ITT: Members of a Pokemon card collecting forum attempt to correct the conceptual flaws of the free-market economy system.
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What is with people on this forum using total ridiculous comparisons.
Your example of a car salesman is both irrelevant and comical.
To say you shouldn’t have to fork out money from your own pocket to fund your collection is also ridiculous. What planet do you live on?
It’s comical because it actually makes sense as to how ridiculous your claim is that people shouldn’t be allowed to fund their own collection from money they make solely from selling cards for profit lmao. Why should I have to fork out money from elsewhere to fund my own collection? Why in the world can’t I fund my collection only from profits I make from selling cards? That actually does not make sense in the slightest. The money I make from selling cards is coming from my own pocket actually. Thanks though.
I also majorly disagree here. The goal of anyone with financial sense should be to put as little money into a venture as possible and get the maximum financial or beneficial outcome. Why spend your own money when you don’t have to? When you gamble you want to gamble with the house’s money not yours. When your trying to increase your stock portfolio you want to reinvest the dividends you earn or reinvest the profits from other sales. Pumping fresh money into something is not a ideal tactic by any means. Calling buyers ignorant because they bought something from you for more than you paid makes no sense.
This is getting a bit off topic though…
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Where have I made that claim? Can you even read?
Seriously, what you’re saying is laughable because you aren’t even taking the time to digest what I’m saying.
People are catching onto card values, grading is far more common now. Flippers are losing because of this general education process.
I understand that to some degree, flippers are essential to the secondary market, but if they stop making ludicrous profits, so be it. Doesn’t hurt me =)
If this isn’t a hobby for you; congrats.
If it makes you all giddy inside because you bought low and sold high; congrats.
Why are we comparing Pokemon to a stock portfolio… This is hilarious.
Here i’ll even bold and underline where you stated that one’s personal collection & progression of it NEEDS to come from their personal pocket. Don’t ask me if I can read if you don’t know how to word a sentence properly or use the appropriate words to convey what you’re trying to say.
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I think a lot of people here would agree pokemon cards are a financial asset. Their value rises and falls based on market perception. Valuations may not be based on any sort of business earnings and you certainly can’t short sell pokemon cards. But I think the comparison is an excellent one.
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If you think that the Pokémon card market is comparable to the stock market I would suggest you have a lot to learn. But good luck.
Sorry your flipping is currently working out for you 
Why can’t you read between the lines. Of course it needs to come from your own wallet
Whether that wallet is lined by your ability to sell (which apparently is becoming impossible according to the OP) or that money comes from other sources like income from a job; your collection has to be funded by YOU.
Complaining that others are now less ignorant of the true value of their cards is truly childish. Cry me a river.
There seems to be two competing ideologies here…
Just as @smpratte said you have to adapt with the changes in order to move forward. Fairness doesn’t have a price and isn’t something you can work to obtain. Blaming a lack of proactivity or a missed opportunity on the “unfairness” of a circumstance only serves to set you back from attaining your goals. They’re just excuses. Take it with a grain of salt, learn from it and move on…
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Lmao you’ve changed your point so many times now. Obviously people have to pay for their own collection, how else are they going to get it just go house to house robbing them from everyone? That wasn’t the point at all. I’m just going to save my breath on this one.
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Actually, this isn’t as cut and dried as everyone thinks. There has to be a balance.
The op mentioned it’s getting harder to turn a buck. Simply put, it’s because MANY were doing it before you. Then you cut in on their action and now others are trying to do the same. There’s demand and many are trying to fill it.
Also, there’s nothing that oz has said that can’t be backed up. In fact, I agree with him and his premise.
If you want to help make the hobby healthier, there’s dozens of ways. If you simply want make money and/or build your personal collection there’s only a couple ways.
I’ve always tried to do both and have ended up accomplishing both…at least I hope so;)
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I would argue that the principles behind the card market and the stock market are actually very similar if not identical. It’s all based on supply and demand and perceived value. Why have both the stock price of Amazon and the price of a 1st Ed Base Charizard increased in the past 5 years? Because sellers are reluctant to sell and buyers are eager to buy.
What if suddenly the number of shares of a company were to quadruple? The value of each individual share with go down. What if I were to flood the market with hundreds of gold star Entei, Suicune and Raikou?
I’m sure you could point out many differences between stocks and cards, but in principle I think it’s an apt comparison.
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I think a good way to summarize this frustration is the tourist paradox: An American travels to Europe and complains about too many tourists.
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Good, save your breath then 
It’s really simple. OP is complaining the ability to capitalise in the buy low sell high is diminishing.
I’ve stated that you need to be prepared to progress towards your goals through alternative means, heaven forbid that be through putting in money from other sources.
My point has not once changed.
I heard it said this way some years ago
“I’m not stuck in traffic, I am the traffic”
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Oh man, I laughed so hard at this.
Let’s look at just a fraction of the reason that comparing the stock market to Pokémon cards is a bad idea.
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For a lot stocks, there is never a supply problem, the demand is driven by performance of the stock; if there is high demand, the supply increases as does the price, if the demand is low the price decreases. The supply and demand problem is far different in Pokémon because there are finite amounts of the item. The market can’t actively increase the amount of the item with Pokémon (with few exceptions being currently printed items which we all know are horrible “investments”).
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People don’t buy stock because they like the artwork. They buy because of calculated risk. Whilst that does happen in Pokemon, there’s usually no emotional connection with a stock that causes an increase in demand. The rise and fall of values in the stock market aren’t really revolving around supply and demand but rather performance (not sure I’ve worded this part as best I can).
It’s a completely different form of investment, totally non comparable to Pokemon. I understand why people make this confusion, but it doesn’t make them comparable.
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My personal opion is that people don’t realize that a lot of the people that are capible of supporting their collections on resale had to have a loss in the beginning (unless they started in retail or had their parents pay for their cards). I know the first year I got back into collecting I lost money. It didn’t bother me because I didn’t get into collecting to sell, I got into it because I’ve always been a Pokemon fan. I was leaving the competitive gaming side to join the card collecting side.
After buying up a bunch of cards and having a collection I decided to refocus my collecting goals and started selling off extra cards, I also knew the market prices and was able to secure up any deals that I knew were underpriced. Over time I accumulated a lot of cards that allowed me to sell for profit.
Compaire that to todays market and that opportunity still exists, the maket is increasing much faster and higher now then it did when I started. I think a lot of people are looking at reselling as an easy flip game, but it’s not. The stock market comparison is perfect in that both pokemon resale and stocks are hard to do in the short term, but very possible in the long term.
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This runs back to my post in everything else. Are people in it for money or fun.
I’ve seen nothing but hateful comments from one another in this thread bashing ideologies and viewpoints.
The market is growing bigger than ever, it’s great, but with all positives come a myriad of negatives too.
There’s something I want to introduce in today’s lesson: Capitalism.
There was a great video but I can’t find it right now. It had to do with that whole avocado toast, millennial ordeal that happened a few months ago. Essentially, growth is good, but as @millhouse @milhouse (can’t remember your spelling on mobile) suggested, growth is bad too.
Take me for instance. I am finally at a point in my life where I can start purchasing big ticket cards. First on my bucket list is the No. 3 Pikachu. For years it was a few grand, and there were many floating around. Now they are locked up in collections, tighter than skinny jeans.
The price I was used to years ago is long gone. Time and availability are everything. I can’t simply drop $10k like other people here, I need to budget and hold on until I find something a bit more attainable. This is where capitalism comes into play.
People who started out years ago with the income I have now or even a bit more, are bathing in the fact that their collections are worth multitudes higher than back then. Take Gary for instance. With 20% of the graded base Charizard population, he definitely didn’t spend nearly the amount that some new collectors would need to, to get to the same spot. I’m not saying it’s unfair, because it is life in a capitalistic society. Gary started collecting earlier, with more available funds than say,me. Because back when base was out, I was a young kid who needed to wash cars or sell lemonade or something to make money to buy a single pack of cards… Only to get big kids to take advantage of me on the playground for not knowing what Pokemon cards were valuable. Even my brothers used to abuse their knowledge to trade their crap for my good stuff. Lol
The market is tightening as more and more people are entering, with bigger pockets trying to take a piece of the pie that has been left out on the table far too long. Now they need to pay a bit more, for a piece that used to be cheaper back in the day.
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