Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, I’m new.
I’m getting into collecting the holos of gen 3 but I am really searching for where they can be bought at a virtual guarantee to be in a 9/10 condition ungraded.
Any recommendations for sellers who are (maybe streamer or youtuber sellers) opening these boxes and selling the holos all the time in pack fresh condition would be amazing, also looking for recommendations on sellers here or on TCGPlayer.
The best way to buy a card in 9/10 condition is to buy a 9/10 graded copy.
Of course but I figure there must be some streamers or something selling the holos they’re pulling out of vintage boxes every other day, also my question is generally “who have you had good experience with in regards to these holos” so I’m taking any recommendations
Exactly my thoughts if it has to be 9 or 10 buy it graded. Near mint will vary depending on seller and near mint means about 7 grade. Don’t be the guy that buys near mint cards and returns them for a spot or two of whitening or a print line etc. Sellers will eventually get annoyed and block you. Also your only option is eBay or Mercari. You need a picture to see condition for aiming for high grades. And even then we all over look a occasional crease on a eBay listing we thought was mint or close
Also I’ll add usually anyone that has a mint mint card they pulled themselves probably just graded it. Maybe there is someone out there selling pack fresh old cards but I have no idea who. Or you can open booster boxes yourself but I wouldn’t recommend that unless it’s for fun
Yeah this is just not something you can consistently do anymore. With boxes for a lot of these sets in the $5000 range and them being so damn hard to find there aren’t many people breaking them. Boxes are hard to find, unweighed packs are hard to find, and mint ungraded is basically impossible to do consistently. Your best option for getting 9/10 cards seriously is just getting them already graded. The immense time and effort and loss due to unsuccessful attempts would simply not be worth paying a little extra for an already graded copy. I can’t imagine these cards in 9 (and a lot in 10 too honestly if we’re just talking regular holo rares) are going to be too expensive. I agree that it sucks that it’s so hard to get your own cards to send in for grading these days but that’s just the natural progression.
Edit like 5 seconds later: If you want these cards with the intention of keeping them ungraded (binder) I strongly recommend just going with regular old NM or NM-M card listings. This frees you up so much and you can really get a lot more with your money. Often the only problem will just be some white on the back edges; the cards still look great in a binder where you can see the front. That’s how my holo rares from Gen 4 into Gen 5 (when I was a kid) are stored and it’s such a nice solution and I never notice the backs of the cards we traded at school, etc.
Do your homework on what you want and search eBay, or reach out to sellers on there or the forum. Make fair offers to sellers and form connections with different people who sell what you are looking for. Maybe reach out to the content creators you watch, the worst that can happen is you won’t get a response.
We wish we knew also…
Virtual guarantee = guarantee? Are you looking to grade these raw cards? If so, you might wait for Poke Rev to do a box opening soon and hope it’s a gen3. I don’t think anyone is consistently opening gen 3 boxes and selling mint cards. If they do, it’s probably a one-off, or they’d sell with some premium.
If you are looking for raw cards for binder collection, just buy PSA 9s and crack them open. It’s just waaay easier.
I am collecting Gen 3 and 4 mint holos for my binder. A few years ago you would have been able to find ungraded mint ones, but that has become steadily more difficult over time. I will occasionally find a few here and there ungraded on eBay, but there is not one website that sells consistently mint Gen 3 holos.
I would say ebay but these days there are so many people on there looking for raw cards to grade that it gets harder and harder every year. These days most people who have actually mint cards especially for older cards are collectors who know how to get their cards PSA graded.
Most of the raw cards I see on ebay are in trash condition overall and the ones that are mint are way overpriced. I agree with the others. If you want mint PSA cards, just buy the PSA card.
PokéRev may be a legit source! But also may require buying packs haha
www.elitefourum.com/t/gen-3-pokedex-binder-opinions/25665/1
I posted my personal complete gen 3 pokedex with the earliest printings of each pokemon in this thread. Are these the cards you are looking for?
If so I have been buying these cards up as much as I can because I believe they are very undervalued. The PSA pops for 9s and 10s is pathetically small and coming from someone who is buying these exact cards literally as much as possible they are VERY VERY hard to get truly mint copies of.
And as for youtubers who open these boxes it is unlikely, I was only able to find a single youtuber who opened a EX ruby and Sapphire box and it was broken up into 12 short videos and it was like 10 years old.
Yeah best bet is to buy PSA 9/10 slabs. I got super lucky 1 year ago and bought a collection of ex cards from someone and they turned out to be mint- gem quality but I’m not sure that’s as easy to find anymore. Raw card prices for gen 3 have also increased a lot since then (as well as slabs).