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
🎥Youtube
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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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 We get tactical on where to sell (COMC/eBay/shows), how to negotiate, when grading pays, and building a seller’s system that wins in any market. Themes: liquidity > hype, plan the exit, cut losses, protect reputation.

Highlights:

• COMC flow vs. liquidity: when “no work” wins, when it doesn’t
• Negotiation that converts (and why “what’s your best?” kills deals)
• PSA strategy, turnaround math, and stacking velocity
• Rarity vs. demand: why some “rare” cards don’t move
• Timing catalysts (World Cup, case hits) and set premiums (Prizm/Flawless)
• The seller’s checklist: downside, upside, plan, buyer profile, exit

Guest: Trike Cards (IG@TrikeCards/Ebay: trikecards/YT:TRIKE Sports Cards)

Website: Slabnomics.com
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In this episode of Slabnomics, host Matt Worley breaks down one of the most misunderstood concepts in the hobby — liquidity — and why it separates collectors who profit from those who get stuck holding bags.

You’ll learn how market velocity, price discovery, and consolidation cycles drive card prices across every tier — from high-end grails to $20 slabs — and why understanding liquidity is the ultimate advantage for sports-card investors.

Matt explains how sales velocity, buyer pools, and timing exits determine whether your portfolio compounds or stalls, drawing parallels between the card market and financial market theory. If you’ve ever wondered when to sell, when to hold, and why the whales always move first, this episode is your blueprint.

Whether you trade soccer cards, football cards, basketball cards, or baseball cards, Slabnomics teaches you how to think like a market operator — not a speculator.

👉 Topics Covered:

• What liquidity really means in sports cards
• How high-end sales spark mid-tier and low-end market movement
• The link between sales velocity and compound returns
• Why consolidation is a natural part of every collector’s journey
• Frameworks for smarter buying and faster selling

🎧 Listen to Slabnomics — where collecting meets investing and market theory for the modern hobbyist.

Website: Slabnomics.com
🎥Youtube
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On this episode of Slabnomics, Matt sits down with Ryan Alford — serial entrepreneur, marketing titan, and host of “Right About Now” and the new “Trading Cards & Collectibles” podcast — to talk hobby growth, storytelling, and where the market is headed next.

🔑 What you’ll learn
• How a Walmart pack rip with his four sons pulled Ryan back into the hobby
• The attention economy: why “document, don’t overproduce” wins on YouTube/shorts
• Collecting vs. investing: intention, PC boxes, and building value on purpose
• Blue-ocean opportunities in storytelling (beyond comps and breaks)
• 12–24 month outlook: Fanatics/Topps vs. Panini licensing impacts on football, basketball, baseball (and how marketing changes demand)
• Teaching kids business through cards: e-commerce, content, and flipping fundamentals

🧩 Episode highlights
• Nostalgia + new money + family time = hobby tailwinds
• The real role of attention (and why the least-expected videos often pop)
• Why storytellers (not just breakers) will win the next wave
• Market structure matters: licensing, autographs, and league alignment
• Collect first, profit second — how to keep both lanes healthy

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro — who is Ryan Alford
0:54 Back into cards via a Walmart rip (family story)
3:21 First big hits 
5:00 Why it clicked now for the kids + business lessons
8:19 Macro tailwinds & mainstream attention
10:39 NFL chat + fandom
11:51 The attention economy explained (smartphone + 5G + platforms)
15:24 Creator reality: what actually breaks through
15:59 Why launch a hobby podcast (access + audience)
18:56 Authenticity over perfection
21:55 Storytelling as blue ocean in the hobby
24:49 Identity and collecting
26:56 Collecting vs. investing (intention matters)
31:28 Business lens: treating cards like a market you love
31:43 The next 1–2 years: Fanatics/Topps vs. Panini
35:49 Consumer outcomes & bigger players entering
36:42 Marketing: why Fanatics changes the game
37:58 Wrap + takeaways
38:25 Where to find Ryan
38:55 Sign-off

👤 Guest
Ryan Alford — @RyanAlford • RyanAlford.com
Podcasts: “Right About Now” (marketing/business) • “Trading Cards & Collectibles Podcast”

🎙️ Host
Matt (Slabnomics) — slabnomics.com • @Slabnomics across platforms

👇 Join the conversation
What’s your best family pack-rip memory — and are you collecting or investing this season (or both)? Drop it below and tell us why.

👍 If this helped: like, subscribe, and hit the bell.
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🎧 Listen on Apple/Spotify: search “Slabnomics”

Website: Slabnomics.com
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Slabnomics is here to help sports card enthusiasts make better financial decisions.

In this practical, numbers-first workshop, Matt breaks down how to evaluate cards using real comps, pop data, and market velocity—through the lens of the foundational 2014 Panini World Cup Prizm set. We compare soccer vs. football Prizm set values, dissect the Messi/Ronaldo “Matchups” grails, and map how domino sales (Fanatics Collect, eBay, Goldin) become forward indicators for the next leg up.

What you’ll learn

• Set-level valuation: Why 2014 WC Prizm’s total auction value outpaces 2012 Prizm Football—and what a “top-heavy” soccer market really means.
• Card-level pricing logic: How silver, blue, red, and unnumbered Pulsars behave across Messi, Ronaldo, and Matchups—including why Matchups silvers command a monster premium.
• Population + rarity effects: How PSA pop growth (e.g., Messi silver 10s 21 → 39) changes pricing power and where scarcity still bites (e.g., Matchups red /149 with ~12% gem rate).
• Forecasting with comps: Using anchor comps (2020–2022) + soccer index levels to normalize time periods and project next sales (e.g., Messi Silver PSA 10, Matchups PSA 10s).
• Bubbles vs. tailwinds: Why today’s run-up is not COVID 2.0—and how World Cup demand + Fanatics era liquidity filter down from whales to the rest of the market.
• Practical buy/sell timing: Which signals to watch (domino auctions, pop stability, color-match premiums) and why liquidity windows beat “top-tick” fantasies.

Chapters

00:00 Intro: Why a practical valuation workshop
 02:10 How to navigate PSA set pages to assess full-set value
05:12 2014 WC Prizm vs 2012 Prizm Football (total auction value shocker)
08:30 Building the Messi/Ronaldo/Matchups spreadsheet (silvers, blues, reds, Pulsars)
14:20 Silver PSA 10s: $34k Matchups vs $17k Messi vs $7.2k Ronaldo (timing-adjusted)
19:45 Pop growth & rarity: why some 2021 comps look “off” (and how to normalize)
24:10 Live indicators: Fanatics Collect Messi Silver 10; Goldin Matchups silver/red
30:05 Bubble talk vs sector tailwinds (World Cup, Fanatics, whales → mid-tier)
36:20 Playbook: spotting the next domino and managing exits
41:30 Recap + where Slabnomics is taking this (site + tools)

Tools & sources referenced

• PSA population + set pages for total auction value
• Card Ladder index levels for time normalization
• Fanatics Collect / Goldin / eBay for live comps
• GemRate for pop-growth context

Who this is for

Collectors and investors who want data-driven conviction on soccer’s flagship set; anyone deciding between holding grails vs. compounding velocity in the Fanatics era.

Call to action

• Join the Slabnomics waitlist for the spreadsheet + ongoing dashboards: Slabnomics.com
• Subscribe for surprise drops and follow-up comp breakdowns
• Instagram: @slabnomics 

2014 Panini Prizm World Cup, Messi Ronaldo Matchups, Messi Silver PSA 10, Ronaldo Silver PSA 10, 2012 Prizm Football set value, PSA population report, GemRate pop growth, Card Ladder index, Fanatics Collect auction, Goldin Auctions, soccer card market 2025, monetary velocity cards, color-match premium, numbered parallels, Pulsar / Blue / Red Prizm.

Website: Slabnomics.com
🎥Youtube
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In this episode of Slabnomics, Matt sits down with Raul Bustamante — better known as Stockn_Trade on Instagram — to talk about sports cards, content creation, and the evolving market. Raul shares how his background as an actor helped him bring authenticity and humor into the hobby, why being yourself always wins against the algorithm, and how he went from collecting baseball and basketball to diving headfirst into soccer cards.

We explore:

• Raul’s content journey, from COVID hobbyist to one of Instagram’s most creative voices in the card world.
• The importance of authenticity in content and collecting, and why younger audiences spot fakes instantly.
• The rise of soccer cards, Erling Haaland’s “Shaquille O’Neal effect,” and how market cycles around the World Cup create unique buying and selling opportunities.
• Insights into the delicate ecosystem of the hobby — collectors, flippers, breakers, and repacks all playing vital roles.
• Why timing, liquidity, and strategy matter more than hype when navigating card markets across sports.

If you’re a collector, flipper, or creator looking to grow in the hobby, this episode is packed with lessons on authenticity, market cycles, and building content that resonates.

👉 Follow Raul on Instagram & TikTok: @stockn_trade
👉 Subscribe for more episodes of Slabnomics covering sports cards, investing, and market psychology.

sports cards podcast, soccer cards, Erling Haaland cards, Messi rookie, sports card investing, content creation tips, Instagram sports card creators, StockN_Trade interview, card market cycles, World Cup card investing, Raul Bustamante

Website: Slabnomics.com
🎥Youtube
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How Scarcity, Timing, and Community Built an Elite Sports Card Collection

Rigorous, candid, and collector-first. In this Slabnomics episode, Matt sits down with RodmanPC—a Honduras-based super-collector with one of the strongest Lionel Messi collections in the world—to break down how he pivoted from Michael Jordan 90s inserts to modern soccer grails. We cover the realities of collecting internationally (ShipMyCards, Card Hobby storage), building trust for private deals, and why consolidation into true grails beats stacking mid-tier slabs.

You’ll hear how Rodman mapped Jordan’s market structure (BGS 9.5, 90s inserts) onto Messi’s ecosystem (Topps Chrome Gold /50, Red /10, Superfractors 1/1, and ultra-scarce Barcelona game-used patch autos), and why scarcity + global demand make Messi’s top cards structurally different from high-pop Jordan rookies. We also dig into market cycles—why he prefers bear markets, how to time buys around the World Cup 2026 window, and why educated capital is holding, not dumping.

What you’ll learn

• How an international collector builds reputation and executes big deals despite logistics
• The exact pivots from Jordan to Messi: scarcity, print runs, and category leadership
• When to buy/sell around major events (“buy the rumor, sell the news”)
• Why small group chats and community intel create real edge
• The case for consolidation: 10–50 slabs → 1 grail

Key topics
Messi cards, Barcelona game-used patch autos, Topps Chrome Gold/Red/Superfractor, Mega Cracks vs 1986 Fleer pop math, private transactions, ShipMyCards, Card Hobby, Chris McGill (HOJ) stories, price discovery, Fanatics Fest, World Cup 2026 effects, timing cycles after NFL/NBA seasons.

Chapters
00:00 Intro & Honduras collector reality
02:00 Logistics: ShipMyCards, Card Hobby, bulk shipping
03:30 Community edge: group chats, private deals, HOJ story
10:30 Pivot: Jordan → Messi (scarcity framework)
18:30 Market structure: Golds, Reds, 1/1s, game-used patches
19:50 Cycles: spikes, dips, and auction dynamics
29:30 Playbook: consolidation and World Cup timing

If you enjoy data-driven card strategy—subscribe and share this with a collector who's not afraid to make moves.

 lionel messi cards, messi superfractor, barcelona patch auto, mega cracks 2004, michael jordan inserts, bgs 9.5, prism gold, prism blue color match, soccer card market, world cup 2026, fanatics fest, private deals sports cards, shipmycards, card hobby, slabnomics

Website: Slabnomics.com
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