The Giant English Market Thread

The only way they could go higher is if there’s a truly NM copy but those are extremely rare to appear, when they do they sell instantly close to their PSA 7-8 counterpart (which is a great deal).

Yea, i think people take advantage of the broad limits of what is considered to be ‘NM’ and charge closer to 9 prices for what are more likely 7-8 condition cards. I think this shows that there is still some immaturity in how the market values graded cards, relative to raw. Ive personally been enjoying this because it means I can purchase a graded NM card for cheaper than an ungraded NM card, which usually ends up being in better condition for me.

However, i also noticed that there was more liquidity than i expected in PSA 7 & 8 graded cards. I also think its dependent on the card; ive sold some vintage cards in this grade range that i managed to purchase for significantly less raw (base set, og ex).

I think more collectors are looking to offload sub-9 graded cards in their collection rather than to add in 2022. The major price dips this year have made PSA 9s and 10s more affordable and attractive. The pattern you’re seeing could be an indication of changing priorities for post-boom collectors.

Another point is that I’ve seen many 8s and 8.5s listed in large auction blocks (think Sunday auctions from Probstein, ZandGemporium, TCAGaming, PWCC, etc.). The larger the auction block, the more diluted each listing will become due to bidders’ attention drifting elsewhere.

All of this is speculation. Regardless, there are tons of deal to be had right now.

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I revently auctioned off a heap of wotc holo 8s and they achieved pretty much nm prices. Very few got a premium.

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Yup. I’m noticing that, too. This is very similar to what happened in 2017 and 2018 when PSA 9 1st Edition WOTC holos were selling for like $30-40.

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Crazy to think just 1 year ago anything in a plastic case sold for a massive premium. Now it’s back to 10 or bust for a very high % of the cards out there.

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Does seem that way. Though im not sure if id discount 9s at this point. Maybe someday but theres almost always at least a small bump for a 9 over a raw NM-MINT from what ive seen.

I should note that modern has already discarded 9s essentially and even raw buyers have told me if it’s not 9 quality its not worth buying even if they have 0 intention to grade ever

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Yeah 9s are kind of sitting in the middle right now. They are typically above raw NM-MINT prices, but when you factor in cost of acquisition/cost of grading/shipping/eBay fees, the profit to be had on them is minimal, at best.

There is a fantastic buying opportunity for WOTC 9s at the moment. Many of the holos that were going for $300-400 in 2020 and early 2021 are now sitting around $100-150 (some even less). And don’t even get me started on the 8s (which you already touched on).

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I have personally drastically changed my buying and selling strategy to include less graded stuff but when 9s are going for basically raw + grading fee and 8/8.5 are less than that total its hard to not buy graded stuff

Talking only about vintage stuff that is not in the gold star/base 1st ed tier obviously

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Agreed was looking at some 1st ed WOTC holo 9s not too long ago and many great cards are going for <$200. Its a great time for 9s.

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Didnt really want to create a thread for this but did people know you can see if items were paid for or not on HA auctions??

Just use the filter “not sold” - afaik its for cards that dont get paid or met reserve.

Speaking of HA…have they been incredibly slow to ship recently for anyone else? I’m normally very patient with this sort of stuff, but taking 2 months to ship is kind of ridiculous lol. I’ve had them take 2 weeks before, which is fine, but 2 months…
They’re not holding my items either – I’ve had them do that before, and they display a message on my account page.

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They are always so slow, but anything over a month is inexcusable. I won a video game recently and couldn’t believe it took 2 weeks to ship after payment. I feel bad when I can’t ship someone’s weekend order the next day! :upside_down_face:

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Guess which one was my listing :smiling_face_with_tear:

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Was surprised until I looked and saw that the top 2 were both BINs while yours was an auction. No longer surprised lol. Unless priced in line with recent auction comps, I’ve been almost exclusively buying via auction. An extreme example, but just a couple weeks ago I won a card for literally 1/5th what I was offering for it in my buy thread :sweat_smile:.

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Dude me too! Or sometimes it’s like late Friday when order is placed and post office closes at noon on Saturday for some weird reason. But I always ship the day after or the same day. I just hate when it times bad. But man I would have been blowing them up after a week plus

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Yeah, it was an experiment I won’t be returning to (for lower level demand cards at least). I knew it would go low but sheesh

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I have high demand cards at auction currently but with how everyone bids with 1 second remaining on sniper apps makes you quite nervous as a seller. I have 1st edition Light Dragonite PSA 9 at auction currently sitting at $60 or something crazy for example with 3 days left

Looks like it just jumped to $168 :wink:

I think on a card like that, in a 9, you’re going to get a lot closer to comps than my poor Pichu.

btw, your eBay link in your username is missing a 7!

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In contrast, though, your Ho-Oh is sitting at $480, which is just about what I won mine for not too long ago! I think if you’re going to auction off anything rn, you made good choices. All of those are top-tier cards. Will be bidding on a few of them :slight_smile:
Sorry to see you parting with them, though :frowning:

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