Man, does everyone around here own a Illustrator or what?
The number of singles in my collection that are worth more than $500 per themselves are pretty much exclusive to graded Charizards, Topps Sparkle-Chrome Pikachu graded, and raw shadowless 'Zard. I have entire first edition sets WoTC sets, mostly ungraded, but very few of singles seem to break that point.
Greater than $500 graded singles represent maybe .05% of my collection. But I guess some of you guys have like eight cards, two of which are Illustrators, and the other six are Moonbreons.
It’s interesting that GameStop is going the way of graded cards. I’m wondering what rate they will buy cards at seeing how they were not willing to pay a whole lot for games (probably some exceptions here).
Also, I wonder how competitively priced their cards will be, as well as where they will get their pricing data from.
Also, I wonder how competitively priced their cards will be, as well as where they will get their pricing data from.
I’ve had similar thoughts. I also think it’s time someone did a better job a compiling pricing data. We all use some crude verison of TCGplayer, eBay last sold/completed, and PriceCharting to achieve what one really good source should be providing.
This is also a ploy to increase foot traffic. GameStop needs a reason for people to come to their stores. e4 members are not their target audience. The wider Pokemon audience is going to be very happy to buy cards from their local GameStop while their parents pick up groceries from the store nearby.
Username does not check out . Still sounds like your cards are better values than mine, which mostly qualify as junk slabs on this forum
@dyl, thats a really good viewpoint on why doing this would be important to them. It would absolutely be a place to swing by and check in person for a decent slab.
Just a few years ago, junk slabs were considered anything under $50. But then those cards ballooned to 100s of dollars…suddenly they’re not junk anymore. If junk slabs are anything under $500, then damn, 99% of collectors only collect junk.
Y’all are missing the bigger picture…if GameStop is only accepting/selling cards under $500, what happens when some of those cards appreciate over $500? Will GameStop adjust the price over $500? Will they pull the card off the sales floor? If you all really have such poor confidence in GameStop employees’ TCG market tracking skills (which I don’t see why you wouldn’t), then this system seems like a decent avenue for some deals.
This could all disappear if the GameStop employees are told to check market price before selling you the card, though. Using an online marketplace as price points for in-store sales is what most LGS’ do. Seems like the easiest solution on the business side for GameStop.
Username does not check out . Still sounds like your cards are better values than mine, which mostly qualify as junk slabs on this forum
Haha, the name is me fervently projecting my future Pokemon worth.
In all seriousness though, 95% the value of my collection is in my vintage sealed.
Shoutout to my father for this one. Among many wins, the best was buying two 1st Ed. Base set packs circa 2000, which were like $25-$50 at the time. Which felt expensive because I think we were order boxes direct from WoTC for like $80-$120 a box. One of the packs is definitely heavy, and the other could go either way.
I’m going to wait for one of those YouTubers to beg to buy from me here in a few years when it all dries up.
But back to GameStop and their new slab game. I think on a larger macro-level this is a great move for the card scene. Not to be an elitist, but there’s only so many quality collectables that even comes close to sport and TCG cards. Giving cards the platform they deserve as a collectible is what the world wants, and it seems companies like eBay and GameStop are eager to tap into that market.
Cheers to all of our junk slabs becoming mid slabs.
this is great, gamestop can barely keep up with the value of video games which is their main thing so prolly plenty of inefficiencies abound. been out of the gamestop game for like 7-8 years might get back in with this who knows.
I think itd be cool to see how extensive this gets. A single tray of mostly modern bulk for a $1 doesnt excite me, but theres a lot of potential if this sort of thing gets expanded upon. I just hope that there is real thought and care put in. I have a hard time believing that Gamestop will be a premier place to buy/sell cards, but never say never
I havent heard many stories of how great it is to work for one…
Realistically with gamestops reputation of lowballing customers for trade ins, it’s hard to see this being a great choice over eBay and card shows. I can see this being beneficial for a lot of modern junk slabs. The 40-50 dollar range. I can also see this as GameStop taking a huge influx of slabs people are trying to offload from the grade everything phase and having a hard time getting ride of them.
I was thinking this too. Each store would have a different selection of slabs too, which might encourage you to frequent Gamestops more often and drop by one if you’re in a different part of town.
It’s an interesting move, but I think the potential illiquidity of many of their slabs and pricing determination will be major issues.
Went to my one local GameStop for luls today and behold! Look at all those tasty Pringles. This was everything offered so far. No ultra rares yet, just holos/reverse foils.
