Sports Card Vault Comparison (UPDATED)
Last Updated: October 1st, 2024. Originally posted August 6th, 2022.
Introduction
A recent trend in the sports card industry is the fully-integrated vault. These services allow collectors to send cards in to them, where they will be photographed, securely stored, and insured. You can sell the card on their marketplace, or simply store it for any duration and withdraw when you like. When you sell a card, the vault takes care of all listing details, payment processing, packaging, shipping, and handles all buyer customer support - all real benefits.
In addition the vaults are based in US States with no sales tax. That allows buyers and sellers to transact cards without incurring sales tax each time. Laws governing this may change in the future, but for now this is another key benefit of buying and selling with vaults.
For this initial review of the major vaulting services we’re focusing on the core use case of storing, buying, and selling graded cards on each vault’s marketplace. We use two categories: Vaulting and Selling to rate each service. Each category have a number of criteria rated 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). The scores are averaged to provide an overall rating.
We also added up all fees to vault, sell, and receive cash back in your bank account - for a single card - to create and apples-to-apples comparison of selling costs.
In the future we may include other service elements that Vaults offer like Auctions, Cash Advances and Loans, Grading, NFT Minting, and more. We may also expand the ratings to include other types of cards that you can vault (raw/ungraded, and sealed wax for example).
This comparison focuses on on the use case of sending in a graded card, and selling it within one year. We will add other use cases in the future (buying and selling within the marketplace, long-term storage, etc…)
Feedback is welcome at hello@cardlens.com
Disclaimer: We have cards vaulted at all of the options listed below and actively use them for buying and selling. We are not affiliated with any of them in any way.
October 2024 Update
The Vault space has seen consolidation in the past year. PSA (Collectors) acquired Goldin and eBay vaults, and PSA Vault is now the official vault for eBay. Fanatics acquired PWCC vault and rebranded it as Fanatics Collect. Compared to August 2022, the scores have changed. These two are now the dominant players vying for supremacy. Alt remains an attractive independent option and COMC continues to carve out a niche in raw and the low value, high volume use case.
Vaults have also expanded the types of collectibles they accept, including sealed wax, video games, tickets, memorabilia and more. This analysis continues to focus just on vaulting and selling graded cards.
The quality of the overall experience has improved, and fees have increased. As a rule of thumb, for a $100 graded card, you can now vault, list and sell 2 weeks, with low risk and effort, and pay about 10-15% total selling costs.
Summary of Current Options
Overall Score | Total Fees | Shipping Cost (Change December 2022 -> October 2024):
PSA Vault (eBay) - 4.0 | 7% - 16% | $1 -> (+0.3 | +6%)
Alt - 4.0 | 11% | $6 (+0.1 | +5%)
COMC - 3.7 | 15% | $6 (+0.2 | +0.0%)
Fanatics Collect (formerly PWCC) - 4.0 | 7% - 14.33% | $5 (-0.1 | +1%)
Selling Fees
There is a wide variety of selling fees based on card value. The real opportunity for sellers lies in determining which vault is best for which card value tiers. We’ve added a table here to help you out.
Criteria
Each criterion is rated on a five-point scale:
1 = Poor
2 = Fair
3 = Good
4 = Very Good
5 = Excellent
Vaulting
Customer Support - Access to real people who are responsive, knowledgeable, and empathetic, who resolve any issues or questions you have in a timely manner.
Picture Quality - Well-lit high-resolution photographs of the front and back of each card.
Description Accuracy - Correctly listing the year, set, subject, grading company, and grade, along with additional metadata, like Cert #, Serial #, Print Run, etc…
Turnaround Time - Total number of business days it takes to vault or withdraw a card.
Security - Clear physical and digital security protocols put in place to safeguard your cards including climate-control, fire-suppression, 24x7x365 professional guards.
User Experience - An easy to use web site and/or app that is modern and secure. Ability to see your collection, sort, filter, access images, share, and manage your account.
Shipping Quality - Well packaged, presented, and accurate outtake shipping when you sell or otherwise withdraw a card.
Selling
Market Share - The rough number of people using the service compared to the other options. Higher market share typically results in a higher sale price for a given card.
Ease of Selling - An Integrated marketplace to sell your cards. Ease of listing, pricing, reviewing offers, and de-listing.
Data Tools - An accurate appraisal of the market value of each card, regularly updated. Integrated data tools that show recent comps, pop information, trending over time, others for sale, etc…
Payout Speed - The speed with which you receive cash in your account after a sale.
Search / Sort / Filter - The ability for buyers to quickly find the card(s) they’re looking to buy.
Payment Options - Ability for buyers to easily pay for cards with a variety of options including credit card, PayPal, vault credit, ACH, crypto, etc…
Advanced Reports - Detailed selling and valuation statistics for your collection. Analytics that inform buying and selling strategy. The ability to export or connect sales and collection data to financial, or other software.
Fees
Vaulting Fee - fee to receive, authenticate, photograph, and describe a card.
Storage Fee - fee to insure and store a card, on a one time or periodic basis.
Selling Fee - % of sale price taken by Vault for a sale of a card.
Cash Out Fee - % fee to send cash from your Vault account to your bank account.
Withdrawal Fee - fee to withdraw a card from the vault
Shipping Cost - minimum cost to ship a single card.
Ratings
Vault - Overall Score | Total Fees | Shipping Cost
Alt - 4.0 | 11% | $6
Accepted Cards: PSA, BGS/BVG, SGC, CSG/CGC | Any Value
Pros: Best customer service, turnaround time, and integrated data tools. A technology-driven innovator. Top class shipping accuracy, packaging, and presentation for withdrawn cards.
Cons: Low market share results in fewer buyers and low sales prices. Increasing selling fees over time after promising to always remain at 2.5%.
October 2024 Update:
eBay dual listing feature has helped many sellers easily reach an audience that is orders of magnitude greater than Alt marketplace. The company’s images show up well on eBay, and they handle all shipping and customer service, which is a huge benefit. They have added a Best Offer capability for dual-listed cards. Non-standard titles for some cards however make it difficult for buyers to find even well-priced cards. They have added transparency to their planned features, given users a voice in how the platform evolves. And crucially they have added more payment methods for buyers including credit card and Apple Pay.
Alt also gives buyers super powers for free. Using their app you can take a picture of any slab and it will show you recent sales for that card in that grade, allow you to click through to verify the sales, and quickly switch to other grades with their associated values and recent comps. You can also search for a specific card across all marketplaces, a level of transparency that is truly unmatched in the industry. For buyers, Alt remains the best place to find the best deals on the best cards.
Overall Alt is a strong service that feels like it is still trying to find it’s niche. Their core technology and dedication to customer service is unmatched. The fast-following competitors PSA (eBay) and Fanatics have largely caught up. It will be interesting to see with the emergence of those deep-pocketed competitors, where Alt will fit into the overall picture.
Vaulting - 4.6
Customer Support - 5
Picture Quality - 4
Description Accuracy - 4
Turnaround Time - 5
Security - 4
User Experience - 5 (+1)
Shipping Quality - 5
Selling - 3.4
Market Share - 1
Ease of Selling -5
Data Tools - 4
Payout Speed - 5
Search / Sort / Filter - 5 (+1)
Payment Options - 2
Advanced Reports - 2
Fees
Vaulting Fee - $0 for all graded cards. $5 for non-graded, $25 for wax.
Storage Fee - Free
Selling Fee - 10% for Fixed Price (8% for $7,500 - $9,999, 5% for $10,000 +). 16% - 7.5% for Auctions.
Cash Out Fee - Free
Withdrawal Fee - 1% >90 days after vaulting ($100 max). 3% before.
Shipping Cost - $6
COMC - 3.7 | 15%+ | $6
Accepted Cards: PSA, BGS/BVG, BCCG, SGC, CSG/CGC, HGA, TAG | Any Value
Pros: The original vault. Instant transactions and payouts. Great for scale and low-value cards. Accepts almost any cards. Best search / sort / filter experience. Loyal buyer population. Huge inventory. Great for flipping. Low shipping costs for bulk.
Cons: High cash out fee. Varied and complicated fee structure. Website is performant but has an old style and is not usable on mobile. Storage fees are extracted without notice every month and can significantly reduce credit balance. Customer support is poor but slowly improving.
October 2024 Update: COMC continues to chug along at its own pace, seemingly unconcerned about the peaks and valleys of the sports card industry, the influences of its competitors, or the emergence of a “mobile-first” consumer culture. And they appear to be doing just fine - slowly growing their market presence.
The website is long overdue for a design overhaul. Turnaround times have improved in 2023 and 2024. They have added services to review cards for grading and grade on your behalf with PSA. Once a card is listed it is exposed to a loyal and large buyer population who are ready to buy - with an additional option to dual-list on eBay. There is a rich set of valuation and sales volume data for each card in various grades and conditions to make pricing simple.
Vaulting - 3.4
Customer Support - 2
Picture Quality - 5 (+1)
Description Accuracy - 5
Turnaround Time - 3 (+2)
Security - 3 (+1)
User Experience - 3
Shipping Quality - 4 (+1)
Selling - 4.0
Market Share - 4
Ease of Selling - 4
Data Tools - 3
Payout Speed - 5
Search / Sort / Filter - 5
Payment Options - 5
Advanced Reports - 2
Fees
Vaulting Fee - $2 / card
Storage Fee -0.37% per year (”1¢ per $1,000 in Total List Price per day.”). (For cards with list price > $50)
Selling Fee -5%
Cash Out Fee -10%
Withdrawal Fee - $1 / card
Shipping Cost -$5
PSA Vault (eBay) - 4.0 | 7%- 16% | $1
Accepted Cards: PSA, SGC, BGS/BVG, CSG/CGC | Any Value
Pros: Massive global buyer population. Easy listing, selling, shipping by PSA on their eBay store. Grade and ship direct to vault.
Cons: High selling fees. Can only sell at Auction (no Buy it Now). No ability to modify description.
October 2024 Update: Fully integrated experience from grade to sell. Quality control appears to be high, along with a commitment to customer service and the overall seller experience. 100% positive reviews across 37,000 sales on eBay seems to good to be true, but is likely reflective of overall performance.
They have removed all of the fees associated with the former eBay vault and focused just on selling fees. The selling fees are quite high, for cards under $1,000 it’s at least 13%. The vault is positioning itself to be the go to destination for graded cards. PSA is heavily emphasizing sending your cards to the vault right from grading.
Those looking to cross-sell PSA vaulted inventory on other platforms should test to see how many addresses you are allowed to ship cards to. If it is unlimited, the $1 withdrawal fee could be an attractive way to send cards to third-party buyers. The main pro again is access to the largest buyer population and typically highest sale prices (net of fees) of any option. This combined with the improved customer service and turn around time makes PSA vault an attractive option.
Vaulting - 4.0
Customer Support - 3 (+1) (33,000+ positive reviews vs. just 3 neutral and 0 negative. Further update of this score to come.)
Picture Quality - 5 (+2)
Description Accuracy - 4 (+1)
Turnaround Time - 4 (based on reviews. Further update of this score to come.)
Security - 4 (+1)
User Experience - 4 (+1) (based on reviews. Further update of this score to come.)
Shipping Quality - 4 (+1) (based on reviews. Further update of this score to come.)
Selling - 4.0
Market Share - 5
Ease of Selling - 4 (Auction only. No Buy it Now option)
Data Tools - 3 (-1) (eBay Sold listing data available. Card value tools only available with $199/year Collector’s Club membership)
Payout Speed - 4 (based on reviews. Further update of this score to come.)
Search / Sort / Filter - 4
Payment Options - 4
Advanced Reports - 4 (-1)
Fees
Vaulting Fee - $0
Storage Fee - $0
Selling Fee - Sliding scale based on sale price (from 16% <$100 to 7% for >$5,000) with a $5 minimum.
Cash Out Fee -Free for ACH via Stripe ($20 for US wires and $30 for wires outside of the US).
Withdrawal Fee -$1 ($5 or 3% of item value for Items that have been vaulted for <90 days)
Shipping Cost - $0
Fanatics Collect (formerly PWCC) - 4.0 | 7% - 14.33% | $5
Accepted Cards: PSA, BGS/BVG, SGC, BCCG, CSG/CGC, MBA | Any Value
Pros: Strong security protocols from PWCC legacy. Great photos. Modern website that is mobile friendly. Easy to transfer ownership of card to another vault owner at no cost. Huge buyer population added with Fanatics purchase of PWCC
Cons: Low transparency into past sales, sales volume, pop counts. Fees for paying with cc, highest fees for shipping. No possibility of “Dual Listing” on eBay (like COMC and ALT).
October 2024 Update: Customer support remains ok. Picture quality has improved. Fanatics has deep experience in marketplaces and of course, owns Topps, and has the license to produce cards for most major sports cards. It will likely become even more deeply integrated over time.
PWCC used to offer card market indexes and deep sales history. Fanatics has removed that and instead offered to simply indicate to buyers if a card is a “Great Price.” In addition they, reduce selling fees signifcantly if they determine the listing price is near “market value.” But there is no transparency in the form of past sales, or how each price is calculated, so the buyer and seller need to supplement by accessing other tools.
The search functionality across all Fanatics auctions and marketplaces is impressively fast and helpful.
The overall selling fees are surprisingly high and continue to creep up. Fanatics has a history of maximizing profit and charging higher than normal prices and fees on both the buyer and seller side. It’d likely they will continue to do the same with their sports card vault.
Vaulting - 4.2
Customer Support - 3 (recently implemented a generative ai chat bot which may improve the support experience.)
Picture Quality - 5
Description Accuracy - 4
Turnaround Time - 4
Security - 5
User Experience - 4
Shipping Quality - 4
Selling - 3.7
Market Share - 4 (+1)
Ease of Selling - 5
Data Tools - 3
Payout Speed - 3
Search / Sort / Filter - 4 (-1)
Payment Options - 4 (-1)
Advanced Reports - 3 (-1)
Fees
Vaulting Fee - Free for all cards worth at least $50. $3 for all others.
Storage Fee - Free
Selling Fee -6% - 13.33%
Cash Out Fee - Free
Withdrawal Fee - 1% after 90 days. 3% before.
Shipping Cost -~$5-10
