I’m not going to coddle them. I’d have said the same to any friend in real life without wording it any differently.
3 Likes
It’s too bad the price jumps have been so bad @chewy,those caards in that picture are nice but at the start of the year wouldn’t have sold for more than $250 total or less depending on the conditions. Hopefully the market will calm down next year and retrace and you can get into buying raw cards for a lot cheaper. It’s really hard to find binders right now since the market is saturated with flippers locally. Your best bet for finding cheap cards is asking around at work and friends if they have any childhood sets they want to sell. Most or all will most likely have big binders with charizards and other things that they would be happy to get some money for.
1 Like
It may not have the exact same feeling as English, but Japanese is still decently affordable. I used to hate Japanese stuff as a kid. But now that I’ve started collecting them, my Japanese collection is MUCH bigger than my English stuff and I enjoy it more(though I haven’t seen my English cards in over a year now…). Also, echoing others that I read, definitely just buy played stuff. Condition isn’t everything if it’s purely for nostalgia. And besides, even if it’s damaged, it always goes up alongside the PSA versions, just not signficantly enough to make it a worthwhile “investment” purchase. Definitely good for nostalgia though.
Best of luck! I’ve been in your situation as well! Usually it disappears after like 3-6 months, I look at my collection again and go “damn! This stuff is sick!!” Then buy more hahaha!
2 Likes
If you feel bad about what you’ve spent it could be you don’t value the cards as much as you thought. That’s perfectly fine and a good thing to know. If you think maybe you do and you’re just nervous about what you’ve spent you could try this. Try to identify 1000 dollars that you spend on other things over the course of however many months you choose and ask yourself if you really value them. Then you could cut those things out of your budget and use those funds on cards. This way you’re just making a trade with what you value. When I buy cards this way I don’t feel “guilty”. I am a gigging musician (normally) so I started taking a cooler on the road and would grocery shop instead of going to restaurants or buying snacks at convenience stores. Some people find money cancelling cable or subscriptions. Silly example but I think there’s lots of ways to be creative about saving money with the intention of maximizing it towards better value. I know this is basic stuff but thought it could be helpful? I think what you are doing assessing value in your personal life is a really smart move. Best of luck!
1 Like
I kind of understand you, the price of vintage sets exploded and I don’t think it will go down 
I’ve been lucky and managed to get an heavy pack at a reasonable price
It will probably be my last purchase in terms of Pokemon related collectibles
2 Likes
Binder sets! Binder sets! Binder sets! In my opinion, NOTHING beats flipping through a binder of a set you’ve completed. All of my PSA cards sit in either a safe or a box, and I hardly ever take them out. Binders are affordable and are how the cards were meant to be enjoyed.
I’ve never had buyers remorse over a binder set because you don’t impulse purchase one. You spend months working on a set and you can take your time shopping for a good deal on each single card. Overspent on a card? Not a big deal because you aren’t reselling it, and its only one piece of a 100+ card puzzle you are working on.
4 Likes