Top 5 Best Penny Sleeves for Sports Cards

best penny sleeves for sports cards

Placing your sports cards in penny sleeves is definitely a must as a collector. Penny sleeves will help keep any card you put in them in mint condition. Although penny sleeves are not as strong as top loaders or other hard cases, they are great to have if you are trying to protect your collection in bulk due to their cheap price.

A quick search for penny sleeves and you will see a ton of variety, brands, and sizes. With all the selections available in today’s market, it can be hard to choose the best penny sleeves. We went ahead and sifted through the market and picked out the best penny sleeves for your sports cards so you don’t have to.

In our comprehensive guide to the best penny sleeves for sports cards, we’ll show you the best sleeves on the market and give you some advice when it comes time to choose. Let’s get started.

IN A HURRY? HERE’S OUR TOP PICKS…

NameOur RatingPrice

Ultra PRO Clear Card Sleeves
5/5
Click for Price
BCW Soft Card Sleeves/Penny Sleeves4.5/5
Click for Price
TitanShield Economical Soft Penny Card Sleeves4/5
Click for Price

1- Ultra PRO Clear Card Sleeves

Our top pick is the Ultra PRO clear card sleeves. It is no surprise that we have placed Ultra PRO as having the best penny sleeve. You can find them at just about any brick and mortar retail store, are reasonably priced, and are good quality.

This specific listing for these penny sleeves comes in a 500 count pack are are made to fit standard sized cards which are 35 pt. This means that they will be able to be used interchangeably for other trading games like Pokemon, and Magic the Gathering.

These card sleeves are high quality, made with archival-safe, non-PVC polypropylene film and are ultra-clear. This is a very important aspect too look for in a penny sleeve, especially if you are planning on showing off your collection. Some lower quality penny sleeves will have a slight cloudy or faint appearance when your cards are inside them.

What we like

  • High-quality
  • Ultra clear
  • Great price
  • Can be found in stores all around the world

What we don’t like

  • Online purchasing quality control issues

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon


2- BCW Soft Card Sleeves/Penny Sleeves

The runner up penny sleeves on our list is the BCW soft penny sleeves. These penny sleeves also come in standard size which means that they are interchangeable and can be used for many other trading cards and collectibles.

These card sleeves come with 3 packs of 100, totaling 300 penny sleeves in all. BCW sleeves are high quality, and are also ultra clear making them another great choice for your sports card collection.

These card sleeves will also fit well inside of standard trading card toploaders which makes them great to use if you plan on sending in your cards to be graded by the PSA or other grading companies.

What we like

  • High quality
  • Good Price
  • Can fit inside toploaders nicely

What we don’t like

  • Sleeves can be a little too big for some binders

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon


3- TitanShield Economical Soft Penny Card Sleeves

The next penny sleeves on our list are the TitanShield Economical Soft Penny Card Sleeves. These card sleeves are poerfect for standard sized cards which are 35 pt. This means that it will fit your sports cards, and other trading cards such as Pokemon, and Magic the Gathering.

These sleeves come with 125 sleeves per pack which is about 25% more per pack than many other companies. These sleeves are also 60 microns thick which makes them about 20% thicker than a standard 50 micron penny sleeve which is what a majority of the other brands sleeves are rated at.

These card sleeves are acid-free, non pvc, made with ultra high quality and clarity and are also archival safe polypropylene material.

What we like

  • High quality
  • Crystal clear
  • Non pvc and archival safe

What we don’t like

  • Quality control issues

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon


4- Rayvol Soft Penny Card Sleeves

The next penny sleeves on our list are the Rayvol Soft Penny Card Sleeves. These penny sleeves are another great choice. They are the perfect fit for your sports card. They are interchangeable with all the other types of collectible cards such as Magic the Gathering, and your sports cards.

These penny sleeves offer great protection at a low price. They are made to protect your cards from dust, dirt, and the natural oils from your hands.

These sleeves are also designed to minimize surface scratches on your cards while you are sorting, displaying, or actually using them for gaming. These sleeves are made out of safe materials and are made with clear non-PVC, acid-free, and archival-safe polypropylene film. This particular package includes a 4 pack of sleeves with 125 individual sleeves per pack.

What we like

  • Good price
  • Non-pvs and archival-safe

What we don’t like

  • Sleeves can be quite thick making cards difficult to fit into binders

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon


5- Invested Alliance Small Card Protective Sleeve

The last penny sleeve on our list is the Invested Alliance Small Card Protective Sleeve. These sleeves are another good choice if you are looking for a good quality penny sleeve. These sleeves will fit your sports cards, Pokemon cards, Magic the Gathering, and more.

This particular package comes with a 500 pack of penny sleeves. They are ultra-clear, archival-safe, non-PVC polypropylene film, and are free from chemicals like acid, lignin, and PVC. One downside to these card sleeves are that they are a bit pricey compared to the rest of the market, which is why we have rated this sleeve lower than the others.

However, this does not mean that these penny sleeves are not high quality. There were user complaints of the inside of the card sleeves being very tight and scratching their cards on the way in which can be a big negative factor if you don’t use these sleeves correctly.

What we like

  • High quality
  • Ultra clear sleeves
  • Soft

What we don’t like

  • Issues with inner quality of sleeve
  • No corner protection

Check Price and Reviews on Amazon


What to Look for in a Penny Sleeve

To find the best scanner for your needs, consider the following major aspects before finalizing a purchase.

Size

Many sports cards are use a 35 pt card sleeve which is also known as standard size. When looking for penny sleeves, be sure that you are choosing the correct size for your sports cards. All of the penny sleeves that we have listed on here are standard sized sleeves so you can interchangeably use them for other trading cards as well.

35 pt, or standard size, is also used for other popular trading cards like Pokemon, Yugioh, and Magic the Gathering.

Quality

Once you have the correct size figured out, the nest trait that you will want to look at is the quality. Although penny sleeves got their name for being cheap, you can still find penny sleeves that are decent quality. Many low quality penny sleeves will scratch easily, tear at the sides, or your cards won’t show very clearly.

Amount

The more card sleeves you buy, the cheaper they will be. Although it can be a daunting task, it’s best to make sure to count all the cards that you will need card sleeves for. Knowing the exact amount of sleeves that you need will help you save a few dollars since you will be able to buy penny sleeves in bulk.

Best Penny Sleeve Brands

Ultra PRO

Ultro PRO is one of the biggest brands in the industry. They have been around since the mid 1900’s. Since then, they have definitely paved a name for themselves in the collectible trading card community. It’s very hard to walk into a retail store and not find some sort of Ultra PRO product on the shelves.

If you take a quick browse at the trading card section in your local retailer, you are sure to find Ultra PRO card sleeves, binders, or other accessories. However, through the years, there have been more and more brands coming to the surface trying to innovate the industry with new types of card sleeves, deck boxes, binders, and more.

Ultra PRO markets their products through a top-tier network of over 120 distributors. They have customers pretty much all over the world ranging from North America, Asia, and Europe. In return, these distributors supply hundreds and thousands of toy stores, hobby shops, and national retailers all around the world.

BCW

BCW is another big name in the industry. They haven’t been around as long as Ultra PRO, but they have still established themselves as an authority in the space. From the start, BCW has committed themselves to providing exceptional customer service while supplying some of the best hobby supplies at the best prices available on the market.

BCW was founded back in 1981 and is headquartered in Indiana, USA. For over 30 years, BCW has been manufacturing and bringing high quality, low cost, products designed to store and protect valuable collectibles.

Currently BCW supplies over 90,000 customers all over the world.

At BCW, we are committed to providing customers with the greatest value in hobby supplies available anywhere. We service and ship directly to distributors, retailers, and consumers.

TitanShield

TitanShield is one of the newer brands in the industry. Just because they are new, doesn’t mean that they aren’t good or high quality. TitanShield was established by a select group of avid gamers. They realized that there was a small gap in the market. Many of the products that they personally used or tested for their collectibles were either too pricey, or unreliable and low quality.

They believed that the most expensive part of your collection shouldn’t be the card sleeves or other accessories, but your actual collection itself. This is where they decided to make a change. TitanShield came into the playing field with products that are both high-quality, and come at a reasonable price.

Since 2017, they have been offering premium tabletop and collectible gaming accessories at insane prices that would make other brands raise an eyebrow.

FAQs

What Are the Best Penny Sleeves?

The best penny sleeves on the market are the Ultra PRO Clear Card Sleeves. Ultra PRO has definitely carved a name for themselves in the industry as having both high-quality, and decently priced accessories for cards.

Do Penny Sleeves Damage Cards?

Penny sleeves can indeed damage your cards. We suggest using penny sleeves as only a low cost storage sleeve as they are not the best sleeves to use if you are planning on playing with your cards.

Over time, penny sleeves will start to rip, tear, and just not protect your cards as good as they did as if they were brand new.

Should I Put All My Cards in Penny Sleeves?

We definitely recommend placing any valuable cad you have into a penny sleeve. However, for very expensive cards, penny sleeves should be temporary.

You should put very expensive cards in other sleeves such as a toploader or a hard case. These types of cases will provide better protection since you will want to be extra sure that your most valuable cads will not become damaged.

Final Thoughts

Our top pick for the best penny sleeves are the Ultra PRO Clear Card Sleeves. They are decently priced, high-quality, and the plastic is clear enough to show and display your cards. Purchase these card sleeves in bulk and you will have an even better price.

The runner up penny sleeves on our list is the BCW Soft Card Sleeves/Penny Sleeves. BCW is definitely a solid first or second pick, we rated Ultra PRO as the top pick due to their availability as well as their quality. Don’t let that stop you from purchasing BCW instead. They are also a solid choice and you won’t go wrong.

Whichever penny sleeves you choose for your sports cards, we hope this guide has been helpful in your purchasing decision. Thanks for reading!

Indoor Game Bunker

We are Indoor Game Bunker, a group dedicated to providing reviews, how to guides, and helpful information to those interested in a wide variety of games and hobbies.

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