Ok here is a perspective from a relative newbie. I think the biggest scam in Pokemon is the pricing for sealed booster boxes. It’s like buying a house just by looking at a stock pic of a house, with no clue if the house even has running water or a functioning heater, but it’s priced like a mansion. So to all the pricing whizzes out there, how do you think about and especially decide to pay real world $ for vintage sealed booster boxes? I personally would buy 4 PSA 10 base set Chars any day than buy a sealed base set booster box for what, $5000?
To me, the pricing of these appear completely illogical / nonsensical. But then, I guess I am a dumb newbie …
sealed boxes are an independent collectable, their worth doesn’t solely derive from the contents inside
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The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. What used to be really dumb was how a few years ago you could open any WOTC box at any time and make stupid money doing it with nearly 0 risk. The market, being efficient as it is, had a lot of people out there arbitraging that opportunity when it was around and that is why the supply is so much lower now. Hell for what loose packs go for you can still crack boxes and make out all right if not better than selling sealed boxes for many sets. I’d argue some boxes should be even higher and if anything it is loose (likely weighed) sealed pack pricing that doesn’t make much sense. But the packs are for the same reasons mentioned above and below.
The boxes are their own collectible that is attractive, nostalgic, highly desirable, and in lower supply ever day since they shut off the printing presses for those specific sets. Pops go down on sealed and up on singles every year.
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I agree, to me it also seems illogical, but that is mainly because I don’t see any appeal in sealed products at all. My enjoyment comes from the cards, not a sealed box that may or may not contain the cards I like. But obviously lots of people see things differently since old booster boxes keeps on increasing in price at higher rates than the actual cards. It is often funny how many PSA9 or 10 holos you theoretically could buy for the price of any old WotC box when considering one box contains 12 holos and most of them are unlikely to be 10’s.
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Graded Pokémon cards are literal cardboard with ink on it encased in plastic and people are paying $1000 for a ZaReeZad?
Now that’s a scam 
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I think Detective Pikachu has brought a lot of collectors into the hobby that were kids in the 90s. Those kids are in their 30s now and they have money and they will spend it. This is the generation of “here take my money” afterall
I can understand when people buy them to keep sealed but it seems there is a huge uptake in buying packs to open which in turn I think has caused a spike in sealed box prices. A lot of youtubers have been doing this adding to the feeding frenzy which is fine, to each their own. It is odd to me that they will spend $100-150 a pack for some of these packs looking for one card AND that card in PSA 10 condition on top of that.
Take Team Rocket 1st Edition packs selling for what $70-80 a pack with everyone looking for a Dark Charizard. You can either buy 6 packs and hope you pull that card which is a very slim chance or spend that $480 on a PSA 10 copy. It really makes zero sense to me financially but people will pay through the nose for that nostalgia of opening packs like they did when they were a kid. I’d rather just buy the card I want.
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Sealed product holds much more nostalgia and fun for me than any single card. Given the fact that 36 single loose packs sell often times for more than a sealed box itself blows my mind, I wonder when people will notice that there´s something wrong.
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Graded card < Sealed Product.
Sealed items are a niche collectable to most.
With most older products being out of print, their rarity only increases with every box that is opened - hence why there is such a high value on them nowadays. You can easily buy a GEM MINT 10 [insert card name here] in most circumstances on the market due to their known availability (PSA Pop reports / Beckett data), but a sealed collector will never know how many boxes are left in circulation - this adds to their overall appeal.
A.
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While I’m not denying that Detective Pikachu has played a small role (but nothing like Pokemon GO), I think the rise in prices of sealed product has more to do with YouTubers opening up boxes and packs than anything else.
And I do agree with your overall “just buy the card” premise, some people prefer to take the gamble. Let’s say you buy three 1st Edition Team Rocket packs and you are lucky enough to pull that Dark Charizard (which is actually closer to $700 than $500 now). You just saved yourself a few hundred dollars. Not saying that’s the route I would take, because it’s not, but I understand why people do it.
Probably wait till the market adjusts to consider sealed product. Though they may continue to be overpriced for a while and very niche.
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For many collectibles sealed brings a premium. Toys, video games, dolls and many more things can bring a premium if it’s factory sealed. There are a lot of valuable items in this hobby that I personally don’t collect but a lot of other people enjoy collecting. It’s great that we are all diverse in what we enjoy, it’s what helps keep the ball rolling. Some collect sealed product, some collect English or only Japanese cards.
So what you may not enjoy there will for sure be a lot of other people that do. It’s hard to argue about the price when there are many examples of sold listings.
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The most common theme in markets when someone doesn’t like prices: “It must be a scam or bubble”.
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Ok, I had not thought of “nostalgia” and/or “preference” for sealed products (regardless of content inside) as the core driver for pricing (even though the assets within each have distinct market-driven pricing), but was looking at the price from the perspective of the sum of all likely parts within versus the price one pays for it. The concept is still a little absurd to me personally (I don’t care much for sealed packs/boosters), but I suppose value (like beauty) is in the eye of the beholder 
I personally would never buy a house without the benefit of a professional assessment, but that is just me. I get the supply/demand angle of gradually reduced inventory over time for a diminishing product … Thanks for the different perspectives on this.
I think you can ‘oversell’ packs because most people can’t spend 10k on a box, but will spend 400 on a single pack so they can own something cool/expensive/nostalgic for a reasonable price.
If i had the money (&balls) i would’ve pulled the trigger on that recent skyridge box on ebay -went for about 15k if i remember correctly?
I put 8 skyridgeboosters online a week ago; Sold’m as a set 4x each artwork including one heavy pack for 2k a set [keep in mind that this is in €, not $]
Both sets were gone within 3hours.
This would mean that the value of that box would/could/should be around 18/19k (atleast) if you ripped it open and sold the boosters… it is mad crazy
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Don’t buy a box if you think it’s a scam. The market clearly values them, as we can see consistent and increasing sales prices over the years.
To add to @gottaketchumall’s point, cards and even packs increase in quantity as boxes are opened. There used to be money in opening boxes, grading cards and selling them. Those days are gone. Now, there’s money in opening boxes and selling the individual packs. At some point, as the supply of packs increase and the supply of boxes decrease, the sealed booster box may become more valuable then the individual packs. The sealed booster box should ultimately hold the most value and outpace the sum of the contents inside.
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When i came back to collecting a couple years ago i really wanted a 1st Edition base set booster box (Spanish) wich was the most nostalgic item for me, since im from Argentina.
I saved a couple months and ended up buying one for around U$S2K; at a time there were plenty for sale on the market. At this time there’s only one available if im not wrong, for 3K obo; and if i had the money i’d def. try to grab it for that best offer.
Sealed boxes are nostalgic 
Of course in those cases one knows precisely what’s inside.
In this case it can only bring confidence of untampered innards…except now reseals are pretty good and getting better.
I know I’m gonna catch some heat for this, but what I’ve noticed while collecting Pokemon is that there tends to be a herd mentality with collectors. Right now is a fantastic time to be a singles collector. Mint cards are going for ridiculously low prices, and higher end psa cards (especially 9s) are fantastic buys. Collectors and flippers are tying their capital up in sealed product while dumping singles at low rates. Don’t get caught/lost in the herd. Buy the cards that you want right now at a discount.
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I have to agree with YouTubers playing a big role with the rise of these boxes. I mean one guy all he does it open boxes. It started off as not that big of a deal
But now it’s ridiculous…and people are seeing this and wanting to do the same thing and then prices go up.
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i don’t totally agree with what you said but it’s a possibility. however, like many have said before, we don’t really know the quantity of sealed products out there, and they are getting increasingly hard to come by. there is a reason people are looking at sealed products. don’t assume the price bump is just a blip. it’s probably the new norm. most WoTC era boxes are heading towards 5k or more. it might only be a matter of time before they are all over 10k.
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