Top 5 Paid and Free Sports Card Collector Tools for 2022

Why Every Sports Card Collector Needs Management Tools

The greatest challenge that collectors face today is information overload.

That's why getting curated news on trends and highly sought after cards from a reputable source is invaluable.

When collectors manage to find interesting card sales in time, obtaining reliable and transparent pricing information is very useful when analyzing a potential deal. Historical market information creates bargaining power and can also help buyers walk away when the deal is unreasonable. 

And when collections get larger and larger, having the right management tools that track and display inventory - as well as update values according to daily fluctuations - is critical to keep trading going smoothly. 

Serious investors try to get in early on good deals and anticipate trends. That requires information on market interests, player stats and more. But when you’ve got a day job and a family to spend time with, every minute counts. A good service with active up-to-date trend analysis and a strong newsletter written by experts can save heaps of time. 

Here are our top picks for digital tools that help sports card collectors, investors and hobbyists become better informed card traders and make better deals.

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Card Ladder - Rookie Service with Pro Features

Website: https://www.cardladder.com/ 

Cards Ladder provides its members with features and analytics to track and grow their sports card collection. The company was launched on June 23rd 2020, by passionate collectors Chris and Josh, and the date, 6/23, was chosen to reflect their favorite basketball players’ jersey numbers - LeBron and Jordan. Both Joshua and Chris started their own YouTube channels in 2018. After interviewing collectors and sharing their love for sports cards, data and insightful research on video, they joined forces to create Cards Ladder. 

Cards Ladder helps collectors determine what their cards are worth and make deals based on credible and transparent data. They have historical sales data on ~20k cards, collected from 15 of the biggest sports cards marketplaces like eBay, Goldin, MySlabs and Leland’s. 

The company also draws on card population data from three grading companies (PSA, BGS, and SGC) that goes back 17 years. This allows members to track population growth and understand a card’s scarcity, as well as see how a card’s value has appreciated with time. ‍

Top Features: 

• Current market value and historical pricing, as well as a predictive pricing algorithm
• Card population data from 3 grading companies
• Visual dashboard for tracking of a collection’s investment value and ROI
• Card comparison tool
• Members can get estimate valuations on their cards from Cards Ladder experts
• Browsing, bidding and buying of new cards directly from the platform
• Pricing alerts on desired cards that come within a target price range
• Convenient full-feature app for on-the-go insights
• The company releases news about current market trends and noteworthy sales
  

Best for: Card industry professionals like podcasters and stores, as well as avid card traders with substantial collections.

Price: after a 7 day free trial, Cards Ladder costs 15$ per month.

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Card Hedge - Free Pricing Based on Huge Databases‍

Website: https://www.cardhedger.com/

Card Hedge is a tool for managing and pricing sports card collections. The company’s card price guide is based on the sales history of 32k cards cards in their database. With a service package similar to their competitor Cards Ladder, Card Hedge have differentiated themselves by offering free pricing on individual cards without signup and have grading data from more grading companies (currently PSA, CSG, HGA, SGC and BGS). 

Top Features:

• Basic pricing data is free for everyone but in depth data requires membership
• Full collection value estimation and tracking 
• Members can submit cards, as well as raw ungraded, for value estimations
• Card comparison
• Alerts when specific cards enter desired price range
  

Best For: Card investors and collectors.

‍Price: after a 7 day free trial, Card Hedge’s full feature package costs 14.99$ per month.

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AnyLot - Harnessing AI to Find Cards 

Website: https://www.anylot.com 

AnyLot monitors thousands of online marketplaces and notifies sports cards collectors and investors when the cards they desire are on sale. The company was launched in 2021 by a team of passionate collectors who had already created a strong AI technology successfully implemented in other rare collectables markets. The technology learns the interests of each individual member and then matches them with sport card deals, without having to specifically define every single card of interest. 

Anylot is a company with funding, employees and revenue. This promises constant developments of the product, support and growing feature set. 

Top Features: 

• Monitors thousands of online marketplaces - a reach that is impossible for individual collectors to cover. 
• Highly personalized email notifications every week with cards that fit each collectors profile precisely. The matching profile is tuned repeatedly such that the fit increases phenomenally. 
• Anylot cover top industry news, trends and updates that keep their subscribers informed
  

Best for: Any sports card collector that is tired if missing out on cards they want

Price: FREE (forever)

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Sports Card Album - The Collectors Social Platform

Website: https://sportscardalbum.com/ 

Sports Card Album is a photo management and interaction platform made by passionate sports card collectors for passionate hobbyists just like them. It is slowly becoming a sports cards social platform where collectors show off their cards to each other. Members can upload images of their card collection and organize, manage, and share it with other collectors. 

Top Features: 

• Free and unlimited uploading and storage
• Multiple parameters for each card
• Trending cards pop up on the intuitive visual feed
• Search by collector or card in addition to the rolling feed of cards
• 3D card simulations
• Trades are facilitated through third party platforms like eBay, PayPal and others
• Available through the web browser and on Android and iPhone apps
  

Best For: Sports card enthusiasts interested in sharing their collection and discussing with fellow collectors.

Price: Free 

Google Alerts - The Must Have Backup

Website: https://www.google.com/alerts  

Google Alerts was created by web giant Google as a general tool for people and businesses to keep up to date with topics that interest them. For sports cards collectors and investors, this strong tool can help get that extra bit of information the moment it pops up on the world wide web. 

Top Features: 

• Notifications whenever phrases or words appear on the web 
• Simple and intuitive

Tips: 

• Use parentheses to get full phrases, or individual words if order is not important
• Set up a new email account to collect the alerts unless using very specific keywords or phrases
  

Best For: Sports card investors who need an extra edge on news and trends

Price: FREE