Throwback: Remember When Card Savers Were Reselling?

News

By RC Staff

25 April 2023

There was a time where you could resell card savers for more than you paid. Yes, card savers, with nothing in them. The Card Craze of 2020 led to shortages of certain brands of savers. When grading houses announced they would only accept submissions of cards with select savers, they began selling out. The combination of intense demand and squeezed pandemic production created a unique opportunity for resellers. While cards remain popular today, it’s likely we won’t see a return of this phenomenon any time soon.

The Cardboard Gold Card Saver 1

If you were reselling trading cards in 2020, you knew just how crazy things could get. While cards had been gradually growing in the years leading up to the pandemic, 2020 really took things to another level. Cards burst into the mainstream, and it seemed like everyone, everywhere, was trying to get in on them.

Part of this meant that certain card related products also shot up in value. Deck boxes, playing mats and other TCG paraphernalia suddenly became the next thing to buy. Pokemon, sports cards, Magic: The Gathering, MetaZoo; it seemed like you could resell cards every day for more and more money.

An interesting side effect of this trend was the rise in value of card savers. Or rather, specifically the Card Saver 1 from Cardboard Gold. These simple plastic cases were used for protecting and storing cards for transport or storage, and when cards went up, so did they.

How much does the Card Saver 1 cost?

Currently, 2,000 count boxes of the Card Saver 1 cost $159. During 2020, the retail price for a box of 2,000 was $250. That is, if you could find one for retail. The explosion in popularity for cards meant they were perpetually out of stock.

People started buying boxes of Card Saver 1 to resell. These boxes could typically go for around $400, but sales beyond $500 were not uncommon.

Why did the Cardboard Gold Card Saver 1 resell?

Now, it’s important to note that there are plenty of options for protecting trading cards, whether you intend to resell cards or just collect them. Many people prefer to use sleeves or top loaders, which are cheaper and generally easier to handle than the Card Saver 1.

If you intended to grade your cards through PSA though, you would need to buy a Card Saver. The sudden increase in card buying, collecting, and trading also led to a major backlog of cards being sent into PSA for grading. Sleeves, top loaders, and other flimsy or less protective options would be rejected, and they required all submissions to be sent in a Card Saver.

Naturally, this did a number on the remaining stock of Card Savers on Cardboard Gold’s website. Serious card collectors and resellers recognized the need to stock up, and began buying out as many boxes as they could. It didn’t take long before Card Savers became just like many other products of the pandemic: overpriced and out of stock.

This scarcity led to an aftermarket being created for Card Savers. Resellers couldn’t simply sit and wait for new stock to be loaded, and so they began buying Card Savers for higher prices from third party sellers. By early 2021, prices for 2,000 count boxes of the Card Saver 1 were reselling for $500 or more.

Nothing lasts forever though. Production of the Card Saver 1 was ramped up to meet the increased demand. While the pandemic definitely put a squeeze on things, eventually boxes of the Card Saver 1 could be bought at retail, and many resellers had stocked up on enough Card Savers that the aftermarket faded away.

This is probably not something we will see repeated in the future, but it is a fun look back at how crazy things got back in 2020. For another example on how the card boom affected more than just cards, check out our article on the DekTech Wynter Senpai deck boxes.