Whether you’re a long-time collector of trading cards (TCGs) or sports cards, or just recently got into this super exciting hobby, you’ve probably realized that it’s really hard to find sealed boxes and packs in brick-and-mortar stores or online.

We’ve been collecting TCG and sports cards since the late 1990s and honestly we’ve never seen the situation be this bad in terms of out-of-stock sealed boxes and packs plus exorbitant pricing from resellers and scalpers.

In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at:

1. What the situation looks like in terms of actually buying trading cards (e.g., Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, One Piece and Lorcana) and sports cards (e.g., baseball, football, basketball and hockey cards) at retail price in physical or online stores

2. Pro tips and useful links to free resources to help you buy sealed boxes and packs for recent TCG and sports card sets at retail (aka MSRP) price

3. Predictions for TCG and sports card pricing and stock in brick-and-mortar shops, big-box store retailers and internet sellers as we continue into 2026, 2027 and beyond