The concept of buying cards and then storing them to trade or sell has a whole new door that has been opened by the Topps company.  Topps, a long respected company, has created an off-shoot of its major sports cards collectibles in the name of eTopps.  The benefits of these new cards are

1. Encased in a hard plastic case. 

2. The ability to only possess the cards of players you want.

 picture of one of my cards.

3. The ease of keeping your cards in the Topps vault (this prevents the wife/husband/girl friend/boy friend/ et al. from destroying or throwing ones collection out - whether by accident or not).

4. The ability to still have ones cards in hand, if one desires to maybe have one of their favorite players cards in-hand to show and the rest in the topps storage vault.

5. The ease of trading cards with people from around the world to complete a collection. (currently a free service)

6. The ease of selling one's cards with just a click of a few buttons.

7. Opportunity of being the first to buy a selcted card(s)

8. Knowing that when you buy a card  from an individual that the condition is of high quality.

9. The ability to influence the design and selection of the card and players produced.

10. A community of other buyers that one can ask questions.

11. Sports available: Football, Baseball, Basketball, HOF, Classics, English Football, Hockey, Events,...more to come...

12. Limited production.

13. Games where one can win prizes or challenge others with or without cards on the line.

14. When buying cards directly from eTopps, one can earn reward points to be used to have cards delivered or to gain additional cards.

15. A way of keeping track of how much you spend.

16. A way of seeing the overall value of your cards based upon sales on ebay.  (This is your portfolio which shows the value bought and the current selling value.)

17. Transferring of cards is easy and can be done quickly. (buying, selling or trading).

As far as Negatives go...

1. You may not get all you want and have to buy cards on the secondary market (similar to when one buys packs).

2. Some cards are quite expensive - same for the regular pack cards.

3. Some people criticize the cards yet never leave nor stop buying - (I have always wondered about this one.)

4. Just like regular cards, some people will try to manipulate the value (So. make sure you only buy what you want and only spend what you are willing to pay - goes for anything in life.)

5. Just like a player on a hot streak the cards can go up and down upon their individual/team success (Again only buy who you want - goes for any collection).

6. In the off-season, values will go down, but back up upon the next season's beginning.

7. Selling your cards on-line can only be done with the help of ebay, thus having to pay a fee.

There are always pluses and minuses with anything that one buys, collects or sells that you must want the item.  I like these eTopps cards for the very reasons stated above and the negatives that followed are only a slight annoyance.