Rated Rookie

A series of rookie cards associated with the Donruss brand. Originally exclusive to the Donruss set, Rated Rookie cards also appear in the ultra-modern chrome Donruss Optic set.

Rare

Refers to the supply of a card, with rare cards being more limited. Not to be confused with scarce, which indicates that a card’s supply doesn’t meet its demand. Cards can often be rare but not necessarily popular or desirable.

Rally

An online marketplace for buying, selling and trading fractional shares of alternative assets, including sports and trading cards.

Rainbow

Refers to a card’s complete series of parallels. Collecting the “rainbow” of a certain player has become extremely popular during the ultra-modern era with the rise of parallels.

Quality Control

The process of reviewing cards to ensure they meet the intended quality. Quality Control is often questioned in the sports card hobby when cards from manufacturers arrive extremely off-centered or damaged.

Qualifier

A qualifier is a grading term applied to a card that meets the criteria for a grade, except for one area. As an example, if a card would grade as a PSA 9 if not for 80/20 centering, PSA will grade the card as a 9OC, which stands for off-center. Common qualifiers are off-center (OC), Stain (ST), Print Defect (PD) or Out of Focus (OF).

PWE

Short for the shipping method Plain White Envelope. A PWE is a basic envelope and stamp that doesn’t include any type of additional protection like a bubble mailer.

PWCC

An online marketplace for sports and trading cards that was founded in 1998.

Prospect

Most often associated with baseball, a prospect is a player that typically hasn’t reached the MLB level yet. Prospect cards are found in Bowman products, part of the Topps brand. Speculating and buying prospects early with the hopes that they become stars is a major part of collecting and investing in baseball cards.

Project 2020 & Project 70

Two separate special lineups of cards from Topps where artists added their own unique designs and styles to reimagine previous cards and sets.

Prizm (Parallel)

Refers to a parallel from Panini that often features a shiny, metallic surface.

Prizm (Brand)

A flagship set produced by Panini since 2012 that is included in baseball, basketball, football, soccer, UFC and WWE products. Prizm has become extremely popular during the ultra-modern era, and is often one of the most desired sets for Panini rookie cards.

Pristine Auction

An Arizona-based auction house that specializes in sports cards and memorabilia.

Prism

A shiny parallel, often associated with refractors from Topps. Not to be confused with the Prizm brand or the Prizm parallel associated with Panini.

Printing Plate

This refers to the physical plates used to print trading cards. Four plates are used in the process and are colored Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. Printing plates can also be found in packs of cards as hits, and are each numbered 1/1. Though rare, printing plates are not typically highly sought after and will not command the price premiums that true 1/1 parallels command.