eBay Trends Highlight New Favorites in NFL Card Collecting for 2023 Season

• Posted: March 12, 2024, 9:25 pm
• in Sports Card News
• by bionic

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As the NFL free agency period sees its fair share of excitement, the realm of football card collecting is witnessing its own evolution. The 2023 season marked the end of an era with Tom Brady and welcomed a fresh batch of players who have quickly become favorites among collectors, keen on acquiring memorabilia from September’s kickoff to the Super Bowl in February. eBay's recent statistics offer a closer look at these shifting preferences.

CJ Stroud stands out as the athlete most sought after by card collectors, evidenced by an impressive surge in eBay searches for his cards—up 1,500% in January from the beginning of the season. Despite the absence of Stroud’s autographs in Panini’s lineup, his cards saw sales exceed $3 million in January, with the average selling price of his cards more than doubling.

However, Stroud didn’t capture the top spot in terms of the most sold or searched trading cards on eBay for the season. That accolade went to Patrick Mahomes, with Brock Purdy, Stroud, Joe Burrow, and Trevor Lawrence also featuring prominently among the most sought-after quarterbacks.

The season also spotlighted players like Mahomes, whose searches spiked significantly following his Super Bowl MVP win, Lamar Jackson, and Jordan Love, all seeing notable increases in interest at critical season junctures.

The excitement wasn’t just about the quarterbacks. Baker Mayfield and rookie Puka Nacua saw significant rises in search activity, with Nacua’s searches skyrocketing by 12,800% from August 2023 to January 2024, making him one of the season's breakout stars.

Among the top-selling receivers were Justin Jefferson, Travis Kelce, and others, with rookies Rashee Rice and Zay Flowers experiencing substantial search increases, highlighting their ascent in popularity. The top-selling running backs featured Christian McCaffrey and Bijan Robinson, among others, demonstrating the collector's market's broad interests.

Defensively, rookie Aidan Hutchinson led the pack in sales, with others like Micah Parsons and Sauce Gardner also drawing collector interest. Despite the changing guard, Tom Brady’s legacy continued to resonate, with daily searches on eBay remaining high throughout the season.

This shift in collector interest underscores a dynamic period in NFL card collecting, with eBay’s data reflecting the evolving tastes and the emergence of new stars in the league.