Several of the most popular manufacturers of trading card supplies, including top loaders, penny sleeves and semi-rigid holders, are positioning to withstand massive tariffs amid an escalating trade war between China and the United States.
As of Thursday, the most recent tariff hike brings the total levied by the Trump administration against imported Chinese goods to effectively 145% following tariffs imposed earlier this year.
Trading card supply manufacturers, including Ultra PRO, Cardboard Gold and bespoke brands such as Stand Up Displays, rely heavily on Chinese-made plastics, and stand to face significant cost increases under new tariffs.
Those increased costs, should tariffs remain in place long-term, could eventually be passed onto collectors.
Based in Santa Ana, Calif., Cardboard Gold has been a producer of supplies such as top loaders and semi-rigid holders since 1985, and currently sells “hundreds of millions” of individual holders each year.
The company’s flagship product, the Card Saver semi-rigid holder, is considered the industry standard for collectors shipping cards to third-party grading companies such as PSA, which graded more than 15 million cards in 2024, according to third-party grading tracker GemRate.
According to Cardboard Gold president and founder Jack Mayes, the company’s entire portfolio of products is produced in China using polypropylene and other plastics before being imported to the United States for direct distribution.
The new tariffs have forced Cardboard Gold and other manufacturers to closely monitor the short-term health of the global economy, while attempting to predict longer-term demand for supplies in the hobby.
Orders from Cardboard Gold to its Chinese manufacturer typically take three months to complete and another 45 days to arrive in the U.S.
Mayes says the tariff increases will be felt quickly, though the company is positioned well enough to withstand those costs for an extended period of time before passing them onto the customer.
“I’m going with business as usual until it’s proven to me that it’s not business as usual, and then I’ll eat [costs],” Mayes told cllct. “When things normalize, I’ll make up for it. We can withstand this.”
Stand Up Displays, which creates custom display stands for trading cards, faces similar threats from escalating tariffs to both of its major product lines.
Though the customization of each stand is done domestically, the stands themselves are created using an injection mold process in China and are subject to tariffs when imported.
Similarly to its display stands, Stand Up Displays’ line of magnetic holders are customized domestically, but are originally sourced from manufacturer BCW and imported from China.
According to Stand Up Displays founder and CEO Dan Patell, the company, like Cardboard Gold, can withstand increased costs from tariffs for the short-term.
Stand Up Displays has inventory on-hand, which creates a temporary buffer. Patell also says the company has been able to hold back on raising prices and plans to do so “as long as we physically can.”
Though both companies are positioned to withstand short-term impacts, long-term tariffs at the current levels would be significantly harder to pallet.
Ultra PRO, which is one of the largest manufacturers of trading card supplies in the world, is currently facing similar challenges from tariffs.
An Ultra PRO source confirmed to cllct that, while the company does have a facility in California, it does import some products and materials that could be subject to tariffs.
The source told cllct Ultra PRO is currently monitoring tariffs and is attempting to build multiple scenarios to best protect the company and its customers from increased prices.
A request for comment by cllct to BCW on the impact of tariffs on the company’s supply chain wasn’t immediately returned.
Amid the trade war, some Americans have called for companies across a number of industries to shift production or the sourcing of materials domestically. Both Patell and Mayes called into question the viability of that strategy in the current market.
China has heavily invested in the infrastructure required to produce plastic cost-efficiently and is the largest producer of the material in the world today.
“The thought of holding that production domestically is one that I’m sure everybody would love to do,” Patell told cllct. “I, for one, would love to have exclusively domestic supply. But the cost involved to replicate your manufacturing process here is significantly more and would require a lot of ramp-up as well.
“So, when you’re talking about having molds made and sourcing domestically, it’s a nightmare, but it’s one that could be facing a lot of us.”
Beyond rising import costs, trading card manufacturers will be forced to closely monitor the overall health of the hobby and collector sentiment.
Much like grading companies, trading card supply manufacturers rely on a healthy industry and a happy collector to be successful.
The production of trading cards drives several other industries, and Mayes believes that could be an even bigger threat to Cardboard Gold than rising costs on imports.
“Our biggest concern is how the tariffs on imports from China are going to affect demand for trading cards, both Pokémon and sports cards,” Mayes said. “Is it going to affect the breakers? Is it going to affect PSA and the other graders at volume?
“Because this industry for supplies is based on the volume of cards produced. If the value of cards from Panini and Topps goes down, it’s going to affect the demand and the integrity of the industry. We don't know what demand is going to be.”
According to both Mayes and Patell, the story of trading card supplies is the same story many other categories are facing.
Consumers of all kinds — not just collectors — are currently concerned about inflation and the cost of basic needs more than anything.
According to CBS News, the price of a dozen eggs has increased by more than 300% since 2019, the cost of ground beef has climbed by 55%, and a half-gallon of milk has risen by 38%.
Consumers aren’t purchasing sports cards if they can’t put food on their table, and they aren’t purchasing top loaders if they don’t have the cards.
“People that are in the hobby are constantly evaluating their entire life when they go to the grocery store, when they look at their investments,” Patell said. “Their happiness and their propensity to spend relies heavily on their perception of the world around them, not just the cost of an item. The fact that people spend money on the hobby means that they are set in other places.”
Another major concern for Mayes has been the overall impact of tariffs on small businesses in the United States.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there were more than 34.7 million small businesses in the U.S. in 2024, and those businesses employed about 59 million people — about 46% of the American workforce.
While giants such as Apple and Walmart might feel pain on imports, it’s small businesses such as Cardboard Gold and Stand Up Displays that will have a harder time navigating rising costs and thriving long-term.
And it’s small businesses that have been keeping the United States economy running.
“I feel like I’m getting screwed,” Mayes said.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the Collectibles Editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.