Hi everyone, I just joined this forum a few days ago. Proud member #1500. I only started collecting since last week after I realized I lost my childhood collection (sad moment I’m sure many of you have been through), and I’ve already purchased over 100 cards. Out of control! I’ve already made some poor decisions, but living and learning. Example: I somehow managed to buy 3 Dewgongs without realizing it!? Well at least one of them is PSA 10 so I don’t feel too bad about it lol. I’ve purchased the complete uncommon/common cards for both the Jungle and Fossil sets, and planning on getting the rares and holos individually, already graded PSA 10s. And then I’ll work on getting the commons/uncommons in PSA 10s later. I will be doing the same for the base set, which is my biggest priority. So my question is, what is the most you would pay for a NM/M 1st edition base set 17 to 102, ungraded? I am in a bidding war with only one other person for now, and I am really surprised there aren’t more bidders than this. I would say $150 seems like a fair price to me, but am I completely off? Would love your opinions.
PS I’m really glad I found you guys! If there is one more thing that I am as nostalgic about the 90s with other than Pokemon cards, it is online forums! I don’t know any other collectors in real life so this is great.
The majority of serious buyers will be bidding in the last 10ish seconds, its called sniping, and its done by buyers who do not want to prematurely drive the price of the item up,
This is accurate. Though I’m not sure what a base 1st non-holo lot is worth offhand I’d imagine it to be at least $400 in M/NM condition. It will surely rise in the last seconds of bidding.
I’ve been doing this as well, but I lost a 1st edition holo card that way. The seller ended the listing early and the card sold for $8. 100% positive feedback seller, but they didn’t specialize in pokemon cards. If I had bidded earlier I could have gotten it. Scared of that happening again. So from your answers, I’m going to decipher that this is indeed a good price.
Is your goal to complete 1st edition complete sets of Base, Jungle and Fossil? If your goal is 1st edition and PSA 10 get ready to pay a lot of money. The uncommon/common cards will give you some momentum but once you get to holos you’ll need to pace yourself.
I got back into collecting in the same fashion as yourself a few months ago and I too have learned some painful realizations along the way. I’m currently only 5 1st edition base set holos away from completing the same goal as yourself (I’m not going for PSA 10 though). Those 5 cards will cost me more than all the other cards combined though. You’ll find the cards’ prices grow exponentially so start doing research on fair market prices of the base set holos, especially Charizard and Blastoise. Those two will really set you back. Set up a weekly budget and take your time. You’ll start to get good at sniping on eBay so better to practice on the cheaper cards like you are.
Good luck on your collection and welcome back to the hobby!
Once an auction (eBay) has a bid or bids on it it will be rare for the seller to end the listing before it’s done. Also eBay has mechanisms in place now to prevent sellers from cancelling a listing in the last hours of the auction. These are all bits of info that you’ll learn as you deal with more auctions both buying and selling.
I think I know which auction you are looking at. Be aware that all the cards aren’t M/NM and fuzzy photos leave a lot to be desired. But best of luck in winning the auction, you may get it at a good price.
Yes that is the goal, so I definitely need to pace myself from now on lol. I was just so sad when I realized I lost all the cards I collected when I was little, that I just went for it without being smart about it and doing my research. I think I will see more clearly once I set myself a weekly budget like you said. Thank-you so much and good luck on your collection too!!
I’m glad to hear that this doesn’t happen often! It was a sad surprise to get the “GOT AWAY” e-mail before the bidding was supposed to end. I’ll definitely keep a close eye on it. Even if I don’t win, it’ll be a good learning experience. Thank-you!
Unfortunately / Fortunately, eBay Sellers are allowed to end an auction early if there is a “legitimate” reason - error within the listing. However, once the auction reaches a certain time (believe it is less than 24 hours), the seller can no longer end the auction.
This is a positive aspect for those sellers who are trustworthy and do not take advantage of eBay Policy. However, there are a few sellers who take advantage on this policy and end an auction for non-legitimate reasons (Private BIN, Seller Remorse, Not enough Attention…).
I am unsure what the circumstances were with your situation (may have been a legitimate reason). However, the seller does not have to honor the highest-bid - does not even count as a sale / purchase.
The non-holo 1st edition base set from 17-102 has sold around 500-700 in NM/M condition. Very few others listed currently all at or above the $700 mark.
That’s too bad!! Well this is still not bad for someone in the US, but for me the exchange rate+shipping+import fees are too high on this listing. But at least I know the value now for the next time I see a good deal. So thanks guys! Good luck if any of you are bidding on it now
I actually finished my 1st edition base set recently and based on the ebay trends that I’ve seen over the past 6 months, the raw non holo sets have been around the $600 price point, give or take. Maybe even around $400-500 for the auctions that were sniped
Considering how rare these sets are… I can only imagine how much they’ll go for in a few years
