I was speaking to a friend of mine who told me that he buys a full set of cards, then pre-grades the best ones (from his perspective), has them professionally graded, then sells the individual graded cards. Is this “normal” collecting / trading behavior. He didn’t tell me if he had been successful or not with this endeavor.
What is your opinion?
This is normal behavior. It can be a fun way to collect. Used to be much more profitable when people didn’t know as much about grading or card values generally.
I actually just recently heard about this not too long ago, so you’re not alone! I’ve also heard that it can be a great way to collect and basically have the hobby pay for itself.
Also welcome to E4! Glad to have you
It’s funny that the part that is the most fun about collecting is actually the one that cannot be sold, the process of building towards and completing a cohesive or comprehensive set or collection represents no plus value on the market because collectors want to advance through the set themselves and though the cards are bought with money the experience and process itself cannot…
(confirming that the most enjoyable things in life cannot be bought with money)
I was reading the other thread with some people complaining about the high prices in pokemon
But pokemon is so cheap in so many ways, you could build thousands different types of master sets and collections for very little ! And actually enjoy the process which is the best part in collecting pokemon which is the chase
It was one of the main ways to reduce the cost of my complete sets. For example, buy a fossil complete set, grade the hits, sell those, buy replacement raw cards to fill the gaps, now you have a complete set for cheaper than what you paid. Sometimes if the hits graded a 10 it pays for the whole set and then some!