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Looking to get some sports cards for free? Then you’ve come to the right place! In this article I’ll cover some of the best ways to get sports cards for free. But it gets even better, this does not only apply to sports cards, it also applies to entertainment cards!

No Purchase Necessary (NPN)

One of the most interesting ways to obtain free cards is the No Purchase Necessary (NPN) program, offered by companies like Topps, Upper Deck and Panini.

Instructions on how to obtain the free cards can be found on the backsides of the hobby packs. Most of the time it involves mailing a letter to the respective company, and then you will get one random card in return, with the same odds as pack-pulled cards. This means that you can hit very big, at the cost of just one stamp. Most of the time the limit is one submission per household and this offer can only be used for a short time period after the initial product release date.

Don’t be mistaken in that these companies offer this as a form of good-will however, these programs are required by law because sports card packs exhibit an element of chance. As such there are regulations pertaining to them, with an NPN program being one of them.

In order to find the exact instructions on how to obtain these cards you should look for articles pertaining recently released sets and hope they have the back of the pack pictured. Other options are checking eBay to see if there are pictures or checking out videos on for example YouTube and pausing the video at the right time. I also listed an example of the Topps NPN program below.

It is especially worthwhile for products like Topps Chrome Black or Topps Chrome Sapphire as they don’t carry too many cards in a box and thus the chance of a hit per card is higher than average.

Upper Deck e-Pack Free Pack

Upper Deck e-Pack is an innovative new way of collecting cards that involves buying packs digitally and obtaining digital cards in return. The twist here is that most of the inserts and parallels can be redeemed for actual physical cards, meaning you will lose them in digital form and you will get the actual card mailed to you.

As an incentive for using this service Upper Deck offers everyone one free pack every day, with no costs attached. So don’t miss out on these free cards, even though they’re just digital-only base cards!

Enter Giveaways

There is always someone, be it a company or a collector, that is trying to build a brand on social media. They will often organize giveaways where you need to like, comment and share in order to participate and have a chance to win something cool. Examples of cool things you can win are specific cards, packs or even entire boxes.

Partake in those giveaways! Sharing is what it is all about, these people want to increase their following, and you can help by sharing! Just be sure to not break any rules of the platform and be careful not to annoy your friends too much. Examples of social media platforms where these giveaways happen are Instagram and Twitter.

Random acts of kindness

The last category is a kind of catch-all category. There are various random acts of kindness possible, think about getting free cards at a card store, someone giving you a pack, scouting online marketplaces for free cards to pick up, etc.

One thing that sets this category apart from others is that you should not expect any big hits, whereas in all other categories you have as much chance to win something big as you have when buying packs!

Final words

Even if you can’t spend much on cards, don’t hesitate to start your collection by using these free methods! Most of all, don’t forget to enjoy your own unique journey!

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