Returning to collecting after a decade - what's changed?

[rirwin]

Hi guys,

Apologies in advance if some of the questions I ask are asinine or have been previously answered in other threads, if this was the incorrect place to ask these questions, pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!

Being new here, a bit of background information about myself before I get started; like almost everyone else in my age bracket I was Pokemon fanatic as a child. For one reason or another I put the hobby on ice in pursuit of other interests (I was a kid after all). I briefly began collecting again on the back of a nostalgia trip in 2009 - unfortunately it ended in the same way due to a lack of financial resources and bemusement at my local ‘collectors’ store closing it’s doors. I live in Australia and these stores formed the backbone of the market in my area back then. I never really got into the Ebay or online market except for a couple of small purchases.

Why start collecting again now? Pokemon Go is indirectly responsible for getting me back into the hobby. I don’t play the phone game, and honestly, it doesn’t particularly interest me. However the ‘hype’ around it did lead me to purchasing a number of ordinary card collections from friends and relatives quite cheaply - the prevailing wisdom being that Pokemon Go had suddenly ‘given’ old cards value they didn’t previously have - and not selling right now may mean missing the boat on ever realizing value for the cards. On the other end of the scale i’ve witnessed people ‘speculating’ - offering ridiculous sums of money for otherwise valueless cards.

In terms of what i’m trying to achieve - i’ve started the process of completing the English collection of cards I already own, from Base Set to Arceus. So far i’ve been enjoying the process, and if i can complete this goal and stay motivated the sky is the limit. I have no interest in making financial gain from the cards, other than on selling a few cards i have purchased in order to help finance the building of my own collection.

Card quality isn’t currently a make or break issue for me - but clearly would prefer cards to be in good condition, and have no interest in cards that have been through the wash (I already have a few of these).

Moving on;

Selling

• Grading - PSA or nothing?

PSA grading certainly didn’t exist in Pokemon when I was a child collecting in the early 2000’s, and wasn’t very well established when I had my second attempt at collecting in 09/10’. I understand getting cards graded will increase their value - but by how much, and is it worth it?

The other question relates specifically to PSA - this is an American organisation which as far as i know doesn’t exist in Australia. As it would be cheaper to use companies that grade in Australia (Card Trading Australia, Beckett, etc) due to the cost of international freight, is grading a card worth it if it isn’t “PSA approved”. Do other card graders have reputations in the market, or is it better off paying a little more in freight and sticking with PSA?

Buying:

• Price
  If i’m after a specific card, are there any strategies you could recommend to a) not getting ripped off and b) to get the lowest price possible.
  Walking into a bricks and mortar store always gave me confidence of paying a fair retail price for a decent quality card i could inspect before purchase. Online purchasing makes me a little uneasy.

Is Ebay always the best way to go? Or are private deals, like starting threads on this site, a better way to go?

• Quality

What are wholesalers like Troll and Toad like for quality? Am i better off paying a little more from a site like Collectors Cache to guarantee a good quality card? Troll and Toad seem to be most competitive wholesaler on price and always have cards in stock, but i’m feeling this may to too good to be true?

A couple of more general questions for personal interest:

• What’s the most common type of market participant currently trading in Pokemon cards. Are they professional collectors, people who play the card game for fun/professionally or nostalgia filled adults like myself?

• Anything else that i’ve missed that has changed substantially in the last few years?

Thanks for taking the time to read!

[fourthstartcg]

Welcome to the forum! This is a great place to expand your knowledge and talk with other serious collectors As for your questions, I’ll do my best to answer as many as I can:

Grading:

PSA is truly the way to go right now. It is the most respected, most well-known, and increases your cards value the most. While it may be cheaper to grade cards using other grading services, PSA is the best “investment” - that is, you pay more, but the cards are worth more. The only other company that comes close to PSA in reputation is Beckett. However it is still lower on the value/prestige scale, unless you score a BGS 10 (Pristine) which is usually valued higher than a PSA 10. How much grading increases a card’s value by is really up in the air. A number of factors such as population, card notoriety, initial print quality, Japanese vs. English, and of course the actual grade all influence the value. The best way to understand what a specific card is worth at a specific grade is to check eBay sold listings or ask here.

Buying:

eBay truly is the best way to go. Look up your card and check both current and sold listings. That should give you a good idea of the price you’re looking at. eBay prices are generally the lowest, but you do need to factor in the risks of dealing with a large variety of sellers. Buying from well-established sellers, even if prices are slightly higher, is a good idea. If you’re looking for a harder to find card, a thread on here would be great. Feel free to make a wants list, and people will contact you if they have items on it. Posting the prices you are willing to pay in your wants thread is a great way to flush out people who have what you’re looking for.

As for Troll and Toad, if you’re looking for single cards and you aren’t fussy about perfect quality, they are a good source. When I began collecting I got many of my cards from there and have never had any issues beyond cards being a little on the low end of “near mint.” Once I got more into PSA grading I switched to eBay as my main source of cards. Some Troll and Toad prices may be outdated to be sure to check eBay often for the best deal.

General Questions:

The main participant in this forum is serious collectors. Of course, being a serious collector is not a requirement to join or anything like that, but lots of the discussions here center around rare and expensive cards. There isn’t much of a TCG playerbase here, those people can be found on sites like Pokebeach. (That being said, I enjoy playing the TCGO and there are some people here who do play) I personally believe knowing how to play the TCG is essential for any modern Pokemon participant as card playability in the TCG is often the biggest factor in determining newer card prices, and predicting trends as such. (e.g. Battle Compressor and Muscle Band are $5-6 uncommon cards, but their value will drop significantly once they get rotated out of format)

Can’t personally comment on what’s changed in the past few years, I haven’t been back in the game for too long! Hope this post helps you out!

[pokemonsyndicate]

If your collecting english cards, ebay is your best friend. If your collecting japanese cards, yahoo japan is your best friend.

IF YOUR GETTING INTO GRADING YOUR CARD CAN INCREASE BY 5-10 TIMES THE AMOUNT IF IT SCORES A PSA 10… BUT IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT CARD IT IS… Like fourstar said. Rarity, sort after ect.

Take 1st ed shadowless charizard in a psa 10. That went for about 5800usd at auction not to long ago Though there is 90+ psa 10 of them making them not the rarest of all, its extremely difficult to find a mint ungraded copy as english is hell to grade to begin with, and also many people want one because it is the greatest artwork in history imo… well it is for alot of people… Now there is only 1 bgs prstine 10 1st ed shadowless charizard in the world, so that copy is extremely rare… and that would be worth around 18,000usd was the last offer on it… Theres 90 psa 10’s, but only 1 pristine 10 1st ed shadowless charizard… Go figure… Thats right, its virtually impossible to get a pristine 10 on a WIZARDS OF THE COAST English pokemon card, and just in general english ex series/english cards to begin with, so noone bothers and they send to psa. IF YOU GOT MONEY YOU CAN GET THIS SET REAL quik in a psa 10, but then you compare this to a japanese trophy card were there was only like 5 - 20 printed in entire history… These japanese trophy cards are going to be even more expensive, but there also much rarer ect… So it just depends on what cards your going for my furry little friend from australia. =D

If you are getting english wizards of the coast cards, i wouldnt go with troll and toad. You can get them for the prices on there, and theyll be mint, if you hunt carefully on ebay
Collectors cache are amazing, I have got a fair few cards from there and they were always NM/Mint and i sent to psa, and they got psa 9’s… They have some good japanese cards to. Though collectors cache is pretty expensive, so Id still reccomend EBAY over all if your engrish collector, as if you have patients… You will get everything for the prices on those websites but in minty fresh goodness.

[rirwin]

Cheers- those replies were informative.

Sounds like PSA grading is the way to go.

The price inflation for some of the early 1st edition base cards is just crazy, considering how relatively cheap and common they were even 7 years ago. Supply and demand is a crazy thing. It would be interesting modeling average market prices if anyone kept accurate records.

To begin with i’ll be focusing on the English WOTC cards, mainly because I have a solid foundation and a ball park knowledge of what most of the cards are worth. Japanese cards have always been on my peripheral vision, but it’ll be a while before i consider diving into that market.

[churlocker]

@rirwin

Cheers- those replies were informative.

Sounds like PSA grading is the way to go.

The price inflation for some of the early 1st edition base cards is just crazy, considering how relatively cheap and common they were even 7 years ago. Supply and demand is a crazy thing. It would be interesting modeling average market prices if anyone kept accurate records.

To begin with i’ll be focusing on the English WOTC cards, mainly because I have a solid foundation and a ball park knowledge of what most of the cards are worth. Japanese cards have always been on my peripheral vision, but it’ll be a while before i consider diving into that market.

Well we certainly welcome another English WOTC collector! The forum is a bit heavy on the Japanese side for early card collecting, but we (English WOTC) do exist!