GRADING LOW-POP CARDS ON A BUDGET! - 80 Card PSA Reveal w/ NBA Basketball & NHL Hockey

Can you still have success while grading on a budget? In today's reveal, I challenged myself to stick STRICTLY (except for 1 card) to low-pop cards that were $10 or under and test this hypothesis. I really enjoyed the results, and I hope you do as well!
Be sure to connect with me on other platforms:
Instagram - (@Carlson_Cards) / carlson_cards
eBay Store - (@Carlson-Cards) ebay.us/koVVxt
Carlson Cards Podcast - podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...

[@GriseldaBSF410]

2016-17 Mosaic was created pretty much as an apology for 2015-16 Replay(one of the worst products ever so people thought at the time)People who bought Replay were gifted Mosaic .The following years it was an online exclusive before coming a stand alone set when Zion was a rookie

[@GriseldaBSF410]

Plot twist 2015-16 Replay boxes and cases go for big money! Joker,DBook,Kat RCs plus Kobe autos and other legends with cool buyback autos

[@slimthumbtak]

Glad your sub for the special went better than mine. All the number keys on my grader's keyboard were broken except 9.

[@carlsoncards]

Haha my others weren’t as hot, but this one thankfully was!

[@jackalopecards]

can't believe you've been hiding the hockey from us, thanks for bringing them into the videos!

[@carlsoncards]

Haha, I’ll share more of it moving forward! Thanks for checking out the video

[@ThoseBackPages]

Good stuff as always Sir! Another thing im a fan of is buying legends from years with huge Rookie Cards in them. Sid/Ovi in 2015 (McDavid Rookies) Lebron in 2009 (Steph Rookies) Brady in 2017 (Patty Rookies) etc. Just something about how the wax for those years is usually super inflated price wise.

[@carlsoncards]

This is so smart and well stated! I’ve done this inadvertently even with my football collecting. Something fun knowing I may never own a super rare year 2000 card for Brady, but I can for other players! Definitely some allure to that

[@planetsmoothcoaster]

I love listing low pop cards on Ebay. I'll even post a pic of the card's low pop count with the rest of the pics. My last 2 recent submissions were a 10 card and an 18 card. Total Results: PSA 10 - 26 cards PSA 9 - 2 cards PSA 8 - 1 card So either I'm getting good graders or my anal nature is yielding amazing results.

[@carlsoncards]

That’s smart! If I wasn’t so lazy maybe I’d do the same haha. Congrats on the great orders!

[@Lebowski_Sports_Cards]

Hey Austin, I know you said the cards from this PSA sub cost around $2-$10 raw. I have 2 questions for you. My first question is what is the max you’ll pay for a raw card with intention to grade and sell. And my 2nd question is where do you have the most luck selling these cards once they get back from PSA? Thanks, brother! Congratulations on the baby. I tell everyone when they have kids that they’ll never have trouble sleeping again . Cheers!

[@carlsoncards]

Hey! I really don’t set a max, just kind of whatever is in my budget. I do prefer to have like let’s say 5 $50 cards vs 1 $250 card though, just my personal preference. To the other question, I just throw on eBay with BIN/best offer and drop prices across the board every month or two. I try to price at the cheapest on the site and if there’s none others then I just try my best guess but leave offers open. It’s not super fast but I usually sell 2-3% of my inventory per week and have been very happy at that threshold over time because then I’m not overwhelmed with shipping, etc. Cheers!

[@panfriedbeets]

enjoy seeng you grade cards im not used to seeing in psa stuff

[@carlsoncards]

Thank you! Appreciate it. That’s always my goal!

[@GriseldaBSF410]

Dude has great taste in players and cards,that's for sure

[@Sandman60077]

I've been thinking about grading some of those OPC Rainbow Color Wheel cards. People do collect those sets and I sell them raw fairly often. I'm just not sure if people collect them graded so I've been hesitant to send them in. I've always liked the NBA City cards from Hoops Premium Stock, they look great. They have a lot of centering issues though.

[@carlsoncards]

Yeah they are hit or miss for me but felt like at $15 it was hard to go wrong. Totally agree on NBA city. Particularly the blues seem to be super OC

[@bennybreaks702]

Great video and sub. I too am taking an early spring break from buying. Going hard in May and June for July too.

[@carlsoncards]

Thanks Benny- sounds like great minds think alike! I agree with you fully.

[@joelkaplan2157]

I love it your content makes sense

[@carlsoncards]

Thanks Joel! Glad you enjoyed 😄

[@schmoe5070]

My strategy is exactly what you talked about the opposite of yours . I buy the super high pop rookie cards of the Brady , Lebron, Kobe type guys but just religiously check the saved searches and be patient for when u can find a seller that has a ton of clean raw stuff that doesn’t know how to grade and then just buy that seller out . Lol 😂

[@carlsoncards]

haha to each their own!

[@SyverRundhaug]

Hey Carlson Cards, congrats again with the new baby and hope you're getting some sleep! I wanted to ask how is this realm of graded cards moving/selling for you via eBay? I get the sense in the hobby that we're getting overloaded with supply of graded cards compared to number of buyers. Thanks

[@carlsoncards]

Hi, thank you! It's pretty hit or miss and seems to come in waves. I will say I haven't felt a huge difference from today vs last year at this time. I always expect to sell 2-3% of inventory per week and have done that consistently for a few years now. It might sound low, but I've always been okay with being patient. I am guessing the story with ultra-modern/unproven players might be a little different, not sure. Hope this answers your question

[@SyverRundhaug]

@@carlsoncards Thanks for taking the time with a solid answer and yes you covered my question. How do you structure monetary capital going into buying, grading, selling your cards? Do you have a separate LLC and bank account? EX: 80 cards graded x $5 a card to buy x $15 grading fee = $1600 capital investment. Do you put up that capital from a pool of income of previous card sales? Just curious how you structure the volume b/c it seems like you're doing in the right way and I want to learn from you.

[@carlsoncards]

@@SyverRundhaug I would highly recommend keeping a separate checking account to start, that is what I did. In the beginning I set aside $X amount per week that I wanted to start with and use to fund the initial grading order or two, and then after a period of time I quit adding more with the understanding that I will only spend what I make. Kind of started with 10-20 card orders and then slowly ramped up. To answer your question specifically, I’ve always paid for each order with previous order funds. That’s where the seperate account came in handy. I knew if I had x amount in there, that I was able to spend that on the next order and that also kind of guided the size of each order and $ amount I was willing to spend. I realize I’m making this sound simple and easy possibly but keep in mind each cycle/order was months apart at the beginning. I tried to be really patient and just take it slow so I was (and still to this day) never spending money on an order that I didn’t already have. I just personally try to stay away from debt in general in personal life, so it kind of transferred over.

[@SyverRundhaug]

@ncardsThis hobby targets people like me who have a hard time resisting quick gratification and want that dopamine rush! It certainly is very easy to over spend whether it be for buying boxes, singles, and/or grading. That being said, I commend you in your patient approach (not spending outside hobby income on cards/separate bank accounts) and I want to highlight it as a rare quality in the general masses of collectors. I really admire your patience, focus, and strategy! Thanks for the detailed feedback again, and more generally for laying down a blueprint to follow that hypothetically would lead to successful outcomes.

[@kiroppi6687]

When was this PSA special? And do PSA announce that they would be having such an event?

[@carlsoncards]

They do new specials every month. Right now is a $16 baseball one which is honestly pretty good. I'd recommend checking on the 3 or 4th of the month. Usually is updated by then. www.psacard.com/specials

[@verl20]

Yuck no football. : )

[@carlsoncards]

Haha ended up separating my orders this time around!