As the title says! I mean when shopping online. I used to use Facebook marketplace and eBay but now only Mercari given I’m in Japan. As I’ve been looking to expand my collection a little more I have been considering looking at more auction sites for big hitters (PWCC, Heritage, Goldin, etc) but really no idea where to start here!
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I use eBay, PWCC, Goldin, Heritage, and in-person events
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For slabs, mainly eBay and PWCC. I honestly should pay more attention to Goldin and Heritage as well, but I’ve slowed down my slab purchases a bit the past while after completing some collecting goals.
For raw singles, usually eBay or TCGplayer. I’ve also gotten some great deals from Dave & Adams and Troll And Toad as well. I also buy from LGSs and search all over the place at times for certain cards. Sometimes you can find some great deals outside of eBay that have a lot less exposure.
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Ebay. And from Eeveeteam. Mostly the latter these days honestly.
Ditto
Also if you’re going PSA. Check for hi res scans. Check the cert. check the case. What I do like about eBay now is they send your card if it’s a PSA card to PSA it’s self to verify it. Helps with peace of mind.
This is really cool, didn’t know they did that. Is it for all PSA cards and just .com?
I think all graded cards that say authenticity guarantee
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I’m in Europe: ebay, cardmarket, more rarely local market in person.
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Mercari JP for most of my buying. I also use Yahoo JP but due to the website ban in EU it gets hard to navigate sometimes. So only bid on auctions that seem worth wile to me.
Cheers!
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I usually buy my cards from card shops or online.
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LGS, ebay. No longer local marketplace like facebook or offer up. AND if I see something at an in-person event.
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Do you get hit a lot in taxes? Looking to buy from JPN more directly. Based in Spain!
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Yuyutei via Buyee for newer JP singles, Mercari/YHJ via Buyee for obscure JP pickups, eBay USA for everything else
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graded singles / vintage raw
eBay, pwcc
modern raw singles
tcgplayer, trollntoad, eBay, cardmarket
modern promo boxes sometimes I’ll use stockx, pokémoncenter, retail
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Short answer : Yes.
Long answer: Well it’s just another pain point of being in the hobby from EU. The only good thing is that I can consolidate my purchases to one shipment package via my middleman so I don’t have a bunch of packs coming through.
Other than that, I have slowed down and really look hard while making purchases, I always stick to my collection goals and have stopped all purchases which don’t add to it. I also try to find sellers who have multiple cards which I am interested in and send them a message to bundle them all together and also negotiate for a reduced price for the whole bundle. It works most of the times and the sellers are happy to oblige. I also choose the lowest option from my middleman shipping and insurance, which is no insurance + no checks when the package arrives from the sellers to my middleman. So I am trusting the seller to do a good job and ship correct card and ship it well, which makes me a part time gambler.
Lastly, I don’t grade cards. I am a binder collector. All of the money saved goes just to buy more cards, where there is no choice but to pay up the taxes. Apologies for the rant but I have stated this before, unfortunately EU is not a hobby friendly place if you are interested in collecting Pokemon cards.
Cheers!
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Couldn`t agree more to you…Cheers from Hamburg!
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I really feel your pain. Years ago I used to always ask sellers to ship with Japan Post, because there was a 30-40% of getting things sneaking through sloppy Italian customs without any fees. But having 200€ of cards lost for months without tracking is no funny business lol, true gambler approach,
Also why can’t we have an European PWCC 
It seems like the pokemon hobby never left its infancy state here.
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I use eBay 99.9 percent of the time.
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I used to buy alot locally, about 50/50 with ebay before the big 2020 boom. Now it’s primarily ebay.
I still sell alot locally though which is nice.
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