Feature Friday: Lou of SportsCardExchange.com

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]For this week’s Feature Friday, we sat down with Lou Papas Jr. the owner of SportsCardExchange.com, a safe website designed for those looking to get into the high end of sports card collecting and investing. Throughout our great hour and a half conversation that felt like it was 5 minutes long (time flies when you’re having fun), I was very impressed with his wealth of sports knowledge and passion for the hobby.  Lou uses his financial planning background to help make educated decisions when buying/selling/trading high end sports cards and collectibles, which has clearly been successful once you take a look at his collection and inventory. We discuss that strategy, how he got involved with the industry, the future of card collecting and how The Block List came to be in this week’s Feature Friday.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]

We ask this question to all of our guests on Friday Feature. How did you get into collecting cards?

Like most people who collect, I always followed sports as a kid and reading the box score in the newspaper from games the night before. I’ve started collecting when I was 12-13 years old and have been hooked ever since. I used to buy packs of cards (mainly baseball) and make stacks by teams. As teams moved up and down the standings, I would move my piles of cards organized in a way to represent the actual standings.

Once I was introduced to Current Card Prices (CCP), which was the Beckett back in the day, I was able to learn about the hot non common cards and started chasing those. The hot set at the time was 1983 Topps with Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs rookie cards. When I would see the price fluctuation, it got me interested and I would try to pick up all the cool cards that I could by hitting them in packs or going to local card shows.

Was there ever a card you wanted back before the internet that was a White Whale?

1973 Topps Mike Schmidt rookie and 1965 Topps Steve Carlton rookie are two that come to mind. Being a kid from Philly, these two Phillies players were always on my wish list.

At what point did you go from collecting to transitioning into high end sports cards and collectibles?

I wish I could say there was a science to it, but as a kid, if I had the money to go high end, I would have. Money obviously helps. I was fortunate to make a few business transactions that allowed me to invest wisely into sports cards. The capital from the business transactions allowed me to purchase four 2000 Brady Championship Ticket autos and I moved 3 of them for profit after his recent Super Bowl wins. From there, I used my profit to continue to invest in additional Blue Chip cards, which you can see over at www.sportscardexchange.com

Another win for me was when I finally completed building the 1951 Bowman baseball set (324 cards). Baseball was always my true love as a kid, but as an adult it isn’t, so I decided to move on from it. Trading and other transactions of items/collections that I am no longer interested in has allowed me to bring in pieces that I knew I could move and eventually collect on.

(Editor’s note: At this point I mention The Office episode where Dwight starts with a thumbtack and trades his way up to eventually get a $150 telescope…which he trades to Jim for magic legumes. Lou agreed that was essentially his strategy…minus being tricked into magic legumes of course.)

Connor McDavid was a score for me as well. I try to be involved with all 4 major sports and I bet on McDavid. He hasn’t let me down.

I eventually made the “controversial” decision to move out of basketball and essentially go all in on Tom Brady. I never anticipated what this would look like, but he seemed like a much safer long term bet than some of the young NBA players.  I still have plenty of Michael Jordan and LeBron James items because those will only see their value go up, but guys such as Trae Young, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum etc, I rarely get involved with. Using my profit, I didn’t want to get into a lesser asset tier so I went with the GOATs of their sport. Trading/selling Brady, Jordan and LeBron cards has also allowed me to also delve into vintage market and I have picked up some pieces such as a Willie Mays rookie and Jackie Robinson

So you mention Luka Doncic and Trae Young. Their cards are going through the roof. Why not try to get in now on the ground floor?

I have gotten into a few debates on my Facebook page about these two. Now don’t get me wrong. Luka is great. I think he will be a very good player for a long time. His team is solid and it looks like he will be the centerpiece moving forward. Having the European following only increases the market. I can get on board with buying Luka products.

Trae Young, however, I  don’t believe in him at all. The Hawks are terrible and rebuilding. Going back the last 5-6 years, everyone spent thousands on Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball. Where are they now? To me, Trae Young is in the same category. He feels like a pump and dump player once a guy like Ja Morant gets going. Another flashy/streaky shooter is going to replace this guy and then rinse and repeat. The swings are all emotional based.

I’ll use an example. In 2017, Jayson Tatum was a huge part of the Celtics’ Eastern Conference Finals run. At that time, his top card went for ~$70,000. In 2018, he took a step back, but was still pretty good, however the same card sold for ~$30,000. So what happened? He’s playing pretty well this year, but what will it take to get that card back up to $70,000?

I like the NBA, but it always seems that with modern NBA, collectors seems to roll from one to the next. Once your player is no longer in favor, it is hard to get them back. Kawhi Leonard was in favor, out of favor and is now back in favor.

Where do you see sports card investing going?

Card shows continue to be packed and it feels like people are spending a record amount of money on auctions and eBay. Meanwhile nontraditional auction houses are becoming more modernized, which is great for comps and setting price points.

The hobby continues to be white hot. More and more people are getting into the hobby or using it as a way to invest or diversify their portfolio. Venture capitalists such as Gary Vee are taking notice and websites like Stock X are starting to dive into sports cards.

If websites like yours or Just Rip It (you can buy a fractional share of a card) continue to offer something new and unique for collectors, it will only help the hobby.

One thing I have noticed that I can’t quite understand is baseball prospecting. I’m not one to rip thousands of dollars on Bowman Chrome, hoping I hit the next big thing. I scratch my head seeing the $100,00 price tag on a Wander Franco 1/1. He could be the next Cal Ripken Jr., but you are paying a pretty hefty price tag take that chance. Now in the grand scheme of things, $100,000 is a round up error in fine art pricing, so if wealthy investors truly are using Wander Franco as a speculative investment, that isn’t terrible for the hobby since the $100,000 is likely to be put back into sports cards.

My concern is how is the overall economy tied to the sports card market? Thing are good right now and have been for a while, but If we hit a recession, what happens to the sports card market? In the high end market, cards won’t be purchased as much, but they also won’t be sold so they should still hold their value. When we see a recession, it is the low end products (box ripping/breaking) that takes a hit. I’m curious to see how Panini’s production/sales model changes based on that.

What do you bring to the hobby with www.sportscardexchange.com?

I built this website to help validate who I am and what my inventory is. We offer a high end product to a consumer looking to make that investment or purchase. We will list the sales price and/or what I traded each card for, so people can track what these cards are going for and help create prices for their items or collections. Transparency is key.

You also offer Collection Appraisal services on your website. Can you go into a little more detail as to what that entails?

It allows people, no matter what they have, to send me pictures with some sort of itemization (ideally). From there I can try and give a ballpark of what it is worth. If they are trying to sell it, I ask if we can work together. Can I meet their needs as a seller whether through my website as  a middle man? Would they sell to me and I move the collection on my own? So far, I have been able to find a few noteworthy pieces that have come from this venture. The biggest piece was from a collection in Canada where I purchased a 2003-04 Exquisite Numbered Pieces Michael Jordan patch auto card (only 23 and 1st year Exquisite). I purchased it raw and at the time only 9-10 had been graded. I had mine graded at a BGS 9 Gem with a 10 auto. Needless to say, I was very happy with that transaction.

OK so recently I have seen you post some high end comic books in the Facebook groups. Are you starting to turn your focus to that collectible as well? Is there anything else other than sports cards, memorabilia and comic books that you collect?

In this space/industry, it is smart to be diversified. Comics, Pokemon and Magic The Gathering cross into cards a bit. If they are available via trade or sale as part of a larger lot, why not make that deal? If it is an asset that I can eventually move, I am happy to take on that asset.

Recently with the Marvel movies breaking box office records, you have seen the Avengers and Deadpool comics really take off in value. X-Men has always been popular and I’m sure there will be new franchises that pop up and see the value increase due to mainstream popularity. Assets like these almost never go down in value. Players get hurt or don’t play well and their sports cards are impacted because of that. You know who isn’t breaking a kneecap? The Incredible Hulk.

I love the Block List and have been following it. How many people are currently on The Block List and how does one find themselves on said list?

The Block List started controversially because a bunch of people were giving me crap about some pricing of cards on Facebook. It got to a point where it got aggressive down in the DMs. People were taking some significant shots at my family and me. One guy went onto my Facebook page, took a picture of my wife and put it on his page, which is clearly crossing the line in all walks of life, let alone sports cards.

It started innocently enough at 50-75 for guys who were being jerks. Eventually, I was being added to 10-15 different Facebook groups per day. At first, it seemed cool checking out different rooms, but then people who I had never dealt with would keep on friending me and adding me to their groups. My Facebook feed turned into people running videos and what not, so I wrote a big post on my page saying if people continue to add me to their groups without asking, I’m just going to call them out. Sure enough, a few guys do it and they didn’t think I’d block them, but I did. I started posting their names and assigning them a number which people thought was funny.

Eventually, I would see posts in Sports Cards Scammers about people doing some downright illegal and shady stuff and I said to myself that I didn’t want to be affiliated with them, so I would just add them to The Block List.

People would send me unsolicited pictures of cards and ask me to buy them or flat out ask me for money. People get pissed at me for doing this list, but if they are asking me for $5,000+ because I buy cards, then I’ll probably never have to worry about them anyways. This list is 588 people strong, and sadly, keeps growing.

Thanks again to Lou of www.sportscardexchange.com for sitting down and chatting with me about the hobby and the future or sports card collecting. I urge you to head over to his website and follow Sports Card Exchange on Instagram and Facebook, not only to possibly purchase a card if you have some money left over for a rainy day, but even just to  marvel at the present day masterpieces he has for sale.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”104339″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”104330″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image”][vc_single_image image=”104328″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image”][vc_single_image image=”104327″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image”][vc_single_image image=”104329″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image”][vc_single_image image=”104336″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image”][vc_single_image image=”104335″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text el_class=”blog-callout”]Like what you see here? Keep checking back every Friday for the latest and greatest #FeatureFriday as we showcase collectors and sellers around the hobby, as well as any other cool stories or trending topics we feel should be brought to light.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

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