READ: Ebay earnings beat on pandemic-driven surge in online shopping shares soar Late last year, boxes of 1999 trading cards for video game franchise Pokemon were reported to have been auctioned off for around US$400,000 (S$528,000) each.ĮBay sees an average of 119 trading cards listed each minute, with almost 45 million trading cards sold on the site last year alone.Īccording to the online marketplace, sales for basketball and Pokemon cards in the United States increased 373 per cent and 574 per cent respectively. The worldwide hype is not limited to sports cards. In January, a 1952 card for the late baseball player Mickey Mantle set the record for the most expensive sports card sold, at US$5.2 million. This made the card featuring the 22-year-old Dallas Mavericks point guard the most expensive basketball card, according to a report by sports betting media outfit Action Network. The prices of collectible trading cards have skyrocketed globally over the past year, with an autographed rookie card for NBA star Luka Doncic selling for US$4.6 million last month. READ: The cash-flush amateurs hunting game cards, handbags and art “It’s not just about the money, you have to be able to enjoy collecting a player.”
“I kind of like what Lebron represents, culturally and socially, and also how amazing a player he is,” said Mr Fariheen. More than a thousand cards - ranging from football to Pokemon ones - are listed in the store, with prices ranging from US$9 (S$12) for a card of English footballer Ben Watson to more than US$100,000 for an autographed card of basketball star Michael Jordan.Ībout a third of Heenja’s Cards' listings are for four-time NBA championship winner Lebron James. In between taking his three children to school and classes, as well as supervising their homework, he checks his eBay store for sales, mailing out cards to customers as well as checking out new cards to buy which might have the potential to increase in value.
Mr Fariheen now runs Heenja’s Cards, selling cards online from his home in Hougang.
#Loot locker for baseball cards full#
But eventually, I found that I didn't really need to get into a new role and I thought I might as well do this full time.” “I just went into it while looking for a new role after my sabbatical. READ: Gotta catch 'em all: Pandemic sends prices soaring for Pokemon cards
This spurred him into becoming more serious about selling cards, describing it as a “very exciting” business opportunity. This coincided with an increased interest in the cards worldwide, which was further heightened by global lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “I kind of started really getting back into it,” he said.ĭespite that initial sale, Mr Fariheen - then a sales director - remained largely a collector until 2019, when he decided to take a sabbatical from work and turned to selling cards from his collection to make money. He then came across a card autographed by former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard, which he was able to sell on eBay for “a few hundred dollars”. His interest in collectible cards waned over the years until about 10 years ago when he discovered football cards from publisher Futera, which combined the collectibles with an online game experience.
This included basketball cards as well as those from trading card games such as Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering, said Mr Fariheen. “So one of my favourite things to do after school was to go and head over to the comic shop to buy comics or read comics, and eventually this kind of grew into buying cards,” he said. “My school was pretty near Serene Centre, where there used to be comics shops and card shops,” recalled the 38-year-old. SINGAPORE: For Fariheen Faroukh, his love affair with trading cards began when he was a teenager.
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