What do you feel is lacking in the hobby?

[pfm]

Instead of more how about less?
Less instagram and the culture that comes with it.

[austonmatthews]

Being new to the Pokemon game my number 1 issue so far has been communication… although, that being said the people I have dealt with and completed transactions with have been phenomenal… but there has been a few sour apples along the way

There are a lot of sour business transactions due to just a lack of communication/friendliness/lack of negotiation

I’ve gotten a lot of rude replies, just because I’ve engaged in negotiations for a particular card

[silentoaths]

@pfm

Instead of more how about less?
Less instagram and the culture that comes with it.

I can agree with this in alot of ways (raffles, scammers, and general hate comments). I must say though, some of the best deals I have ever got have been off Instagram though.

[pfm]

@silentoaths

@pfm

Instead of more how about less?
Less instagram and the culture that comes with it.

I can agree with this in alot of ways (raffles, scammers, and general hate comments). I must say though, some of the best deals I have ever got have been off Instagram though.

With instagram it just feels like a battle of egos to see who has the biggest Poké-cock. Too much immaturity, I find it difficult to really connect with people there. The E4 forum and Discord on the other hand feel like the complete opposite. I’m thankful to smpratte and all the older members for building this community. I probably wouldn’t be into collecting as much if it wasn’t for this place.

That’s been my own experience at least.

[smpratte]

@pfm

@silentoaths

I can agree with this in alot of ways (raffles, scammers, and general hate comments). I must say though, some of the best deals I have ever got have been off Instagram though.

With instagram it just feels like a battle of egos to see who has the biggest Poké-cock. Too much immaturity, I find it difficult to really connect with people there. The E4 forum and Discord on the other hand feel like the complete opposite. I’m thankful to smpratte and all the older members for building this community. I probably wouldn’t be into collecting as much if it wasn’t for this place.

That’s been my own experience at least.

[KingPokemon]

@Alec

@poken00b88

That’s a valid complaint as I’m fully against this sort of practice from sellers. However, saying you can’t pay 3-4% extra is a bit silly…

I completely agree, and I definitely would pay the extra percentage if it weren’t just blatantly against PayPal’s terms. It’s really not about the money since in 90% of these cases, it’s really not that much, but I can’t adhere to their terms and pay the fee at same time.

Alec, what is the reason sellers want that?

[Troy]

@pfm

@silentoaths

I can agree with this in alot of ways (raffles, scammers, and general hate comments). I must say though, some of the best deals I have ever got have been off Instagram though.

With instagram it just feels like a battle of egos to see who has the biggest Poké-cock. Too much immaturity, I find it difficult to really connect with people there. The E4 forum and Discord on the other hand feel like the complete opposite. I’m thankful to smpratte and all the older members for building this community. I probably wouldn’t be into collecting as much if it wasn’t for this place.

That’s been my own experience at least.

Word. This community we have is truly something to be thankful for. I got back into the game from YouTube hype channels and Instagram and Reddit… until I found Scott. I follow some members on here on Instagram and a couple of others, but I largely cut out most of the original pages I followed. The community here is so fulfilling and free of bullshit. I see people that I believe to be malicious on my Instagram Explore page and I’m very thankful to have this site as a benchmark for who to trust and how to appreciate the hobby. The people on Reddit mean well but they are horrifically uninformed at times when it comes to grading and card value. I had a guy the other day tell me that Steam Siege was worth picking up now at its abysmal price because “Legendary Collection had a meteoric rise and it used to be cheap.” Even at times when I don’t care to search eBay like a fiend for deals, I’m on this site. I don’t have even half as many posts as some members who have been here half as long as me, but I am always on this site because it’s so great.

So if this question came up and this community did not exist, I might answer a community like this is what we are missing.

My actual answer would be >>>ENGLISH LIMITED PROMO CARDS<<<. Like seriously what the fuck have they been doing recently? You look at Japan and see these beautiful unique cards with limited releases every month. Here, we have nothing. Honestly, they are in the negative for this sort of thing… nothing is sacred. Even cards like Lele that have value right now are just reprinted and sent out. The second hand market gets shit on time after time for the modern cards. I am so thankful the WotC era is separate from the Pokemon company because I truly believe they would mass release some old school cards if they realized how much money they could make…

[kkthxbai]

I don’t like talking crap about things. But I guess buyers scamming sellers on eBay and PayPal.

There is alot of people who claim condition wasn’t as stated. And the buyer always wins… no matter what. Seller has no protection really online.

Mail theft, and scammers all around.

[budget]

@Troy

@pfm

With instagram it just feels like a battle of egos to see who has the biggest Poké-cock. Too much immaturity, I find it difficult to really connect with people there. The E4 forum and Discord on the other hand feel like the complete opposite. I’m thankful to smpratte and all the older members for building this community. I probably wouldn’t be into collecting as much if it wasn’t for this place.

That’s been my own experience at least.

Word. This community we have is truly something to be thankful for. I got back into the game from YouTube hype channels and Instagram and Reddit… until I found Scott. I follow some members on here on Instagram and a couple of others, but I largely cut out most of the original pages I followed. The community here is so fulfilling and free of bullshit. I see people that I believe to be malicious on my Instagram Explore page and I’m very thankful to have this site as a benchmark for who to trust and how to appreciate the hobby. The people on Reddit mean well but they are horrifically uninformed at times when it comes to grading and card value. I had a guy the other day tell me that Steam Siege was worth picking up now at its abysmal price because “Legendary Collection had a meteoric rise and it used to be cheap.” Even at times when I don’t care to search eBay like a fiend for deals, I’m on this site. I don’t have even half as many posts as some members who have been here half as long as me, but I am always on this site because it’s so great.

So if this question came up and this community did not exist, I might answer a community like this is what we are missing.

My actual answer would be >>>ENGLISH LIMITED PROMO CARDS<<<. Like seriously what the fuck have they been doing recently? You look at Japan and see these beautiful unique cards with limited releases every month. Here, we have nothing. Honestly, they are in the negative for this sort of thing… nothing is sacred**. Even cards like Lele that have value right now are just reprinted and sent out. The second hand market gets shit on time after time for the modern cards.** I am so thankful the WotC era is separate from the Pokemon company because I truly believe they would mass release some old school cards if they realized how much money they could make…

Lele is a relevant card they reprinted to keep it legal for longer. This type of reprint is good for the game, it had already been $30+ for a year and a half.

No TCG in existence doesn’t crush the value of cards, it was going to happen through set rotation, bans or reprints.

And lmao at that steam siege guy.

I definitely feel there’s a tendency to throw money at anything Pokemon related… it’s not uncommon for people with larger budgets to not have a grasp of what they’re buying as well. E.g.: people buying empty boxes and decks, people overpaying for cards which aren’t necessarily rare, trying to stockpile modern product, etc.

[TCAGaming]

@smpratte

Great topic @pokenoob ! Here are a few that come to mind:

• Pokemon US could cater more towards collectors. The japanese side already does, and it’s clearly successful. People literally book flights to primarily shop at pokemon centers and collect in Japan.

• Ebay needs to balance out their system. Literal scammers and fake card sellers are consistently selling, yet they ban one of the most upstanding sellers (@thecharizardauthorty ) for a week. Let that sink in; actual scammers selling fake product are fine, and ##### Rusty is banned for a week. I feel like I am taking crazy pills.

• PSA still needs to take Pokemon more seriously. This includes being more aware of values. Increased value (monetary) = increased value (psa quality).

In general the collecting community is much larger today and better than ever! It is better to have more people collecting what they enjoy with flaws than less collectors in a “pure” utopia.

When I talked to a rep at ebay he told me that they encourage sellers to have other platforms to sell on, but in no way can it be mentioned in an ebay message. It is like taboo. The guy I was banned for was asking about a fossil uncut sheet from a Tapu Lele listing. It was not on an item listed through ebay. Most of the conversations about off-site sales I have start off site, but people message me through ebay as that is where I try to direct everything so I am not running around 8 different places trying to answer questions. Usually I am happy to pay the ebay fee for an item already listed rather than make an invoice. It gives the buyer a sense of security as well.

For 7 days right before a set release I can’t list, make purchases, or even make inquiries on ebay. I can only respond to past sales and ship items from where watchers still make purchases on the hidden items in my shop. The rep and email I received stated there were other warning emails, but they never came to my inbox. I have seen those little flagged messages when you mention “email” or “paypal invoice” through their messaging system, but the restriction email was the first I had gotten. It definitely makes me think twice about directing sales to ebay from Youtube, FB, Instagram, my website, emails, and even my sig here.

As for the topic, I would love to see authentication and encapsulation services for sealed boxes, even theme decks. Grading would be a nice bonus.

I think it would be a great way to preserve sealed product for both maintaining condition and as a deterrent from opening up what product there is left. To me, it makes sense to preserve the most original state of something. I just sent in some black star promos under “pack” grading so that they could be left sealed for the grading process. It is quite a bit more to pay, but at least the original seal is still there.

Secondly - a Pokemon museum. Ever since Persin said he was going to open one, it has been in the back on my mind. I would breathe a little easier when letting go of unique items, if I knew they were going to a museum to be displayed in a collective work of history. Pokemon has such a wide variety of collectors, I think a Pokemon museum could really be made into something special. There could be like a rotation of collections that are brought in to showcase for say a week at a time. Instead of the museum buying the collections, the would collector showcase it for a week or so then take it back with them. This way they keep on collecting and it would bring new people and items in. How cool would it be for both the collector and the person viewing to see those collections of Jumbos, voltorb/electrode, gray stamps, energy, and all the other stuff that is collected? It would not have to be the best of the best. There are so many different types of collectors in Pokemon it could be a way to celebrate that. There would still be the museum itself but that is just an idea to keep it fresh and not something you went to once and you saw everything.

[duceee2]

@TCAGaming

@smpratte

Great topic @pokenoob ! Here are a few that come to mind:

• Pokemon US could cater more towards collectors. The japanese side already does, and it’s clearly successful. People literally book flights to primarily shop at pokemon centers and collect in Japan.

• Ebay needs to balance out their system. Literal scammers and fake card sellers are consistently selling, yet they ban one of the most upstanding sellers (@TCAGaming ) for a week. Let that sink in; actual scammers selling fake product are fine, and ##### Rusty is banned for a week. I feel like I am taking crazy pills.

• PSA still needs to take Pokemon more seriously. This includes being more aware of values. Increased value (monetary) = increased value (psa quality).

In general the collecting community is much larger today and better than ever! It is better to have more people collecting what they enjoy with flaws than less collectors in a “pure” utopia.

When I talked to a rep at ebay he told me that they encourage sellers to have other platforms to sell on, but in no way can it be mentioned in an ebay message. It is like taboo. The guy I was banned for was asking about a fossil uncut sheet from a Tapu Lele listing. It was not on an item listed through ebay. Most of the conversations about off-site sales I have start off site, but people message me through ebay as that is where I try to direct everything so I am not running around 8 different places trying to answer questions. Usually I am happy to pay the ebay fee for an item already listed rather than make an invoice. It gives the buyer a sense of security as well.

For 7 days right before a set release I can’t list, make purchases, or even make inquiries on ebay. I can only respond to past sales and ship items from where watchers still make purchases on the hidden items in my shop. The rep and email I received stated there were other warning emails, but they never came to my inbox. I have seen those little flagged messages when you mention “email” or “paypal invoice” through their messaging system, but the restriction email was the first I had gotten. It definitely makes me think twice about directing sales to ebay from Youtube, FB, Instagram, my website, emails, and even my sig here.

As for the topic, I would love to see authentication and encapsulation services for sealed boxes, even theme decks. Grading would be a nice bonus.

I think it would be a great way to preserve sealed product for both maintaining condition and as a deterrent from opening up what product there is left. To me, it makes sense to preserve the most original state of something. I just sent in some black star promos under “pack” grading so that they could be left sealed for the grading process. It is quite a bit more to pay, but at least the original seal is still there.

Secondly - a Pokemon museum. Ever since Persin said he was going to open one, it has been in the back on my mind. I would breathe a little easier when letting go of unique items, if I knew they were going to a museum to be displayed in a collective work of history. Pokemon has such a wide variety of collectors, I think a Pokemon museum could really be made into something special. There could be like a rotation of collections that are brought in to showcase for say a week at a time. Instead of the museum buying the collections, the would collector showcase it for a week or so then take it back with them. This way they keep on collecting and it would bring new people and items in. How cool would it be for both the collector and the person viewing to see those collections of Jumbos, voltorb/electrode, gray stamps, energy, and all the other stuff that is collected? It would not have to be the best of the best. There are so many different types of collectors in Pokemon it could be a way to celebrate that. There would still be the museum itself but that is just an idea to keep it fresh and not something you went to once and you saw everything.

i know it sucks dick but why dont you use another ebay account for the 7 days so you dont miss out on the set release ?

[TCAGaming]

Ebay was able to detect this sort of route almost a decade ago so surely they can still now. I would rather not risk my ebay account over a few days. There is plenty of sorting I can do and other places I can sell until the restriction has passed.

[churlocker]

I think the biggest thing holding back the hobby is Pokemon’s aggressive legal team.

In every other hobby, people are encouraged by the company to positively engage with the brand. You have print and digital media centered around the hobby. You have conventions that encourage the buying and selling of the goods. People are allowed to start their own sub-communities without fear of litigation.

Pokemon, on the other hand, sues charity events. That’s how wide the disparity is between what other hobby communities enjoy and what Pokemon does. When everyone else is investing in streaming, Pokemon eliminates its streaming. Pokemon has reduced its budget for live events so much that they offer one TENTH of what Dragon Ball Super offers. A game that literally just came out is offering more per head to run events than Pokemon. What a joke.

Pokemon’s protectionist intellectual property approach is anti-community and anti-gaming. If Pokemon ever fizzles, it will be because the community got tired of trying to have fun and being smacked down by an IP giant who sees the product as the end game and not a part of the communal equation.

[jcincy101]

@churlocker

I think the biggest thing holding back the hobby is Pokemon’s aggressive legal team.

In every other hobby, people are encouraged by the company to positively engage with the brand. You have print and digital media centered around the hobby. You have conventions that encourage the buying and selling of the goods. People are allowed to start their own sub-communities without fear of litigation.

Pokemon, on the other hand, sues charity events. That’s how wide the disparity is between what other hobby communities enjoy and what Pokemon does. When everyone else is investing in streaming, Pokemon eliminates its streaming. Pokemon has reduced its budget for live events so much that they offer one TENTH of what Dragon Ball Super offers. A game that literally just came out is offering more per head to run events than Pokemon. What a joke.

Pokemon’s protectionist intellectual property approach is anti-community and anti-gaming. If Pokemon ever fizzles, it will be because the community got tired of trying to have fun and being smacked down by an IP giant who sees the product as the end game and not a part of the communal equation.

Yes, and I believe that is Nintendo wide thing, be it Pokemon, Mario, Zelda all have that locked down IP protection.

[pokemontrader]

No real conventions for Pokemon fans outside of Worlds. There is a need in my opinion for a convention that isn’t a regionals tournament where people can come together to just enjoy pokemon

[zacheggers]

@pokemontrader

No real conventions for Pokemon fans outside of Worlds. There is a need in my opinion for a convention that isn’t a regionals tournament where people can come together to just enjoy pokemon

I agree! Something for us collectors/efour members would be nice. A while back I made a thread called “pokeauction” with similar thoughts.

[smpratte]

@pokemontrader

No real conventions for Pokemon fans outside of Worlds. There is a need in my opinion for a convention that isn’t a regionals tournament where people can come together to just enjoy pokemon

I am seriously kicking around the idea of an E4 meet up/event.

However The two main risks are:

1. Pokemon being a legal SJW. They have shut down negligible events that don’t generate profit.

2. Collector commitment. I will gauge Worlds this year to get a better impression on who will actually commit to an event.

Outside of those factors, it’s doable today!

[Mike]

@pokemontrader

No real conventions for Pokemon fans outside of Worlds. There is a need in my opinion for a convention that isn’t a regionals tournament where people can come together to just enjoy pokemon

Couldn’t agree more. Even at Comic con where I was hoping to see a decent Pokemon presence, besides the one or two small-shop vendors selling cards on the side, it didn’t really feel like much. Companies for Magic, DBZ, Final Fantasy, and Yu-Gi-Oh literally all had tables set up specifically for people to buy and play their card game but nothing official from the Pokemon TCG.

[poken00b88]

@churlocker

I think the biggest thing holding back the hobby is Pokemon’s aggressive legal team.

In every other hobby, people are encouraged by the company to positively engage with the brand. You have print and digital media centered around the hobby. You have conventions that encourage the buying and selling of the goods. People are allowed to start their own sub-communities without fear of litigation.

Pokemon, on the other hand, sues charity events. That’s how wide the disparity is between what other hobby communities enjoy and what Pokemon does. When everyone else is investing in streaming, Pokemon eliminates its streaming. Pokemon has reduced its budget for live events so much that they offer one TENTH of what Dragon Ball Super offers. A game that literally just came out is offering more per head to run events than Pokemon. What a joke.

Pokemon’s protectionist intellectual property approach is anti-community and anti-gaming. If Pokemon ever fizzles, it will be because the community got tired of trying to have fun and being smacked down by an IP giant who sees the product as the end game and not a part of the communal equation.

I remember a fan they sued over throwing an unofficial party before PAX a couple years back… yet they don’t seem to do anything about fake/custom cards.
I love Nintendo and Pokemon, but they’re definitely not the most consumer friendly companies out there.

[Troy]

@smpratte

@pokemontrader

No real conventions for Pokemon fans outside of Worlds. There is a need in my opinion for a convention that isn’t a regionals tournament where people can come together to just enjoy pokemon

I am seriously kicking around the idea of an E4 meet up/event.

However The two main risks are:

1. Pokemon being a legal SJW. They have shut down negligible events that don’t generate profit.

2. Collector commitment. I will gauge Worlds this year to get a better impression on who will actually commit to an event.

Outside of those factors, it’s doable today!

That sounds like a great idea, at least on paper. Location is obviously an issue, as it can be hard to justify traveling across oceans. Even US and Canada residents can be limited on how far they could travel. I, for example, could only make it to Philly or New York pretty much right now. It does sound really interesting, though.