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I would suggest giving other card shows a shot, especially local ones, to see if the atmosphere feels better for you. Personally, they aren’t quite for me because I deal with anxiety and the sheer number of options becomes overwhelming, which usually results in me only buying cards for my niece. While shows are great for finding cheap raw binder copies or giving a younger family member a fun experience as some sellers give kids great deals. I found out after my first show recently that the environment just isn’t for me. If you do go, I’d recommend avoiding vendors who deal mostly in sealed product since they are running a strict business and need to recoup high costs however, in reality, even people online expect trades or deals heavily in their favor. That is just the environment of today’s hobby compared to how it used to be, and I wouldn’t expect it to change.
I’m as cynical and grumpy as it comes, and quite often revel in how much everyone else is annoying and in the wrong all the time.
I also realise it’s very unhealthy to think that way and i need to live and let live or i’ll die by 50.
Card shows are filled with all the people under the sun, and in those intense, sometimes pressured environments - things can feel a lot more extreme and can spike emotions a lot more, especially when money is involved.
I agree, there are a lot of the “lolol Brokie doesn’t want my ETB or Mega Charizard” people around that have appeared recently, but y’know what - I’ve been around for years before them, and i’ll be around for years after. Give them the old ignore and go talk to someone who has more of your vibe. In fact it’s quite funny listening to them try and out-bro each other, and sell each other their mini-tins.
Things may be slightly easier for me as i don’t really care about opening packs, so the need to find sealed stuff isn’t high, i’d much rather pull 300 cards out of a binder 1 by 1 to try and find something i like in good condition.
ps. 6 7 skibidi toilet rizz
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I actually went to a card show today as well. I like to find the smaller sized local shows to attend. I only go there though to offload very cheap niche cards ($1 - $5 japanese promos/holos/exs). I don’t have the time or energy to try and sell them on my own and shipping would be terrible along with fees or possible return expenses since they are all raw and vary condition wise.
The higher the value on the cards, the more selective I am in choosing who I sell to.
When it comes to buying however, I’m 100% picky on who I want to give my money to. Most experinces I’ve had were decent, some less than ideal, but in the end if I’m buying a card from them and can work out a deal or do decent trades to where its acceptable for both parties involved, I’m happy to make a deal work!
If a vendor is surrounded by gambling games for packs/cards, I avoid them, if a vendor is doesn’t have any prices listed on their cards, I avoid them, if a vendor wont move closer to market price since they bought too high, I’ll avoid them.
If you set up some boundaries and rules for yourself before going to an event, its a way better experience. I usually try to go with one of my friends who just started collecting a few months back, so I’ve been having fun negotiating on his behalf. My best tip is find a solo vendor at a local show as they are likely just vending for fun and the experience.
The only thing that caught me off guard today was overhearing a guys deal go down, when they agreed on price, the buyer asked “the guard is real, not fake, right?” Then the seller didn’t know how to answer except by saying there is a name on the guard.
Other than that, I used to be highly against going to shows, but my opinion has softened now that I know how to navigate them.
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I went to my first card show early this year. Admittedly it was a local, but a lot of interstate tables showed up.
I expected high prices, I expected hustle.
And while I found some of that, overall it was great. Full of honest enthusiasts, prices negotiable and a relaxed, friendly and nice day.
I’ll go again. Cheer up mate, maybe your looking through the wrong pair of glasses?
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This is the best piece of advice for enjoying any hobby. There will always be folks that you disagree with or who rub you the wrong way; this does not make everyone or everything bad.
The key to sustained happiness from a hobby is to be picky: set reasonable boundaries and expectations, form rules of engagement, take a step back if you are not getting back what you are putting in. Eventually, you will find people and events that jive with your personality and match your expectations. Don’t let one bad experience make you catastrophize or overgeneralize.
Hope this helps!
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Thinking more about it, I think this happened because I went alone. I got bored and wasted 15 minutes talking to the 3 worst people in the room. I think I need to go with friends next time; I tend do stupid things sometimes when I’m bored.
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This thread was a great read
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We had a card show at the mall this weekend and the Pokemon vender I stopped at had people looking that were actual collectors and players-I didn’t get any hustlebro vibes. The only unfortunate part was nobody had cards in the languages I wanted. You def can’t group all the kids into the same bubble of MONEY YAAAA kids.
Maybe your show is much bigger and gets the investment crowd
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Smaller shows and LGS meet ups/trade nights/adult nights are the way to go. Much different atmosphere than the bigger shows and it feels like more genuine interest.
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@smpratte can we make a vert token that I can give out when someone uses brainrot correctly? Because THIS is not it…
Definitely give another card show a go!
I can very much empathise, I’ve been to two card shows myself. One was extremely chill, even if the prices were high occasionally everyone was polite, seemed to be having fun and just in general it was a pleasant overall experience.
At the other one I had people tell me to move so they could set up camera angles for their buyers POV videos, whilst im in the middle of looking through a binder. Vendors seemed to care more about talking to their cameras than their customers, and yeah, I got the ‘if the price is too high thats a you issue’ comment when literally just trying to negotiate what I thought was a fair price.
It is what it is man, it absolutely isn’t every vendor that is like this, but there of course will be bad apples and it sounds like you just ran into a few more than usual at this one specific show. I’d encourage you to dive in and head to another one soon 
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why are you trying to mog me
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Another thing one of the vendor’s friends said at the show is “everyone in this room got money. The game has changed since you were cracking packs, step it up or quit, lil bro.”
Translated: “get rich or find a new hobby”.
That sounds like something a person would only say if you’re haggling with them on price for too long
Most of the new vendor bros are quite happy to sell to noobs and pros as long as they gets paid
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I wasn’t. The vendor asked me if I’d ever watched NostalgiaNomics and I said “I think he went a bit too far with the way he treated certain people like Opossum and Kyra.” What the vendor’s friend said was about Opossum and Kyra, not about me.
I tend to go to my local shows quite often, but never been to a big regional show or anything. I can imagine those bigger shows are more chaotic.
But I will say, if I ever end up in a situation where a vendor is talking to me about something I’m not interested in talking about, I just do my best to not engage. “Uh huh, oh yeah, sure, yeah, okay” and leave the booth. Honestly you don’t even need to say anything if they’re being rude, just leave. You don’t owe anyone anything. In fact, they are especially dumb if they’re being rude because they are the ones who need your money to make buying the booth even worth it!
Luckily there’s only a few sketchy people at my local shows, most everyone else is cool and normal. Just don’t give rude people the time of day. They’re not worth your time and energy. That’s my recommendation for every occasion in life, not just card shows. There’s good people out there I promise. I personally love going to my local shows, chatting up good people, and looking at pretty cardboard.
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From what I have experienced from many many shows in Germany as a visitor and vendor, it still feels very honest, very authentic and very calm and I am more than happy about it. I did not leave a single show with a negative thought or feeling and I am very grateful for it. I don’t know the reasons why it differs (cultural, time in the hobby in Europe in general compared to US for instance or that not as much money is involved as is US shows it whatever it is) but it’s still very “real” from what I have seen.
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I haven’t been to a card show in 2 years. The prices a lot of the vendors sell at are extortionate and apart from a few the card shows themselves, they are dangerously overcrowded without much organization.
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