My Experience Flipping Cards Using the eBay Vault

Do you enjoy flipping cards on eBay as much as I do?

As a football fan and an entrepreneur, nothing is more fun than having an opinion about a player or a team and being able to turn a profit on it if you’re correct. There are quite a few ways to play it if making a few dollars is your goal.

In fantasy football, an educated and well-studied fan can parlay their research into a dominant team. If you’re lucky enough to survive an entire season through injuries and other variables, you might win your league’s trophy, cash and bragging rights. If you aren’t, there’s a good chance you’ll lose your entire buy-in.

Flipping cards is a whole lot of fun. For example, if you decide to invest in a young player's cards with the potential of flipping it for profit, the best-case scenario is that they break out and the card shoots up in value. But even on the flip side, where the player doesn’t perform as expected or gets injured, at least you've still added a rad card to your collection. Plus your card still retains value.

When you're flipping cards, one of the most important considerations is timing. You need to be ready and able to transact at any time, so that if the player snags a huge game-winning touchdown or has a record-breaking game, you’re ready to capitalize on the moment.

The great news is that the eBay vault is here—and it’s a card flipper's best friend.

With the eBay vault, instant transfer becomes a reality as card collectors, flippers and investors can now transact in real-time—eliminating the need for shipping expenses, taxes and most importantly, the time it takes to send and receive cards. You can transfer ownership immediately, so that when your player catches that game-winning TD, the new owner can purchase and take possession of that card in seconds.

In this article, I’m going to talk you through how I started flipping the cards of one of my favorite rookies—Garrett Wilson—who just so happens to play for my favorite football team: the New York Jets. Follow along as I send a 2021 Select XRC PSA 10 card to the eBay vault—the premier, 24/7 secure facility and digital marketplace for trading card collectors with no sales tax, storage or selling fees—and then flip it.

Why Garrett Wilson?

Image credit: Nick Cammett / Stringer via Getty Images

Let’s start with the obvious. Garrett Wilson was selected tenth overall in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft out of Ohio State. I love investing in cards of rookies from schools like Ohio State, since the number of folks who collect those players tend to skyrocket. The Buckeyes were recently ranked the largest college football fanbase, boasting more than 11 million fans.

Jets fans—much like myself—have been waiting for a playmaker like Wilson for what feels like decades. They’ve been equally starved for a winning team, as they currently hold the longest playoff drought in the NFL (12 years). Even with all that said, Jets fans continue to spend money: They’re second in the league for average home game attendance.

Both the Jets and Garrett Wilson have gotten off to a flying start in 2022. Gang Green is 6-4 and sits just one game behind the Miami Dolphins for first place in the AFC East. Wilson has already been named NFL Rookie of the Week twice, most recently against the Patriots two weeks ago. In that game, he caught 6 passes for 115 yards and became just the second Jets wide receiver to ever have two 100-yard receiving games in their rookie season.

Wilson currently has 42 catches for 521 yards and 2 touchdowns, putting him on pace for an 80 catch, 1,000 yard rookie season. He has 14 catches for 217 yards in his last two games alone (vs. New England and Buffalo), meaning that he seems to be finding his groove with second-year quarterback Zach Wilson at the perfect time.

Here’s why I think it’s a great time to buy Garrett Wilson cards: The spotlight will only shine brighter on the Jets as they stay in the playoff race down the stretch. This will give Wilson opportunities to make big plays in huge games. With their 6-4 record, plus some very winnable games remaining on the schedule (at home vs. Chicago, Jacksonville and Detroit), there’s certainly a very realistic path to 10 wins and a wild card at minimum.

What’s the Play?

Image credit: eBay

Single, graded trading cards and graded, autograph, relic, and patch cards purchased for $250+ on eBay in the US are now eligible. And after doing some research, I decided to get myself a Garrett Wilson 2021 Select XRC PSA 10. There are currently only 8 of these graded a 10 in the PSA population report.

In years past, XRCs came in the form of redemptions in the Select product. This meant that if you were lucky enough to open up a pack with a WR2 (2nd wide receiver drafted) XRC redemption card in it, Panini would send you the card at a later date. However, in 2021 Select, the XRCs came live in the packs.

I was able to make a deal with a seller who had it listed at $325 or best offer, and paid a total of $255. During the checkout process, I selected the option to send my card to the eBay vault, where the card will live in my personal collection!

When Is the Right Time to Sell?

Great question. My strategy is to list it with a $399 price tag “or best offer,” hoping that if Wilson has a huge game in the next few weeks, combined with the fact that the population of this card is so low, somebody will decide to just smash the “Buy It Now” button.

How will it all work out? That remains to be seen… Make sure to come back here next month for an update!