After finally exiting a horrible entire 2025 for me in all aspects of life. Thankfully off to a good start in 2026 and on the path back to normality. I am now also in a good position to get back into Pokemon & collecting after letting go of over 90% of my collection in 24 to 25.
I want to fill everything into one glorious binder (ideally 360 cards) but my spreadsheet to track said cards is well over 500 and given the price increases of some chase cards it seems like a task that wont be completed.
Price memory from before the current boom is putting up a wall in my mind & the willingness to pay these new prices for cards I was getting PSA 8/9 copies for 24-36 months ago for now worse conditioned raws or PSA 7s in todays pricing.
I know a lot of seasoned people on here could have there collections summed up in either a few slabs or binder pages. So do I just have to be a bit more cut throat in my wants list and if certain cards have blown up, either omit them or move on from the “past prices” and pay them if its a card I really want to own again for my binder.
Appreciate any insight and help as I start to navigate and build this binder back up on what can only be a much better 2026 vs 2025
In my experience artist binders and other thematic binders have a great price to satisfaction ratio. Maybe go through your wants list and try to find a theme? i.e. A pokedex of 151 kanto full arts; all water themed full arts
I’d take it slow, collecting is about the journey after all. Hunt for deals and don’t focus too much on the end result. Who knows, some of the cards might retrace in the next year or two.
The nostalgia of lower prices is definitely hard to move past. In addition to the advice above, I’d keep a passive eye out on Facebook marketplace or eBay– you might be able to find good binder copies with “worn” backs. They might be not worth to grade, but you can find a occasional rare listing where you can get a good discount on an expensive chase.
As a general rule, Japanese is usually cheaper. So if you are open to it, I’d think about weighing the balance between price vs. aesthetics if you were mainly an English-language collector before. Unfortunately, that many cards may not be attainable easily without some compromises.
I agree with the others, who already provided plenty of good advice.
I think we’re in a similar situation, since I still miss a lot of cards for my binders and the hobby isn’t as affordable as it was before.
The solution for me was to compromise: for ex-era I switched from full sets to collecting only my favorite 9 holos + 27 non holo cards. Like eevee said, by being selective you actually gain in binder cohesion and end up flipping through pages you truly like.
When it comes to aquapolis and skyridge (two very expensive sets), I avoid buying the holos which are available as cheaper normal versions.
Then, if a card you really want has boomed during 2025, I suggest waiting and being patient: there is a good chance that many will retrace after the 30th anniversary. It’s not guaranteed but I think that could be true especially for mid grades (PSA 6-8) of set cards.
If nothing works there’s always Japanese..
I’ve no issues sharing of course but the “big hitters for me” that price memory is really killing me would be the 2014 Battle Festa 090 XY-P, Flareon Gold Star in Japanese, 203 XY-P (Poncho wearing Pikachu with Lucario & Slowpoke & Audino) and some of the S&M Alt Arts to name a few of the bigger ticket items.
@eeveeteam theres no way I could go sub 100, I’m a genwunner at heart and a lover of art so getting well below 300 will be an achievement in itself for me
But appreciate all the replies so far on how to approach building this binder as Im a sucker for haste when trying to achieve collection goals
Sorry to hear that you’ve had a terrible year, and that you’ve had to part with most of your collection.
Not sure of your specific list, but there are many beautiful, cheap full Art Rares in Modern Sets, particularly in foreign languages (if English is too expensive). So keep your list of 500 cards, and slowly work towards them. You don’t have to buy it all this week.
Past prices are exactly that. In the past. Not much we can do about it!
Best of luck in your search, and i’m looking forward to your new binder collection in the future
Feel sorry to hear some-one has had a bad year, mind you it happens at least once to everybody. Keep smiling mate, and remember any day you can wake up and complain is a good day. Enjoy the gathering/ collection, its an eternal question how to go about something like that. The only answer is of course the eternal platitude… what ever fits in the grove for you.
As someone who’s collection goals as of today would cost beaucoup dollars, I recommend not thinking about it as your goal in it’s entirety. Are there three cards you can start with, and focus on those? Then onto the next three.
At the end of you day you need to determine if any given cards current value is worth the price for you to own it. There have been some cards I’ve wanted that have increased in value past what I’d be willing to pay for it. There are some cards that have increased a ton but I like those cards enough to still go after them.
For example, I bought this card for 20 but sold for 600 as I value 600 much more than owning this card
This card I had in my ebay watch list since it was about 600 bucks up to about 6000 bucks. I ended up getting it around 6000 bucks because I wanted this card enough to get it for that price.
Every single person in the hobby long enough has seen cards raise astronomically in price. You simply need to adapt. I’d kill to have the same card prices as when I entered the hobby but thats just not a reality.
I get this 100% and that’s my stumbling block I need to overcome. Thankfully what I am after is not that much of a jump in comparison to that Mario Pikachu one.
Your advise amongst the rest has made me realise what I already knew but was looking at the end goal as a big unachievable task whereas taking it step by step and slowly (a mere 254 cards to go) is the way to look at collecting goals.
Plus how have ya been? @wooltchi Do you still have that Ruby & Sapphire blister we traded for all the way back in 2021?
In addition to the advice above, I’d keep a passive eye out on Facebook marketplace or eBay– you might be able to find good binder copies with “worn” backs. They might be not worth to grade, but you can find a occasional rare listing where you can get a good discount on an expensive chase.
