attention, and the slow fade when storylines die
  2. Opportunity cost – what you can’t buy because your money is stuck
  3. Liquidity risk – getting trapped in illiquid players, sets, or parallels
• Velocity of money vs “being right”
  • Why I’ll take 20% in two weeks over “maybe 100% in six months”
  • When it makes sense to break your own rules and let winners compound
  • How to recognize when an investment thesis is dead and it’s time to take the loss
• Using your 1,440 minutes like capital
  • Why time is your second balance sheet—right next to your cash
  • How to audit your strengths/weaknesses and build a trading journal
  • The system I use to log every purchase and sale, and find patterns in my own behavior
• Buying back your time with consignment

If you’ve ever:

• Sat on a cold prospect hoping “it gets back to what I paid”
• Felt stuck with cards you don’t love, but don’t want to lose on
• Wondered how to balance time, capital, and attention in this hobby

…this episode is meant to be a reset button.

Website: Slabnomics.com
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We wrap the mini-series with grading—the alchemy of the hobby when used correctly. I share the actual ledger: 1,127+ cards graded, $20K+ in fees/shipping, PSA (525 cards; ~$11.7K) and SGC (602 cards; ~$9.5K), and why I’d only re-submit ~21% (PSA) and ~17% (SGC) today. You’ll get a pre-grading checklist, a tier/upcharge strategy that protects cash flow, and post-mortems on failed CGC→PSA and BGS→PSA arbitrage.

You’ll learn

• When a card shouldn’t be graded 
• PSA vs SGC vs BGS vs CGC—where each fits now
• How to choose service tiers 
• Why speed can trump top-end value for flip cycles (compounding ROI)
• A practical pre-grading system 
• Why most crossovers disappoint
• The mindset shift: buy raw as if it stays raw; grading is bonus leverage, not a plan

Website: Slabnomics.com
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Following Part 1 (buying), this episode breaks down the sell-side of my first year—$98K on eBay—and the exact lessons that moved the needle: how to seed early feedback, how to structure PWE vs. bubble mailer shipping (and when to use non-machinable stamps), the true cost of fees & promoted listings, and a negotiation framework so you stop caving under pressure. We also cover budgets to avoid forced sales, when wax/singles make sense (rarely), and why multi-market selling unlocks faster exits.

You’ll learn

• A clean new-store launch checklist (so the algorithm finds you)
• Shipping by value: PWE under ~$20; bubble + guards over ~$20
• Fee math and when your target price needs ~20% headroom
• Boundaries & focus to raise ASP and reduce time drain
• A negotiation template (anchor, comps, “happy number,” walk-away)
• Budgeting to keep control of timing (no panic auctions)
• Wax vs. singles: patience, demand windows, and why most plays underperform
• Prospecting as a portfolio + buy/sell journaling
• Which marketplace fits which card (and why)

Key Takeaways

• Feedback first → visibility → sales velocity
• Right shipping method = higher margins + fewer headaches
• Model fees before listing; price to a happy number and stick to it
• Budgets protect you from selling at the wrong time
• Sell where the buyer already is (channel-card fit)

Website: Slabnomics.com
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In this opener to my “Year 1” mini-series, I break down everything I learned on the buy-side of the sports-card game—what worked, what wasted money, and how to buy with exits in mind. From the Spain/Messi spark to my first PSA submission (and why it lost), we cover pre-grading, avoiding “rarity for rarity’s sake,” the meaning of liquidity, negotiating bulk discounts, timing buys around seasonal cycles, and using hype as a catalyst—not a crutch.

You’ll learn

• Why pre-grading and note-keeping beat wishful thinking
• How to identify motivated sellers and structure bulk discounts
• A clean framework for liquidity-first buying (picture the exit)
• Seasonality: offseason entries → on-season exits
• The “Sleep On It” rule to avoid impulse buys

Key Takeaways

• Liquidity beats rarity: buy what you can actually sell
• Spend $3 on pre-grade to save $22 bad subs
• Bundle to capture extra 10–15% discount
• Sell into visibility; don’t chase the top
• Track predictions vs results—process compounds edge

Follow & Support

• Instagram: @slabnomics
• eBay: The_Canary_Cards
• YouTube: Slabnomics

Website: Slabnomics.com
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sourcing at the nucleus, grading for ROI, and dodging fakes.

I unpack the full playbook from my Barcelona trip to find Messi rookies: why Campió (Catalan) issues matter vs Campeón (Spanish), the true 71 Bis story (third-edition BIS replacement → lower print + set-builder demand), and how Europe’s historic grading friction (pre-PSA EU) created today’s raw opportunity. I walk through Facebook ad targeting (40–55 men), peñas/outreach, euro/Bizum constraints, Spain-specific negotiation dynamics, and a fake-spotting checklist (stock, color, honeycomb, album lines). Final haul: 30 Messi rookies; 21 submitted to PSA with conservative grade bands and clear ROI math. Four raws sold in 24 hours—why liquidity + velocity matter more than perfection.

What you’ll learn

• Messi rookie taxonomy: Campió vs Campeón, Mundicromo, Mega Cracks 71 Bis
• Why 71 Bis commands a premium (edition logic + set behavior)
• Field-tested fake detection & condition cheats (71 Bis vertical lines, Mundicromo centering, Barca edge flaking)
• PSA EU tailwinds & raw-to-graded arbitrage math
• Facebook customer-gen for vintage holders (copy, images, ranges)
• Negotiating in Spain: firm anchoring, when to walk, bulk structuring
• Cash, euros & Bizum realities for high-ticket deals
• Results: what I bought, what I passed on, expected grades, grading cost stack, quick flips

Timestamps
00:00 Thesis & timing
06:05 Rookie map (Campió/Campeón/Mundicromo/71 Bis)
13:10 Grading friction → opportunity
16:20 Lead gen (FB ads, peñas, kiosks, radio)
22:28 Payments, euros, Bizum limits
29:40 Negotiations that work in Spain
34:18 Fake-spotting checklist
43:15 Purchase breakdown & PSA plan
49:30 Fast flips, velocity, and next steps

Links / Mentions
– Shoutouts: Albert Pastor, Sebas (@gradingclub), Hooked on Soccer Cards, Sacc Cards
– Follow: @slabnomics • eBay: The_Canary_Cards

 Messi rookie, Mega Cracks 71 Bis, Campió, Campeón, Mundicromo, PSA grading, soccer cards, Barcelona, sports card investing, raw to graded, card flipping, population counts, fake detection, Facebook ads, World Cup 2026.

Hashtags
#Messi #SoccerCards #MegaCracks #PSA #CardInvesting #Barcelona #Slabnomics

Website: Slabnomics.com
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Welcome to Slabnomics, where we help sports card enthusiasts make better financial decisions about sports cards.

In this episode, host Matthew Worley sits down with Anthony from @Sacccards to talk about the soccer card market - Why this world cup is different from the last one held in America in 1994, what changes he sees as a coach and consultant for youth soccer, and how that meshes with his love of soccer card collecting.

They dive into:

• The pulse of the 2025 sports-card market
• Current misconceptions
• How this may be a black swan moment for the soccer card industry
• How far can USA go?
• A suprising prediction for the winner.

🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts:
 Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Buzzsprout

💬 Join the discussion:
 Instagram → @slabnomics

Guest → @sacccards

#SportsCards #CardInvesting #Slabnomics #Sacccards #PSA #CardShows #SportsCardMarket #Collecting #Investing #HobbyTalk #TradingCards #SportsCardPodcast

Website: Slabnomics.com
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