You may have found a Tmall sports card included in amongst your favorite card format releases. Being a relatively new retail company, not many people know what or who Tmall is.
To help you understand, Tmall is a Chinese exclusive retail company based online.
The company has been around for 13 years, however; it wasn’t considered a big sports card dealer until the last couple of years. It is now a staple for hobby releases.
In 2020, there was a massive boom in the sports card industry, causing many retailers to jump onto the trend. Being one of the biggest retailers in the world, it is not surprising that Tmall wanted to be a part of the upsurge.
Like their American counterparts, Tmall releases most of the well-known sports card brands.
However, what makes them unique is the release of their exclusive subsets that are only available in the Chinese market. As a result, these cards are popular on third-party selling platforms such as eBay.
Below, you will find a complete guide on everything you need to know about Tmall sports cards.
What Is Tmall?
Tmall is short for Taobao Mall. 13 years ago it was launched in China and is a part of the Alibaba Group.
This platform can be compared to Amazon as it is a large-scale third-party mobile business and online shopping platform. However, the store was built, and items are sold, exclusively in China.
As of 2018, the company has approximately 500 million active monthly users. This makes it the third most visited site in the world.
Currently, the store has over 70,000 Chinese and international brands spanning over 50,000 merchants.
What Card Brands Can Be Found In Tmall?
Tmall releases a wide range of sports cards, some of which may even surprise you. The website mainly deals with Panini and has released cards ranging from NFL, UFC, NBA, and even Premier League Soccer.
Additionally, they also sell products from Topps and Upper Deck.
How To Get Tmall Sports Cards?
During its initial release, Tmall was exclusively open in China. Due to this, people wanting to purchase products, but based in the United States or other counties, would find this incredibly difficult.
Although, as Tmall continues to grow in popularity, so does their international market. As a result, you can now purchase products from wherever you are in the world.
However, one thing to note is that even if you make an account on Tmall’s platform and purchase something, you will have to deal with shipping costs and, sometimes, unexpected customs which can both be pricey.
Considerations When Buying From Tmall
Below, you will find some considerations to keep in mind if you purchase from Tmall.
- Unlike companies such as Amazon in the United States, if you purchase from Tmall you will not have the same protection or legal rights as you do in other countries. Essentially, you are sending money to China without any guarantees from scams.
- Once you buy a product and it ships to you, it will have to go through shipping customs procedures. Depending on a particular country’s regulations, this could take weeks, if not months. Therefore, the due date of your product is unpredictable and may often come with unexpected fees.
- When buying without a purchasing agency you have to be careful of fees due to not having a commercial import license. If the declared value of a product is over $800, you will need to pay import taxes. Likewise, if the value is over $2,500, you may be required to do a formal entry through customers. This may require officers to inspect the contents of the box.
- If you purchase from Tmall you may want to go through a broker that buys from China or a repackaging service. While there may include extra handling costs, it will save you from a headache down the line.
The key thing to remember when purchasing from Tmall is that you will end up spending a lot more money than anticipated. Therefore, it’s best to only purchase exclusive or rare items only found on Tmall.
How Much Do Tmall Sports Cards Cost?
If you compare the price differences between buying from dealers within the United States or purchasing from Tmall, products are generally more expensive coming from Tmall.
For example, Prizm Retail Blaster would cost $139.95 from Tmall and $79.95 in the US.
How To Purchase Tmall Without Breaking The Bank?
When purchasing sports cards, timing is everything. The same goes when purchasing from Tmall as well. Although, this is much harder when purchasing from Tmall as release dates are much tougher to come across in China.
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Therefore, knowing when is the best time to purchase products from Tmall may require some extra research.
The best way to get this information is from people within the industry, this could be Panini employees.
Likewise, you need to keep your contacts open for people to tip you off overseas when a particular product is about to be live.
However, this is all unpredictable and doesn’t guarantee success.
Another option would be to purchase Tmall options through a third-party site such as eBay, however; you may be left waiting in long and competitive bidding lines, where the prices can reach extremely high numbers.
Therefore, purchasing products from China directly may be cheaper.
Final Thoughts
Tmall is becoming increasingly popular with overseas collectors, with the popularity could soon make purchasing products from the website easier.
However, until this happens, buying directly from Tmall can be a costly feat and should be avoided. On the other hand, if you’re looking for an exclusive sports card that can’t be bought anywhere else, then Tmall may be the best option for you.
Hopefully, this guide has informed you of Tmall sports cards.
When I was just starting out with my card collection, I had lots of questions about authenticity, trading, and card conditions. But with not that much information available online, I felt quite alone in my queries. Some questions still haven’t been answered to this day.
This site aims to rectify this, and now, I am passing on my knowledge!
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