As millions of fans anticipate the return of MLB, eBay, one of the world’s most dynamic and diverse marketplaces, releases “Uncommon: A Trading Card Report for Buyers and Sellers.” Uncommon gives the first-ever look at what drives interest and sustains sales of certain baseball cards, delving deep into the stats of six dynamic duos. The unique histories of these 12 players and their trading cards have helped shape some of the most interesting sales trends and purchases in the industry.
Uncommon gives the first-ever look at what drives interest and sustains sales of certain baseball cards, delving deep into the stats of six dynamic duos.
Informed by a decade of eBay data, fans can explore and shop the Uncommon Report at www.eBayInc.com/Uncommon. The report offers a new perspective on how personal and professional circumstances impact the card value of these standout players, along with their overall influence on today’s baseball card collecting culture.
“Baseball is a game of numbers, but those player stats don’t tell the whole story,” said Nicole Colombo, Head of Trading Cards at eBay. “True card collectors care about the intangibles — they love baseball’s prodigal sons and enjoy rooting for the underdogs. We created the Uncommon report to celebrate the All-Star personalities whose legacies resonate both on and off the field, and drive sales as a result.”
The Uncommon Report’s Players & Stories
eBay analyzed card sales over the past ten years to showcase how certain “uncommon” player backstories have driven demand for their trading cards. Fans can enjoy the visual report and full stories at www.eBayInc.com/Uncommon. Highlights include:
Beyond The Uncommon
Uncommon cards can be just as valuable and noteworthy as the players they represent. Specifically, error cards have a certain nostalgia that sports card collector’s love; many of these types of cards are talked about daily in the hobby and can only be found on eBay. Throughout card history, notable printing errors on cards have occurred and while some would argue these mistakes are sometimes intentional, others would say these lead to future “rarer error cards,” because a correction card had to be made. Whether these cards were eventually corrected and replaced or left unchanged, there is a chase element on many error cards, because they are so rare and valuable.
The 5 most sought-after error cards on eBay (2010-2020):
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1989 Billy Ripken FF Card
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1990 Frank Thomas No Name on Front Card
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1969 Mickey Mantle White Letter Card
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1989 Upper Deck Dale Murphy Reverse Negative Card
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1981 Fleer Craig “Graig” Nettles
Most recently - crossing over into pop culture - a misprinted 2019 Shane Bieber, pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, card was mislabeled as Justin Bieber. In response, searches for Shane Bieber spiked more than 500% when the real @JustinBieber called out the error on Twitter.
All of these player stories, and the collectors who make it their mission to source their cards, are of course set against the backdrop of this truly uncommon 2020 MLB season. Stay tuned for more details on Uncommon and unique trading cards on eBay. Shop and explore eBay’s Uncommon Report at www.eBayInc.com/Uncommon.
eBay by the Numbers
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eBay has 1.5 billion plus listings
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eBay has 174 million active buyers worldwide
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70% of items ship for free in U.S., UK and DE
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79% of all merchandise sold on eBay is new, and our wide selection keeps growing
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$12.9 billion mobile volume on the eBay platform
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514 million downloads of eBay Inc. apps across the globe
*Based on eBay US sales and search data from January 2010- January 2020.