Hobby Trends — Cardboard Police

August 13, 2026

Video of the Day: Is Whatnot Really Worth $20 Billion?

CARDBOARD POLICE The platform a huge share of this hobby sells through is now valued at $20 billion, and the question in this episode's title is the right one to be asking. Dollargroupchat's Episode 42 takes the Whatnot valuation from the seller's ...

Video of the Day Market Analysis Hobby Trends Sealed Product

CASE #0245 Informational

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August 13, 2026

Whatnot Raised $545 Million at a $20 Billion Valuation — Double Its Price From Ten Months Ago

Whatnot is now valued at $20 billion. The live-selling platform where a large share of the hobby's breaks, singles, and sealed product changes hands announced on Friday, August 7 that it closed a $545 million Series G — nearly doubling the $11.5 bill...

Hobby Article Market Analysis Hobby Trends Industry Consolidation

CASE #0244 Informational

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August 08, 2026

California's “Grab Bag” Statute Meets the Repack Boom — and a Whatnot Whistleblower Case Is Unsealed

Two and a half months ago this blog asked whether Whatnot was operating an illegal casino (CASE #0006). At the time the answer was a shrug: a cluster of filings, a RICO theory, and a lot of collector noise. What has changed since is not that anyone h...

Market Analysis Lawsuits Hobby Trends Sealed Product

CASE #0229 Misdemeanor

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August 07, 2026

Video of the Day: Are 2026 Topps Chrome Baseball Mega Boxes the Best Value?

CARDBOARD POLICE Two weeks after 2026 Topps Chrome Baseball hit shelves, the question has moved on from what is in it to what is worth buying. Stryker Breaks takes on the format nobody defends and everybody buys anyway: the retail mega box. Why th...

Video of the Day Baseball Hobby Trends Topps Chrome Sealed Product

CASE #0227 Informational

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August 07, 2026

Beckett Pauses Its Two Cheapest Grading Tiers, Reopening Expected September 15

Beckett Collectibles stopped taking new online submissions for its two cheapest grading tiers on August 5, and does not expect to reopen them until September 15. Express and Priority — starting at $79.95, about 5.35 times the $14.95 Base fee — stay o...

Hobby Article PSA Grading Hobby Trends Affordability

CASE #0226 Misdemeanor

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August 06, 2026

Video of the Day: Card Grading Is EXPLODING... But There's A Problem

CARDBOARD POLICE Dan The Card Man's timing is uncanny. His new video, "Card Grading Is EXPLODING... But There's A Problem," landed within a day of the July grading numbers — the ones showing the five major graders pushed 3.61 million cards through ...

Video of the Day PSA Market Analysis Grading Hobby Trends

CASE #0224 Informational

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August 06, 2026

July Grading Set a Record 3.61 Million Cards — But PSA's Sports Volume Fell 9% Month Over Month

The grading industry just posted its biggest month on record. GemRate's July report, covered by Sports Illustrated's collectibles desk on August 5, shows the five major graders — PSA, CGC, Beckett, TAG and SGC — processed 3.61 million cards in July, ...

Hobby Article PSA Market Analysis Grading Hobby Trends

CASE #0223 Informational

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August 04, 2026

Video of the Day: A New 2026 Card Market Forecast Just Dropped

CARDBOARD POLICE Boston Card Hunter just dropped a new 2026 card market forecast — and it arrives at one of the most crowded moments on the hobby calendar. The video, published this week, is the channel's take on where the market goes from here: af...

Video of the Day Market Analysis Hobby Trends

CASE #0218 Informational

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August 02, 2026

PSA's Backlog Swells Back to 12.4 Million as The National Demand Overwhelms Grading

The PSA backlog story flipped this week. After months of progress that brought the pile down to 11 million cards, PSA announced the backlog has climbed back to 12.4 million — and the scene at The National suggests the number may keep moving the wrong...

Hobby Article PSA Market Analysis Grading Hobby Trends

CASE #0211 Informational

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July 31, 2026

Video of the Day: BUYING For 12 HOURS Straight At The National Card Show!

CARDBOARD POLICE The National is happening right now, and this is what the floor actually looks like from the buy side. CardCollector2 spent twelve straight hours buying at the 2026 National Sports Collectors Convention in Rosemont, Illinois, and f...

Video of the Day Hobby Trends Hobby Health Card Investing

CASE #0206 Informational

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the cardboard chronicle

Tagged: Hobby Trends

Video of the Day: Is Whatnot Really Worth $20 Billion?

Whatnot Raised $545 Million at a $20 Billion Valuation — Double Its Price From Ten Months Ago

California's “Grab Bag” Statute Meets the Repack Boom — and a Whatnot Whistleblower Case Is Unsealed

Video of the Day: Are 2026 Topps Chrome Baseball Mega Boxes the Best Value?

Beckett Pauses Its Two Cheapest Grading Tiers, Reopening Expected September 15

Video of the Day: Card Grading Is EXPLODING... But There's A Problem

July Grading Set a Record 3.61 Million Cards — But PSA's Sports Volume Fell 9% Month Over Month

Video of the Day: A New 2026 Card Market Forecast Just Dropped

PSA's Backlog Swells Back to 12.4 Million as The National Demand Overwhelms Grading

Video of the Day: BUYING For 12 HOURS Straight At The National Card Show!