That’s a healthy perspective!
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Honestly, my big hope as a collector is we see a massive market dump. Of products I don’t think we have seen yet since most of the 2020 collectors are still holding. My theory is by 2025-2030 I think they will start dumping their products and will sell for super low just trying to recoup some of their money being a great time to buy. Long term I do think some things will do well. But I do expect a massive a drop for a lot of things. In most collectibles hobbies the people who stay around through the downs and ups will usually be rewarded. The biggest things is how long you will have to wait, whether or not you over extended yourself financially ie people who went crazy buying cases, or paying at the market high, and and finally having enough space to hold such inventory. I know my bins of stuff I don’t want to display are just piled in a spare closet.
I told my fiancé if In 50 years I’m dead and my collection isn’t worth anything or my kids don’t want it. I want the most epic box opening party at my funeral. Maybe someone will pull something crazy!
I think the biggest difference with modern vs vintage or even pre-2020 sealed is that the market was not nearly as optimized as it is now. Now you have a lot more ‘investors’ who are chasing the story of what happened with a lot of the older sealed vintage product. However, I feel this is a grave mistake because there’s just no way in my view that modern sealed is going to have returns like the vintage or later sealed product has. The fundamentals towards all this has changed a lot in the past few years and the amount of sealed ‘investors’ appears to be higher than ever and only growing, which simply was not the case for at least the first 15-20 yrs of Pokemon (except for a few key collectors).
I do think it’s entirely possible to make a return on modern sealed, but it could take potentially many years to play out. You also have to deal with actually selling it, which can also be a hassle from the horror stories you’ll read on here and else where at times.
I do have a small modern sealed collection, but I don’t know if I’ll ever sell it. I’ll probably just end up opening it to enjoy some day and did not buy it thinking it’ll become a $5000 or $10000 box at any point.
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nah it’s gotta be before i die while im on my death bed. I want to see what i had this whole time.
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I don’t want to know this whole time I had a sealed booster box of evolving skies with a moonrbeon 
would make me too sad lol
fair enough
There are a handful of exceptions, but time, attrition, and demand generally drive the price of sealed product once it is out-of-print. There is no reason to believe that SW/SH will be any different. It may take longer (substantially longer if demand wanes), but time and attrition will slowly push those sets upward.
Agreed with @Cerulean and others that selling modern sealed product is awful unless you are doing it in person. It’s actually significantly more fun to do in person because you get to hear little kids scream “LET’S GOOOOOOOOO!” when they pull a $5 card. Seeing that genuine happiness makes the whole thing worth it.
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It’s gross
Modern sealed ‘investing’ gets memed on a lot but I really think it’s as close as you can get to a slam dunk if you’re really selective with the products you hold.
Since I got back into the hobby with Generations I’ve (got at retail and) kept sealed; Generations EX boxes, Shining Legends ETBs, Hidden Fates ETBs, Cosmic Eclipse booster boxes, Evolving Skies booster boxes, Celebrations UPCs.
I do think it’s really important to go in with the mindset that @codytcas mentioned above and only hold what you’d have a great time opening if it all goes to pot.
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Time in the market beats timing the market. Buy what you want to collect not what you think will get you $, Hold. Not that complicated
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I was doing it for a while with Japanese boosters and promo boxes. Honestly, now I just find it really boring and my boxes of sealed don’t really inspire anything in me. I much prefer my almost valueless artist collections. Hopefully one day I’ll have the space to display the stuff and I can enjoy it more. That’s my aim anyway.
Also perhaps this is a highly subjective point, but I really stopped caring if I could sell a box of Eevee Heroes for 3k in five years or whatever.
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Why would people want modern sealed product that often had its best cards handpicked out by unscrupulous employees? As I see it, any of the implicated sealed product is near worthless. Just my opinion.
Will it do well? I think so.
Will it become beanie babies? I don’t think so. Pokemon as a brand is infinitely stronger than Beanie Babies ever was or will be.
I don’t think Pop figures are dead either, just that the company who makes them needs to slow down and focus on quality instead of mass producing every fandom under the sun (i dont collect them but thats my take as an outsider)
There will always be Pokemon cards at garage sales.
I dont understand the ebay point, but I think the market for Pokemon is very healthy and will largely remain so in the future.
Modern is not the safest gamble, but I don’t think its doomed either. If you like modern pokemon (legitimately like it, not just as a stonk machine), then surely there are others out there that do as well.
To me, thats a sign of a healthy collectible. Its when the interest isnt genuine that I would be skeptical.
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Certain modern sealed will do decently or very well. The rest not so much.
You really can’t compare Pokemon cards to Beanie Babies for multiple reasons. And Funko Pops, while more similar to Beanie Babies, also aren’t quite the same. Beanie Babies were just stuffed animals with really no purpose or backing to them. Yes, you could decide to get one with a sports team connection or your favorite animal, but that’s about it. Funko Pops aren’t popular with everyone, but they’re ubiquitous. It’s so easy for someone to decide “I like this show, movie, video game, whatever” and buy a Pop figure for their desk at work. Or get a figure that’s cheap and appealing for something that otherwise wouldn’t have that many options, like Lord of The Rings.
It’s entertaining in a way to pop over to /r/pokeinvesting and see a bunch of posts containing items from SWSH era. Like a closet full of multiple booster boxes, ETBs, stashes of packs that aren’t even sleeved or blistered, etc. Sure in a few years, assuming Pokemon is still popular which I’m assuming it will be, you might make a bit of money. But the “investment” aspect for certain products is amusing at best, annoying at its worst when you read stories about adults clearing off shelves or stealing, or dealing with people who only care about the value of cards. Especially considering for many products, you’d be better off investing in index funds.
The core of Pokemon is the games. The last few IMO were pretty lackluster compared to earlier gens, but they still had no problem selling. I imagine upcoming generations will still sell easily unless they manage to really screw it up somehow. As long as Pokemon is still popular, the TCG is safe. It saw a spike in 2020 due to covid and prices dropped hard afterwards, but they’ve picked up a bit recently for certain things. An upwards trajectory for all modern English is obviously unlikely, but not everything is in a bubble right now. It’s the biggest franchise of all time and I don’t see it going anywhere soon. People just need keep in mind how much was printed the past 3 years.
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Booster boxes are getting too expensive to collect. Thanks to scalpers!
More and more people prefer to collect blisters, those sealed package of 3 booster packs, with pack’s artwork displayed. And it comes with a free promo card as a nice touch!
I think it’s a perennial topic not a recent one.
I also think it might be healthier for you if you worried less about the investment side of collecting unless you want to get into this full time. It’s a hobby; it’s not meant to stress you out financially.
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This is the answer right here
Booster boxes are and always will be the standard for sealed tcg collecting. Modern is already pretty easy to aquire, but atleast there arent booster boxes at target/walmart so everyine can get them easily with their groceries. Certain blisters like the ex blisters have done well but that is due to the ex sealed market being so dry and modern will never be dry on boxes so i dont see anyone going after blisters to stonk up.
Also i am pretty sure every modern box still in print is avalible on pokemon center, so scalpers havent been an issue in a while. Obviously out of print stuff gets harder to find but still with modern most out of print stuff is maybe 20% over msrp which hardly seems like market minipulation or scalping. Evolving skies kinda messes with the overall trend a bit
Ill also add, i dont think modern sealed is as bleak as many people here do, though their points are valid. But you have to be so so selective and conservitive with what you spend your money on. And if its an investment like this thread suggests, you absolutely need a selling strategy that works because like mcorey777 said the fees can kill stuff like this
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I just like to collect blisters.
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