By Mark Seavy

Trading cards have gone from dime store purchases to major investments. In fact, the trading card market has doubled as retailers like Target and Walmart put marketing muscle behind the category.

This growth has been driven by both sports-focused trading cards—a 2007 version featuring the signatures of NBA stars Michael Jordon and Kobe Bryant set a record with a $12.9 million sale last month—as well as trading card games inspired by entertainment properties like Hasbro’s Magic the Gathering, Bandai’s One Piece, and Pokémon.

Target reported a 70% increase in Q2 trading card sales, driven by Pokémon, and expects them to generate $1 billion in revenue this year. Sales on Walmart’s online marketplace, meanwhile, increased 200% between February 2024 and June 2025. eBay credited trading cards for its 4% gain in Q2 revenue ($2.7 billion) and trading card sales have increased on eBay for 10 straight quarters, according to eBay executives.

So far this year, trading card sales excluding sports have increased 101% from 2024 and accounted for about 10% of total toy sales, according to the research firm Circana. Sports trading card sales have risen 48% so far this year, Circana reported.

Consumers’ investment in the category, especially in rare cards, was underscored by Target temporarily removing Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and Pokémon cards from the shelves of a Wisconsin store in 2021 following a fight between customers. Trading card sales surged during the pandemic and Target has since been leaning into the category “given the cultural relevance and wide appeal to young fans and adult collectors,” Rick Gomez, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at Target, told analysts in August.

The value of the trading card business was further shown by Fanatics acquiring Topps in 2022 and then beating out Panini the following year to sign licensing deals with the MLB, NBA, and NFL that start taking effect this year and in 2026. Topps also has deals with soccer’s Premier League, which launched its first cards under the agreement this year, and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the latter formerly having an agreement with Panini.

eBay bought sports auction house Golden in 2024 from Collectors Holdings and signed an agreement with sports and hobby card authenticator Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA) to grade submitted cards and turn them into commodities for customers to sell. About 600,000 cards have been processed since PSA launched its service with eBay in June 2024.

“The growth in trading card volumes that we’ve seen in recent quarters has been mostly driven by sold item growth, not just ASP [average selling price], which signals the recent strength is more sustainable than, for example, the surge we saw in 2001, which was more ASP-driven,” eBay CEO Jamie Iannone said. “Growth has never been linear with trading cards, so it will ebb and flow based on numerous factors like release calendars, the caliber of rookie classes, and chase cards for major stars. Since late last year, we’ve seen an exceptionally strong series of cards and game series on top of the fundamental improvements. And those fundamental improvements have been key to the growth of the category.”

The significant growth in sports trading cards and trading cards connected to properties like Pokémon and Magic the Gathering has also sparked interest in the category from other IPs.

Hasbro licensee and Chinese trading card manufacturer Kayou, for example, launched a new My Little Pony trading card game in April in China with plans for a wider global release. And former Topps executive Ira Friedman is expanding the Craniacs cards he launched in 2024 with former Garbage Pail Kids artist Joe Simko. Animation studio Titmouse has completed development of a Craniacs series and is pitching broadcast companies, while licensee Titan will launch the first comics on October 15 with a limited number of copies available at New York Comic Con (October 9-12), Friedman said.

“There’s a lot of room to bring additional adults into the category,” Juli Lennett, VP and Industry Advisor for toys at Circana, told Modern Retail. “Trading cards are one of those ways to bring them in, because there’s some nostalgic interest in trading cards, and a lot of those people who are buying trading cards are buying them as an investment.”