I would not focus on past deals and just look at the future of your collection. Most collectors have made bad deals and trades, and we just have to use them as learning experiences. I would also focus on enjoying the gold star that you got.
The biggest bad (financial) deal i’ve made was paying over $1000+ to get a complete Chinese Legend Maker set (without gold stars included). But I focused on enjoying the cards, as apposed to focusing on the financial loss and now am pretty happy with the purchases.
This situation is a perfect example why third party grading exists. It removes the mixed condition opinions of the buyer and seller. Also this is why trades are not as common today.
One perspective that might help, individuals are responsible for negotiating a deal. I think this aspect is overlooked in a lot of scenarios. I know plenty of guys who have been around as long as me and are disappointed with deals because they chose to not negotiate. Your experience with your friend is the meaning of the idiom: “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”. You have to adjust what didn’t work or feel right in previous deals. Ultimately there are no guarantees. But, this is why grading is important, it inherently makes negotiating more concise and direct.
This is true. It’s mainly how I built up my collection and sellers reputation. Only a couple of us were grading 20 years ago but I knew Pokemon would eventually be no different than sports so I stuck with it and promoted it. In the beginning you might find 20 PSA Pokemon cards on an eBay search. 99% of deals were raw cards and it was a major fiasco. You couldn’t go an hour without hearing of condition ripoffs.
Now it happens much less often…thankfully.
That’s a bit of an oversight by you. I asked for advice and constructive criticism to help deal with this in future comings. Plenty to see here for myself.
I guess without putting much thought into it this is precisely it - I ‘expected’ my friend to give me the same curtsy i’ve been giving him. I believed that things would go both ways.
My friend hounded me for my mint skyridge zard when it was in my skyridge master set. I broke my master set so he could have that card. I didnt want to trade it but he convinced me. This is the exact reason my expectation was there in the first place - if i was willing to break a complete skyridge master set he would surely do something similar for me?
WRONG
Lesson learned - unfortunately I am too nice sometimes.
I guess i got schooled. I cant even remember what i traded for the CG zard - it was something pathetic. I put a 1400 usd trade value on the skyridge zard. I got Gyarados, Mewtwo, Pikachu, Torchic, Treecko and Mudkip stars for this. They’re lp/exc. Now the charizard is worth 2 - 2.4k since grading but hey guess what everyone on e4’s telling me, its my fault. I get it guys
Just going to skip here and say not once have i suggested or claimed he is a bad person. Unless you can point out otherwise where I have said that as I genuinely think he is not a bad person just a better salesman/negotiater than myself. I am less experienced. Please see my above comment for what I traded in regards to skyridge zard.
Unreasonable - which i have agreed upon already. I fucked up, I was venting and looking for ways to help me move on from this. This is the whole reason I created the post. I knew there would be people that would tell me im wrong, think im stupid, wonder why i even bother creating this SaltPost. Well I think some members are overlooking what im actually seeking here. The card is his, i get it.
Question time, I will answer everything you said since you took the time to write it.
I should be happy for him but im not. Maybe im not his true friend? Yes I would be happier if it graded lower. You asked, ill tell you the truth.
2)At this point your probably thinking shit, this guy is actually giving me honest answers. I bet you wernt expecting what I would say here on this question but the answer is YES, I WOULD consider trading back because that is what I would do for my close friend, obviously things dont go both ways.
3)Sorry can you rephrase this question, i’ve read it back 4 times and its not really making sense to me.
4)Okay, this is actually a really good question. It has a corner bend on the top, its a massive oversight by PSA. I think the answer is still yes, I 've wanted the card back before it got a 9 but now even more that its in a high grade so the answer is yes.
It is just a card I know, but its a rare one. Go on ebay and try buy a grey stamp stoise, you just cant. I have let it go though, no point holding onto this as its not mine anymore.
Response to discord chat: agreed fully. Especially when friendship is involved.
Unfortunately it sounds like your ‘friend’ ground you for value, from what you said it seems they knew exactly what they were doing, offloading ungradable cards in trade for potential 10s. They don’t sound like much of a friend to be honest, it sounds like you were taken advantage of. Anyway, I’d tell them how you feel and talk it out. I’d also get all your potential 10s graded and not trade them ungraded.
My suspicions were true… sigh. I thought my days of being taken advantage of were over but guess I was wrong. Im not sure if I want to approach him about this, is it even worth it? Do you think it would be better to just forget about it and never trade again?
If they’re a friend and your feeling resentment towards them I think it’s worth explaining how you feel so they understand your perspective rather than letting that resentment fester and carry on like everything’s fine … that’s just me though.
You live and you learn. Don’t beat yourself up over it. We all have a story when it comes to collecting that we wish we didn’t have but its all part of the growing pains. Keep on collecting my friend. Cheers
I hear what you are saying but I am wondering what will it achieve explaining this. As I am not prepared to ever trade with this person again so that’s why I was wondering if it was worth actually bringing up
I think it really depends on the level of friendship you have with this person outside the hobby, and how this interaction plays into your interactions outside of the trades. If there is a potential for it to negatively affect your interactions then it would probably be best to get it into the air. Talk it out - if the friendship is worth keeping, then it will sort out.
If you don’t feel there is enough of a friendship there outside of the hobby or it isn’t going to be affected by the scenario, then I wouldn’t worry about pursuing it, personally.
In many cases friendships and business dont really go well together. I’ve been on both sides of these types of situation. Just take it as a lesson learned. Please do let your friend know how you feel and grade every card that has any significant value in the future.
Im just curious how you thought the Blastoise would grade so low…?
Consider trading cards for cash, instead of trading for raw cards. That would prevent the burn when you realize you traded a valuable card for a less-valuable card.
Also, stop worrying about the grades you might receive. I know we all have some numbers bias towards 10s. Grade your cards to preserve them, not because you think grading will increase value. We’re getting to the point where 1st edition base holos are gradeable in any condition.
