Pokemon cards also saw explosive growth in 2020. It's actually nowhere near as bad now as it was then. Investing/ speculating in Pokemon is not new at all, maybe there was some migration from other collectibles, but Pokemon cards have been going crazy for years now. I personally collect because I grew up loving Pokemon, collecting cards and playing the games. I get a lot of joy from looking at my binders, but I would be inclined to agree that the engagement you can have with them isn't as deep as say video games, or comics (which I also collect). Not sure if that means anything for investment risk though, as one could argue that you can read Amazing Fantasy 15 in a $15 trade paperback in high quality, or emulate/ R4 your favourite games for free. All three have something physically special that necessitates collecting them!
You had a keen observation. Alpha investments is a youtuber/card seller and warned about the pokemon pop off about 6 months ago. Apparently he's seeing all kinds of new buyers trying to venture into pokemon cards now.
When people are buying quantities of 50 or 100 of same item, they are scalpers. Speculators usually are those that buy and hold in hopes of seeing prices appreciate.
I used to collect Baseball cards back in the day and really got out of it mainly because dealers started being scammy and really just owning a piece of cardboard and it sits there and really does nothing became very unappealing. I will continue to collect and play retro games because I can’t explain it but the warm fuzzy feeling I get when finding and getting to play a game I grew up on or even better playing one I might have missed is awesome. Plus for the most part the Retro gaming community is absolutely awesome I’ll see a person wearing a Nintendo shirt and say something and boom instant conversation or go to a show and see a bunch of people who share my love for gaming and it really is a community. Pokemon card guys seem kind of hardcore. People fighting over cards at Costco or Walmart isn’t the scene I want to be a part of
The ones fighting over pokemon cards at Costco are not collectors they are scalpers and resellers. Pokemon fans are not "hardcore" but scalpers who see value in pokemon cards are
Soon Phoenix Resell and Chase after the right price are about to dive into the world of Pokémon cards, and it’s going to be interesting to see. When you notice these gaming resellers shifting their focus, it’s clear they’re more about profit than supporting the community. With comic book sales plummeting and video game products being bulkier to handle, Pokémon cards are a compact option that allows for more inventory at conventions. It’s no surprise that this market is on the rise, especially with Gamestop now providing Pokémon grading services.
I used to work for the biggest Magic the Gathering seller on eBay. Many of the dealers of Magic were also Pokemon dealers or they were friends and had business connections to the big players in Pokemon. If Phoenix or Chase got into Pokemon they could do business in that space but they wouldn’t really be noticed. The big players in the TCGs are multi-millionaires liquid. It’s a whole other world than video game resale.
Chase has always bought and sold cards. He just shifted his UA-cam to gaming. But he’s heavy and always been heavy into cards sales. I don’t know if he took those vids down but back in 2019 or so he had card vids
A big UA-camr yesterday interviewed a video game store owner who literally did this. 😆 It was funny because the original video he was crying about how hard running a video game story was and now he's a big shot. Hopefully the market doesn't crash out from under him...
Theyre gonna be in for a rude awakening when anyone not called WOTC will usually keep printing most sets till they rot on shelves and the market for super high end stuff is basically such a tiny faction of what moves and generates money. Especially when tcgs are a different beast to games where the bottom floor tcgs is pennies compared to a handful of dollars for games
Very well said at the end, I can't really get into pokemon cards because the most you can really do with them by yourself is just look at them, you look at them then put them back in your binder, it's just a thin piece of cardboard. Unlike retro videogames where you can play it as much as you want on your own, and it's a lot easier to display.
I had two yes two original charzards! I have no freaking clue what I did with that old binder; it be worth my weight in gold now! Mom prob through it out when I left for school. Dang.
Not sure honestly. Hit titles are still either holding up with their high pricing or going higher in price. Silent Hill 3 is still going up in price having recently sold for $260 (CIB). It depends on the titles really. Speculators are out there. Heritage Auctions just did a massive video game auction yesterday and as far as I could tell games were selling for good expectedly good prices with some rare titles fetching over $400 (ICO playstation 2 for example). Pokemon is a big deal and speculators are flocking to it but I do not see that as an abandonment of speculating on video games. That fad / craze revolves around set releases anyhow and they don't release sets every week.
It’s influencers hyping up Pokémon cards, collecting, reselling. Lot of FOMO driving the hype and the sales. Logan Paul for awhile was one of the main culprits. I myself have met Magic: The Gathering players, but never the Pokemon TCG.
You are describing "liquidity". A similar thing has been said about money flowing from gold to bitcoin. Then now from bitcoin to secondary cryptos and meme coins. Ultimately if you think the pool of money out there is big enough then it will support many different investments / collectibles. But tastes and values do change. Therefore money will flow to the next big thing.
Yea I don't get it either. I feel like Pokemon is even more popular now than we were kids, and no one is playing it. It must just be like gambling for them. Trying to see if they pull a hype card. My kids do that. They ask for pokemon packs then want me to watch them open it to see if they get a good card. These boys don't play pokemon.
Pokemon cards also saw explosive growth in 2020. It's actually nowhere near as bad now as it was then. Investing/ speculating in Pokemon is not new at all, maybe there was some migration from other collectibles, but Pokemon cards have been going crazy for years now. I personally collect because I grew up loving Pokemon, collecting cards and playing the games. I get a lot of joy from looking at my binders, but I would be inclined to agree that the engagement you can have with them isn't as deep as say video games, or comics (which I also collect). Not sure if that means anything for investment risk though, as one could argue that you can read Amazing Fantasy 15 in a $15 trade paperback in high quality, or emulate/ R4 your favourite games for free. All three have something physically special that necessitates collecting them!
You had a keen observation. Alpha investments is a youtuber/card seller and warned about the pokemon pop off about 6 months ago. Apparently he's seeing all kinds of new buyers trying to venture into pokemon cards now.
When people are buying quantities of 50 or 100 of same item, they are scalpers. Speculators usually are those that buy and hold in hopes of seeing prices appreciate.
Not sure if it matters when “greedy hoarding asshole” covers both
People line up for supreme in nyc .. where have you been pokemon has been hyped hard now for a few years
I used to collect Baseball cards back in the day and really got out of it mainly because dealers started being scammy and really just owning a piece of cardboard and it sits there and really does nothing became very unappealing. I will continue to collect and play retro games because I can’t explain it but the warm fuzzy feeling I get when finding and getting to play a game I grew up on or even better playing one I might have missed is awesome. Plus for the most part the Retro gaming community is absolutely awesome I’ll see a person wearing a Nintendo shirt and say something and boom instant conversation or go to a show and see a bunch of people who share my love for gaming and it really is a community. Pokemon card guys seem kind of hardcore. People fighting over cards at Costco or Walmart isn’t the scene I want to be a part of
The ones fighting over pokemon cards at Costco are not collectors they are scalpers and resellers. Pokemon fans are not "hardcore" but scalpers who see value in pokemon cards are
Soon Phoenix Resell and Chase after the right price are about to dive into the world of Pokémon cards, and it’s going to be interesting to see. When you notice these gaming resellers shifting their focus, it’s clear they’re more about profit than supporting the community. With comic book sales plummeting and video game products being bulkier to handle, Pokémon cards are a compact option that allows for more inventory at conventions. It’s no surprise that this market is on the rise, especially with Gamestop now providing Pokémon grading services.
I used to work for the biggest Magic the Gathering seller on eBay. Many of the dealers of Magic were also Pokemon dealers or they were friends and had business connections to the big players in Pokemon. If Phoenix or Chase got into Pokemon they could do business in that space but they wouldn’t really be noticed. The big players in the TCGs are multi-millionaires liquid. It’s a whole other world than video game resale.
Chase has always bought and sold cards. He just shifted his UA-cam to gaming. But he’s heavy and always been heavy into cards sales. I don’t know if he took those vids down but back in 2019 or so he had card vids
A big UA-camr yesterday interviewed a video game store owner who literally did this. 😆
It was funny because the original video he was crying about how hard running a video game story was and now he's a big shot.
Hopefully the market doesn't crash out from under him...
Theyre gonna be in for a rude awakening when anyone not called WOTC will usually keep printing most sets till they rot on shelves and the market for super high end stuff is basically such a tiny faction of what moves and generates money.
Especially when tcgs are a different beast to games where the bottom floor tcgs is pennies compared to a handful of dollars for games
Very well said at the end, I can't really get into pokemon cards because the most you can really do with them by yourself is just look at them, you look at them then put them back in your binder, it's just a thin piece of cardboard. Unlike retro videogames where you can play it as much as you want on your own, and it's a lot easier to display.
I had two yes two original charzards! I have no freaking clue what I did with that old binder; it be worth my weight in gold now! Mom prob through it out when I left for school. Dang.
Not sure honestly. Hit titles are still either holding up with their high pricing or going higher in price. Silent Hill 3 is still going up in price having recently sold for $260 (CIB). It depends on the titles really. Speculators are out there. Heritage Auctions just did a massive video game auction yesterday and as far as I could tell games were selling for good expectedly good prices with some rare titles fetching over $400 (ICO playstation 2 for example). Pokemon is a big deal and speculators are flocking to it but I do not see that as an abandonment of speculating on video games. That fad / craze revolves around set releases anyhow and they don't release sets every week.
Good taste Blue was also my 1st. Man i wish i knew what happened to my pokemon binder 😂
I feel bad for the pokemon cards fans which i am as well but now we can actually get the games at cheaper price.
It’s influencers hyping up Pokémon cards, collecting, reselling. Lot of FOMO driving the hype and the sales. Logan Paul for awhile was one of the main culprits.
I myself have met Magic: The Gathering players, but never the Pokemon TCG.
You are describing "liquidity". A similar thing has been said about money flowing from gold to bitcoin. Then now from bitcoin to secondary cryptos and meme coins. Ultimately if you think the pool of money out there is big enough then it will support many different investments / collectibles. But tastes and values do change. Therefore money will flow to the next big thing.
Yea I don't get it either. I feel like Pokemon is even more popular now than we were kids, and no one is playing it. It must just be like gambling for them. Trying to see if they pull a hype card. My kids do that. They ask for pokemon packs then want me to watch them open it to see if they get a good card. These boys don't play pokemon.