The Top 5 Supplies You Need Before You Begin Opening, Buying, Selling, And / Or Collecting Cards:
1. Penny Sleeves
2. Top Loaders
3. Binder and Binder Pocket Pages
4. Semi Rigid Card Holders for Grading
5. Cases to store graded cards and cards in top loaders, magnetic card cases, or other protective cases.
Get yourself some single cards, packs, or boxes along with these supplies and you're well on your way to being a card collector.
It's so important to keep your cards in the best condition possible.
Of course, when you pull your cards from packs or buy / trade with someone else, it's not likely that the card is already in suboptimal condition with issues including but not limited to off-centered printing, print lines, other manufacturer defects, affected corners, scratches, and more.
It's no use being disappointed by these problems on your favorite cards for too long, since the condition of the card prior to arrival was essentially out of your control.
As we all know Sport and TCG cards can be very valuable and/or become very valuable in the future, so the most important thing, second to actually getting cards, is immediately protecting them.
When you begin collecting cards there is much to learn. In more Invincible Blogs we'll provide as much information as we can for collectors, beginner and veteran alike, can have knowledge shared from our team of collectors and experience over our decades of collecting.
To start out, knowing what cards you may want to collect and either getting some boxes or singles of that sport or game to start would be fine to help you understand what you enjoy collecting.
You can likely keep your budget small to start and focus on low end / retail products, or single cards you like to establish the base to your collection.
Make sure you have all the supplies necessary when ripping open packs or boxes of cards. You'll want to have you card / penny sleeves and top loaders at the very least. Any decent card you get should always go directly into a sleeve to protect the surface of the card and the more valuable or favorites of yours should be put into top loaders for the rigid protection it provides the card.
Truthfully, this is all you'll need to start. As you carry on with collecting cards you will want some boxes or cases to store cards in so they aren't in top loaders or card sleeves all over the place. For lower end cards that are not in sleeves you can surely use any cardboard or other boxes you have available to efficiently store you cards worth around $1.
The 9 pocket binder pages and binders come in here. When you have a bunch of cards you like or cards you'd like to keep together, many collectors will sleeve them up and place them into binder pocket pages in binders to keep all the cards safe. This would be a better option than cardboard or other unsecure boxes.
As you become a season collector, or if you begin with better cards, you'll want to invest in a combination lock or other premium case. The premium combination lock card case from Invincible Card Supplies, for example is built to protect graded cards, cards in top loaders, cards in magnetic, or cards other card cases between a sturdy case, foam insulation, and a combination lock mechanism. The case will organize and store your more valuable cards and allow you to transport them to local card shows, large national collector shows, or anywhere else with the convenient handle.
Bonus: As you get into collecting cards you'll eventually want to include team bags in your arsenal of supplies. Team bags are resealable bags that will secure cards in cases or graded cards in slabs from any dust and surface flaws while keeping the case closed and secure in a bag.
Enjoy collecting and try not to stop! It's always enjoyable so long as you manage your funds and make good buying decisions. We'll do our best to continue providing collectors all over with the premium supplies they love and appreciate while remaining engaged with the hobby. Simultaneously, we'll continue providing as much information as we can to keep your time in the hobby enjoyable, profitable, and long-lasting.