It’s a guy asking if anyone would pay for themed Pokémon card displays.
Everyone said:
- it looks AI-written
- the product is vague
- binders already do this
- people are tired of monetizing basic collecting
Consensus: negative.
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Goat
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It’s someone pitching a business for themed Pokémon card display products.
Thread reaction:
- looks AI-written
- nobody really knows what the product is
- binders already solve this
- people don’t want every part of collecting monetized
Consensus: very negative.
Goat, indeed.
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My intention is to not make millions or even hundreds of thousands. I love the TCG and the art on everything except a few cards. Yes, it involves being a middleman, and that middleman would build a piece that includes the original owner’s name. I am not trying to take away anything from anyone, just do it differently. If it’s not a go idea, I am 100% fine with not doing it. I just see on whatnot and other platforms that people are trying to sell at way overpriced prices. Lastly, it was my idea; I used GPT to help with getting my thoughts down. As I see now a big mistake and I won’t do that again. I have had the concept built and prototyped on paper. Would that help in my vision. So what would be something different?
This isn’t as humble as you may think it sounds.
Plus never base anything at all of what you see on whatnot. It’s a different world
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Etsy maybe?
Your best bet would be prototyping the actual product to get a more clear viewpoint across, but given the context of what you wrote on here, I don’t see much of a need or desire for the specific service you are looking to provide from others. Then again, some on here do have an appreciating for the grading card market, so you may be able to find your niche if that’s the market you are looking to capture, but again, an actual product would be far better to present than just a standard generalized idea for feedback purposes. Plus if you are looking for feedback you have to consider how well your pitch will be received by your audience. You’re talking to collectors who value their collection as much as the energy/time/money spent in obtaining said collection. I don’t have much of an issue with getting ai to compose your thoughts in a coherent manner, but you should always review and shorten to ensure it’s digestible to the one reading the proposal and the value you are looking to provide is hazy at best. I suggest you answer your own questions that you have at the end of your summary there first. Just my opinion. Take it on board if you would like.
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Please understand that if you’re making a business proposal or putting out feelers for a concept, most people are not even going to give you the time of day if they have no idea who you are.
Whilst E4 is quite a welcoming and encouraging community when AI isn’t used, people here still lead busy lives. Most are not sitting down to read something of that length.
However, if Fourthstar, Scott, pfm, Quuador, or others who have been around the block were to make this sort of post, the reception would be different by virtue of them holding social credit here-- they’re trusted within the space.
Although I shouldn’t speak for everyone, I’d say it’s fair that most have grown jaded with the monetary discussion and business side of the hobby.
If it’s something you’re genuinely passionate about, I’d suggest building a presence for easier recognition, refining the concept and what its intended purpose would be (as this seemed unclear to me), and developing a presentation deck to concisely convey your points. The OP just reads like slop and hurts the brain to even attempt reading.
I understand the irony as this is a lengthy reply, but it’s a sincere response to what you’re saying is sincere intent.
Best of luck
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If youre not in it to make millions the business idea prolly sucks tbh.
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People have this idea in their head that, to start a business, you have to take out a million dollar loan and start this multi-site, multi-millions dollar operation from scratch. You don’t. Start incredibly small.
Make some of these displays for your friends first, maybe family, maybe even yourself. Post them in the E4 arts and crafts section. do not shill please I’m begging you do not shill your product
Then, when you feel comfortable with it, make some of these displays for more popular cards and see if any vendors will take them and sell them at their table.
Then, start an Etsy store and sell “custom card displays”.
Then that’ll prolly grow a little and you can figure it out from there.
You’re wasting your time figuring out and thinking about if something is going to work or not when that time would be much better spent doing the thing you want to do. Posting on here will only get you attention for a product that you’ve done literally nothing with, when that same desire for attention would be better suited at the end when you’ve already completed the idea. And we will be more than happy to give that to you when you’ve earned it.
If you start small it’s hard to fail.
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I first want to thank you for the feedback. Yes I agree that at this point it’s more about shutting up and just doing what I say I want to do. I also understand that it won’t be for everyone as we all have our own ways of doing things and seeing someone take what we love to just earn money hurts the TCG. I will move to the concept phase. As I once heard in life " most ideas never leave the paper."
1 Like
Thank you, I agree a presence is needed because I know it looks like I just want to do it for money. Once again I don’t care about the money I just want to do something different and build a brand of honesty and transparency. I do take all advice because it’s good to have opinions from a lot of people. Negative or positive it’s all worth it.
Thank you, that is one of the places I think would be best for this type of adventure.
Thank you at this point you are right. I will just do it and make revisions as I go along. This is a passion and I am determined.
“Hello, there! Have I got a deal just for you! I’ll let you have a swell Magikarp for just $500! What do you say?
No? I’m only doing this as a favor to you!”
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Core issue
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Yeah — that’s the core issue, more than the product mechanics.
People might forgive:
- unclear pitch
- rough prototype stage
- awkward wording
They’re much less forgiving of:
- trying to commercialize sentiment
- inserting a paid middleman into something collectors already enjoy doing themselves
- presenting it in a way that sounds like “I care about meaning” while still selling packaging
So “binders already exist” was the practical objection, but “core issue” = commodifying personal collecting experience was the philosophical one.
A cleaner way to say it, if needed:
The main objection wasn’t just that the idea was vague — it’s that many people here dislike turning the personal, sentimental side of collecting into a product.
Concise enough for the tribunal, I think.
1 Like
I usually assume the positive. It’s my greatest trait, but it does waste my time sometimes. Still, Assuming positivity, I’d ask you one simple question:
"What does the thing you are proposing, do differently than binders, or slab cases on the wall/desk?
The whole long shpeel really just needs one thing to make it stand out as unique, but it ain’t there. Were you to pitch this to me, I’d have the same response as most others here.
As someone starting a business now, I’d recomend this:
The benefit to starting small as I’ve learned VERY well, is that you can typically learn from your mistakes gradually, without risking everything.
I like the motivation behind your idea, but this sounds like a luxury service, more than a collectible good.
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Yes the main idea is that your piece is on a national registry that’s tracked and has a QR code attached to it. Everything from where it came from to how it came into the hands of the company is tracked. Let’s say you sale your collection to us. Instead of piecing it out its all together with your name as the original owner. If you ever have been to a museum how they curator items is the same. Values are assigned by the cost of the piece together(plaques, certificates, cards, cases etc). So if the total comes to 20 dollars completed. It’s 25 dollar(hypothetical), the value is not in just the cards it’s the story. It’s the why for me. Why did I choose common cards over SIRs? I know it’s not for everyone ( trust me I know). It’s about the journey to and the wanting to share my passion. An idea less traveled. My apologies for the long reply.
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I do think there’s always room for cool ways to display cards and collections, and I think your focus on the stories / provenance could be an interesting angle for some.
Some honest feedback though - I’m still not sure if you’re trying to sell custom displays (in which case, neat, go for it and check out https://vhett.com/ - I don’t own any of their displays, but I like what they do and they do a nice job of showcasing the history / significance of cards imo), or if you’re trying to sell a middleman grading service / another layer of certs & layer of tracking and records that probably seems unneeded to a lot of ppl. The latter is the vibe that was given off and I think is what turned a lot of users off on this.
I hope you continue to focus on the display side of things of your idea though - always great to see new interesting ways to display collections imo. Best of luck!
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