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The only reason for me to buy a graded card (since I am not collecting them, only sets on binders) is to be sure a somewhat expensive card is authentic, and not a fake one. It is more like an extra layer of buyer protection.
But that probably will mean an ~8 provided it has no premium over an ungraded of similar condition, and of course when I get it, I 'll crack it.
But at least for grades less than 10 I don’t think many people are doing this, so there should be a stagnation here.
I got into collecting pokemon again in September, buying lower end graded cards from vintage and various JP vending promos I liked with the intention of never selling them. I have some 8 and 9s sure but I didn’t see the point in paying more for mint always when i just wanted the card for a personal collection. i will say most of the pricey Zards from WOTC are still high from what i remember 3 years ago, but not near the insane peak that occured. I wanna wait it out and I am also annoyed that the cards i want also have not stagnated…
IRS delayed the $600 threshold again
IRS announces 2023 Form 1099-K reporting threshold delay for third party platform payments; plans for a $5,000 threshold in 2024 to phase in implementation | Internal Revenue Service
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lol, I just started collection again after 3 years and I will sometimes check what the market value of a particular card in my collection is, and I get annoyed when I see its $5-10 less than what i paid. It seems petty but I do like to know every few months. i do feel good about several WOTC purchases I have made that have gone up, two way street 
For what its worth, I have seen small 5% increase in my overall collection of mainly wotc and JP vending (60 cards). i dont intend to sell, its a personal collection, even still I like to check prices sometimes.
Collection investment
This is how I read that post
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I honestly dgaf.
What i collect i dont plan on ever selling as i collect, not invest
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When it comes to vintage I do a bit of a hybrid between collecting and investing. Where possible I’ll try to buy doubles of cards that I really want in my collection so that I’ll always have the freedom to sell one if it does well over time from a financial perspective. (I believe this is also the classic “smpratte method”). The obvious downside is that it’s a smaller collection and takes a lot longer to put together, so can be a little frustrating particularly when unaffordable opportunities arise. Otherwise, for modern releases this is much easier.
Generally I get the impression e4 isn’t so much critical of those who invest vs those who collect, but more so critical of people who pretend to collect when in fact they’re purely investors.
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Which price tracking website is this please?
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I have noticed an uptick in higher end buyers in the last 3 months. Obviously I know Christmas is a big part of that and the holidays, but I can really feel the push of people looking to consolidate their collections. I have turned down a handful of people wanting to push CGC/lowerBGS/unknown company slabs to buy a $500+ item from my store.
Some are just outright buying higher end cards paying higher than last solds due to low availability.
For every 1 lower end card ($50 or less), I have sold 3 High end cards ($500+) on eBay or Facebook.
It is very interesting time in this market due to the economic status and the slow down of the Pokemon market.
I will probably make a video discussing this in more detail.
If you have cash right now, you are getting some great deals in the mid high range cards ($500-$2000) but for the rarer and more sought after cards, they are holding or at all time highs in recent time (2021-2023)
Example:
20th Festa full art Pika PSA 10
Mega X full art pika PSA 10
Any Gold Stars
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Truly impressive.
Lots of negativity here - similar vibe to when i started collecting in 2018 tbh. We are at 2-3 years of downtrading prices across mid/low end vintage slabs (excluding junk non holos etc). Lots of money/flippers and cross buyers (from sports) have been flushed out. Macro is horrible at the moment with cost of living surging and real rates at +2%. This is all connected (no doubt things got ahead of themselves in 2021). Despite all that I think the future is very bright and I see things improving substantially for the vintage market (not junk) as we go thru 2024 and into 2025. People forget how connected all these asset classes are at times,.
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It’s all connected. Pokemon isn’t going anywhere. Getting caught up in market conditions isn’t helpful. There’s literally thousands of any given card on the market at one time (well, most cards) - finding a good price takes time but it’s possible. The “market” will be fine. Lol
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24:44 timestamped
Mason talks some about modern for a few minutes. I usually align with most of what he says. TLDR is that Pokemon isn’t dying or going to zero, rather its going back towards “normal” as in pre-covid hype. SV sets are plentiful, singles are cheap, cards are available across the board at every rarity.
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I also think collectibles in general are down. But, some cards that were really expensive are at a really good price. So now is the time to add to the collection
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This comment sort of changed my view a bit on ‘covid collectors’. I and many of the rest of e4 were here before covid so while prices may have come down from covid, my collection is still worth several times more than what it was pre covid. And while we like to point and laugh at the flippers burned from buying at peak covid prices, I haven’t really considered genuine collectors coming back in during covid only to see some of the cards they bought plummet in price.
All I gotta say is I’m glad I got back into pokemon before covid. And I remember feeling like I missed the boat because I started collected post ‘pokemon go boom’. 
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I also feel SV era has been not near as good as SWSH era. I think that, combined with many other factors, has made what seems like an even more slow/stagnated market lately. With this said though, I still think there’s a lot of great cards in this SV era so far. I really enjoyed 151 and some of the other Japanese stuff that has popped up.
Anyway, it’s a great time to collect these cards. I’m a fan of the slower market as a buyer.
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I was a little surprised to see the festa sell for $8100 yesterday on pwcc. Higher than I expected (and way up yoy) but still way off the bubble highs from earlier this year.
In response to “where does it all go?” concerning the extra junk slabs that people grade its worth noting that with new collectors come people who just want a copy for their binders, or would rather have the raw card, so they crack them only to mess with the pop reports in that process. I crack psa 9’s and 10’s all the time for authenticity for certain cards with there being fakes as well. I personally never collect graded cards, but its surely fun for someone that does. With companies standards seeming very random with 8’s getting 10’s and vice versa its made me think the whole grading process pointless from the get-go. With “investors” not knowing WHY theyre buying cards, and trying to sell for a mark-up WILL show in due time as well. Im guessing thats the reason we’re seeing so much modern being graded. For an actual collectors perspective I surely hope the prices keep coming down.