After you open a box and pull a good card, the next question is how to keep it. Most damage doesn't happen in shipping or at the opening - it happens at home, in the weeks that follow: a drawer, a rubber band, sunlight through the window. The good news is that the basic gear is cheap and simple.
The first and most important step is a penny sleeve, a thin, soft plastic sleeve that costs pennies. Every card you care about goes into one immediately, before anything else. Slide the card in gently rather than pushing it, because the corners are the most vulnerable part.
The second step is hard protection. For good everyday cards, a toploader - a rigid plastic holder the sleeved card slides into. For genuinely valuable cards - autographs, patches and numbered cards - a One Touch is the better choice: a quality magnetic holder with UV protection. Watch the thickness: patch cards are thicker and need a holder sized for them, otherwise they get squeezed.
The third step is where you keep them. Cards hate three things: direct sunlight (colours fade, especially on Chrome and Prizm cards), humidity (the card warps and stains appear) and extreme temperatures. A closed cupboard in an air-conditioned room is an excellent spot. Purpose-made storage boxes hold hundreds of sleeved cards neatly, and graded, high-value cards have their own boxes and drawers.
Now the list of don'ts. No rubber bands around a stack of cards - they leave a permanent mark. Don't touch the surface with your fingers, especially on Chrome cards, which show every fingerprint. No magnets directly on a card, only through a One Touch holder. Don't leave cards in the car, not even for a few hours. And never clean a card with any product: every attempt to "improve" the surface lowers the grade instead of raising it.
What about sealed boxes? If you are keeping a sealed Hobby box as an investment, the rules are similar: leave it in its original wrap, away from sun and humidity, and don't stack weight on top of it. A box with damaged wrap or a crushed corner is worth less on the secondary market. If you bought a box from us and want to keep it sealed, message us after ordering and we'll pack it accordingly.