Do NOT Throw Away These "Throwaway" Sports Cards—Sell Them for $$$
Within the thousands of “yikes” or just blah-looking sports card sets that might not even be deserving of storage anywhere but the trash can, there are ugly ducklings that could be worth much more.
Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As I am a part of the eBay Partner Network and other programs, if you follow these links and make a purchase, I’ll receive commission (at no cost to you). I appreciate your support!
Disclosure: This is not buying or investment advice. I’m simply reporting the data I’m seeing. Please do your own research and make your own decisions. Just because cards have increased in value up to this point, it doesn’t mean they will continue to do so.
Place a Chrome Refractor or Silver Prizm in someone’s hand and 9 times out of 10 they’ll hold it to the light to try and catch a glimmer of that rad rainbow shimmer.
They’re pretty, they’re cool, they’re pretty cool.
But not all cards are so blessed, right?
Base paper commons, contest cards, cartoons, mascots, retail boxed sets, holiday sets, 1991 Fleer; those abominable 1996 Topps Laser baseball cards.
They just don’t look the part!
(No offense if you actually like and collect these…that’s what makes this hobby great—you do you! I have plenty of cards to which others would turn their nose up.)
But within the thousands of “yikes” or just blah-looking sports card sets that might not even be deserving of a binder page or monster box storage, there are ugly ducklings that could turn into something pretty valuable if you just free them from their discard pile to see the light of eBay.
1. 2004 Upper Deck Power Up Blue
If any “animated” card is deserving of being worth hundreds of dollars, it’s 1991 Fleer ProVision. But because not even those cards will break a few bucks in raw form, I’m always floored when other “cartoon” cards prove to be valuable.
Enter 2004 Upper Deck Power Up, a set that features caricature-style illustrations of players with a playful and animated look full of bright colors and exaggerated features. They’re big heads, basically.
Now, these aren’t terrible, but just not something I’d rush to collect.
You can find them in a variety of colors, including base green (10 points), rare orange (100 points), ultra rare purple (250 points), super rare pink/red (500 points) and mega rare blue (1000 points).
But while I’m not a collector, some obviously are—the blue “1000” point parallels are in high-demand and sell very well.
That said, don’t sleep on the other colors, especially for stars. Here are two purples - Griffey and Big Hurt - that sold well in December:
TIP: When searching for these (and other parallels), my suggestion is to not do so by color. Well, I mean, you can start by searching by color, but try searching without color as well. Sellers might not even realize there are parallels, so a blue could simply be looked at as base, etc.