How the heck are some of you buying pokemon cards right now? 2023

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Are you guys finding deals on ‘vintage’? I haven’t seen much price drop - cards seem to be overall more expensive then prior to 2020, seems to be trending upward.

I have been buying a mix of stuff - vintage/modern, some very nice artwork in the newer cards. It’s only a matter of time before those are vintage, 1-2 years so be careful not to have celery hands and miss a piece of collection. The other day, I was looking for my luigi pikachu 10, and I had already sold it before, terrible.

How are some people are able to upkeep and buy some ultra modern like 151 and scarlet violet in boxes when it’s all sold out or very expensive above msrp

I haven’t seen a noticeable change from '21 to '23, some cards went down, some went up. Most cards I want seem to be difficult to obtain or pricy, even the modern cards I thought would go down, ie. alt vmax Umbreon is still over $800 psa 10

I’m curious how others are able to upkeep their poke purchases (like people who own 151), I had to take a longer break from purchasing before getting back into it and now it’s like bordering too expensive or limited availability. It’s like the true collectors aren’t even able to get the cards they want, and some jerks are buying them up. I have a feeling a lot of you guys are pretending don’t buy all the time, and just happen to have a 151 box or opened some already, while claiming to buy vintage. Hmm.

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Totally, everyone talks about buying nostalgia here but when i think about being ten with my binder i remember my mum buying a deck and two base set packs that were non holo. I loved those cards. They were the best! I do not have nostalgia for consumption and buying but i do have nostalgia for looking and learning. Looking at my friends binders, the one kid who had a charizard, the feeling of looking through the becket price guides. That’s why i like pokemon cards. Has nothing to do with buying stuff but it has a whole lot to do with feel.

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A lot happened on the JP side even in the last several months so prices for some cards from much older timelines are just more difficult to return to, if ever possible

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My budget allows me to buy shiny cardboard. Either that or good bourbon, but who wants to waste money on something that lasts only a few moments. As @mossdeep once said,

:wink:

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Not sure if you are saying something macro happened - the 30k lillie? Yeah guess the there are still ballers buying ridiculous stuff so fret not. I’m just wondering why 151 is so god damn expensive and who’s buying this stuff, let alone recent historic milestone sales

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Where are they getting this money and how did they get them

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Wait, @dblast! Do you mean, what method of buying cards am I using?
Presently, I prefer to break my soul into pieces and sell that on ebay. As long as It’s not an entire soul or a graded soul, it doesn’t need to go through ebay authenticity.

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The UKs low wage high profit economy is also unsustainable.
People are frustrated.
Many people I know in high paying, high skilled roles have left the country also.
And to top it all off, cards are more expensive here so we can’t even get that sweet, sweet holofoil relief as much :laughing:

Also people with more disposable income, people who already own cards to trade/sell, people getting deals as people want money due to circumstances.

For me personally I’ve just got spare money directly budgeted for me to spend on whatever hobby I want, specifically. Without this allocation my savings/budget falls to pieces so I must have it.

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Are you waiting with buying Vintage cards for prices to go back to pre 2020?
Good luck…

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@xileets yes I want to know how people are acquiring these newer art cards/sealed modern at msrp as prices seem to be double and people are still acquiring them. How why

So it sounds like a lot of people are selling their older cards, to either support their lives or most likely buying modern cards at good prices, some psa 10 charizards are like $50-100 and selling their psa 9’s and 10s to get newer arts.

@neutral It seems like people’s overall budget for pokemon is increasing, as modern released products can’t stay on the shelves and people are having so much fun enjoying the 151 or waiting for their orders whereas I’m wondering how they are finding these deals or they just have the money to buy things 2x the market price, given the demand. Is that the general consensus- seems like it. There are some dads pretending to buy cards/boosters for their kids, when the kids can’t even walk. Don’t underestimate the values of Pokemon, right? lol.

I keep hearing pokemon card prices are going down, I come back after a brief year hiatus and it’s still more expensive then when I re-joined the hobby. It seems difficult to acquire wotc cards as they are still desirable 153 original pokemon, and modern 151 release is oos unless 2x price… crazy.

Apparently the alt arts are killing it and there’s so much options. Interesting to see alt umbreon commanding such a price, above the sv49 charizard.

Is there a fear that there are less higher tier buyers and the current collectors are more budget conscientious and buying for value? No, the opposite is happening as current market trend of typical consumers buying Pokemon at higher than market values, ie. 151

Maybe it’s the wotc collectors that are holding off and waiting for prices to drop further and the newage buyers are willing to pay more for their cards. ? (Team Modern here)

I would say I helped modern pokemon cards develop in my time in hobby, but now they’re so damn expensive. Perhaps I will give more support to WOTC if they really need the help.

Exciting times, even during a ‘downturn’ (whereas modern cards are hitting some nice milestones).

Still not sure who is buying all these 151’s and how they have such disposable income while UK is having some rough rough times from recent posters.

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I guess the reality is different and depends where you are. Compared to 2022 and even 2021, base price of basic goods like milk, bread and eggs have increased on the ranges of 12-25%. My salary on the other hand increased by 3%.

Due to the war, fuel prices have been extremely impacted in EU which then cascades into other sectors since everyone is paying high for fuel. I was paying 4x my usual amount in 2022 for gas and electricity compared to 2021. The government cap rates only got introduced beginning of this year thankfully. Mortgage interest rates have gone up from 1-1.5% to close to 4.5% making it extremely hard to get houses.

However, I am still fortunate to have a nice job and I am still in the middle class cap. This just seems like a first world rant and there are people having way worse than myself. But I will be lying of I say that I don’t feel the pinch of the cost of living gone up. I am more conscious of my spending which also means discretionary income.

Welcome back @dblast . We haven’t interacted much on the previous forum site but I have heard a lot about you. To answer the question, I strictly stick to my collection goals and don’t deviate. I have also started to sell and trade to further my collection goals. I have started participating / contributing a lot more on the new E4 to stay engaged in the hobby and honestly it has been the better parts of the hobby for me in the past year.

Cheers!

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For modern I think availability is pretty solid, I can get most bb no problem but some singles will be very expensive, yes.

You’ve just got to pick and choose your goals and items and remember you don’t need to constantly spend, if your goal is a very expensive chase card then keep your eye on prices and the goal and slowly move towards it.

It can be disheartening, I had a shining Charizard and shining magikarp back in the day and will have to rebuy them as they vanished at some point (likely stolen by childhood “friends” ).

They’re now very expensive but as I slowly make my way filling cards up in previous sets I know they’re something to look forward to purchasing and owning.

It’s not just cards, everything is so expensive and wages just aren’t keeping up.

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Doesn’t help that companies are price gouging. Corporate profits are the main cause of inflation.

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Main reason I’ve been able to continue buying is WFH and other flexibility in costs savings over the past few years. I’ve also gotten smarter at using leverage/credit to pay things off more efficiently. I’ve also scaled back on other expenses where I can.

The nice thing is, the Pokemon market for the most part has declined. A lot of great cards are at a much better discount now compared to 2020/2021.

Last but not least, I’ve focused much more on raw/NM cards instead of PSA 10 slabs. This has saved me a ton and allowed me to build my collection much faster. I have nothing against slabs as I own many 10s and other high grades, but sometimes I’ve found it better to just settle for a NM copy for cards I like to save money and still enjoy my collection.

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@mrbubblesstar I appreciate the hello, as well as others that have welcomed me back.

…Quite interesting how the middle class is pretending to be devastated by the economy, when there is a tad more consideration to be budgeted and they’re secretly buying up all the 151 at good prices, whereas I’m wondering how they found these good deals before the price bumps. middle men I imagine… All this noise about wars and can’t buy milk, and ya’ll buying up all the modern pokemon cards, drinking water, and smiling and talking about 4.5% interest rates. Dude, I’m just trying to buy some pokemon cards at good prices.

@jabby There is something very satisfying in having a nice set of plastic, whether it be psa 7, 8, 9 o.O, 10+ O.O’

I’m not sure if it’s the Pokemon companies that are the poor actors but there is indeed a lot of pretentious poor acting , actual buying pokemon folks spending hundreds of dollars on pokemon cards a MONTH and now they’re overlooking how the general public is paying in masses 2x msrp. That’s like $100 xtra

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as time goes on in a collectors life they (hopefully) become better at navigating the basics: when to buy, when to sell, and when to do nothing. that, along with things like professional development (and more income) and reducing debt all make it easy to stay in the game

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I’m just slowly filling Lost Origin master set (and completely ignoring new Scarlet/Violet sets but i might try them when Obsidian Flames gets released). Buying few cards from time to time (i already finished all regular cards and their reverse holos and need to get the “big” ones…). That “lost origin prices getting low” made me happy because i still didnt’ buy that Giratina card and never pulled it from packs…

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I’m just buying the odd piece of sealed Japanese product here and there when I get it for retail price or in a lottery. Keeps the collection ticking over until I have more funds for more specific stuff I want.

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E4 just hasn’t been the same without these top tier posts!

To be 100% transparent with you… we get all the lowest prices from a super secret middleman service based in Bermuda. To unlock access to it you have to have 10,000 posts on E4, a Pokémon Master Knighthood from smpratte, and give pfm a foot massage once a week.

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Depending on what you buy, this hobby is still relatively affordable. While the waifu’s are pumping I’ve been picking up beautiful art rares for a buck or 2 each,

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