Of all the trends to gain extreme popularity during the ultra-modern era of card collecting, none might be bigger than the repack.
For collectors, repacks offer an alternative to buying sealed boxes directly from the manufacturer, while also providing the chase some believe is missing from simply purchasing the exact cards you want.
From a business perspective, repacks have helped drive both secondary-market value for thousands of cards and high submission volume for the industry’s largest card graders.
Love them or hate them, repacks have become one of the hobby’s biggest businesses, and they don’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.
Here’s what you need to know before you buy into the hobby’s hottest trend:
What are repacks?
A repack is a sports or trading card product curated by an individual or hobby-related business that contains either a number of cards or a single card for a set price.
Repacks typically contain a number of lower-value cards worth less than the price of the repack but offer the chance at “chases” worth much more.
Repacks often include sports cards or TCG categories, such as Pokémon, and can feature a mix of raw cards, graded cards and sealed packs.
Who makes repacks?
Repacks are created by a variety of entities, including individuals, card shops and third-party companies, both big and small.
Because of this, repacks can be found in a variety of locations, including online marketplaces, at card shows when curated by local dealers, in card shops when created by the stores themselves and even in retail locations such as pharmacies and big-box stores when created by third-party companies.
A variety of large companies also create repacks, including Arena Club, Courtyard and even trading card manufacturer Fanatics.
How are repacks curated?
Repacks are typically created using a variety of sourcing methods that can often determine the overall quality of the product.
High-quality repacks are often created by a team of buyers that are specifically sourcing cards to be sold in repacks.
With this strategy, buyers might attempt to purchase large groups of cards in exchange for a discount at places such as local card shows. Purchasing cards this way not only allows repackers to source cards with volume, but the bulk discount also creates a higher profit margin.
Low-quality repacks, which are often curated by individuals or small businesses, might simply contain unwanted cards from a personal collection with a low number of chases included.
These types of repacks are often considered less desirable because they are created to offload unwanted cards rather than to create a true additional secondary-market option for collectors.
When and why were repacks first created?
It’s hard to know when repacks were first created, but there’s evidence of repacks in their current form going back to at least the 1980s.
Similar to why many are created today, repacks are believed to have been first created to either offload unwanted cards with volume or to provide another secondary-market option for collectors.
The want for additional collecting options on the secondary market can be caused by a number of reasons, including the perception that trading card manufacturers are producing low-quality products, expensive products, or a combination of both.
Why are repacks popular?
Repacks are popular among many collectors for a number of reasons, though the most common are the perceived value proposition and the thrill of the chase.
To some collectors, buying a curated repack from a trusted entity offers a better value than purchasing a sealed box of cards directly from the manufacturer. This can be due to both the lower overall cost of many repacks comparatively and the perception that a checklist for a curated repack is stronger than what could be realistically pulled from a sealed box directly from the manufacturer.
Other collectors prefer chasing specific hits that might be offered in repacks because they either are interested in those chase cards specifically or because they believe they have a better chance at scoring them through a repack than a traditional sealed product.
Why are repacks controversial?
Repacks have become controversial primarily for two reasons: the lack of transparency and the perception of unregulated gambling.
High-quality repacks are often created with checklists to show exactly what the overall product run contains, which helps collectors make informed decisions. Larger companies that create repacks might also provide a living checklist that is updated as cards are pulled and possibly replaced by something new.
Low-quality repacks often lack true transparency or a checklist, creating the perception among collectors that the chase cards might never have been included to begin with.
There is a growing sentiment that many of the best raw cards included in repacks are unfit to grade, and their inclusion is simply a path to offload great cards impacted by damage or manufacturer errors.
There is also the perception from some collectors that repacks are simply a form of unregulated gambling. This concept has long led to discourse on the definition of gambling, whether or not collecting trading cards as a whole is a form of gambling and whether or not regulation of some kind is needed.
Should you buy a repack?
Collectors should spend money how they want — it's their hobby, after all. Like anything in the trading card category, however, hobbyists should do their due diligence and consider any and all financial ramifications.
To some collectors, repacks are a great secondary-market option that provides a better value proposition and chase than traditional products made by the manufacturers.
To others, sealed products from the manufacturer are the only way to go when ripping into packs.
The chase provided by repacks can be extremely compelling to some, while others view it as a slippery slope toward more traditional forms of gambling.
Research who is making the product, search for reviews and check to see how transparent the product is. If repacks are for you, consider giving them a try.
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.