Hi Guys,
I have purchased a few signed cards in the past and I know there was an event recently that Mitsuhiro Arita signed a bunch of cards! (on a side note these events are great for the collector like us but really upsetting to see flippers going getting a bunch of cards signed just to make money off them later! saw this recently and really annoyed me)
I was wondering where do people find out about these signing events? and is their any other way of getting the artists to sign your cards!
Iām sure ive heard in the past they cant just sign cards with out pokemon giving them the go ahead due to contracts is that really true!?Any info about signed cards even post some pics of your signed cards would be cool 
Cheers,Owen
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Mate!
Iāve signed all the cards youāve sent me.
Iām positive PSA will verify their legitimacy =p
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Living in Japan, and being here, itās still tough to get signaturesā¦
If your overseas only way would be to wait for the artists to travel abroad at events. Which is unlikely.
- Pokemon tournaments or some official Pokemon events in Japan, sometimes artist will come out contractually to sign for a few hours. It is generally limited to 50-100 signings at the event only.
And you have to line up maybe 6 hours in one day to get a spot. Also remember the 3-4 hour trek to the event from 4 am to get there early.
Sometimes when they open a new Pokemon center or release new tcgs, they do alot of promo events. And you can line up there. Even for Pokemon go, or movies, or toys. Or whatever. Just have to be lucky at the events.
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Is anime and manga events outside of Japan. Might be lucky to have someone famous like arita agree to sign hundreds of cards in mass for people.
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You canāt harrass or visit artists personally. They generally are not allowed to sign or donāt allow it.
A good friend of mine came to Japanā¦ went to Ken sugimoris officeā¦ Waited for him, and then got rejected. The security called Ken up, and he told him he is too busy and wonāt sign.
Even though they travelled all the way for eu.
- Bid / win / buy when they come up on eBay or Yahooā¦ thatās your best betā¦ a signature to Japanese is generally something nostalgic or precious which they donāt want to sell.
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I always wondered about this. Thank you for explaining!
-Matthew
I stole this from Smpratte , its not the prettiest card but I needed it for my Team Rocket Collection, hard to findā¦ :
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Worlds Competitors (like around 1/3rd of them) receive randomly a ticket/armband at Worlds in their competitorās giftbag to meet with sometimes one or a couple of Pokemon TCG illustrators. Most of the players donāt know better, but they are allowed to ask to have cards signed during that time. If you go to worlds - you could probably buy one of those armbands/tickets off a player on the Virbank City Mart - just post/ask on Thursday (When people receive their swagbags) that you are buying such an armband/ticket
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Worlds is true, but packed. Iāve never experienced a signing line with less than a 2 hour wait. At that point itās better to buy an item already signed.
Arita did less signings this year. I wouldnāt be surprised if he slowed down significantly. I know some event coordinators mentioned how he didnāt enjoy it as much, most likely due to the second hand sales.
Either way, check the artists social media or websites. They typically mention their upcoming appearances. Outside of that, buying them already signed is probably the easiest, especially for people who live in a region artists will never appear.
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Yes, and I can take the OP outtake. I would rather have them signed in person myself, sometimes its just not an option or plausible. It is sad and I can understand Aritaās point, the fact of second hand sales then really appreciating his work. āMaterial girl in a material worldā naw jp but it would have been nice to just meet and talk with him, the signing is just a bonus.
. Thatās awesome man I got mine a couple years ago and I love it. Especially his auto in Japanese
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Thats awesome! I didnt realize he doesnt come in the Japanese set, guess I have to get it from Neo 
As soon as contractually viable, Arita will offer a sig service through his website. Believe me. He appreciates money. Itās just the travel and hassle involved in doing the signings and the low pay (especially considering what he sees his autos go for on the secondary market).
Do you question this? How would you do this if you were Arita?
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Iāve always been surprised to see him charge so little. Random celebs at Comic-Con charge $100-200 which I think is absolutely ridiculous, but Iāve heard Arita charges around $10? That canāt be real.
To clarify, I think what your asking is that what I meant plausible is its hard to make it to a signing. If he is willing to do it online, thats great. My impression from what Scott I interpreted Scott said was that Arita was disappointed in people flipping his signed cards. I could of misinterpreted it. I am unsure if I was Arita, probably if I was as talented as him.
I think heās done something similar in the past but the simplest solution is this:
Personalized signature, e.g. āTo Gary, Mitsuhiro Aritaā: $10
Nonpersonalized signature, e.g. just āMitsuhiro Aritaā: $75
This is the best of both worlds IMO, people can get their cards signed by a great artist at a low price, but it cuts down on the secondary market significantly. A personalized signature is only valuable to the person who itās made out to.
If you want to do the flipping market then you can, but your margins are lower. The remedy to Arita seeing the high prices on the secondary market is easy, increase your signing fee. I can understand the frustration with seeing people flip these signature cards immediately, but flipping is a reality in this hobby no matter how much we dislike it and signers should be aware of this and take the appropriate countermeasures.
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Hmmmā¦I like this:)