So as I’m sure we all know by now, maintaining a price guide for Pokemon cards is essentially impossible outside of Ebay completed listings and community knowledge.
But what if instead of focusing on all the cards, we only paid attention to the rarest of the rare cards?
I would like to start a Sales Index of past sales on the top cards in the game, such as trophy cards, rare promos, and higher-end PSA graded cards.
Pooling all of our knowledge into an organized index would prove extremely useful to all of us, as it could serve as a large reference tool when it comes to these high-dollar cards.
The only thing I ask is that we keep it UPCCC exclusive.
I ask this because I know some of the top-dollar sales in the community tend to be shrouded in secrecy, whether it is the buyer or the buying price. I want people to feel comfortable sharing this information without putting the info at risk of too much publicity. Of course, I would love if we made an Exclusive section of the Insider’s Bureau that can only be viewed by members approved for admission (so basically members actually active on the forum), but that’s a whole different suggestion.
Anyways, before I go ahead and set up the thread, I would like to hear what you guys think of the idea (if it should even be pursued) and how you think it should be set up.
I was thinking of maintaining an Excel document (easiest and most efficient way to organize data) while maintaining a thread with categorized tables like this:
Trophy Cards
Trophy Card - Year
Sale #1 Price - Date - Marketplace
Sale #2 Price - Date - Marketplace
PSA Graded Cards
Card - Grade
Sale #1 Price - Date - Marketplace
Sale #2 Price - Date - Marketplace
Let me know what you think guys!
**Admins** Let me know what you think about adding an invite-only forum to the Insider’s Bureau.
I think that the list wouldn’t be comprehensive enough even with this data, there is no way to record every sale going and for the trophy cards, they don’t seem to move too often from what I’ve seen, I don’t actually own anything close to one so I could be wrong. Like if we have one price from one sale, it’s still not accurate as an average would have to be found for it to be worth recording and from 2 or 3 sales the figures could vary wildly, not everyone values these cards the same and so the avg be completely off, e.g if i had the money i would pay literally thousands and thousands for an ssb number x trainer but thats just because they are my favourite cards jn the hobby. Basically to conclude, this only works with cards traded often as that way averages work well because there is lots of data, for much much rarer cards it don’t really work, and without a guide there’s always more room for deals
For very cards it is pretty much a case of they are worth what people are willing to pay and what the seller is happy to sell it for,if they are willing to sell it at all.A good idea though:-)
I just got a fan club porygon in mint for £125-best card I have to date-I hope porygon counts as a rare enough a card to list lol
I think this would be awesome. I don’t consider myself financially ready to purchase a lot of trophy cards but this would definitely be helpful/interesting to follow.
I like the idea, but I think we should also add the type of sale (eBay auction, private sale, collection sell-off, etc.) as cards usually go for less on eBay auctions than they do in private sales, and the type of sale can influence the price up or down.
I also think that while this is a great idea, it benefits a select number of collectors, namely those with the resources to pursue said high-end trophy and PSA graded cards. I think a move slightly downmarket (although like you said, its impossible to have a complete price guide) would benefit a larger number of collectors while not forcing you or whoever is doing it to do too much extra work. I think nice additions to this (if they aren’t already considered) would be something like PSA 9/10 Base Set 1ED, Neo Shinings, and Gold Stars.
I’m right there with you! I covered the type of sale with the “Marketplace” part in the tables (I guess I should have defined that in the post my bad haha).
And that’s exactly what I was thinking with the PSA section. PSA 10/9 Base Sets, Gold Stars, etc. still go for a lot of money (just cause it’s not thousands of dollars like a trophy card doesn’t mean it’s cheap!). I feel like this section would be more useful for more members because more people are buying this level of cards. I really want this section the most tbh - for example, I was looking into a PSA 10 Japanese Charizard Gold Star 1ED and couldn’t find any sold on ebay. I know there have been past sales, but ebay only logs them so far back.
Honestly I think the old price guides are outdated, or perhaps too slow. “Back in the day” there were less people selling cards, making it easier to quantify prices and values. Today almost everyone sells something at some point, making the market much more dynamic. I remember one of the Admins on Pokegym asked me to make a price guide a few years ago, even then it was impossible. Outside of 1st ED base cards, and a few other staple items, the ranges were too wide to quantify.
In regards to trophy cards, especially the highest end trophy cards, there is no proper way to define a set value. There are very few sales in a year. When there are actual sales, they are private or sold on different marketplaces, which adds another layer.
