I’m not sure if you’re serious or not…? Certain people not knowing what Shadowless is understandable as it’s fairly niche, but 1st Edition Base is what Alpha is to MTG. The majority of people know about the set, even non serious collectors.
I would personally buy everything you find at good prices, but I would probably focus on high demand cards. Charmander is a great example of a card that can probably earn even 50+ euros at some point. If you can scoop them up at 5-10 euros it’s a no brainer IMO.
1st Edition Base is far from what I would call niche, but anyway…
These non holo cards are only just starting to gain any value. The person that spends $2000 on a Charizard for his binder collection will have no problem paying you $25 for a Charmander and even more for a Charmeleon. I don’t advise you start spending thousands of euros on 1st Edition non holos, but if you find them for cheap you can’t go wrong. They have a good chance at growing quite a lot, but even if that doesn’t happen they will at least hold their value.
It’s also appealing for those that just can’t afford to spend hundreds or thousands for the holos in the set, but they would like to hold a piece of history by buying a 1st Edition Pikachu or building the full c/u set. Just my 2 cents.
I wonder about you sometimes carrot lol. Are you suggesting 1st edition base cards aren’t well known to pokemon card collectors?
Common and uncommon cards will have very little growth if any because there are just a crap ton of them out there… even 1st edition base set, and demand isn’t anywhere near what it is for the holo rares.
I had your same logic back in '09 when I first got back into Pokemon - thinking to myself; these are just Common / Un-Common Cards; why would anyone be willing to pay $80.00??? I’m referring to MANY NM/M Condition C. / Un. 1st Ed. Base Sets that “ebirdman” was selling on eBay back in '09 - '10. Now, let’s fast-forward a few years, and you’re looking at $500.00 - $750.00 for that same item today!
Common and Un-Common Cards need to be treated differently for the 1st Ed. Base Set (Possibly Shadowless Base Set?). A great example of this is all the new E4 Members joining looking to purchase 1st Ed. Base “Bulk” - “BULK” That’s not even a term anymore when dealing with 1st Ed. Base Set - even if we’re talking the Basic Energies that nobody collects! Haha
I got given 500 1st edition Base Set rares uncommons and commons as a freebie with a purchase I made back in 2011, I’ve been able to make almost 2 complete non holo sets from the lot with a ton of left overs, and have been offered 1.5K AUD for a set this year, which I’ve declined
just a few years ago they were being given away for free, now they can command thousands of dollars, idk about the rest of the world, but I’ve been selling non holo base set starters for $30 AUD each for years in Australia
1st edition Base Set is the most iconic set, calling it next level niche is extremely naive
You got to get off the drugs young man. Remember, this isn’t Facekook or Reddit. People come here to e4 to gather information that’s reliable. If members “talk cock” it’ll hurt our reputation;)
@carrot Can you be more specific? How many cards are we talking about here and what kind of price?
The reason I said you should buy them is because I know you never pay top dollar on anything so if you have the opportunity to buy them at 50-75% value I think it’s a good deal. If you don’t want to hoard them for years, you can just keep the ones you like or that have the most value and sell the rest to get all your money back. Then wait and see how you do with the ones you kept.
@chinameowthsunflower They’re actually in very high demand, they sell like hotcakes on ebay and always bring good money. Some played copies earn more than most holos from any set. There’s not some kind of endless supply either, not in NM+ condition. The few people like Gary that probably have thousands stashed away in storage are in no rush to part with them. They understand the value when they see the prices of sealed product.
A couple months back, it felt like the market was literally flooded with graded or raw copies, but what’s interesting is it’s all getting absorbed all day. Once that supply dries up, we’ll have a better idea of what to expect.
I have a bunch of sets but all my thousands and thousands and thousands of loose non holos were all purchased by someone here on E4 so don’t message me for singles lol.
I’d consider Base 1st ed common and uncommon cards as “Penny Stock”. They might not have the potential to make mega bucks like the big boy stocks, but they will grow in value over time. It’s a safer way to invest in the future with a low cash risk.
Well I’m a collector not an accountant. If I bought a penny stock (pokemon card) for $0.25 and it increases by 100%, I’ve made my money back and gained $0.25. If it’s value goes down to zero, I’ve lost my quarter. Not that big a deal. If I bought a big stock (1st ed Charizard) and it’s value went to zero, well I might not be able to pay my bills.
That’s not even a term anymore when dealing with 1st Ed. Base Set - even if we’re talking the Basic Energies that nobody collects! Haha