A number of times I’ve mentioned my surprise how it was costing a premium to acquire Off-Center (OC) psa Pokemon cards. I’ve explained how it was the first time that’s ever been a plus. It’s always been an “Oh sh*t” moment.
Since it’s looking like this trend is getting bigger I just want everybody to go into it with their eyes wide open. Knowledge is power;)
I was playing with my baseball cards tonight, even listed one lol, and came across these two examples of how big the drop off in value can be with sports cards that were assigned an OC designation.
Take it for what it’s worth but whether you’re buying or selling it’s good to know.
OC/qualifier cards in general have a very specific collectorbase, which imo is larger in Pokemon than in other hobbies. My knowledge is lacking in other hobbies, but error cards have always been an interesting (and valuable) part of Pokemon collecting (see Prerelease Raichu, Cigar Hitmonlee, Blaine’s Charizard etc). I know of many high-dollar sports cards, but can anyone name a high-dollar error sports card? Qualifiers fall into that area of uniqueness/mistakes in the printing process.
With Pokemon I think people are willing to pay up for the novelty of having an error card, especially given Pokemon’s relatively short time as a major collectible and the major print levels of newer sets.
I think people in Pokemon are paying for the qualifier rather than the card.
That’s pretty crazy (small sample size notwithstanding). I have to wonder to what degree the qualifier is having a negative effect vs. the card just looking bad. Is a 9 (OC) card going to sell for more in Pokemon or less in sports than the same card as an 8?
In my opinion sports cards look much less appealing when OC. Pokemon characters use a small portion of card realestate compared with the sports card players portraits. Also PSA graded* OC cards are definitely more common in vintage sports than in Pokemon making their uniqueness more appealing.
I enjoy error cards but I dont go out of my way to buy them. I graded this EVO Charizard that came back as a PSA 9(OC). In my opinion when it comes to some cards it adds value, like the EVO charizard that has a huge pop and is a popular species. The card as a PSA 9 has a pop of 1700, compared to the 10 in total with qualifiers.
Wow that’s pretty crazy. I knew people paid at least 1-2 grades down on OC cards, but the examples you gave were quite extreme.
It looks like with TCGs there are many error collectors. It’s kind of cool, I would add some to my collection though I’m not willing to pay as much of a premium as other collectors.
I even came close to buying Shadowless stained holos from theme decks, but the seller pretty much wanted PSA 9 price or more so I passed.
OC Pokemon cards are a ton of fun. It’s a tough chase and as long as they are OC enough to really catch my eye I like them. That said, you won’t see me paying some outrageous premium from the base grade it receives. Some people love them though and will literally fight over them with like-minded collectors.
I also notice that the people who have them typically price them way too high and they’ll sit for a long time. It’s niche.
Pokemon collecting is a lot different than sports when it comes to errors, mc’s, and oc’s. People seem to love their stains, errors, and centering issues. I wonder if something that was hated by one generation is actually appreciated by another?
I don’t think it’s generational. Even today almost 100% of buyers want pictures to check on centering. The better centered the better for all of them…except for a very few.
Now for sellers it’s wonderful. A once awful anomaly can actually be moved at a premium price. And those buyers are actually happy too. Those are good things.
I created this thread just to help our members with information so they realize they may be overpaying and as a long term investment, these aren’t the way to go. Even PSA docks them grades or negatively designates them. That affects value normally but for the short run, they aren’t suffering as every card series before them has.
I love OC when it comes to Pokemon. Not at all when it comes to sports.
Pokemon I’m kinda bored so I extended to collecting OC and Errors. Sports there’s a billion different varients, I’ll never run out. Look at Ohtani he has like 300+ different rookie cards…
The thing is it’s tough to get PSA to adhere to the qualifiers in general. Not only are there not that many cards graded with Q’s but there won’t be a tremendous amount to come.
Some statistics for perspective: out of 17,093 1st ed. base holos graded only 34 according to the PSA reports were assigned a qualifier of OC MC ST etc. So the number of 1st ed. Base OC cards could be as few as a couple dozen.
Off the top of my head I can name a few OC grade collectors and none of them go about it in a big way, aside from from @gemmintpokemon… who collects almost everything in a big way. I think he sees something that many don’t
Edit:
Gretzky #18 rookie 6,043 graded, 709 with qualifiers
Mantle ‘52 Topps 1,307 graded 74 with qualifiers
I’m sure some of these had stains from the wax packs, so here’s some without that issue.
Lebron ‘03 rookie 3,603 graded 19 with qualifiers
Ken Jr. ‘93 rookie 646 graded (including refractors) 44 with Q’s
Not really looking to draw conclusions, these numbers are just interesting to me
It’s important to start the conversation with @garyis2000 's comment, “how big the drop off in value can be with sports cards that were assigned an OC designation.” It’s imperative every error/qualifier collector be aware how negatively the imperfect cards are viewed in other card collecting hobbies.
With that being said, I enjoy collecting WOTC qualifiers since the quality was relatively high. Most off-center (OC) or miscut (MC) cards were removed from production before being distributed. It can be difficult to locate a single copy of an OC card. This is the challenge I look for when pursuing a new part of the collection.
Qualifiers also help diversify the collection in a similar way error cards do. Not everyone is going to have the same card/grade, so it separates sets within collections a part from other collectors.
Most sports cards are mass produced. The print runs are enormous. There could be 10,000+ copies of a card to choose from with many being off center. Quality control in the sports world is no where close to WOTC from 99-03. $1000 packs of sports cards today will be off center and have edge wear right out of the pack (NT, Flawless, Immaculate).
Similarly, Pokemon cards from Nintendo seem to have much lower quality control standards (and overall card quality). It’s easy to pull an off center card out of the pack today. I picked up on this after briefly chasing a few cards. Cards with worse centering would frequently appear at better prices. The supply is rampant and no longer a challenge. I decided to stop collecting post-WOTC OC/MC cards besides the occasional Charizard (at a good price).
In short, realize that Pokemon is an anomaly fueled by a small (but aggressive) subset of collectors. The WOTC era qualifiers are difficult to find with the PSA designations. No other card collecting hobby places a premium on qualifiers. In fact, it’s usually a severe discount.
having an OC card would annoy my OCD to much
