# Collectible Cards



## Cliff Booth (Apr 28, 2021)

I wrote a bit of a meandering OP within the quote below, but basically this thread is for anyone who wants to discuss physical, collectible cards. Awesome pulls, great sells, you name it. Anything that's printed on 2"x 4" cardstock and you want to brag or lament, I'd love to hear it.



> Many years ago, when malls were more of a thing and online shopping only existed as a glimmer in Jeff Bezos's eye, I remember my dad bribing me to behave while my mom shopped at adjacent department stores by buying me a cheap pack of sports cards from the mall hobby shop. I was only around eight years old at the time, but opening the pack and recognizing the athletes featured on the cards as the same guys I'd occasionally see on TV or on sports vidya rosters was absolutely magical.
> 
> I collected and sorted the cards and put them in binders and then stopped really giving a shit, so my parents likely sold them in a garage sale. A few years later, Pokemon cards happened. And again, I collected, sorted, became apathetic and rinse, repeat.
> 
> ...



Anyway, any other Kiwis fuck around with this shit? Not just sports cards, but Magic, Yugioh, Pokemon, you name it.


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## Kujo Jotaro (Apr 28, 2021)

PSA are a bunch of faggots, and need to ship me back all 10's or I'll be filing a lawsuit


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## Cliff Booth (Apr 28, 2021)

Kujo Jotaro said:


> PSA are a bunch of faggots, and need to ship me back all 10's or I'll be filing a lawsuit


Dude I checked PSA today and the way I was reading their pricing, they charge fucking $300 to grade ANY card now. Somebody please correct me.


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## Kujo Jotaro (Apr 28, 2021)

Ralph Cifaretto said:


> Dude I checked PSA today and the way I was reading their pricing, they charge fucking $300 to grade ANY card now. Somebody please correct me.


Here's an educational video about the PSA situation, but the TLDR is bassically that they shut down their normal grading service because they have a massive backlog of cards to grade. They're charging $300 a card because they're only accepting the high tier rarity or anyone willing to grade a common for $300, basically just trying to keep people from submitting. I submitted some cards back in the beginning of December and they've been stuck at the ID stage since January. Btw this dude is like the go to guy for pokemon card info if anyone cares.


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## Stoneheart (Apr 28, 2021)

No Rudy go away, we dont want your Magic pump and dump here!


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## Haywire (Apr 30, 2021)

Collectibles have been absolute Terry-Davis levels of crazy in the last year. I've been playing / hoarding MTG for ~20 years and it's reminiscent of when a financial bubble occurred. Prices have jumped 5-20x historic value for older cards, even useless ones, as long as they're nostalgic. Assuming since Americans were locked up in their houses and given handout checks, people were bored and picked up hobbies. PSA and other grading companies are struggling, cardboard card collection boxes have gone from $3/complementary for large buys to $20 and out of stock for months. 

I'm still trying to figure out if the bubble is collectibles, market memory trying to adjust with a huge influx of buyers & struggles selling, or if the bubble is the US dollar. Honestly  anyone's guess. The only absolute truth I can confidently share is WotC are all a bunch of cucks, and I hope Chaz/Chop/etc mostly peaceful protests their offices. The MTG community is mostly weirdos and freaks too, but there's smaller cliques that are fun.


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## Jeff Boomhauer (Apr 30, 2021)

My dad has become obsessed with selling his old cards on Mercari and Ebay. He calls and asks me if I've seen packs of a certain type of baseball card set every weekend.

I collected Pokemon cards a million years ago, until I realized that I didn't care for the game and only wanted the cool art, which is easily found online now.


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## Cliff Booth (Apr 30, 2021)

Haywire said:


> Collectibles have been absolute Terry-Davis levels of crazy in the last year. I've been playing / hoarding MTG for ~20 years and it's reminiscent of when a financial bubble occurred. Prices have jumped 5-20x historic value for older cards, even useless ones, as long as they're nostalgic. Assuming since Americans were locked up in their houses and given handout checks, people were bored and picked up hobbies. PSA and other grading companies are struggling, cardboard card collection boxes have gone from $3/complementary for large buys to $20 and out of stock for months.
> 
> I'm still trying to figure out if the bubble is collectibles, market memory trying to adjust with a huge influx of buyers & struggles selling, or if the bubble is the US dollar. Honestly  anyone's guess. The only absolute truth I can confidently share is WotC are all a bunch of cucks, and I hope Chaz/Chop/etc mostly peaceful protests their offices. The MTG community is mostly weirdos and freaks too, but there's smaller cliques that are fun.


It's fucking crazy man. $20 NBA retail boxes you used to easily be able to grab at your local Wal-Mart or Target are selling for $80+ on Ebay and card-specific sites.

I've heard some Big Lots have MTG and sports cards, but the one time I went to the one near me, all they had was an absolute fuckload of Pokemon packs. My local Walgreens has some Pokemon and MTG packs, but within the last two months or so they moved them all behind the counter.


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## Reshiram Battle.mp3 (Apr 30, 2021)

As a filthy collector casual who just wants to get shiny cardboard of my favorite pokemons, not every chase to grade and flip, how long will it be until pokemon tcg cards get... affordable? Less scalped to the point a 5 year old can't get one? What's the general consensus on the deadpool of investor hype for that?


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## Jeff Boomhauer (Apr 30, 2021)

Reshiram Battle.mp3 said:


> As a filthy collector casual who just wants to get shiny cardboard of my favorite pokemons, not every chase to grade and flip, how long will it be until pokemon tcg cards get... affordable? Less scalped to the point a 5 year old can't get one? What's the general consensus on the deadpool of investor hype for that?


You'll probably have a looooong time to wait, my friend. I'm seeing COMMON cards that I had 20 years ago selling for more than $5. There's no reason they should be more than what a normal pack today costs.


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## Cliff Booth (May 1, 2021)

HOLLA AT YA BOY! I sold a card for $1100 online and the best part is, I did it on the down-low via text message, so ebay can take their 11% and shove it right up their fucking asses.


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## wtfNeedSignUp (May 1, 2021)

I'd be more interested in hearing personal stories about the clusterfuck of the trading scene, especially the huge bubble in the 90's that nearly killed Marvel.


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## Kujo Jotaro (May 1, 2021)

Reshiram Battle.mp3 said:


> As a filthy collector casual who just wants to get shiny cardboard of my favorite pokemons, not every chase to grade and flip, how long will it be until pokemon tcg cards get... affordable? Less scalped to the point a 5 year old can't get one? What's the general consensus on the deadpool of investor hype for that?


Apparently the pokemon company is building new printing locations, and rumors say they could be reprinting booster boxes all the way back to evolutions.


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## Stoneheart (May 2, 2021)

wtfNeedSignUp said:


> I'd be more interested in hearing personal stories about the clusterfuck of the trading scene, especially the huge bubble in the 90's that nearly killed Marvel.


You can get all your Cardboard stories from mr floppy taco on youtube...  the channel is called alphainvestments and its a reality tv like show about a homeless guy wandering a basement full of cardboxes.


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## gigglemilk (May 2, 2021)

pokemon card prices seem to have exploded following logan paul's entry into that hobby and his videos.


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## Crisis Acting Instructor (May 2, 2021)

I've just sold a bunch of MTG including some reserved list stuff, a guy I know who's helping me (deals a lot) seems to think these prices will be stable for a while and likely go through additional spikes at some point in the future, but not for a while. He doesn't think it's a bubble, which I thought was interesting, since at least for Pokemon and sports cards I feel like everyone thinks it is. Maybe the difference with MTG is the reserved list.. Personally I'm thinking if you've made a good ROI on your MTG stuff, especially anything that can be reprinted, it's a good idea to sell now while folks are in a frenzy, especially for commander or constructed playables.


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## Kujo Jotaro (May 2, 2021)

gigglemilk said:


> pokemon card prices seem to have exploded following logan paul's entry into that hobby and his videos.


Yes they have, but really he just added an extra thrust to an already rapidly rising market


Crisis Acting Instructor said:


> I've just sold a bunch of MTG including some reserved list stuff, a guy I know who's helping me (deals a lot) seems to think these prices will be stable for a while and likely go through additional spikes at some point in the future, but not for a while. He doesn't think it's a bubble, which I thought was interesting, since at least for Pokemon and sports cards I feel like everyone thinks it is. Maybe the difference with MTG is the reserved list.. Personally I'm thinking if you've made a good ROI on your MTG stuff, especially anything that can be reprinted, it's a good idea to sell now while folks are in a frenzy, especially for commander or constructed playables.


The reserve list is a meme, and if any market has justification to be in a bubble it's mtg almost always. Unfortunately for magic players the value of the card has almost nothing to do with nostalgia, and almost everything to do with its playability. Wizards doesn't even need to make a carbon copy of a card, a new artwork or reprint with different boarders are enough to tank a cards value. Certain cards like alpha black lotus are unlikely to take a huge hit if reprinted especially if they're graded highly, but anything outside the power nine would most likely not hold its value if wizards ever reprinted it.

Contrast this with pokemon where large portions of the consumer base have never and will never actually play the game. Reprints #1 make little sense, #2 rarely happen, and #3 when they do happen are always easily distinguishable from the orginal to even a slightly trained eye. Also another point could be made that when they do reprint it's usually in service of the orginal card. Charizard being reprinted in evolutions only resulted in the base set regardless of condition or release(first, base set 2, unlimited, and shadowless variants) going up in price.

Old magic cards will always be worth something even if they have reprints, but the threat of reprints always puts their price on edge. They're always one wizards decision away from taking a 50% price cut.


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## TerminalTryHard (May 3, 2021)

Time to cash in my Blue Eyes White Dragon.


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## Jeff Boomhauer (May 3, 2021)

I have a friend who's a teacher, and she has jokingly scolded me for ever being into Pokemon cards because the fad apparently hasn't gone away. The school she teaches at will get them confiscated if they're ever seen at any time other than Recess, which was exactly what happened to me twenty years ago.


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## Alcatraz (May 3, 2021)

Please pray for me, because Toei/Shueisha announced a Dragon Ball TCG called... Dragon Ball Super Card Game. I thought "there's no way they'll announce a collectible series because we already have Dokkan Battle and Legends, two very prominent gacha"

Boy, was I wrong.  It's already booming, and they're holding a card tournament sometime this month.
What really gets me is that both Dokkan and Legends both have art styles that completely rip on DBSCG's art, which is self-admitted to come into two variants of the art. anime and CGI. CGI being lower quality models posted and rotated in various ways, and Anime being.... well, it looks exactly like the anime.

Problem is, when you've got something like


out on the digital market, the lackluster art tends to put a damper on things. I could print out this particular card art from Dokkan's fan run website, slap it on a card and just have something both unique and creative in my physical art collection. I already managed to escape Dragon Ball Heroes, I will not be suckered into this, too.


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## Boston Brand (May 6, 2021)

I have a cousin who collects the older Pokemon cards - the Wizards of the Coaat sets - and he and I are both amazed at the crazy spike in prices. Him as a buyer, me as someone who sees grown as men get into fistfights over box sets of new cards at Target that 2 years ago would have been collecting dust.

Like others, this has to be a massive bubble, but for how long? Fuck if I know. I do wonder if the older cards will collapse when it bursts... not like somebody is making any more of those after all.


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## Kujo Jotaro (May 6, 2021)

Boston Brand said:


> I have a cousin who collects the older Pokemon cards - the Wizards of the Coaat sets - and he and I are both amazed at the crazy spike in prices. Him as a buyer, me as someone who sees grown as men get into fistfights over box sets of new cards at Target that 2 years ago would have been collecting dust.
> 
> Like others, this has to be a massive bubble, but for how long? Fuck if I know. I do wonder if the older cards will collapse when it bursts... not like somebody is making any more of those after all.


Definitely a bubble for modern english, a massive one at that. Prices may never go all the way back down but they'll drop substantially. Old WOTC cards will probably drop as well, but probably not by a huge margin like modern English.


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## Boston Brand (May 6, 2021)

Kujo Jotaro said:


> Definitely a bubble for modern english, a massive one at that. Prices may never go all the way back down but they'll drop substantially. Old WOTC cards will probably drop as well, but probably not by a huge margin like modern English.



Any bets on how long that will take?


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## Kujo Jotaro (May 6, 2021)

Boston Brand said:


> Any bets on how long that will take?


For modern? Its already peaked for sure, at least for the foreseeable future. I sold a booster box I payed $80 two years ago for about $600 like 3 months ago now. The same box is selling for $100-150 less than that now consistently. It probably won't enter free fall until the new print facilities are up and running, but I'd expect a steady decline in modern English over the next 6-12 months. 

Old Wotc cards have also declined a bit since their peak a few months back, though if past experience proves pertinent those higher prices will be the standard a year or two from now. Right now the market is oversaturated with Wotc cards because everyone's trying to make a quick buck, but when the music stops the prices will drop a bit more. Probably never going back to pre 2020 prices though.


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## wtfNeedSignUp (May 7, 2021)

Boston Brand said:


> Any bets on how long that will take?


If journos already start writing articles about it then it's probably too late to gain anything by joining.


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## Quijibo69 (Jun 11, 2021)

This happened before in the early late 80's to early 90's. I remember after the craze about 92 or 93. Being a kid and buying boxes of Nintendo, Bill and Ted, Sports and any other novelty cards you can think of for a buck a piece. History repeats itself.


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## Thomas Highway (Jun 11, 2021)

As someone who has cashed in on past-spergery, this is an amazingly niche market.

Value might be assigned to a piece of spergery, but it does not mean you can easily get someone to pay the going rate. You will most likely sell at far lower than the market "value."


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## PaleTay (Jun 12, 2021)

I have a bunch of cards from various card games which are worth a couple hundred, the active card games seem to do reprints fairly often to tank the prices.

I had a bunch of Chaotic cards as a kid and those are expensive. A couple of mine go from 300-400, I see some going for up to 700 and some promos going for 2000. But that game was always expensive enough that it isn't crazy, for context most meta decks were probably around $1000 since the games launch if you were to buy singles and you were discouraged from buying singles due to scannable codes on the cards to play online.


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## Pissmaster (Jun 25, 2021)

Is there a go-to site to look up the value of all my ancient Pokemon cards?  I wanna know what I have that's worth the big bucks so I can feel smug and then never get around to selling it and then feel like shit when the bubble pops


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## IAmNotAlpharius (Jul 9, 2021)

Stoneheart said:


> No Rudy go away, we dont want your Magic pump and dump here!


Rudy is great. I love it when he’s pissed. He’s one of my favorite autists.


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## Traditional Tet (Sep 15, 2021)

Pissmaster said:


> Is there a go-to site to look up the value of all my ancient Pokemon cards?  I wanna know what I have that's worth the big bucks so I can feel smug and then never get around to selling it and then feel like shit when the bubble pops


I use https://www.pokecardvalues.co.uk/.
Intuitive UI, and has nearly every type of card. You can search quite easily using the card number \ edition \ trading set, and create a database based off that of cards you own or wish to own - with the prices varying based on quality.
It details how much your card is worth, with links to eBay (i.e. What price has your card at your quality sold for recently on average). I export the database to excel (a built in feature) for reference.
There's also visibility on your unique \ total card count, and what proportion of each set you own.

It's in £ though, which is good for me but perhaps not for others.


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## Gimmick Account (Sep 18, 2021)

Traditional Tet said:


> I use https://www.pokecardvalues.co.uk/.
> Intuitive UI, and has nearly every type of card. You can search quite easily using the card number \ edition \ trading set, and create a database based off that of cards you own or wish to own - with the prices varying based on quality.
> It details how much your card is worth, with links to eBay (i.e. What price has your card at your quality sold for recently on average). I export the database to excel (a built in feature) for reference.
> There's also visibility on your unique \ total card count, and what proportion of each set you own.
> ...


I could have gone to sleep but instead I am sorting through a couple of pokeyman starter boxes I've had on my shelf since, apparently, 1999. Thanks asshole


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## Traditional Tet (Sep 19, 2021)

Gimmick Account said:


> I could have gone to sleep but instead I am sorting through a couple of pokeyman starter boxes I've had on my shelf since, apparently, 1999. Thanks asshole


If they're unopened, pls think twice before opening. Unopened packs from that period can fetch big money... And if you do open, have a sleeve ready immediately for storage - any handling \ damage can knock off value.

Any time! Happy to help someone else waste their time (though, honestly, I view it as an interesting 'hobby'. As opposed to video games or staring at a digital screen which is bad for you).


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## The Lawgiver (Sep 20, 2021)

The pokemon card market is artificially inflated to shit and back. Last year or so it started but before that you could easily find the og ones for dirt cheap on ebay (unless they're charizard.) The fact its the standard ass mass produced ones fetching crazy prices and only from select few "approved" sellers and not the weird limited extremely event exclusive or promo cards like ancient mew or mecha mewtwo really shows how fake and gay all this is. I got a fuckload of the originals somewhere in my house in like a binder or drawer or some shit, hell I found 2 of the japanese versions they used to sell at hobby shops literally on a shelf I hadn't touched in years and I have np clue how in the fuck they ended up there. They look like they did way back in the day so I'm guessing wherever the fuck my others are they're also in similar condition. When i was a kid I mainly just got them for the cool art and shit the game wasn't fun to me back in the day compared to the actual video game. I had like 3 mewtwos and IIRC rarity wise he's the one just under charizard in terms of most rare which somehow made him dirt cheap in value because arbitrary "rarest card" prices inflated the charizard price.


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## Archeops (Sep 20, 2021)

I'm not a fan of reposting images but I feel it's worth doing here since it really shows how badly this trend is affecting the modern TCG scene. Note that ALL of the listings here are from ones that have either ended or have sold.


This is for a set that's coming out in couple of weeks and with preorders for said products being sold out EVERYWHERE and, like its previous holiday set, reprinted to heck and back. The only products that probably won't get reprinted are the Gigantamax Pikachu box (because lolfigure) and the Pokemon Center-exclusive Elite Trainer Box (Regular ETBs have historically only have had one printing session but Shining Fates has had multiple waves and the three most recent ones can be found for MSRP if you look carefully).

And here's one for a set that won't be released until _NOVEMBER_. The box prices are sadly the norm now but the ETB is a good $15 markup before shipping. It's worth noting that lots like these actually violate eBay's preorder policy (order has to be shipped in 30 days).

I actually prefer selling Pokemon TCG promo cards and accessories over the stuff from booster packs, you'd be surprised to see how much some sleeves (especially Japanese sleeves) and League promos will sell for.


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