Rookie card. A card is considered a rookie card if the year of the manufacturing of the card is the same year that the player entered the professional league. Given that a player only has one rookie year, the cards from this year are more rare and more desirable.

Comparisons. The most commonly used comp for sports cards is the 3 most recently completed sales from the method of purchase you are transacting on (e.g. average price of last 3 eBay sales if you are buying on eBay).

Refers to the hard plastic encasing placed on a card by a grading company (e.g. PSA, BGS, SGC, CSG, HGA) that preserves its condition.

Local card shop. Term is used by individuals for a shop in their specific area so one person's LCS may differ from another person's LCS.

A method of opening a box of cards where the “breaker” (or opener of the boxes) solicits buyers to participate in the opening by buying spots in the break. Player, team, and divisional breaks are most common.

(Verb) To open a sealed box of cards by yourself, regardless of type of box (hobby, blaster, value pack).

Personal Collection. Refers to the player(s) or team(s) that a person buys to keep for themselves rather than sell.

Short print. Refers to a card with a manufacturing population (i.e. the amount Panini releases) that is limited - typically 100-500 of the same card in population.

Super Short print. Refers to a card with a manufacturing population (i.e. the amount Panini releases) that is very limited - typically 1-100 of the same card in population.

Refers to a numbered card where the numerator of the serial number is 1 (e.g. numbered 1/10).

Refers to a numbered card where the numerator and denominator of the serial number are the same (e.g. 10/10).

A numbered card where the numerator of the serial number matches the number of the player’s jersey depicted on the card. Market value of jersey match cards are greater than non-jersey match since they are essentially a 1/1 in a given parallel.

A base card with a parallel color that matches the player's team color (e.g. a Patrick Mahomes Red Prizm since the team color for the Kansas City Chiefs is red). Market value of color match cards are greater than non-color match cards.

Pick Your Team. A type of break where participants can buy a particular team and receive all cards from the break with players on that team.

Same design as the base set but in a different color, sometimes numbered. For example, a Silver Prizm parallel is not numbered but the Gold Prizm parallel is usually numbered to 10.

When a player declares for the draft, card manufacturers include that player in their production of collegiate card sets for that year. These cards depict the player in their college uniform and typically have a lower market value than their professional NFL rookie cards.

Daily fantasy sports. Gambling platform where you build your own team out of individual players from different teams and earn points based on their individual performance. Daily fantasy football point earnings on a specific player show a strong correlation to that player's card value.

A card design that is different from the base set design and varies in rarity (i.e. non-SP, SP, SSP).

A single color, non-player worn or game used jersey patch on a card. Typically white.

Rookie Patch. A card manufactured in the player's rookie year that includes a piece of jersey in the card. The jersey can be player worn, game worn, or neither. This acronym can also stand for "Reprint" which is a reproduced edition of an earlier release.

Rookie Patch Auto. A card manufactured in the player's rookie year that includes a piece of jersey in the card and an autograph on the card. The jersey can be player worn, game worn, or neither. The autograph can be on-card or sticker.

Population of graded cards from one of the card grading companies. Most commonly used term is "low pop" which refers to a card's low graded population indicating a higher value.

Player signed a booklet of stickers, and the manufacturer removes the stickers and places them on the player's cards during the manufacturing process before a release. Player does not handle the actual card.

Player signed and handled the card directly for manufacturer releases to the public for sale.

eBay seller is indicating that there is currently no other listing on the site that matches the card they are selling at that specific time.

Art Card, Editions & Originals are sports cards made by artists and collectors rather than a card manufacturer. These cards have more artistic value than anything else.

Sealed box of cards ranging from hobby to blaster/hanger.

Refers to a PSA card grade of 10 or GEM MINT.

A card that is not an insert or variation of the base set.

Bubble mailer with tracking. Refers to the type of shipping packaging that will be used when purchasing a card from an online seller.

Plain white envelope. Refers to the type of shipping packaging that will be used when purchasing a card from an online seller.

Buy/Sell/Trade. Short hand acronym used on social media to indicate that a user is interesting in buying, selling and trading sports cards.

Card manufacturers sell cards in cases which have a specific number of retail boxes. This term refers to the rarity of a given card. If the manufacturer says that a given card is a "case hit", it is saying that the card will be pulled (on average) one time per case released.

eBay Standard Envelope

1st Off the Line, products released in dutch auction format on the Panini website in advance of the normal release date for a given card set.

"Friends & Family" payment method via Paypal which offers no purchase protection for the buyer.

"Goods & Services" payment method via Paypal which offers buyers purchase protection.

Off-Centered. Describes a card which has a design disproportionately aligned with the edges of the card (most commonly described as "top-bottom OC" or "left-right OC").

In the sports card hobby, a "razz" is a term for a sports card raffle, or lottery. The organizer, the ‘razzer’, has a sports card or sports memorabilia up for offer. Typically the razzer lists the amount of spots being offered and the price of each spot, with those spots getting randomized once filled and the winner taking the prize.

Yes. The price floor would be the value of a GEM MINT non-auto then the additional value would be in between that and a GEMT MINT auto.

The best rule of thumb is to insure the package for the value that you would be okay receiving in the event that the package was lost. Not the current value but the value estimated after PSA grades the cards. Sometimes it makes sense to split your submissions to not pay higher insurance premiums on a single package.

If the condition of a card has a chance to receive a PSA equivalent 9 or 10, it is eligible for submission. PSA 8 pricing is equivalent to the raw card (and you would be out the grading costs). Once condition is determined eligible, comp the card to see if PSA 9 prices would cover the grading costs and leave you with the profit margin you are seeking.

PSA and BGS are the top two grading companies. PSA grades in whole numbers without any indication of defects identified. BGS has four categories of sub-grades and grades in half number denominations (e.g. BGS 9.5). If you want a detailed grading report, BGS the best option. If you want to chase the iconic PSA 10 grading, you know the answer.

Sticker autos can receive a sub-10 grading for the following most common reasons: the signature went off the sticker when the player signed, the ink of the signature is fading or light in certain areas, or some extraneous particle(s) were trapped underneath the sticker auto.

A rainbow refers to a collection of all parallels of a player released in a given base card set.

Panini Absolute (Hobby boxes have best odds but you can pull these in any retail packages as well).

Panini Prizm has the white Color Blast insert. Panini Obsidian has the black Color Blast insert. Prizm fetches a higher market price.

Panini Prizm and Panini Mosaic both have a stained glass insert classified as SSP. Panini Mosaic seems to have produced more prints making it a SP. Panini Prizm stained glass remains a SSP and fetches a higher price.

Panini Mosaic.

Panini Mosaic.

Panini Donruss and Panini Donruss Optic.

Panini Donruss Optic.

Panini Contenders and Panini Contenders Optic.