Slabnomics

Over the last few episodes, I walked through my first full year of selling sports cards...my wins, my mistakes, and what I learned in buying, selling, and grading. Today is different. This one is slower, more reflective, and honestly one of the most important frameworks I’ve shared:

 How time actually works in the sports card market.

In this episode I cover:

• Market cycles & engineered scarcity
  • Why we’re living in an era of ...

We wrap the mini-series with grading—the alchemy of the hobby when used correctly. I share the actual ledger: 1,127+ cards graded, $20K+ in fees/shipping, PSA (525 cards; ~$11.7K) and SGC (602 cards; ~$9.5K), and why I’d only re-submit ~21% (PSA) and ~17% (SGC) today. You’ll get a pre-grading checklist, a tier/upcharge strategy that protects cash flow, and post-mortems on failed CGC→PSA and BGS→PSA arbitrage.

You’ll learn

• When a ...

Following Part 1 (buying), this episode breaks down the sell-side of my first year—$98K on eBay—and the exact lessons that moved the needle: how to seed early feedback, how to structure PWE vs. bubble mailer shipping (and when to use non-machinable stamps), the true cost of fees & promoted listings, and a negotiation framework so you stop caving under pressure. We also cover budgets to avoid forced sales, when wax/singles make ...

In this opener to my “Year 1” mini-series, I break down everything I learned on the buy-side of the sports-card game—what worked, what wasted money, and how to buy with exits in mind. From the Spain/Messi spark to my first PSA submission (and why it lost), we cover pre-grading, avoiding “rarity for rarity’s sake,” the meaning of liquidity, negotiating bulk discounts, timing buys around seasonal cycles, and using hype as a catalyst—...

sourcing at the nucleus, grading for ROI, and dodging fakes.

I unpack the full playbook from my Barcelona trip to find Messi rookies: why Campió (Catalan) issues matter vs Campeón (Spanish), the true 71 Bis story (third-edition BIS replacement → lower print + set-builder demand), and how Europe’s historic grading friction (pre-PSA EU) created today’s raw opportunity. I walk through Facebook ad targeting (40–55 men), peñas/outreach, ...

Welcome to Slabnomics, where we help sports card enthusiasts make better financial decisions about sports cards.

In this episode, host Matthew Worley sits down with Anthony from @Sacccards to talk about the soccer card market - Why this world cup is different from the last one held in America in 1994, what changes he sees as a coach and consultant for youth soccer, and how that meshes with his love of soccer card collecting.

They div...

 We get tactical on where to sell (COMC/eBay/shows), how to negotiate, when grading pays, and building a seller’s system that wins in any market. Themes: liquidity > hype, plan the exit, cut losses, protect reputation.

Highlights:

• COMC flow vs. liquidity: when “no work” wins, when it doesn’t
• Negotiation that converts (and why “what’s your best?” kills deals)
• PSA strategy, turnaround math, and stacking velocity
• Rarity vs. demand: ...

In this episode of Slabnomics, host Matt Worley breaks down one of the most misunderstood concepts in the hobby — liquidity — and why it separates collectors who profit from those who get stuck holding bags.

You’ll learn how market velocity, price discovery, and consolidation cycles drive card prices across every tier — from high-end grails to $20 slabs — and why understanding liquidity is the ultimate advantage for sports-card inve...

On this episode of Slabnomics, Matt sits down with Ryan Alford — serial entrepreneur, marketing titan, and host of “Right About Now” and the new “Trading Cards & Collectibles” podcast — to talk hobby growth, storytelling, and where the market is headed next.

🔑 What you’ll learn
• How a Walmart pack rip with his four sons pulled Ryan back into the hobby
• The attention economy: why “document, don’t overproduce”...

Slabnomics is here to help sports card enthusiasts make better financial decisions.

In this practical, numbers-first workshop, Matt breaks down how to evaluate cards using real comps, pop data, and market velocity—through the lens of the foundational 2014 Panini World Cup Prizm set. We compare soccer vs. football Prizm set values, dissect the Messi/Ronaldo “Matchups” grails, and map how domino sales (Fanatics Collect, eBay, Goldin) ...

In this episode of Slabnomics, Matt sits down with Raul Bustamante — better known as Stockn_Trade on Instagram — to talk about sports cards, content creation, and the evolving market. Raul shares how his background as an actor helped him bring authenticity and humor into the hobby, why being yourself always wins against the algorithm, and how he went from collecting baseball and basketball to diving headfirst into soccer cards.

We e...

How Scarcity, Timing, and Community Built an Elite Sports Card Collection

Rigorous, candid, and collector-first. In this Slabnomics episode, Matt sits down with RodmanPC—a Honduras-based super-collector with one of the strongest Lionel Messi collections in the world—to break down how he pivoted from Michael Jordan 90s inserts to modern soccer grails. We cover the realities of collecting internationally (ShipMyCards, Card Hobby stora...

Welcome to another episode of Slabnomics, where sports cards meet finance, collecting, and market theory. Today’s special guest is Jeremy Lee, host of Sports Cards Live and one of the most respected voices in the hobby. With thousands of hours of content logged, Jeremy brings unmatched insight into how collectors balance passion with financial decisions.

In this conversation, we cover:

• How to think about sports cards as an altern...

Solo Pod - Slabnomics helps sports card enthusiasts make better financial decisions.

Is soccer’s card market in a real bull run—or just riding a rising tide? In this Slabnomics episode, Matt breaks down alpha vs. index returns, shows how to use CardLadder indices as a benchmark, and dissects why soccer is outpacing other sports. We compare Messi 71 BIS and Ronaldo 2002 Mega Craques rookies, first-year Kabooms (2017 Messi/Ronaldo vs....

Ft. Dave Schwartz (@Iowa_dave_sportscards), Host of the Shallow End Podcast.

🎙️ Slabnomics helps sports card enthusiasts make smarter financial decisions. In this episode with Iowa Dave, we explore how compounding knowledge builds like compounding money, why failures are tuition, and how to stick to an investment thesis so you don’t miss the next Shohei Ohtani, but maybe more potently so you don't lose joy in what you do.

 Keyw...

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In this episode of Slabnomics, host Matthew Worley sits down with Cajun Cardboard (Bryan Denison) to talk about his incredible journey through the sports card hobby. From flipping raw Giannis Antetokounmpo Prizm rookies and Luka Dončić cards to building one of the most respected collections of Michael Jordan inserts, Bryan shares hard-earned lessons on ...

 Slabnomics: The intersection of collecting investment and market theory for sports cards.

 -Market Inefficiencies & Conviction 

- Cross-Market Comparisons 

How do we use Tom Brady's sports card market to evaluate Messi's for cards with old comps?

- Liquidity, Scarcity, and Pricing Power 

- Valuation Convergence & Mispricing 

- Using Outcomes and Catalysts.

Website: Slabnomics.com
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