Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: deep Burning (ID:shenrancaijing) with the original title: "3.67 million Messica". What kind of business is it? Author: Jin Jie, editor: Wei Jia

What is the most valuable thing for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar?

Don't envy the Middle Eastern tycoons. The fans who have football star cards around you may be invisible billionaires.

"A piece of paper with people on it, but the most expensive signature card can be worth millions of dollars," said talk show actor Hulan, referring to the star card.

During this World Cup, different types of Cristiano Ronaldo star cards sold at high prices of 150000 to 320000 on the domestic trading platform; this year's most expensive Messi star card, a 2014 World Cup Prizm series, sold for $522000 (3.67 million yuan).

In the star card world, it is not that the more famous the player, the higher the value of the star card. Recently, the star cards of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have a transaction record of dozens of yuan and hundreds of yuan on Catao.

Star cards can not be played only by the "rich". Star card has just entered the Chinese market for less than 30 years, and its real development has only been in the past two years, but card stores have spread from Beijing and Shanghai to new first-tier cities. Baidu "Star Card Bar" has more than 60,000 people following it. Card fans are born in the 1970s and down to middle school students, covering sports fans, other card fans, collection enthusiasts, and investors with the most keen sense of smell.

Some of them like to "open the blind box". If they remove the valuable HIT card, it is equivalent to the "hidden money" in the blind box, even if they "take off"; some people are keen to "collect people" and collect all series of cards, signature cards, physical cards (jersey cards, shoes cards, etc.), rookie cards, etc. Some people are like "buying stocks", "investing" their favorite "rookies" can become new stars in the future, buy low and sell high.

The person in charge of the trading platform told Shenjing that in the past, the trading activity and volume of football cards were not as good as those of basketball cards, but during this World Cup, the trading volume and volume of football cards were on the rise. In view of the fact that many card fans have had a period of fever, you might as well first understand the operating rules of the star card world:

1. What determines the value of a star card?

2. The classification of star cards is too complicated. How on earth should players "play" and "earn"?

3, which businesses in the industrial chain share among them, and how should players avoid the "pit"?

4. Which platforms maintain the operation of the star card market?

A star card: worth tens of millions of OR is not worth a lot of outsiders' biggest curiosity about star cards is, how can a piece of paper with players sell for tens of thousands or even tens of millions of dollars? Why can Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's star cards range in value from a few hundred dollars to millions of dollars?

Star cards are also called exchange cards (Trading Cards). Scarcity determines the value of cards. So, in the rules of the game of star cards, what determines the scarcity of cards?

One is the release time. The old card has its own scarcity.

It is said that the 2022 World Cup is "the twilight of the gods". Fans are eager to have the cards of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi playing in the World Cup for the last time, which is very memorable.

According to Lao Qiu, founder of Dianfat Card Club in Shanghai, the Prizm series of World Cup star cards released every four years by Panini distributors is the most popular (the price of a standard box ranges from 4, 000 yuan to 5, 000 yuan, with 12 cards in each bag). For example, a new Messi star card sells for 15000 yuan at auction.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's 2022 World Cup star card respondents provided pictures, but Qiu is more optimistic about long-term returns. If Messi does well in this World Cup, the price of this card will continue to rise, and the older it is, the more scarce and valuable it will be. Eight years ago, he recalled, the price of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's Puca (ordinary card) in the World Cup Prizm series, which was first released in 2014, has since increased a hundredfold.

The second is player fame. Top stars have no shortage of fans, so cards are naturally in short supply.

"sky-high" star cards, often appear in Jordan, Kobe Bryant, James and other top stars, are what card rings say "good people (unknown is' passers-by')."

Li Xiaobai joined the star card before the fall of legendary NBA star Kobe Bryant in 2020, and saw the value of all Kobe Bryant's signature cards soar, "saving" the trough of the card market since 2018.

The third is appearance. Star cards with perfect appearance are scarce in themselves.

The appearance of the star card includes the printing of the card, the degree of wear and tear, and the consistency and clarity of the player's signature ink. By the mainstream card rating agencies PSA, BGS to the star card score, and sealed box protection, equivalent to installed with a "price tag."

Only a small number of good-looking and well-preserved ones can get top scores, and of course, there will be lower requirements for older cards. So the same card with a PSA score of 10 can be several times more expensive than a 9-point card.

The fourth is the sense of scarcity created by issuers.

Issuers show scarcity to card fans by adding players' signatures, embedding players' jerseys, cutting shoes, numbering stars' cards, and so on. Star cards are divided into four levels.

1. Puka (base card), the most basic and the largest number of cards. Puca also contains parallel and refraction, parallel cards are divided into non-card and belt card according to different numbers, several parts represent the limited number of cards, and only one card is called "one card".

two。 Physical cutting cards, slices cut from players' jerseys and sneakers, embedded in the cards, are divided into jersey cards, sneaker cards, ball leather cards, floor cards, etc., and the interior of each branch continues to be graded according to the size of the slices, single and double colors.

3. Signature cards are divided into printing, sticking and card signing. Card signature, because it is signed by the player, is the most popular.

4. Rookie cards (Rookie Card), usually sold in the first year of a player's debut, are particularly valuable.

2021NBA draft No.1 Edwards Rookie (RC) + autograph + clothing + belt + rating 9 points signature 10 points small nine in a word, early release time, small circulation, perfect card appearance, top star fame, these factors make a star card worth tens of millions. It's like a BUFF in a game, the more you stack it, the higher the value.

Last July, Curry's national treasure RLA (Rookie Logoman Autograph) set an all-time record for star card trading at a sky-high price of $5.9 million. A "good man" + Logoman+1 editor + autograph + rookie card, directly "take off".

In August this year, the transaction record of the most expensive star card in history was rewritten by a star card issued in 1952. A star card of baseball superstar Mickey Manto (1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, with a score of 9.5) sold at auction for a whopping $12.6 million (including commission, about 88.77 million yuan), with a net price of $10.5 million.

Player: how to "play" the star card? The quadrennial World Cup is in full swing, so how to play the star card?

In a word, it can be collected as collectibles or sold as investment goods. Cards can be removed from the primary market or collected from the secondary market.

According to Niuniu, the head of Niu Zhong Niu Card Society, who has been concerned about star cards for three years, the two types of card friends are the most. One is to accept cards from a particular player or team, and none of the other cards are accepted. The other is the cards of potential stars.

Collecting all kinds of star cards of idols is a way for fans to "chase stars". Lao Qiu described the feeling of "chasing stars" in this way: "having a card with the autograph of the idol and the material inlaid with his jersey creates a sense of restraint with the idol."

The head of the "Maoxiaojiu Card Club" in Kunming, Yunnan, likes Ronaldo very much and is also a fan of AC Milan. "I keep all their cards, and now there are at least thousands of them."

As an investment product, rookie card is the biggest game opportunity in the eyes of card fans. If the bet is successful, buy low and sell high and get a good return. However, if the judgment is wrong, there are cases in which the card falls to a few dollars or even a few cents.

Li Xiaobai, who used to play basketball cards, also did his homework on football cards before the start of this World Cup. He summed up the age, league, and number of goals of the strikers and midfielders of all participating teams to judge who would be the "dark horse", and then speculated whose star card would have a chance to make a profit by comparing the card price on the market.

Garvey topped the list of youngest goalscorer in this World Cup. Ken, an interviewee of Garvey's rookie card issued by the old cat for more than ten years, said that his card with the highest return on investment was a star card from NBA's "Alphabet Brother (Yannis Adetokumbo)" in his early years. "I took it out on crowdfunding for dozens of dollars in 2013. at that time, the anchor was not sure who he was, when the card market was craziest in 2020. I saw a same card on ebay with a high rating and a price tag of $150,000.

A ken started playing with cards at the end of Iverson's career, and then encountered the letter Brother Rookie Card, followed by the question of how to get the star card. The star card with the character of "set exchange" extends to the primary and secondary markets in the sales link, that is, the first transaction and the second transaction.

All cards are first introduced into the market in boxed form. The so-called primary market, generally is their own "end box", or with other card fans to form a team to open cards.

The former is similar to an "open-blind box" and is very enjoyable. all the cards issued are their own, "but the threshold is too high and there is a high probability of losing money. Cheap card boxes cost thousands of yuan and hundreds of thousands more expensive," says Li Xiaobai.

The latter is "crowdfunding" open the box, according to certain rules (such as random teams, random players, random cards, etc.), the average cost is the lowest, with dozens of yuan can "form a team", open tens of thousands of cards, but to put it bluntly, is to use less money to fight for the rarest cards, the risk is that you may not get anything.

Li Xiaobai's two Yao Ming refractive cards, each priced at a price of more than six figures, can be provided by RMB interviewees, both of which can be done through the official channels of publishers, star card agencies, crowdfunding platforms, and live studios.

"Card fans who play in the primary market, in addition to those who are not short of money, are small and broad and pursue the thrill of opening cards." Zhang Xueyang, a sports commentator, believes that card fans who play to a certain level receive cards exclusively on the trading platform of the secondary market. EBay is the most valued star card trading platform for card fans all over the world, while it is mainly in Catao in China.

Lao Qiu's partner is a loyal fan of Lionel Messi, who specially received more than 100,000 Messi star cards during this World Cup. Zhang Xueyang, a fan of South Korean player Sun Xingyi, specially received four Sun Xingkun's signature cards before this World Cup.

The Sun Xingyi star card collected by Zhang Xueyang shows that the star card is a constantly circulating market, whether it is collected or traded, whether to remove the card from the primary market or to buy the card from the secondary market, it all depends on the personal preferences and financial strength of card fans.

Merchant: how to make money from star cards? The sales path of the star card box in the domestic market is issuer-agent / dealer-card shop / studio / crowdfunding platform-card fans. Before card fans "earn", "middlemen" have to "make" the last wave.

In essence, what you earn is the price difference between restocking and selling, but with the evolution of time and the increase of card fans, each has its own business and risks.

Since 2020, the composition of "crowdfunding" has been the mainstream, and the opening of cards in the studio has been all the rage for a while, but the oldest is the offline card store.

With regard to the development of card shops in China, Li Xiaobai said that when the star card industry entered the Chinese market in the 1990s, offline card shops appeared at that time and have been concentrated in the north, Shanghai, Guangzhou and some new first-tier cities.

This is equivalent to a free market for card fans to communicate, exchange and trade star cards, but the investment is very heavy. Open a physical card store with at least seven-figure investment.

However, there are many places where card stores can make money. "they make a difference in selling card boxes, charge a commission on card transactions, and charge a certain fee for acting ratings," says Lao Cat. It's just that different card stores have different business and card centers.

According to Lao Qiu, card owners generally play basketball and football, as well as star cards in sports events such as UFC (Ultimate fighting Championship) and F1 (World Formula one Championship).

Among them, selling card boxes has the highest income and the greatest risk. Before the start of the World Cup, the old cat's card club bought 40 cases of the World Cup series at a cost of more than 2 million, and sold more than 10 cases in the first week of the game. However, if the card box is unsalable or the price is reduced later, the risk will be borne by itself.

It seems that the busiest place is probably the debit and live broadcast room. In the 24-hour live room, users can "get on the bus (team to remove cards)" at any time, and the anchors will open the cards on their behalf.

Xiao Jiu, a channel businessman in Kunming, who opened cards in live studios from 2019 to 2021, observed that at present, most live studios have three sales modes in parallel, such as buying boxes and removing cards in the studio, forming teams in the community or on the crowdfunding platform, all by selling card boxes to make the difference.

To open cards in the studio, it is not only "big and small", but also has low threshold and high profit. According to an industry insider, the first echelon of Douyin studio, whose monthly profits are more than 100000, are all in the first echelon of card removal.

Wherever there is money to be made, it is hard to escape the "inner roll". Xiaojiu recalled, "when I first broadcast in 2019, there were only a dozen or 20 colleagues on Douyin platform. At that time, there was no need to publicize. As soon as the card box was put, someone would naturally come to play." since 2020, a large number of merchants have poured into the studio, peaking in 2021, 'inner volume' to transformation, frantic price war and even "fraud".

The old cat revealed that the "swollen bag (the card bag after the HIT card was removed and then sold for the second time)" and "Fu bag (the assembly box after the merchant's independent proportioning), which were once very popular in the studio, were sold in the form of non-original boxes.

In the star card trading industry chain, the most "silent and rich" businessman is the crowdfunding platform.

Xiaojiu said that at present, the crowdfunding platform accounts for the largest share of sales, followed by card shops and retail in the live broadcast room. "the crowdfunding platform charges a commission of 5% of the total team price."

Forming a team on the mainstream crowdfunding platform Hobby stock and Card World is a popular game in China in the past two years. These platforms not only sell card boxes, but also play the role of guarantee. As a result, online "teams" between card shops and live broadcasts are basically through crowdfunding platforms. "compared with before 2020, card fans will have more security and reduce unnecessary disputes when they team up and open cards in post bars, QQ groups or offline card stores." Said the old cat.

The most "invisible" but large merchants are channels that take goods from foreign markets and then sell them to domestic terminals.

As a collector's item, the price is the second, and the most important thing is the fidelity of the card. The largest agent in the Chinese market is Ruika Chao, "the supply of goods exceeds demand". After seeing the business opportunity, Xiao Jiu contacted a foreign first-class dealer and began to supply goods to the card club and the studio at the beginning of this year. During this World Cup, he first won a batch of 100 cases of World Cup-themed goods, and then planned to pick them up.

Channel merchants earn the price difference between restocking and selling, but the risk is very high. Xiao Jiu takes two or three million yuan of goods at once every month, and at the same time "distributes" a certain proportion of unsalable products, which generally can only be sold at a loss or overstocked in the warehouse, and the pressure on capital turnover has always been greater. And Ruika Chao plays such agents are also difficult to escape "distribution".

Platform: how to maintain the operation of star cards? Players are at the end and merchants are middlemen, so who is maintaining the continuous operation of the star card market?

The first is publishers with official authorizations.

The rights of star cards for the most watched events such as NBA, World Cup, F1 and UFC are concentrated in the hands of Panini, Topps and UpperDeck distributors. The domestic FansMall and DAKA culture have also reached the issue link.

Or take Panini, which is authorized by the star card of the Qatar World Cup, as an example of how publishers create a sophisticated rating system and control the rules of the star card world.

A single card has a complex grading system, and the card boxes with cards are also delimited according to the product line at the time of "ex-factory" issuance. There are the most basic HOOPS, middle-end Prizm, high-end IMMACULATE (referred to as IMM), Flawless (suitcase), national treasure (National Treasure) and so on. The more expensive the card box, the more likely it is to issue a good card.

Bailey signed the ball star card for the old cat.

Beckham autographed star card old cat to provide pictures of the more scarce star cards, the more crazy the card fans, the more room for speculation. Issuers who pay sky-high royalties and have a monopoly on IP can control the scarcity and premium leverage of cards and make a profit. "but if issuers try their best, star cards may fall below the issue price." Lao Qiu said.

In order to maintain the stable operation of this hierarchical system, a third-party "referee" is needed.

Generally speaking, it is difficult for card fans to distinguish the authenticity of cards with the naked eye, and it is not easy for buyers and sellers to reach an agreement on appearance. So the third-party card rating companies PSA and BGS appeared, responsible for giving "antiques" palms to identify the authenticity and appearance of star cards.

Rating costs, a card rating fees generally range from hundreds to thousands of yuan, specifically related to the rating speed, the market price of cards.

Finally, it is the trading platform that adds fuel to the star card market and allows it to continue to "speculate".

In A ken's observation, the student party and new card fans, when the economic conditions are not mature enough, usually buy some small cards within an acceptable range, exchange some funds through the trading platform, continue to invest, and gradually replace higher-end cards.

The higher the circulation of cards, so that more card fans earn money, "running water" constantly, only to prove that the market is prosperous. From 2019 to 2020, star card sales in China increased by 205%, ranking second in the world after the United States, according to eBay. In addition to eBay, domestic card fans mainly trade on platforms such as Catao, Vance Cat, Kazang, Linzang and so on. LinkedZang is the only platform that has the right to connect individuals to shoot eBay.

Of course, disorderly "speculation" should also be prevented. Domestic mainstream trading platforms should establish a stricter regulatory system to prevent malicious caps.

There is no shortage of trading platforms in the domestic market, but at this stage, "the growth of card fans is still not proportional to the turnover of star cards. Moreover, the domestic platform basically follows an 'internal cycle', and it is also necessary for foreign card fans to see that a large number of good cards are in China. Domestic good cards can also be circulated to overseas markets," said the head of the collection operation.

Conclusion: "my 11-year-old son finally collected the Panini star cards of all the teams participating in the Qatar World Cup before the match." A Chinese card fan in Switzerland told Shenjing that in Switzerland, men, women and children all play star cards, and six or seven-year-old children, especially boys, basically have a collection of star cards.

In the final analysis, the star card is still a minority in the Chinese market, and the vast majority of card fans have just entered the pit for two or three years; the fluctuation of the star card market is basically based on eBay, which is rooted in the sports star card industry, and it will take time to develop and improve in China.

But a series of changes have proved that there is great potential for the development of star cards in the Chinese market.

Fanatics, the sports e-commerce platform that truncated the rights to NBA and NFL from Panini, said it could build a multibillion-dollar business in China. As domestic companies accelerate the layout of the star card industry, Hu Shunqiang, a partner of Beichen Star Capital who focuses on sports, told Shenjing that Chinese companies dominated by local capital have a better chance of achieving this goal.

When business is ahead of culture, a number of senior card fans remind card friends who want to enter: timing is very critical, and mentality is also very important.

"there are very few people who make a lot of money from star cards in the past, and there may not be many in the future, because there are too many participants eager for quick success and quick profit." A ken has seen card fans with a drawer of Jordan, Kobe Bryant and James star cards. He is an old card fan who started playing more than a decade or two ago. At that time, the card price was not high, and the current card price index doubled, which is the dividend of the long-term collection.

The most popular way to play a star card is to burn krypton gold, but it is actually a hobby that ordinary people can dabble in. Zhang Xueyang said, "collect a signature card of your favorite player for more than ten or twenty yuan. Its market value may not be high, but it is priceless to me."

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