Break economics for the hobby

Know what a spot should cost before you bid on it.

Cardonomics shows what a spot needs to sell for to cover the break — the sealed product, the shipping and the platform’s fees, at whatever size the break is run — next to the biggest chase card your team could produce and its odds.

What a break costs. All in, per spot, at whatever size the break is run at, with shipping and the platform’s fees included.
What is worth chasing in a set. The rare cards on each team’s list, and the biggest chase card with its odds.
What a box costs, and when it lands. Box and case prices delivered, how they have moved, and the release calendar.

A free account shows what a sealed box and a case cost delivered and what a break costs all in, with no card needed.

What is being priced

A breaker buys sealed product — a box, several boxes, a case — and opens it live, having sold the teams beforehand: one spot per team. Whoever holds a team keeps every card of that team that comes out of the box. So what decides whether a spot was worth it is what the sealed product cost and how many teams it was cut into, and those are the first things this site shows. The longer version is in the FAQ.

Set lists and release dates by sport: Baseball · Basketball · Football · Hockey · Soccer · Releases by month

Stills

These are the real screens

Drawn live, on this request

If you buy spots

What should this cost me?

Product costWhat the product in that one spot costs to buy sealed, with shipping where we have it.

Cost / spotWhat a spot has to sell for to cover the sealed product, the shipping and the platform’s fees.

The premiumWhat a spot costs you above that. A premium is what a break is; how much of one is worth paying is your call.

If you run breaks

What will this break cost me?

All inWhat the sealed product costs you delivered, on your own freight where you state it.

Break-evenWhat a break has to average per spot to cover the sealed product and the fees — before you open it, not after.

By the caseWhether a whole case comes in cheaper than the same boxes bought one at a time, both delivered.

On upside

We do not tell you what cards are worth. We tell you what is worth chasing.

A price on a single card is not the question a spot buyer is asking. The useful question is what your team could produce: the biggest chase card on its list, its odds where the set’s maker publishes them, and how much of that list is worth chasing at all.

Deliberately not here

No team valuesNo guess at what a team’s cards are worth on average.

No pull ratesNo guesses at what comes out of the packs.

No card pricesA value that is wrong is worse than no value at all.

A confident number we cannot stand behind is the last thing somebody about to spend money needs. More on the about page.

Coverage

Only what we can actually cost

Sports

Football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer, and every other sport with cards — racing, wrestling, MMA, boxing, tennis, golf and the Olympics — team breaks only.

Products

Boxes and cases. Blasters, hangers and megas are a different market and are not included.

Catalogue

The sets breakers open — not every set ever printed. Figures update as new listings come in.

Gaps

Said out loud. Where we do not have enough to show a figure, it is left blank and the page explains why rather than showing a guess.

Free, either side.

What a break costs is on every account, a free one included, and it needs no card. The plans are on the pricing page, and the FAQ answers the awkward questions.