Glossary

Different from your traditional paper card stock, acetate is a clear piece of plastic applied to the top of the card that gives it a different gloss and shine appeal. This type of cardstock is popular with Panini Immaculate. Some collectors believe these provide higher quality cards. Acetate surfaces are often more prone to scratching than regular card stock.

An official assessment of a card given by the grading companies when a card has been changed from its original state by a person. This can mean it was trimmed to remove bad edges and corners, colored to cover up whitening, or the patch in a jersey card was swapped out for a higher quality patch. All of these are done with the intention of making the card more valuable which is then fraudulent when selling with the intent to mislead.

A signature of the athlete depicted on the card. “Sticker auto” refers to the athlete signing a sticker that is placed onto the card by the trading card company. Sticker autos are less desirable because the athlete hasn’t handled your card directly. “On-card auto” refers to the autograph actually being on the card directly applied by the athlete meaning they handled your card.

A company or entity that will sell cards on behalf of the seller. The benefit here is the seller doesn’t have to deal with marketing and infrastructure of selling cards themselves. It also becomes a place where buyers can find desirable items all in one place and buy from a reputable seller without the hassle. Examples are PWCC, Heritage and Goldin.

Traditional boxes and within that, packs, of cards that you would open are comprised of mostly base cards that make up the majority of that set release. Each player in the set will have a base card and typically there isn’t anything special about this card. It’s usually plain in nature and they are printed in high volume since most of the packs are comprised of them.

The originators of the pricing guide for sports cards. They are a media publisher of sports card content and now have their own grading service as well.

Beckett Grading Service. They are 1 of the 2 top dogs in the grading card service world. They specialize in grading autograph and patch cards and have more of a stake in modern cards. They provide subgrades unlike their competitors with centering, edges, surface and corners graded out separately. They also offer an autograph grading service alongside the condition grade. Their slabs are much thicker than competitors and have an inner sleeve for more protection.

A perfect grade given by BGS when grading a card’s condition. Perfect 10/10 on every single subgrade. When this happens they use a black colored label on the slab instead of gold or silver.

A packaging configuration for cards, typically reserved for retail distribution through a large store like Wal-Mart. The boxes usually contain randomly inserted packs from different releases and sets.

Similar to Blaster Boxes these are configurations of usually 1-4 packs of cards with some type of bonus card revealed through the packaging. These are also sold at large retail locations.

The concept of opening packs or boxes of cards in a shared group style, usually done on camera. Breaking companies will distribute out portions of a box to be sold to individuals and will open the box for everyone to view it. There are different variations to breaking such as participants paying for a specific team and if players from that team are pulled then it would go to the person who paid for that team. The same can be applied for specific players as well. It’s a more efficient way to get the cards you’re after without having to buy the whole box but also get the thrill of opening boxes.

The actual material of paper used to create the card and it’s thickness.

Grouping of boxes of cards that are typically in ranges from 2-20 boxes depending on the set. It’s a more efficient way for printing companies to distribute larger quantities to distributors and then retail shops will open those and sell as individual boxes.

Taking the concept of breaking and just applying it to the company opening an entire case of cards for others in the group.

Some issued products will offer the promise of a single “hit” or big card amongst an entire case. You’re buying a case of cards with the understanding you’ll at least get 1 big time card that attracts attention and is valuable.

A certain type of pack, usually has more cards, that is typically hung on a pegboard rack with a hanger on its hole punch.

Typically in card collecting there’s always that next card or set that someone is looking to find and complete. They are “chasing” that thing in hopes to complete their collection. Sometimes it’s one specific card that has become the “chase card”.

A complete list of all cards within a given product set including parallels, inserts, etc. These are used for collectors to check off items as they move closer to completing the product.

A complete list of all cards within a given product set including parallels, inserts, etc. These are used for collectors to check off items as they move closer to completing the product.

A metallic-like trading card stock originally developed by Topps. You’ll see that same card stock technology on cards like Prizm and optic. It has this metallic, chrome finish to the surface.

Check out my cards. It’s an online marketplace to buy and sell your cards. They are a central hub to store your cards as well. The company will handle scanning your cards and putting them into your library where you can easily market and sell to other collectors and set your price. COMC will charge you a fee for each card with this service. It’s typically done with bulk cards as it’s a more efficient way to sell cards and have someone else buy them for their library and ship out when there’s enough volume to make sense.

Another term for base card. A card you typically see a lot of when opening packs and boxes.

The attributes of a card and what separates it from other of the same card. Often times condition can add high multipliers to the value of the card because of eye appeal and scarcity of that item in a “better condition”. Grading companies grade cards on a scale of condition 1-10. Specific condition issues that can arise are off-centering, bends, creases, surface scratches, chipping on the edges, soft corners, etc.

The process of removing a card from a graded slab or cracking the card out. This is done when the collector wants the card in its raw form or isn’t happy with the grade designation and wants to have it regraded without the bias or have a different company grade the card without the bias.

Signature that is on a piece of paper or “cut” from another document. It’s like an athlete that would sign a piece of a paper for someone vs on a traditional memorabilia item like a ball or card. Sometimes companies will place autographs on paper and cut out just the section of the paper with the auto and place it into memorabilia.

This is a person within the hobby that primarily sells and buys cards and typically does it as a job. It’s usually thought of as the person who sets up at shows but today dealers are set up virtually on eBay. The distinction between them and collector is their primary objective is to make money as opposed to building a collection. Everything in their collection is typically for sale.

Type of card that is not in the traditional rectangle shape. It will have areas of the rectangle card cut out to give it a unique look. It’s typically reserved for inserts as a way to stand out from the other cards in the product.

A wholesale specialist serving as a middleman between the manufacturer and the retailer. They typically provide marketing support, sales promotions and other incentives to help drive product sales along the distribution chain.

The act of altering a card.

Commonly regarded as the main place to purchase trading cards because of its centralized location and ease of access.