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COMBINED SHIPPING GLADY APPLIED TO MULTIPLE ORDERS.
WHY COLLECT PROMO CARDS
OVER THE YEARS, LIKE MOST TRADING CARD COLLECTORS, I BEGAN TO AMASS HUNDREDS AND THEN THOUSANDS OF TRADING CARDS TO COMPLETE VARIOUS SETS. HOWEVER, AS MY COLLECTION GREW, AN INVERSE RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPED BETWEEN THE SPACE AVAILABLE IN MY HOUSE AND THE AREA I NEEDED TO KEEP THESE LITTLE PIECES OF CARDBOARD IN (SOUNDS FAMILIAR?). CANDIDLY, I ALSO STARTED TO GET A LITTLE TIRED OF SEEING 100 PICTURES OF THE SAME TV SHOW, MOVIE, SUPERHERO, ACTOR, ETC.THEN, BY CHANCE, I DISCOVERED THE PROMO CARD. IN THE EARLY DAYS, APPROXIMATELY 35 YEARS AGO, MANUFACTURERS OF TRADING CARDS BEGAN MAKING A SMALL NUMBER OF PRE-PRODUCTION CARDS FOR THEIR UPCOMING CARD SERIES, WHICH THEY WOULD THEN SEND TO CARD DEALERS AND DISTRIBUTORS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES AND ABROAD. THIS WAY, THE NON-SPORTS AND SPORTS CARD SHOP OWNERS COULD LOOK AT AND FEEL A SAMPLE OF THE UPCOMING PRODUCT AND DECIDE IF THEY WERE GOING TO ORDER IT BY THE CASE, THE BOX, OR NOT AT ALL. BACK THEN, MOST STORES WOULD RECEIVE A HANDFUL OF THESE SAMPLE CARDS. THE OWNERS WOULD GIVE ONE OR TWO TO THEIR BEST CUSTOMERS, PERHAPS KEEP ONE FOR THEMSELVES, AND TOSS THE REST IN THE GARBAGE. AFTER ALL, THESE CARDS HAD NO INTRINSIC MONETARY VALUE SINCE THEY WERE FREE, AND THE SERIES THEY WERE PROMOTING WAS A FEW SHORT MONTHS AWAY FROM BEING RELEASED. THUS, CAME INTO BEING THE FIRST MODERN PROMO CARDS! THESE CARDS ARE KNOWN BY MANY NAMES: PROMO, PROTOTYPE, PREMIUM, SAMPLE, ETC. A PURIST MAY TAKE EXCEPTION TO USING THESE TERMS INTERCHANGEABLY BUT SUFFICE IT TO SAY THAT ALL OF THESE WORDS DESCRIBE A TRADING CARD THAT HAS BEEN MADE TO PROMOTE A PRODUCT, EVENT, OR CARD SET AND IS DISTRIBUTED FOR FREE. COLLECTING PROMO CARDS WAS THE PERFECT SOLUTION TO THE OVERCROWDING AND THE NASCENT BOREDOM I WAS EXPERIENCING WITH TRADITIONAL CARD COLLECTING. AFTER ALL, WHY NOT COLLECT, FOR EXAMPLE, JUST THE 1 OR 2 PROMO CARDS ISSUED FOR A SPECIFIC SET RATHER THAN THE 100 REGULAR CARDS?THIS TASK, HOWEVER, WAS EASIER SAID THAN DONE. THERE WAS NO GUIDEBOOK TO INDICATE WHICH CARD COMPANY HAD ISSUED A PROMO CARD IN ADVANCE OF THE SERIES’ RELEASE. STILL, ALSO, MANY ANNOUNCED CARD SETS WERE CANCELLED AND NEVER PRODUCED SO THAT THE ONLY CARD FOR THAT MOVIE, COMIC BOOK SET, OR TV SHOW WAS THE PROMO CARD PREVIOUSLY SUPPLIED TO THE DEALERS AND DISTRIBUTORS.IMAGINE THE CHALLENGE OF FIRST FINDING A CARD DEALER. HOW MANY DEALERS EXISTED IN ANY GIVEN CITY IN THE EARLY PRE- 1990S? SECOND, ONCE YOU FOUND A DEALER, YOU HAD TO FIND ONE WHO HADN\'T THROWN AWAY THE FEW PROMO CARDS HE HAD RECEIVED FROM THE MANUFACTURER, AND YOU HAD TO LEARN SOMEHOW WHICH CARD COMPANIES HAD SENT OUT PROMOS FOR SETS THAT WERE NEVER PRODUCED. AS IF THAT WEREN\'T ENOUGH, IT WAS SOON DISCOVERED THAT THE PROMO CARDS BEING SENT TO THE DEALERS AND DISTRIBUTORS WERE DIFFERENT FROM THE CARDS OF THE ACTUAL SET WITH THE SAME IMAGE. SOME WERE IDENTIFIABLE AS PROMOTIONAL AND WOULD BE MARKED ACCORDINGLY, BUT OTHERS HAD NO IDENTIFIABLE MARKERS AND EXHIBITED ONLY SMALL NUANCES BETWEEN THEM AND THEIR COMMON REGULAR CARD RELATIVES. HEATED TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS (NO INTERNET YET) AS TO WHETHER A CARD WAS OR WASN\'T A PROMO TOOK PLACE IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD.THEN, IN THE MID-1990S, CAME INTO EXISTENCE AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1997, A DEDICATED COLLECTOR (THANK YOU, TODD JORDAN!) COMPILED A BOOK TITLED PROMO CARD ENCYCLOPEDIA AND PRICE GUIDE DEVOTED ONLY TO COLLECTING PROMO CARDS. THIS TREATISE, WHICH HAS BEEN UPDATED THROUGH 2008, HAS SHED MUCH LIGHT ON THE HOBBY. AN ONLINE EXPENDEDANDUPDATED VERSION OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA WAS RELEASED IN MID- 2026.
TO THIS DAY, PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN PROMO CARDS THAT WERE PRODUCED BY LEGITIMATE CARD COMPANIES UNDER LEGAL LICENSES ARE STILL BEING DISCOVERED BY ASTUTE COLLECTORS. ALSO, AS MORE AND MORE COLLECTORS ARE FINDING OUT THAT A PROMO CARD EXISTS FOR A SET OF CARDS THEY COLLECT, THEY ARE SEEKING TO ACQUIRE THAT LAST ELUSIVE CARD TO COMPLETE A \"MASTER\" SET, MAKING PROMO CARD COLLECTING EVEN MORE POPULAR.UNLIKE CHASE CARDS, SKETCH CARDS, PROP CARDS, COSTUME CARDS, OR AUTOGRAPHED CARDS, WHOSE SCARCITY IS DICTATED AND MANIPULATED BY THE MANUFACTURER\'S PRINT RUN, A PROMO CARD\'S VALUE IS DETERMINED BY HOW MANY HAVE SURVIVED THE CARNAGE OF THE HOBBY\'S EARLY DAYS. PRICES FOR PROMO CARDS ARE NOT ARTIFICIALLY SET BECAUSE THEY WERE NEVER FOUND IN PACKS AND THERE IS NO CONCRETE INFORMATION AVAILABLE, NOT ONLY CONCERNING HOW MANY WERE MADE BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, ON HOW MANY STILL EXIST.DO YOUR HOMEWORK. USE THE PRICE GUIDES AND ONLINE RESOURCES FOR WHAT THEY WERE MEANT TO BE! GUIDES...MANY PROMOS ARE STILL NOT EVEN LISTED IN THESE GUIDES. OF COURSE, THAT DOESN\'T MEAN THAT EVERY PROMO NOT LISTED IN A GUIDE IS AUTOMATICALLY SCARCE, BUT TRY TO LEARN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE CARD YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT ACQUIRING. WERE A HUNDRED THOUSAND MANUFACTURED AND DISTRIBUTED, OR DID JUST A HANDFUL MAKE IT OUT AND THE REST DESTROYED? WAS IT RECALLED? WAS THE SET EVER PRODUCED, LEAVING ONLY THE PROMO CARDS? HOW WAS A SPECIFIC PROMO CARD DISTRIBUTED? WERE ONLY VERY FEW MADE AND THEN SELECTIVELY HANDED OUT TO \"IMPORTANT PEOPLE\" IN THE INDUSTRY? WHAT WAS THE VENUE THROUGH WHICH THE CARD WAS RELEASED? HOW MANY HAVE YOU SEEN FOR SALE SINCE YOU\'VE BEEN ON OR OTHER sale SITES? HOW LONG HAVE YOU SEARCHED FOR IT BUT NEVER SEEM TO FIND ONE? ETC. DESPITE THE MILLIONS OF TRADING CARDS SOLD ON EVERY YEAR, THERE ARE STILL SOME PROMO CARDS THAT HAVE NEVER APPEARED FOR SALE, WHILE SOME OTHERS MAKE E A CAMEO APPEARANCE EVERY FEW YEARS.PROMO CARD COLLECTING REMAINS ONE OF THE LAST FRONTIERS IN THE WORLD OF COLLECTIBLES, A NICHE STILL IN ITS EARLY STAGES COMPARED TO THE WELL-TRODDEN PATHS OF STAMPS, COINS, AND TRADITIONAL CARDS, TO NAME A FEW. YET, LIKE THOSE MATURE MARKETS, THE TRUE SCARCITY AND LONG-TERM VALUE OF PROMOS WILL ONLY BE REVEALED WITH TIME. SINCE THE PANDEMIC, INTEREST IN PROMOS HAS SURGED, YET MANY COLLECTORS AND DEALERS STILL OVERLOOK THE SCARCITY AND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THOSE EARLY DAYS, OFTEN LIMITED-RUN CARDS. NOW IS AN IDEAL MOMENT TO START A PROMO CARD COLLECTION, OR EXPAND YOURS, -BEFORE THE BROADER MARKET FULLY WAKES UP TO THEIR POTENTIAL AND PRICES FOLLOW SUIT.SEE MORE PROMO CARDS IN OUR CURRENT CATEGORY LISTINGS.
