I purchased 5 40-card value packs and one blaster box consisting of 11 packs of 12 cards a piece to see if opening them all and then reselling them would be more profitable than selling the packs by themselves (or if the packs would have been more profitable to sell unopened). The answer, with unfortunate vagueness, is “maybe”. This experiment cost me $50 as well as about 45 minutes of my time and, while I did thoroughly enjoy the process of opening up the packs, admiring the art, and looking up what I thought may be valuable, it appears as if the amount of money you can make is unreliable at best, and destined to be a loss at worst. I chalk this up to two major reasons:

1. the odds of these packs having valuable cards is fixed the same way a casino fixes their odds- if too many “valuable” cards are given out, the overall value of these valuable cards suffers and interest in the brand (which admittedly is an entry-level brand) will suffer.

2. The brand, as just mentioned, is not for the serious collectors who would be more inclined to pay a premium for a limited run card, say an autographed rookie of Joe Burrow, stamped “1/1”, signifying that it is the only card of which exists. When the supply is 1, all you need is two motivated buyers to bid up the price.

In the video, I ended up being busted on the packs and pulling a Patrick Mahomes II Jersey Card from the Rise Up Series. I thought the card was very cool and because I pulled it, I was ultimately satisfied with the experience, but I easily could have pulled a less lucrative card, Mitchell Trubisky or Tyrod Taylor, perhaps.

There is yet more reason not to attempt this as a purely profitable pursuit: through my contacts in the reselling world (of whom I will not name to maintain their privacy), I have been told that all you need to do is bribe the stockers at Walmart to text you when new cards come in, weigh the boxes/packs to see what is heaviest or feel along the edges to find a thick insert, and then be on your merry way with what you can assume is a profitable investment. I cannot confirm the veracity of this, but what I can confirm is that the more valuable brands and series sell out immediately, oftentimes within minutes of the store opening. Whether that is from collusion or an abundance of eagerness and interest, I cannot say.

So what is my conclusion? Simply put: no, you should not be buying these indiscriminately to resell. Although the blaster boxes are selling at about a 120% premium, that number is quickly devoured by eBay fee and shipping costs. I would argue that the more prestigious brands/series would be worth buying whenever you see them, but finding those stocked on shelves is a task in itself. I suggest you leave these on the shelves for the more novice collectors, both allowing them to have some fun and fostering a healthy new generation of card collectors that you can sell to down the line, if you so chose to.