• Home
  • What We're Buying
  • Big Pulls & Cool Pieces
  • Online Store & Breaks
  • In-Store Events
  • Birthday Parties
  • Hobby Rip Night
  • Kids Club
  • Trade Night
  • 2025 Pro Bowl Giveaway
  • More
    • Home
    • What We're Buying
    • Big Pulls & Cool Pieces
    • Online Store & Breaks
    • In-Store Events
    • Birthday Parties
    • Hobby Rip Night
    • Kids Club
    • Trade Night
    • 2025 Pro Bowl Giveaway
  • Home
  • What We're Buying
  • Big Pulls & Cool Pieces
  • Online Store & Breaks
  • In-Store Events
  • Birthday Parties
  • Hobby Rip Night
  • Kids Club
  • Trade Night
  • 2025 Pro Bowl Giveaway

What We're Buying

Do you have cards to sell but don't know a lot about them? Here's a few things to know...

When we buy items, we're looking for something with good resale potential. Our customers tend to be dedicated and knowledgeable card collectors, and they're looking for valuable rookie cards of good quality, as well as autographed cards or items of major star players.


Any famous athlete will have tons of cards made of them. Usually only their first year cards are sought after by collectors. This is especially true of athletes with long careers, like those who started in the 60s or 70s and played into the 80s or 90s, when cards became overproduced and the value dropped. A mid-1980s Nolan Ryan or Pete Rose card likely won't be worth much, and won't be sought by collectors, even if they like those players.


If you have something you want to sell, take a look at the lists below of what we do and don't typically buy, and if you feel you've got something good, contact us to set up a time to bring it to our store.



Here's what we like to buy:

Vintage cards (pre-1980), especially 1950s & 60s baseball, football, and basketball stars.


Rookie cards of major stars and Hall of Famers from before 1985 (Cal Ripken, Don Mattingly, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, George Brett, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, John Elway, Steve Largent, Walter Payton, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, etc.)


Current (2000-now) rookies and rare cards of popular players (Bobby Witt Jr, Paul Skenes, Gunnar Henderson, Elly De La Cruz, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Ronald Acuna, Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Brock Purdy, Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama, etc)


Reputably certified (PSA, JSA, BAS, etc.) signed items (cards, pictures, balls, bats, jerseys, helmets, etc)



What we typically don't buy:

Uncertified in-person autographed items. When we do buy these, the cost of authentication will be factored into the purchase price. 


NASCAR, whether it's cards, die-cast cars, collectible plates, or other Nascar items.


Commons from the late 1980s and 1990s. These years are known as the "junk era" in cards due to overproduction. Even if there are stars like Michael Jordan or Nolan Ryan, the cards often have very little value and even less resale potential.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The majority of cards people bring to sell us are from the 1980s and 90s. This is the era when card companies were overproducing cards. Very few 1980s and 90s cards are still highly collectible. Check out the gallery below to see if you have any of the ones we're looking for.


If you have any of these items to sell, give us a call at 850-481-5707 or 850-624-1865.

Here's an example of the few 1980s-90s cards we buy

Baseball

1993 SP Derek Jeter

1992 Bowman Mariano Rivera

1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken Jr.

1991 Topps Desert Shield Chipper Jones

1984 Fleer Update Kirby Puckett

1984 Fleer Update Roger Clemens

1989 Fleer Billy Ripken "F Face"


Football

1981 Topps Joe Montana

1986 Topps Jerry Rice

1984 Topps Dan Marino

1984 Topps John Elway

1986 Topps Steve Young

1984 USFL Steve Young

Basketball

Basketball

1986-7 Fleer Michael Jordan 

1980-1 Topps Bird / Erving / Johnson

1986-7 Fleer HOF & star rookies

1987-88 and 1988-89 Fleer Michael Jordan

Copyright © 2025 Instant Replay Sports Cards - All Rights Reserved.

Powered by