Steal of a Deal

[piezers]

@vyzhr

Best deal I’ve ever made and probably ever will make, my cousin and I went on these together, 1200$ total as a single purchase.
imgur.com/a/Rkvxbjd

What a deal! How’d you come across these?

[acebren]

@piezers

@vyzhr

Best deal I’ve ever made and probably ever will make, my cousin and I went on these together, 1200$ total as a single purchase.
imgur.com/a/Rkvxbjd

What a deal! How’d you come across these?

Good question, I’d like to know the story myself

[nickofturl]

@chopkins1994

My biggest steals were:

• 6 of the vending series 3 sheets with bill on them plus a full NM/M 1st ed jungle non holo set for $45. (Sold the sheets for $250)
• a complete NM/M fossil and TR set with several 1st Ed’s for $70. Had a 1st ed dragonite which graded a 9.
• a large 5k card lot purchased for $200, ended up finding several wotc holos which were unfortunately HP or worse but everything else was mint. found 7 Japanese Misty’s tears, sold a few and graded one 10. Still have 3 more to grade. And found my evolution box error wartortle which ended up grading a 10. I think I ended up netting ~$300 from that not including the Misty’s tears or wartortle.
• and finally picked up a small lot that included some wotc holos with a base blastoise and evolution box error wartortle for $25. The wartortle graded a 9 and is in my personal collection now!

I like hearing stories about finding rare cards in lots. That’s a difficult thing to do! Very cool finds!

[pokecollectoramy]

killer deal OP. Well done!

[nppokemon]

Oh man, what a memory this triggers… Not that anyone would likely believe this but here it goes! Storytime anyone?

The year was 2011 maybe early 2012. I was searching eBay for Base Set Charizards trying to build a stockpile for about $15-25 per Base Charizard to fill out the rest of my small binder collection. I came across this Charizard that I actually ended up bidding on trying to find a better deal! Ended up winning what was described and pictured as a Base Set Unlimited Charizard. Paid $16 and some change.

A week went by with me checking the mail vigourously later in the week, as the item didn’t have any tracking. Sure enough, a message to the seller led to a big problem. The seller didn’t even ship the card. It was a weird situation where the person I was talking to was “out” for some reason or another and they had their roommate ship out the Charizard immediately with many apologies. At the moment I thought it was the obvious “Oh Sh*t I forgot” situation on eBay. Whatever, we will see if they send it. Sure enough, the suspected Charizard came. It WAS NOT what I was expecting. Turns out I was sent a VERY decent condition 1st Edition Base Set Charizard… Is this real? Could this really happen? My mind went racing. I instantly ran to the computer, called my only other friend who was into Pokemon at the time and printed off all the messages and the listing to keep along with the card. Idk why I did that, maybe for some kind of proof because no one would believe me. To this day the only one who REALLY knows what happened was that friend that I called. He rode his bike up (lived in the same suburb) just to look at the card. For a year I treasured this random act of Arceus. Then came a time when I decided to grade it EIGHT POINT FIVE BITCHES! It was insane to get an 8.5 for that… I didn’t really even think “.5’s” existed. After a few months, the greed got to me and I sold it for a hefty $650! I was rolling in the dough. Time for another 1st Edition Charizard and bonus cards/cash! FYI - (Yes… I do hate myself now).

I never figured out what really happened, nor did I care to ask… I just made myself feel better by telling myself that they sent that to make up for the delay of shipment! (Whatever makes you feel better right?)

TLDR; Got 1st Ed. Base Charizard for $16. Graded 8.5, Sold for $650 (~2013/'14). Hate myself for it.

ibb.co/c6BtFZ2 (Anyone own my lucky boy?)

End of story time

[nickofturl]

@nppokemon

Oh man, what a memory this triggers… Not that anyone would likely believe this but here it goes! Storytime anyone?

The year was 2011 maybe early 2012. I was searching eBay for Base Set Charizards trying to build a stockpile for about $15-25 per Base Charizard to fill out the rest of my small binder collection. I came across this Charizard that I actually ended up bidding on trying to find a better deal! Ended up winning what was described and pictured as a Base Set Unlimited Charizard. Paid $16 and some change.

A week went by with me checking the mail vigourously later in the week, as the item didn’t have any tracking. Sure enough, a message to the seller led to a big problem. The seller didn’t even ship the card. It was a weird situation where the person I was talking to was “out” for some reason or another and they had their roommate ship out the Charizard immediately with many apologies. At the moment I thought it was the obvious “Oh Sh*t I forgot” situation on eBay. Whatever, we will see if they send it. Sure enough, the suspected Charizard came. It WAS NOT what I was expecting. Turns out I was sent a VERY decent condition 1st Edition Base Set Charizard… Is this real? Could this really happen? My mind went racing. I instantly ran to the computer, called my only other friend who was into Pokemon at the time and printed off all the messages and the listing to keep along with the card. Idk why I did that, maybe for some kind of proof because no one would believe me. To this day the only one who REALLY knows what happened was that friend that I called. He rode his bike up (lived in the same suburb) just to look at the card. For a year I treasured this random act of Arceus. Then came a time when I decided to grade it EIGHT POINT FIVE BITCHES! It was insane to get an 8.5 for that… I didn’t really even think “.5’s” existed. After a few months, the greed got to me and I sold it for a hefty $650! I was rolling in the dough. Time for another 1st Edition Charizard and bonus cards/cash! FYI - (Yes… I do hate myself now).

I never figured out what really happened, nor did I care to ask… I just made myself feel better by telling myself that they sent that to make up for the delay of shipment! (Whatever makes you feel better right?)

TLDR; Got 1st Ed. Base Charizard for $16. Graded 8.5, Sold for $650 (~2013/'14). Hate myself for it.

ibb.co/c6BtFZ2 (Anyone own my lucky boy?)

End of story time

Wow, did the seller ever message you or know what happened?

[nppokemon]

@nickofturl

@nppokemon

Oh man, what a memory this triggers… Not that anyone would likely believe this but here it goes! Storytime anyone?

The year was 2011 maybe early 2012. I was searching eBay for Base Set Charizards trying to build a stockpile for about $15-25 per Base Charizard to fill out the rest of my small binder collection. I came across this Charizard that I actually ended up bidding on trying to find a better deal! Ended up winning what was described and pictured as a Base Set Unlimited Charizard. Paid $16 and some change.

A week went by with me checking the mail vigourously later in the week, as the item didn’t have any tracking. Sure enough, a message to the seller led to a big problem. The seller didn’t even ship the card. It was a weird situation where the person I was talking to was “out” for some reason or another and they had their roommate ship out the Charizard immediately with many apologies. At the moment I thought it was the obvious “Oh Sh*t I forgot” situation on eBay. Whatever, we will see if they send it. Sure enough, the suspected Charizard came. It WAS NOT what I was expecting. Turns out I was sent a VERY decent condition 1st Edition Base Set Charizard… Is this real? Could this really happen? My mind went racing. I instantly ran to the computer, called my only other friend who was into Pokemon at the time and printed off all the messages and the listing to keep along with the card. Idk why I did that, maybe for some kind of proof because no one would believe me. To this day the only one who REALLY knows what happened was that friend that I called. He rode his bike up (lived in the same suburb) just to look at the card. For a year I treasured this random act of Arceus. Then came a time when I decided to grade it EIGHT POINT FIVE BITCHES! It was insane to get an 8.5 for that… I didn’t really even think “.5’s” existed. After a few months, the greed got to me and I sold it for a hefty $650! I was rolling in the dough. Time for another 1st Edition Charizard and bonus cards/cash! FYI - (Yes… I do hate myself now).

I never figured out what really happened, nor did I care to ask… I just made myself feel better by telling myself that they sent that to make up for the delay of shipment! (Whatever makes you feel better right?)

TLDR; Got 1st Ed. Base Charizard for $16. Graded 8.5, Sold for $650 (~2013/'14). Hate myself for it.

ibb.co/c6BtFZ2 (Anyone own my lucky boy?)

End of story time

Wow, did the seller ever message you or know what happened?

I remember trying to go back and reach out at some point when I got it graded but I don’t remember them ever responding. That was months after the original purchase at that point but the eBay account was not very active. They only had a few sales from what I could remember. Just assumed they got a hold of some cards or found theirs and didn’t know what they had. Or maybe they realized it and thats why they didn’t send until i said something.

[cinnaminhbun]

Recently: I bought a $20 box of cards from eBay and it randomly contained 5 Pokémon Center #40 black star promos! Along with two Topps Chrome Sparkle cards.

Overall: Last year I bought a binder collection for $8,000. The cards graded very well; PSA 9 1st Edition Charizard, PSA 10 1st Edition Blastoise, PSA 9 Shadowless Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise, etc. It had complete sets from 1st Edition Base to 1st Edition Team Rocket. I’ve lost track of how many great things I’ve graded from that lot, and I’m still not done selling off the rest of the cards.

[nickofturl]

@cinnaminhbun

Recently: I bought a $20 box of cards from eBay and it randomly contained 5 Pokémon Center #40 black star promos! Along with two Topps Chrome Sparkle cards.

Overall: Last year I bought a binder collection for $8,000. The cards graded very well; PSA 9 1st Edition Charizard, PSA 10 1st Edition Blastoise, PSA 9 Shadowless Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise, etc. It had complete sets from 1st Edition Base to 1st Edition Team Rocket. I’ve lost track of how many great things I’ve graded from that lot, and I’m still not done selling off the rest of the cards.

Sounds like you got your money back and then some on that one! Crazy that the binder cards were in such great condition.

[chavycat]

Congrats man! One of the cards that I’m going to get one day will be a 1st edition base set psa 10 Venusaur. I technically have the money for it now but I have a busines I’m trying to get stable before I spend 3k on just one card.

A steal of a deal I got was a buddy of mine who bought me a pre release Clefable. Got it graded and it came back as a psa 8! I paid 150 for that and like a button of other cards

[amcgl58]

@chavycat

Congrats man! One of the cards that I’m going to get one day will be a 1st edition base set psa 10 Venusaur. I technically have the money for it now but I have a busines I’m trying to get stable before I spend 3k on just one card.

A steal of a deal I got was a buddy of mine who bought me a pre release Clefable. Got it graded and it came back as a psa 8! I paid 150 for that and like a button of other cards

I’m right there with you, technically I have enough money for a PSA 10 1st Edition Base Set Raichu and to buy another WoTC booster box buttttt that’s a mortgage payment and a chunk of payroll lol

[nickofturl]

@pokenoob

That card is in pretty rough shape and ungraded… I wouldn’t consider that a “steal of a deal”

Lol

[zubat93]

@nickofturl , hell of a bump 1 year later!

And to add something to this thread, I bought this on the 9th of September, while casually trying to find an unlimited Charmander. Feel kinda bad for the seller …

[octaane]

For me, the gold old days when shining magikarps were 15 bucks and shining gyrados’s were 20…still kicking myself for not grabbing everything I could.

Nowadays, there’s still a surprising amount of wotc holos on eBay that go under the radar. I’ve gotten some great steals recently (yesterday) - got several neo discovery holos that appeared in great condition for 5-20 bucks.

[brofessorchaos]

My closest thing to a ‘steal of a deal’ was back in the day playing TCG with a friend of mine. He wanted some of my cards (dont remember all of em but at least one was a movie promo mewtwo that was one of the best cards at the time). He said of he could beat me at TCG i have to give em to him, so I said I accept if he puts up a charizard. I hate zard, but didn’t have one and it was the only base card I was missing.

So anyway I beat that ass and of course he tried to back out. I’m super nice so I offered a trade so he wouldn’t cry about losing his zard. Because he’s the kinda person that tries to bet, backs on it etc he then gives me the zard he thinks looks worse. So anyway now I have a shadowless zard (instead of a regular unlimited one) that I got for basically nothing. Would get graded in the 4-6 range if I had to guess.

[artemis]

Purchased yesterday during Charizard community day for $30.

[r2d287]

I bought 4 no rarity zards. 2 psa graded 5s and 2 raw one is probably a 5 and the other a 6. All in the last 4 months. From different sources for the grand total of 3600$ give or take excluding shipping.

[sacari]

This post aged like fine wine

[noviate]

Apparently anything vintage purchased before 2020 was a steal of a deal!

[thatblastoiseguy]

^ basically everything has been a steal of a deal. Congrats @nickofturl ! I’m glad you managed to get the charizard last year.

10 years ago, I bought a suicune gold star for USD 35, which was quite abit of money for me already. As I flipped through the seller’s binder, I decided to YOLO and buy base unlimited charizard, blastoise, and venusaur for USD 30 total. I had to starve that week.