With the 2022 Qatar World Cup approaching, the attention of star cards is rapidly heating up at home and abroad.
Recently, AliExpress, AliExpress, a cross-border retail e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba, announced six major trends of the "World Cup Economy" on Overseas Singles' Day in 2022, and the star card is one of them.
Zhuang Xiaoting, a Chinese agent seller authorized by Panini, an overseas leading star card issuer, said that at the beginning of this year, after learning that the star card on the AliExpress platform was still in the blank market, she opened a new store in less than a month.
"When the star card was not yet on sale, we laid out countries such as Brazil and Israel." Zhuang Xiaoting told reporters that the day after the star card product was launched, her team received orders from overseas customers.
"The NBA's most focused [players] right now are Cade Cunningham and Jalen Green. In football, it's the era of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé. ”
In a star card store in Baoshan District, Shanghai, the owner Mao Boss told reporters that the current star card includes baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey and other sports types, but domestic attention is more basketball and football.
It is understood that on a domestic leading second-hand collectible card trading platform, as of November 6, among the top five star card products (including blind boxes) in the transaction price of the football category, the players involved include French legend Michel Platini, French professional footballer Kylian Mbappe and ball king Pele, and the single card auction prices were 9999999 yuan, 108250 yuan and 99999 yuan respectively.
In addition, the price of star cards has been in a state of volatility: Panini's World Cup "National Treasures" series blind box (referred to as "National Treasures" in the industry) official website is priced at 3249.95 US dollars / box (equivalent to 2-24,000 yuan / box).
On October 24, the original 1 box (including 4 boxes) was sold for 99999 yuan. From November 2 to 5, the auction unit price of the same original box once increased by 33.17% from 52,750 yuan to 70,249 yuan.
According to public information, the star card is a card with a basketball star printed on it, introduced by American tobacco manufacturers in 1880 AD. Early player cards were used as giveaways to buy cigarettes (attached to cigarette cases), and because of the good response, candy and toy manufacturers also took effect, gradually forming a collectible unique to the United States. A cultural product with characteristics and a wide audience is formed.
Star cards are mainly produced by several star card production companies such as Panini, Topps, UpperDeck, FLEER, Skybox and so on.
Skybox closed in 2001 and was acquired by FLEER to form FLEER/Skybox. FLEER/Skybox went out of business in 2005 and was acquired by Upper Deck.
In the 2009/10 season, the Italian company PANINI signed exclusive distribution rights with the NBA, so only PAANI can make and distribute NBA star cards (in short, star cards with the NBA logo).
Upper Deck and Topps still have a large number of superbasketball superstars such as Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Larry Brid, etc., who can still issue and produce basketball star cards, but they can't issue NBA-related star cards.
The production and distribution rights of football star cards are in the hands of Futera, who have the right to operate many star cards such as the five major European football leagues and multiple football national teams.
Star cards are collectible, so there are still star cards of all ages on the market. This kind of card has previously attracted market attention because it has been auctioned at high prices in the international market many times.
In July 2021, a 97-year-old All-Bright Star Card of legendary superstar Jordan sold for a sky-high price of $2.7 million at auction, successfully setting an auction price record for similar items in Jordan.
This is a limited edition star card with a slice of Jordan's 97 All-Bright Planet suit, there are only 23 in the world, and the one auctioned is number 6 with Jordan's autograph.
In April 2021, a James rookie pro-signed star card sold for 5.2 million, and in August of the same year, James' other rookie star card sold for more than 2 million.
On August 28 this year, a Mickey Charles Mantle baseball card was auctioned for a sky-high $10.5 million (about 72.5 million yuan at the exchange rate at the time), breaking the record for the auction of sports collections.
Some experts said that on the whole, the global star card market is in a stage of rapid growth. Profiteering areas are always bustling. The consumption and collection of star cards has long been not just a game among fans, and more and more outsiders are moving to the wind, some are playing tickets, and some simply start a card speculation business.
Star card opening is mainly divided into two modes, single card and blind box. In recent years, blind boxes have become the main choice for players. However, in a blind box, there are often only one or two cards that can be sold at a price in the secondary market, which also causes the common phenomenon of "ten gambling and nine losses" in the card trading circle.
It is not uncommon to open a blind box of 5,000 yuan and finally get a card worth only 1,500 yuan; And in the case of luck, take out a card worth hundreds of thousands and earn it directly.
"Playing sneakers is the logic of financial management, those who come to play are to make money, and playing star cards is interest investment, people who come must be prepared to lose money", industry insiders said, star card market frequently appear sky-high cards, not only caused by scarcity. Due to the small size of the star card market, some people will raise the price in the secondary market to speculate and sell the star card at a high price, it is recommended not to blindly enter with the purpose of making money.