Availability and Distribution Another factor to consider is the availability of particular cards. Some cards are not distributed in a normal retail fashion and are hard to acquire. Trial cards are also difficult to obtain because they tend to be local to an area and limited in quantity. They won't be advertised widely and may be gone by the time they are generally known about. Internal test or technician cards are also difficult to obtain but are certainly sought after by the specialty collector.
Prices tend to be high, and quantity is also limited.
The fastest growing area of issuing is promotion and incentive cards. These can also be very difficult to collect because, again, they tend to be used for local and limited promotions that may be over before you know about them, or unavailable by mail or phone. They could not be purchased, and because of the theme, the issuer, and the scarcity, prices have been very high in the collector market. A unique card was issued by Sprint this summer that bears noting. This particular card was issued to commemorate a global strategic alliance between France Telecom, Sprint and Deutche Telekom.