I recently checked on ebay for the prices of booster packs and saw that skyridge packs are selling on ebay for around 400USD which is more than the price of some PSA 10 skyridge holos. This sounds extremely ridiculous to me as the packs may not even contain holos at all. What do you guys think about the prices of the skyridge packs now?
Thats market value at the moment. These pack are becoming more and more rare each year. The card market doesn’t care about anyones feelings sadly. Personally I don’t mind because this just shows how healthy the market is right now.
From what I know, the Skyridge set had a smaller than average print run because of the time period it was printed. Pokemon was in a “dip” around that time so it was not AS mass produced as other sets.
I believe it’s a great collectible to have as it has cool artwork, it has a charizard and it’s the last wotc set. What more could you ask for? Anyhow, yes the prices are higher than they’ve been. With enough time, generally, that will draw out more sellers and the price will go down about. It will have the same result as Shadowless Charizards in late 2017 and early 2018. The PSA 9s were not as plentiful on ebay and sold as high as $2500. That high price brought out multiple sellers and the availability skyrocketed. Now that same card sells for $1200 all day.
I think both Skyridge and Aquapolis are great sets, there is honestly nothing wrong with buying them at that price. Sealed product will always be king and will only become more expensive.
There is reason why boosters are selling more than base unlimited. Skyridge was when Pokemon was not as popular and less was produced. You can find plenty of base unlimited boxes still and for way less than skyridge because of scarcity and rarity.
Obviously supply and demand plays a part in any hobby, but it becomes ridiculous at a point.
Bandwagon purchasers, simply because of the supply and demand curve, is a growing problem in the hobby.
Theoretically Skyridge boosters would not be in demand because Pokemon was least popular at the time so not many would be familiar with it.
Base set was in the prime of Pokemon’s most popular period so it should be pretty high in value compared to Skyridge… but that’s not the case because money.
I disagree about Skyridge being a bandwagon purchase because it seems like there is healthy interest in the set on a collector level as demonstrated by the cards (not just the crystals).
There is a very unique artistic aspect to Expedition/Aquapolis/Skyridge that many collectors such as myself have come to appreciate, and coupled with the scarcity of product for Skyridge compared to the other 2 sets and the fact that there are 6 secret rare cards with one of them being a Crystal Charizard, it’s very understandable why it’s at the price point it’s at now. You can’t really use former popularity as a gauge because it’s not about how popular the TCG was at the time, it’s about how popular it is now and how certain sets have finally gotten the artistic/collector recognition (collector recognition = the chase cards and popular pokemon like eeveelutions/legendary birds) that they did not originally have because the fanbase was smaller.
Nostalgia is the original driver for former fans to come back to the Pokemon TCG, but there are many other factors that come into play after that when it comes to desiring a product. In this case, card art and collectability of chase cards and popular pokemon.
Disclaimer: I own zero Skyridge product. Nada. Sold my Crystal Charizard, which was my last Skyridge possession, a few days ago.
Note: I feel compelled to address the nostalgia point a little further to say that nostalgia does play a big role in value - I’m not discrediting that. It’s why I don’t believe that Skyridge will ever come close in value to something like Base Set 1st Edition. But nostalgia is only a fraction of what leads to the desirability of a set.
Base set is in a LOT higher demand then sky ridge but the supply also of base set is incredible. I’ve over the past two years have bought dozens of base set complete sets and could’ve bought a hundred more easily locally but I’ve never even SEEN a sky ridge set locally. It just doesn’t exist. Sure hype plays a factor but the supply is just dumb high for base and dumb low for sky ridge.
I’ve never personally understood the allure of Skyridge, but there’s no denying legitimate sales. If packs are selling for $400+ and boxes are $10k+, then it is what it is.
Also, single cards are almost always cheaper than the packs containing them. I paid $600 for a shadowlesss booster pack and pulled a $90 Mewtwo. Breaking the seal on any box/pack is going to result in significant loss in value unless you pull the set chase card in PSA 10.
thanks for your opinions everyone, so is it right to say that the price of sealed vintage booster packs re only going to increase steadily over time and is going to become more sought after than the cards themselves?
The best you can do is figure out what today’s value is. Anything beyond that is just a guess. My guess? They’ve peaked and the prices will drop…a lot.
The question isn’t if sealed product will appreciate but how much it will appreciate over a given period of time.
Sealed product has already experienced massive growth. While sealed product is great what you’d pay to get 1 skyridge pack could be enjoyed more elsewhere in the hobby.
This and what @budget said - any advice we give for this is pure speculation so it all depends on your priorities and your own predictions.
My guess slightly differs from Gary’s in that I think Skyridge will move with other sought-after Pokemon products (Base Set 1st/Neo Destiny 1st, etc.) in that if those products continue to gain, Skyridge will continue to gain and if those products start to lose value for whatever reason, Skyridge will too for those same reasons.