For many, including myself, hunting for the card is as enjoyable an experience as finally buying/owning it is. When you finally purchase the card, that story in your collecting journey has officially ended. Many people spend years chasing after that final card, waiting day by day for it to pop up on the market. Others save money each month for years to finally afford their goal.
Sometimes great sorrow accompanies success, and this juxtaposition is often due to feeling accomplished but also lost and mournful. For a real-world example, many university graduates experience post-graduation depression.
Selling raw cards is never going to be the same anymore after the 2020 boom.
It used to be so easy, just post a few good pictures and people buy the card, both are happy.
Nowdays everyone wants 1000 pictures from every angle expecting a PSA 10 worthy card although it is clearly listed as exellent or near mint and not mint. I’ve almost stopped offering raw cards completely because its simply not worth the hassle anymore.
I keep seeing this posted here and I just am not seeing the same from my end. We completely agree that gone are the good old days, but disagree on the reason (card prices and general atmosphere).
I’ve sold a lot of singles since 2020. Every single listing has a solid daylight light source (either direct sun or my little handheld light panel), with front and back pics on black background, and usually 1-3 extra pics highlighting flaws (holo condition, surface). Written accompaniment for flaws not clearly seen. Extremely transparent about precise condition.
Never once, not one single time, had an issue (relating to what you’re saying). Perhaps an upwards of 1500 sales since 2020. Always happy buyers because they know exactly what they are getting. I like to think I attract good buyers because my listing practices. I often have conversations with enthusiastic collectors who are excited to complete x goal or obtain y card. This goes for everything I sell on ebay regarding condition.
I certainly don’t mean to imply your listing practices aren’t good. On a separate note, I do know of some other people here who I frankly see as a little entitled when it comes to cardboard worth $20+ (hell even $10+ imo) and not feeling any need to accurately portray it so that buyers know what they are getting, and then proceed to hating on buyers for trying to ascertain condition. This last paragraph is not meant to be directed towards you. I want to make that clear. Nor am I conflating you with the people guilty of this who use the same argument. You could be genuinely providing great listings and having bad fortune and I would be sorry to hear that. But point is I disagree on this and have great results selling ungraded and getting happy buyers 100%.
I think you are right in many ways. You simply put in the effort now needed to sell raw cards.
I’m still “feeling” it should be as easy at is was, and I just can’t put in that amount of energy.
So I’m not saying selling raw cards is impossible. Its just not for me anymore and that’s a tough pill for me to swallow…
I’ve stopped selling raw cards on eBay. I sell raw cards regularly on TCGPlayer, but they’re almost always in NM or pack fresh condition and are more likely to be modern. Selling vintage singles can be a lot of extra work compared to scanning the front and back of a slab.
Many of the raw cards I have are WOTC holo cards, often 1st edition, in excellent condition.
Great binder copies, but I don’t think many people are doing those binders now.
I must also admit that I find it hard to sell them for the value that they have right now.
All in all I’m just beeing a bit of a little whining b*itch, haha.
A tough (and by no means new) pill for me is that many of the older metagames have run their course in terms of creativity, discovery and innovation. Every moveset, EV spread, tactic, strategy, every little trick. Most all have been examined, judged, cycled and recycled. They’ve remained as mainstays or had their moment in the sun, and variation to outflank opponents becomes a matter of adapting to shifts spurred from communal boredom and stagnation. Interest fluctuates as a result.
It just makes you feel old, especially as the most recent generation you enjoyed becomes older and older.
Yup! Heard from time to time sellers ranting online about taking tons of photos and videos for their buyer only for him/her to say “Pass”.
Had such similar buyers who requested for tons of photos of the card like they’re holding a public exhibition. I just simply told them, my photography skills is average, better see in real life!
Even when as a buyer myself, I do not ask for extra pics. Only make do with what the seller posted. Prefer to examine card in real life, bound to be blind spots the camera can’t capture.
To add, dreaming of owning or getting something can sometimes create an utopian image of it in your mind and then after obtaining it and facing the reality it can be disappointing since it doesn’t match your expectations of it. It’s easy to get sucked in dreams of perfection or that life will be complete and so much better after obtaining something.
The Pokemon autograph market is getting worse and more degenerate by the day. It’s such an unfortunate truth because receiving a signed card from an artist that you admire is an incredible feeling. It’s an actual “This is why we can’t have nice things” moment.
I’ve been doing signed memorabilia as long as pokemon and there isn’t another hobby that’s anywhere near as toxic as pokemon. Flippers get a lot of heat but an unpopular reality is pokemon/artists over sensitivity about second hand sales is just as bad. It’s one thing when someone abuses goodwill to get cards signed privately and then just dumps them. But getting upset with people selling a card from a signing they paid thousands to attend is insane. Arita has the healthiest model, and that should be the overall standard. It would eliminate many of the current issues surrounding autographs.
Well while we’re on the subject and in the appropriate thread of “tough pills to swallow”, I know that there’s a sentiment only said in whispers due to everyone’s concerns of being black listed, reproached, cancelled, and the like…
To an unnamed artist: There was a time when you weren’t able to raise funds for your personal projects and complained of depression/ suicidal thoughts. Being an artist is tough regardless of how talented you are and we can empathize. But what fanbase largely foot those bills and showed their support and encouragement? You received tens of thousands of dollars from POKEMON FANS and you were given ample exposure and financial support for your passion projects. All you had to do was show some kindness in return and feign moderate interest in fans of the Pokemon IP instead of treating them with contempt like second-rate citizens. Scribbling on cards at times while complaining on social media about upcoming and past events, not even giving half of the people who flew in to see you the time of day during their meet&greet signings, and complaining that your cards are “selling at lower prices” than some other artist is so petty and incredibly rude. Claiming that cards you KNOW are genuine/signed by yourself as FAKE after you collected money to sign them is immoral, unethical, and legally “grey”. Having the audacity to tell people that their cards should not be graded, authenticated, traded, sold, purchased, or valued monetarily is insulting and a direct assault on a revenue stream you’re happily partaking in. The minute you entered a literal signing circuit and put a price tag on your signature as a means of showcasing and selling your own merch is the minute you lost the right to tell people what they can and can’t do with said signatures. You didn’t sign it for free as a “memory”. You signed for a paycheck and wanted to be worshipped along the way.
Not everyone who buys a signed card is an “investor”.
Not everyone who sells a card is a " deplorable flipper"
There were and are plenty of great artists that showed appreciation and respect not only to their personal fans, but also to fans of the Pokemon IP. Guess what? They gained followers, appreciation, and respect in return. Their own intellectual properties have been reciprocated in direct support. Stop trying to gate-keep what is done with your art, signed or otherwise, after you have received compensation for it. Stop trying to leverage if you will or won’t continue to sign on the actions of people and things beyond your control.
IT IS TOXIC.
Charge what you think is acceptable and be a better person. Your art is appreciated. Your art might even be respected. But you are not ENTITLED to respect or appreciation as a person unless you earn it in your every day interactions with your fellow human beings.
I feel like this should just be common sense, but I guess it’s a tough pill to swallow and some people will disagree.
Has anyone spoken to him recently about his thoughts on this? My impression is that he’s just kind of “done” with it sentimentally and doesn’t really care about it for the most part. He is obviously more into his other work and is likely to see it as another form of advertising (please someone correct me if this is completely wrong). Other artists I would say are more sentimental about it and genuinely enjoy the experience in a lot of ways - I can’t say I blame anyone for not wanting to be reduced to dollar signs. They expend a lot of resources for travel, signage, time etc. that deserves to be compensated as well.
That is to say I don’t think that it’s necessarily fair to say that the flipping of signatures is just as bad as artists’ sensitivity over their sales. One doesn’t mind screwing over other people and blatantly rejecting an artists’ wishes. The other, for the most part, seems to genuinely enjoy the experience in knowing there’s a lot of fans that appreciate their art.
I also think there’s cultural aspects and values in play as well that we’re likely not considering. Sure, in the end, people can do whatever they want for the most part with their possessions. An artist can also feel however they want about that and there should be expected consequences if that feeling is negative.
I had gone to the signing event by Arita last month. He seemed super chill and very accomodating to the requests by people who were getting their cards signed. I think given his time in the hobby, he seems to have found a balance between catering to the needs of people wanting signed cards, promoting his own work and making money off it. He had a table which sold his own non-Pokemon works (books, tshirts, memorabilia etc) and even gave away signed event exclusive art copies to those who got their cards signed.
I think Arita’s IG will tell you a different story. I think his passion for Pokemon and the fans always come through by his posts and stories on IG. He always shares stories about people who are grateful about the art he does or the signings he has done.
I also feel strongly about this one. In case of Arita, I feel he seems to be more of a well travelled person by going to all these events. He gets to see and meet people who are not from a similar cultural background and this in my opinion can help broaden your outlook and make peace with the fact that different cultures view things differently, and probably respect means different for different people.
Also I think it is just letting go of things which will never be in your control, but this is easier said than done.
