So recently where I live due to the events of the past couple years a lot of business went under and a lot of new things have replaced them. In particular, a couple of high-end collectibles shops have opened up and so far have been booming even during this year. Turns out they also offer a PSA middleman service which I plan to use at some point since it’s really convenient for me.
Anyway, one thing that caught my eye is that they strictly advertise that they only are buying pre-2020 collectibles due to ‘supply issues’. This includes everything from Sports to Pokemon and Magic. I found this sort of interesting because obviously a lot of people who’ve come into the hobby buying up modern products seem to be banking on it being a home run investment down the road.
I know that we discuss the modern speculation thing a lot, but regardless I did find this to be an interesting data point to see how even some stores seem to be bearish on most modern post-2020 boom products:
What do you all think of this? Is this further indication of how the market is constantly being optimized going forward? I feel like we’re sort of in the matrix with this right now, and a lot of people haven’t stepped out of it who are still loading up on new sealed boxes. Curious of your thoughts.
Interesting food for thought. I do still think there is opportunity with post-2020 modern products, but one needs to be very selective about what they pick up if they want to see larger gains. Generally product with a small print run (Celebrations UPC) or more limited distribution method (Precious Collector’s Box) will perform better, but even that’s a grey area given the amount of attention on the hobby right now and Walmart ““Pokeinvestors”” stashing everything in their closets. I doubt we will see anything resembling the gains vintage product has seen over the past couple of years.
Anything sealed is bound to go up given enough time once out of print, so I think it really boils down to whether collectors and are willing to tie their money up in a widely-held product for 5-10 years. I do feel the majority of collectors will cash out before then due to expenses, unforeseen circumstances, wanting to put the money toward vintage purchases, or loss of interest in the hobby altogether.
It might be because they can still buy most of 2020-2022 product from distributors.
But I would understand not wanting to touch post 2020 anything as a store. Especially because not everything is Pokémon where people just want to collect.
Right, good point. I should also clarify that they are willing to buy some post-2020 stuff, but only very specific and limited items that are truly unique/rare. It’s just in general they aren’t going to buy bulk Pokemon or Sports cards due to the high graded & raw supply and so on.
I just found it interesting from a business perspective that they are seeing more of an opportunity in pre-2020 stuff, which honestly makes good sense. I also think people are getting burned out because so many sets & products are getting pumped out faster than ever it seems.
Not to turn this into the Giant English Market Thread, but every “investor” has a closet full of Darkness Ablaze booster boxes. They are not going to double their money anytime soon. So it makes sense that a card shop wouldn’t touch them.
Anything sealed is bound to go up given enough time once out of print, so I think it really boils down to whether collectors and are willing to tie their money up in a widely-held product for 5-10 years.
IDK man, you should see the prices of sealed sports card product from the late 80s/early 90s. 30 years later, that shit still isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
Yeah, it seems that a lot of people still aren’t comfortable on Japanese stuff. It’s understandable due to the language barrier, but there’s some really nice cards and sets coming out of there as well. I think because it’s still more niche, I actually feel pretty good buying it because it’s not so hyped up like a lot of English cards can be. Japanese cards are only a small part of my collection, but I hope to buy more at some point. The borders and holos can look way better on some cards.
Today, cards limited to just one copy are fairly easy to find. And cheap, too. Cards limited to 100 copies are considered common and often sell for a dollar or two.
That’s how much the hobby has shrunk. Twenty years ago, a print run of 10,000 was the pinnacle achievement. Today, superstar cards limited to just one copy can sell for less than the box they came in. This isn’t always the case as some of today’s cards can sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars, but there aren’t many.
I’m often not sure what to think about sports cards. Obviously the most valuable trading cards on earth are sports cards. Baseball cards in particular have a ubiquity and legacy that makes even an uninitiated outsider like me aware of its iconic cards. And yet, the hobby is constantly described as a dead, shrunken mummy. Only the most die hard of collectors seem to keep it going, and somehow its prestige has sustained enough interest to catch the attention of supremely and extremely wealthy collectors.
But when I think of sports cards with the only frame of reference I have experience with — Pokémon — it’s incredible to me that there exists the gulf in high end numbers that we see today. Mathematically, the interest in Pokémon is several magnitudes higher than the interest in sports cards.
I don’t have an insightful conclusion about this. But it’s something I wonder a lot about.
There is actually a legitimate difference between Pokémon and the early 90s sports bubble, pokemon is still only printed by one company. The early 90s bubble was due to multiple companies printing a metric ton of product. It was the beginning of numerous rookie cards. For context, 1979 gretzky had the opc rookie (Canadien release) and topps rookie (American release) both the same art/card. A current player today easily has 50+ “rookie” cards, from many different companies.
Even with 3-4 versions of some pokemon cards in a set, it’s nowhere near sports cards. Especially since most of the Pokémon cards are chase cards, some the hardest cards to pull. Plus there is no game mechanic in sports. The 3-4 different versions in Pokémon actually have a purpose besides making money.
Baseball cards were printed by Topps, Donruss, Fleer, and so many others. It’s even more now, and endless possibilited with the 1/100 cards. If I wanted a master set of my favorite player, there would be hundreds of cards a year to collect.
In comparision, Eeveelutions on both English and Japanese all variations has only been a couple of hundred unique cards the last year or 2. That is 9 different Pokémon.
Is it true that cards limited to one copy are worthless?
Seems ridiculous if true. Since that would be the rarest card and everything else would have to be worth less.
Also, another question/thread would be how many copies is considered too many?
Is 30,000 too many? 100,000? For the vast majority of cards you would assume so.
Even if there are only 30,000 rainbow rares of Trevenant VMAX, I doubt there are 30,000 people who want it. But what about the alt arts? Full arts? Gold cards?
The stamp promo box was 100,000 print run was it? Is that too many? But the cards currently sell for a decent amount.
