In Magic, there are stories of people attempting to buy out all of a specific card, to control the distribution and therefore the price. There have been common cards that all of a sudden shoot up in value because they are all bought up and slowly sold by one vendor. Thankfully this has not been an issue with Pokémon, but does anyone see this as a possible unethical investing method to be used in the future?
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This was already sort of done with the Art Academy cards. Only 1 person have every copy of the 100 printed.
People buying and holding cards is why the hobby is successful and enjoyable.
Look at the opposite example: the recent reprint of Roaring skies. That completely killed the set. A set that previously had a solid challenge to it became nothing overnight. That is what happens when you remove struggle, the chase is pointless.
I still to this day don’t understand the negativity that surrounds buyouts. The answer for me is simple: these are pieces of cardboard no one needs to survive. If someone chose to not buy a card, that is their choice. Even with buyouts being the most prevalent in mtg, every card is always available.
Also, people who genuinely like a card often buy multiple copies. I have so many blastoise, southern island and other cards I simply enjoy. Therefore buyouts aren’t always this insidious practice, sometimes its people organically buying what they enjoy.
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I was literally thinking about buying out a card this morning haha. So yeah it is a thing that does happen in Pokemon.
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Say I wanted to buyout all PSA 10 1st edition base Pidgey cards, how many of them would I have to buy for the market to react? There are also many avenues to obtain this card so just going on eBay and buying them all wouldn’t work.
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No…lol
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I did an in person ebay dropoff a couple of months back. We ended up having a 30 minute chat and talked about the hobby. Apparently he is a member but mostly lurks. I thought it was funny that he was complaining about @garyis2000, holding onto all of the shadowless Charizards.
I have thought many times about buying as many copies of one card that doesn’t have a big population to hopefully monopolize it. Few cards I’m looking at but I’m not sure yet. It definitely poses a big risk, and variety is the spice of life, but it can also pay off.
Let me show you a thread about the legendary beasts gold star cards:
www.elitefourum.com/t/mystery-of-the-entei-suicune-and-raikou-goldstars/13863/1
Though technically not a person trying to buyout every single copy. But a good example of one person holding an absurd amount of the same card(s).
I’m not very well informed on MTG, but from what I understand some of the older cards are both rare AND playable, therefore monopolising some cards may create issues with the game on a competitive level (?)
With Pokemon however this isn’t really an issue, old cards aren’t a part of the format; nor are they playable for the most part, so any buyout would only really affect the ability to own a piece of artwork and I wouldn’t really call that unethical (to a point we haven’t realistically reached yet).
I hoard Pikachus and old Carddass sets because I love them, for me they’re an extension of my love for the hobby, in the same way that other collectors do the same with different species they like. This can really reinforce your interest in the hobby and definitely increases the value of the cards as a whole.
Virtually every hoarder I’ve interacted with has been willing to help me and sold duplicates of their hoard, as far as insidious hoarding goes, well, comparatively its just not lucrative, there are so many other ways to fiendishly earn money (*cough* raffles *cough* shill-bids) so it’s not something I’d worry about personally.
I’m just curious on the ‘unethical’ side of the debate. Why is it considered unethical?
Monopolies were considered to be using price discrimination in an unethical way in two ways, eliminating competition by making the product unprofitable thus killing off competitors; something that isn’t possible in the secondary pokemon market because there’s too many collectors that your supply would run out.
The second unethical debate in price discrimination is it’s an attempt to raise the price past it’s normal price point, similar to the de beers and diamonds; I assume this is what you’re reffencing. The question is, in the secondary pokemon market is it really unethical to hold a collectable? I get that some people don’t like this because they feel some entitled need to think something they don’t own should somehow be available to them, but that doesn’t make the practice unethical. It might make it unfair, but unfair and unethical aren’t synonyms.
I’m curious to hear opposing opinions on this, not necessarily from just @mrmilk.
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@djgigabyte Dan made some solids points! To expand further, no one needs to buy anything in any hobby. I am currently collecting some vintage MTG sets which I started a couple years ago. Prices for a few cards have tripled, but that is entirely my fault for not picking them up earlier. Complaining that the price increase is due to buyouts is not only invalid, but purely entitlement to items no one needs to survive. The long term value will naturally rise for core cards, regardless of buyouts.
With Pokemon, the cards that could be “bought out” are already so rare that a buyout is negligible. Take any rare prize or trophy card. Whether one individual has a handful or multiple people have 1 is inconsequential. If anything very rare cards spread over multiple collectors have a lower probability of re-surfacing compared to someone “strategically” buying multiple to later sell.
Ultimately buyouts will naturally occur for a number of reasons. The negativity is more in relation to individuals entitlement for pieces of cardboard they do not own. Even in MTG, the prices for vintage MTG make complete sense for the rarity, history, market size, consumer income, etc.
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If I could afford it, I would definitely pick one of my favorite WOTC era cards to “buy out” or hoard.
Hahah I’m sure we don’t even know about half of what you have stashed away Gary. You probably have the year of 1999 itself locked away somewhere safe.
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[SPOILER: Click to show](javascript:void(0)
Click to revealThat’s exactly what a filthy flipper would say 
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Hello cullers,
I’d like to clarify my stance on cornering markets because I do not believe I explained myself well. If someone is genuinely interested in the hobby, I have no problem with them buying whatever they would like. However, I am not as big of a fan of people or companies with no genuine interest buying in to the Pokémon market simply treating it as purely a non emotional investment, like a stock. Its true that these are non essential items, so it is not comparable to the oil and steel barons, but Id rather these cards go into the hands of people that enjoy them.
Hope this helps!
I still don’t see the unethical side. Does it really matter the if the intent is collecting or investing. We’re all just people in this world, if someone wants to make a bunch of money it’s not my place to say no do it some other market, or that Pokémon is for ___ people only. At this point I’m challenging your world view in who’s allowed to do what, and why you think that you get to condone or condem them.
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lol my world view? Kind of an odd generalization tbh. No one can put an all powerful hand in the way of someone buying something. I’m just sitting behind a computer screen expressing my opinions. I have absolutely zero control on who buys what, but my stance is simply if two people (one a collector and one simply in it for money) are each willing to pay the exact same price for the same exact product, I’d rather see the collector end up with it because it will be appreciated. This isn’t some like some general political stance saying people should have emotional bids or whatever. If it came across like that my bad.
Your person preference = ethical, or do you agree that it’s not unethical? I’m under the impression that you’re talking ethics and saying your preference not being met is why something is unethical. If that’s not the case let me know.
That’s why I made the challenge world view statement.
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I think the ethics are really dependent on your own moral philosophy. But I can’t really see a moral argument against buyouts that doesn’t also necessarily imply that capitalism itself is also evil. In principle, buyouts just exploit an inefficiency in the market (i.e. opportunity) to make money. That’s the premise that underlines capitalism.
I get that people might view it as unsavory though since someone is exploiting your emotional connection to something for profit. I think the word “unfair” that @cullers used is the more accurate description. Unfair in the same way that wealth inequality provides more advantages to some people over others.
If anyone is interested in this topic, I recommend looking up the arguments for and against ticket scalping since it’s essentially the same practice.
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I have yet to meet these “investors” who have 0 interest in the hobby. It doesn’t make sense that someone with millions of dollars who could easily purchase real estate, a company, a percentage of a company that would pay them in perpetuity, would be like, hang on, let me just impulsively start buying pokemon cards for no reason.
The reason why collectibles increase is because of interest. Whether you tuck your cards into bed at night or not is irrelevant. You need some level of interest to understand the fundamentals in hobbies. Every high end buyer I interact with loves the chase of Pokemon. They are simply also aware of the investing aspect, because people can do multiple things for multiple reasons. Also those “investor buyers” are risking a ton of money that most people who “care” about the hobby are unwilling to pay.
Pokemon isn’t structured for buyouts like MTG. Outside of the highest end, which already is not consistently available, there isn’t a massive opportunity to blindly buyout cards for quick magic money. Even in the most ideal scenario of being first to market, you still don’t realize substantial profit for years. In those years of nothing, you can make money in real estate, stocks, bonds, etc. That is what people who have no interest in Pokemon are doing; because they have no interest in Pokemon, and there isn’t blind opportunity in this hobby to easily access.
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