Why are Sports Cards worth so little compared to ten years ago?

Answer 1

I think what's actually happened is that the gap between cheap cards and expensive cards has widened. We all know how expensive packs are these days. People are after the ultra rare stuff. They tear open pack after pack, box after box, tossing all cards aside except for that one or two rare ones they find. So most of the common stock isn't wanted at all, and almost seems a nuisance that gets in the way when you're looking for something "good". People don't build sets anymore because packs are too expensive for it to be economical, and this further drives down the demand for commons. I think the whole state of affairs is pretty sad, really. the insert craze has ruined the hobby and taken it away from the kids.

Answer 2

Because the actual value was never anything close to what people were getting away with charging in the past. Sports cards are not commodities like gold or oil, where ultimately the market will decide the true worth (excepting instances where speculators try to run up the prices - see link on "cornering the market). And it is tough (to put it mildly) to argue that they will have the long term value of, say, a rare work of art like a Van Gogh or Picasso.

My opinion: Values got inflated because a bunch of people realized that they could get kids to buy them at prices that made no sense. In the long term, there was little to no real market for them. They were the tulip bulbs of the 90s (see link on Tulip Bulb mania). They were like a financial game of musical chairs and whoever got stuck holding cards instead of cash when the music stopped was the loser.

Answer 3

There is a flooded market of sports cards.Every thing from baseball to wrestling can be found.I personally handled racing cards but at on point in the last 10 or so years there were as many as 25 different companies producing cars,some were very poor quaility.
The same is true with other companies and sports as well.

Answer 4

I think it has something to do with the oversaturation of companies putting out cards. I my day, it was just Topps. Then Fleer and Dunruss came along and that's that.

Answer 5

Because they are sports cards.