You have to start your collection all over again in today’s market. How would you do it? What would you change? Would you even bother?
Asking because i’m a new collector. 
Sorry if this is a copy of past threads but i couldn’t find any.
3 Likes
When you say start again, do you mean sell everything at its current market then use that money to buy from scratch?
If so theres plenty I would change ha! I would consolidate alot and buy from my wants list as when I started i wasnt fully int he know.I just bought as a collector with no focus or goal…it was a great feeling collecting again after so long.However when I slowed down, used this forum and looked into the market more I decided it was best to focus and be more specific in what i wanted from the hobby. I have sooo many cards now, I dont need them or want them…so if i was to sell everything I would buy from my wants list and with my current limited knowledge over the past year or so I would have a more specific focus on cards that are dear to me with nostalgic value, hard to get/special cards and ones have future value such as wotc + other english cards I know are a great addition and investment to any collection,and japanese promos + sub sets I love… but who can sit in my collection and be appreciated for years to come.
I would also use a large chunk of that money to grade a bunch of cards Id like to send off but havent got the spare money to do so
Honestly, the market is more desirable now then when I started. Only recently do we see huge potential in the cards. If you would have told me that the cards I was after would be five figure cards when I started I would have though it would have been in 2030 at the earliest (besides the illustrator).
As for what I would collect I don’t think it would change. I’ve always been a fan of the original series, so I still wouldn’t have much interest in the newer cards; I would want enough cards to enjoy but not a hoard of cards, so I would spot collect sets (only 1st edition, no unlimited); I would still love non TCG cards, so I would want Topsun/Bandai cards; and I would still want trophy cards, although I would think that goal would be a bit more unachievable.
1 Like
I wouldn’t have spent my money on packs. I would rather buy the cards that I want individually. Right now I have a lot of EX cards that I don’t really want and I regret spending money on packs when I could have used that money on the cards I actually want.
2 Likes
I would have focused on finishing a specific set first rather then collect various cards. I also wouldn’t bother buying 1st edition single packs when I was getting back into collecting as they are almost always weighed and a waste of time
1 Like
I would have bought more sealed product.
I greatly undervalued the potential of non-holo cards. The demand for complete sets is stronger than I anticipated. Also, the prices par well with graded cards. Most prices align against the prices of 10s and difficulty to grade.
I would not have pursued the main sets as hard. They seem attainable almost all the time. A 99-00 Fossil set or a Shadowless set is much more desirable and unique to me than a 1st edition Jungle set. Unique pieces to the collection keep it interesting.
Buying loose individual cards is a headache in a half. I’d only buy cards where condition did not matter loose. Otherwise, sealed product is the only way to semi-guarantee condition.
2 Likes
If I had to start over? Cry. I would cry
1 Like
I would echo Mike.
Some of the cards in my collection, although not as rare as say the Illustrator or No. 1-3 Trophies, are still hard to find. Here’s looking at you Art Academy Cards. I didn’t pay nearly as much for some of them, as others have, because I was generally one of the first on the scenes, and the sellers were all around the same ballpark before the resellers hit the streets. After that I’ve noticed a huge upward trend in their selling points, and there’d be no way for me to afford them.
I’d save up a shit ton of money, then travel around the country visiting card shops and buy cheap dead stock sealed items. I wouldn’t have the heart to rebuild my singles collection from scratch.
1 Like
Interestingly, I wouldn’t have touched Japanese cards. When I started big buying there was only Base English so I bought tons in Japanese. Yes I made some money, though they dropped quick, but I collected them too and now I have boxes with inches of dust full of them. If I had put all that money into the English Base editions(Unl, shadowless, and 1st) I’d have millions in my lockers instead of Jpn promos and set cards.
That’s why I just can’t put any serious money into Jpn cards today. Along with Pokémon, there’s a lot of examples of fading interest in foreign released collectibles.
1 Like
It depends on what you love… i.e., what you would like to collect most. Money is an important consideration but nothing replaces the ultimate joy of receiving what you really want.
For me it’s 1st edition base. If all of my collection were to be burnt up in a fire at some point (God forbid) the only cards I would replace are the ones that mean the most intrinsically to me. First edition base is the ultimate. Personal attachment aside it just so happens that it’s the most financially secure expense (within the Pokemon collectibles market) that I could make anyway.
2 Likes
If i start my collection all over again… I go back to when pokemon first came out and order 10 pallets of 1st edition booster boxes and put them in a safe guarded by robots.
2 Likes
I too am a new collector, starting just over 3 months ago.
My only ‘regret’ so to speak was being too liberal with my spending - and buying for the sake of buying. As a result, I ended up with a bunch of PSA 10 common cards for the sake of owning them, which I later decided I didn’t want - and sold them to a local card store for a loss. The message I am trying to send is that quantity doesn’t always equate to quality. Instead of buying a bunch of cheap commons for simply the sake of owning them, put the money aside and save for a higher priced card that would bring you more joy as a collector. For the price of all the common cards I am now trying to get rid of, I could have bought a really nice card that would have brought me more joy.
TL;DR - Be conservative. Write a list of the cards you desire, and focus on them. And enjoy the ride - the journey to achieve the cards is just as important as the destination!
100%, I wasted thousands on packs trying to pull the cards I wanted. When it would have been 80% cheaper just to buy the singles…
I originally collected Magic cards and realised it was a bad idea lol.
If only you got no rarity sealed. You would have been a cagillianaire 
Suicide would definitely be committed. I’ve put my life and soul into this hobby. 
This is why you insure your collection. 
Also less no-raritan means no-raritan are more raritan, which means more challenge for pokesyn.
insurance and money can never replace my blasstoid i earned. 