Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Zhou Jiabao
2022 Qatar World Cup is overwhelming, and star card players are also taking advantage of the opportunity.
Image source: Tuchong Creative
At 10:00 pm on December 2, a low-profile signature card of Argentine football star Messi was auctioned at a price of 290,000 yuan after 120 bids.
"This is Messi's top series, with the top card signing, and it is 1/1, with all the elements. Let's wait and see." As early as when the bidding price was still 180,000 yuan, I helped a friend to buy it Lin Qing (pseudonym) told Times Finance that there are still 2 days before the bidding deadline.
The "1/1" he said refers to "1 series 1", which means that only one card is issued in the world; and the Eminence series to which this card belongs is a high-end series positioned by the publisher Panini, with very little production and circulation; "Card signing" means that the star himself signs directly on the card, which is rarer than the star signing in advance and then pasting it on the card.
is still 30 hours away from the bidding deadline, and the bidding price has risen from 180,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan. "It's early, bids are made at the last minute in the auction." This is Messi's last World Cup match, and Lin Qing and his friends think it is a good opportunity to bid. Earlier, a buyer wanted to bid 250,000 yuan for this card.
Image source: Screenshot of Card Tao trading platform
On a certain card trading platform in China, there are far more high-priced cards being auctioned than this one. As of noon on December 2, another "25 series" star card of the player Messi has undergone 86 bids and reached 156,000 yuan; the same "25 series", NBA star player Luka Doncic national treasure series card with jersey cut and signed After 67 bids, it reached 134,000 yuan. In the
international auction market, the value of star cards hit new highs repeatedly. In August, a baseball card of Mickey Charles Mantle was auctioned for a sky-high price of US$10.5 million (approximately RMB 72.5 million), breaking the auction record for sports collections.
According to a report released by eBay, the e-commerce platform with the largest trading volume of sports cards in the world, in the whole year of 2020, the sales of sports cards in China increased by 205%, and the growth rate ranked second in the world.
In July this year, in a special auction of offline star cards in Beijing, an NBA 2014-2015 season Panini Eminence series "Kobe Bryant (Kobe Bryant) Championship Tag Inscription Signature Card" was sold at a high price of 4.0825 million yuan. The total turnover of this special session reached 9.4484 million yuan, with a turnover rate of nearly 95%.
"Turning a bicycle into a motorcycle", the star Curry card soared 30 times
In fact, the earliest release of the star card was just a marketing tool.
In the 1980s, American tobacco manufacturers put player cards in cigarette boxes as gifts for promotional purposes. Since then, with the commercialization of sports events such as baseball and basketball, star cards printed with special licenses have been born.
In order to enhance the playability of the sales of star cards, the issuing company has specially set the difference in card technology, elements, and issuance quantity, so that the star cards have strict series and grades, and sell them in the form of blind boxes. The number of specific cards in a box of cards is limited. In order to get the cards they want, consumers often need to "end the box" or "combined boxes" to disassemble the cards after purchasing. What kind of cards are disassembled is purely luck. The issue price of the
star card was originally determined by the issuer, and the price is relatively fixed. But once the card is taken out, its value is no longer affected by the issuer's price. The card's issuance time, rarity, fineness, rating, and player performance have all become important factors affecting supply and demand, which also determines the card's second-hand status. Transaction value in the market. For example, if a box is priced at 9,000 yuan, the value of the card that comes out may not be more than 1,000 yuan, and there will be profit and loss when the card is dismantled.
In 2014, Shang Qi (pseudonym), a fan of NBA star Curry, received her first autographed star card from a friend, worth about 300 yuan. As Curry's Warriors won z8 four times in the ensuing seasonzNBA championship , Curry himself has been selected as the best player many times, and the price of star cards in the second-hand market has also risen. "Now this card is worth about 10,000 yuan in the second-hand market."
used to "end the box" with her friends, but now she is more keen to receive the card directly. At present, there are not a few cards worth more than 10,000 yuan in her collection. The card with the highest market price has exceeded 200,000 yuan, but she only spent about 70,000 yuan when she bought it.
The plot of "turning a bicycle into a motorcycle" is constantly being staged, and the star card market has become more and more active. Especially NBA rookie cards with lower threshold and larger premium space. "The performance of the rookie season is average. After several years of technical polishing, the performance on the field has ushered in a big leap, and the card price will keep up. It can be long-term investment." A senior collector A card source told Times Finance that in last year's rookie season, the current market price of a player's "25 series" national treasure series signature card has exceeded 100,000 yuan.
In September of this year, Zhou Yongjun, Director of Business Development of eBay Greater China, once said that the GMV of the platform's star cards for the whole year of 2021 will increase by 61% year-on-year; in the first quarter of this year, an average of 1 card is sold every 2 seconds. The global sports trading cards market size is expected to reach USD 98.75 billion by 2027.
“Since last year, the domestic star card circle has expanded rapidly, and more and more people flock to it.” Vivia, the marketing director of Fansimao , a local trendy game brand that focuses on star cards, told Times Finance, “The star cards are On the one hand, the suspension of sports events during the epidemic has shifted fans’ emotional projection to peripheral products; on the other hand, the investment attributes of star cards have gradually emerged.”
She also revealed that in business exchanges, the value of star cards International distributors once said frankly that recently, many Chinese businessmen took the initiative to find them and reached a procurement cooperation with them in the Chinese market. With the growth of the company's platform business volume, since 2021, the company's team size has also expanded from about 10 people to about 60 people now.
As a female sports blogger with a small fan base, Shang Qi also feels that the popularity of star cards is rising. "Last year, I started to make content on outfits and sneakers, and the speed of fan growth was very slow. But the unboxing video of star cards was released. After that, it quickly gained the attention of 1,000 fans, and the playback volume also skyrocketed. "Even though I haven't posted new content for several months, I still attracted 200 new fans. "
There are many speculators, and star cards may also become "leek cards"
Some people "turn bicycles into motorcycles", and some people "climb to the rooftops" because of star cards.
Take the hottest rookie investment as an example. On December 1 According to Hupu.com, the No. 22 rookie in the first round of 2018, Chandler Hutchison, who has played for the Bulls, Wizards and Suns in the NBA, announced his retirement, and he is only 26 years old. The retirement of such a player means that the value of his star card returns to zero, which means nothing for the players who chose him for investment purposes. A star card collector told Times Finance.
In addition, Times Finance learned that there are not a few young people who regard star cards as a new investment. "Investment" posts abound. Some netizens pointed out that the star card is a "leek card".
Vivia also bluntly said that there is a big bubble in the recent market prosperity, and speculators with a "gambler" mentality pour into the star card circle The proportion should not be underestimated. "The industry is still a very immature emerging market. Everyone is excessively chasing hot spots and super high prices, and the market bubble will become bigger and bigger. "
Manual manipulation of card prices happens from time to time in the industry. In August last year, more than 50,000 products of the largest player card seller on the eBay platform were emptied because the dealer was suspected of self-inflated bidding. The artificially inflated price deviates from The market is accurate. Many industry insiders told Times Finance that self-raised bidding is also a common operation on domestic trading platforms.
It is worth mentioning that although the international and domestic star card markets have experienced rapid expansion, many Star card enthusiasts and industry practitioners told Times Finance that since the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the performance of the star card market has been uneven.
From the price point of view, on December 1, some self-media discovered that the Pa In the first year of Nini, the price of the star card dived.
According to the above-mentioned self-media statistics, one marked as "2019-20 Panini One And One Timeless Moments Dirk Nowitzki /49" card platform sold at auction for $1875, but previously sold for over $2100; "2019-20 Panini One And One Timeless Moments Kawhi Leonard /49" platform The latest bidding price is US$2,850, which was more than US$3,300 before. The transaction price of some star cards of
has even been cut in half. In October this year, "2019-20 Panini One And One Timeless Moments Anthony Davis 1/25" was once sold in China for 7623 It was sold in RMB, and eBay’s latest auction price was US$510 (contract RMB 3,650).
Shang Qi believes, “People who play football cards with a gambling mentality overlap with those who gamble on football during the World Cup. The capital that should have been invested in the star card has flowed into the World Cup betting prize pool, which will cause the price of the card to fluctuate . "
Follow the wind, the star card will return to the essence of collection
In addition to individual investors, institutional capital is also rushing into the star card track.
In the international market, Fanatics, a veteran sports e-commerce company established a star card company in just one month. raised US$350 million in financing . At the beginning of this year, the company acquired Topps, a veteran player card business issuer, for US$500 million. While receiving cards from the market, the star card investment institution also established a fund with a star card dealer that focuses on investing in unopened star card boxes or suits. According to market analysis, from February 2020 when the project was launched to At the end of last year, the rate of return was over 300%.
Another Alt company directly launched a asset securitization trading platform for football cards. The operation mode is similar to that of the sneaker trading platform GOAT. Changes and other transaction reference data and authentic endorsement.
China’s domestic capital has also become a rising star. Earlier this year, the domestic player card trading platform Katao received strategic investment from listed company Yaoji Technology. The main business of Yaoji Technology includes playing card manufacturers, It also has several mobile games such as "Fingertip Fishing" and "Little Beauty Fights the Landlord". Another similar platform, Fansimao, has obtained two rounds of financing from and from Liansu and Tangzhu within a year. .
Times Finance learned that some sneaker dealers invested in the star card market because the sneaker market was cold. The insider revealed, "Since last year, 15-30% of the funds originally invested in the sneaker field have been allocated to star players. In the field of cards, the profit margin can be stabilized at 60% by earning the price difference through businesses such as buying and selling star cards, proxy auctions, and assisting in ratings. "In terms of
professional platforms, Fansmao, a one-stop trading platform for football cards, once disclosed that its online platform has achieved nearly 1 billion GMV in less than two years since it was officially launched;
Vivia said bluntly to Times Finance, "Investors pay more attention to growth. Although the existing domestic market is emerging, the competition is becoming saturated. "While there are more and more related platforms, traffic is being divided, and the growth rate of existing business fields is no longer enough to attract more attention.
She believes that when the market bubble fades, the industry will soon face competition from the stock market In the future, the core logic of the star card business is to seize the emotional connection between fans and sports, fans and sports stars, and return to the essence of collection. The core users of star cards are still those who will not sell with the purpose of price increase or value-added Players who sell cards. Times Finance has noticed that Vance Cat is also changing the existing business model, trying to shift its focus to card issuance.
The star card issued by Vance Cat. Image source: photo courtesy of the interviewee
For the industry In terms of future growth and development, Vivia bluntly stated that the industry urgently needs regulation and transparency, "Blind boxes have been developing rapidly for many years, but relevant industry policies and regulations have been introduced recently. The star card is in the countryAn emerging product has many problems, but through self-media, real enthusiasts, consumers, merchants, and publishers are also educating the market. I hope this industry will get better and better in terms of scale and quality in the future. "
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