Hello, I collect old Booster Packs. I will keep most of my packs for a long long time, but there could always be the moment where I want to sell/trade some of my packs. ( My packs dont come from a self opened box, so I assume they are weighed)
At this moment I should decide if I want to sell them “blank” with the information that they are likely weighed but I dont weighed them or If I should buy a scale and sell them with their exact weight shown.
I know, this is a very controversial topic but in my opinion the morally best thing to do is showing the exact weight to the buyer.
I think over time this technique will get popular and I see nothing being wrong with it.
The next step would be to have weighing not as this big taboo topic anymore (at least if you really show the weight of all the packs if you didnt do a box break). This would make sharing booster weight information easier and let buyers & sellers know more precise if the pack we buy/sell is more likely heavy or light.
But I want to hear the opinion of others on this topic. Thank you very much.
I think your best bet are the two resources above (Smpratte’s awesome take on the subject as well as a discussion which happened here on E4not too long ago about the subject) which is where youll find a lot of great input, including my own on the matter. To quickly sum up my thoughts though (if thats even possible, as i tend to type/talk a lot haha) I side with Smpratte and many others on how today weighing packs sadly is the only way to go. I am not at all in favor of this practice, nor do i think anyone in the hobby is as it infringes on that mystery and love for opening boosters, but today being that these older WOTC cards have now been around 20+ its right to just assume that all packs have been weighed, as many have changed hands over the years, been bought and sold to make profit, and weve had consistent efforts through resellers and scammers to attempt to make the highest dollar amount while screwing over buyers being that Pokemon as a whole is now entering (or has already been for that matter) a realm of establishment that wasnt before present among the card collecting communities. Thus, the practice of weighing packs now is more of a safety matter than anything, but also will allow for insured sales so that all parties involved in the selling of unopened items are secure throughout.
Im sure I decribed this better in my first post about it, but this is the main idea I had in a nutshell, which many others agree. A few bad apples can turn a whole sea of a hobby sour, and pretty much thats the reasoning behind all this, but at this point in order to keep moving forward, this (weighing) is really the best option we have to continue onward. Anyways, hope this helps!
This can get tricky though. Just saw a post on IG, guy bought a pack that was “heavy”, with heavy-ish weight from ebay. Guy opened pack, and no holo.
While there are some obvious weights that can be just about guaranteed heavy, there are always packs that are close to being heavy and border-line light. TCA will encounter this pretty often, he’ll just bite the bullet and open those questionable packs so he doesn’t run into any problems.
I think the fool proof way to sell packs is to just show the pack on a scale with the weight to 2 decimal points, and let the buyers decide the price and the risk involved. Or just sell everything as light.
Easy Solution: post the exact weight. The terms “heavy” & “light” can be too general. This part of the market is still early days, but I would imagine with time the exact weight will be the metric.
Yes, I would never guarantee a Holo. Because of this I would like it if many people who cracked their boxes would show us their heavy pack weight. With this information buyers and sellers could assess how high the holo chance for their booster pack is.
Also I’m sure the numbers in the sacel can be easily manipulated, I guess a trusted seller is the way to go with weighted packs. Also seller can argue that your scale is not well balanced or working correctly and some crap like that
I may have been the guy that you are talking about on Instagram. I just opened a heavy fossil pack 21.3 that was a dud. From my experience, heavies vary based on the boxes that they came from. I’ve pulled holos from packs that weighed in at 20.9. I usually buy packs that weigh 21.2 or higher. I give the 21.2 to 21.4 packs a 70% chance of having a holo in them. When you purchase a pack at 21.5 and above you’re looking at a 99% chance at pulling a holo. I do not file claims through Ebay if the heavy pack is a dud. I know the risks involved, and I pay for the increased odds of pulling a holo. I always cringe at the guaranteed holo listings on Ebay with weights in the 21.0 to 21.4. I agree, it’s best to just list the weight and let the buyer decide.
To be sure about the content you need an accurate scale and enough packs from the same box. If 1 in 3 is heavier, things are clear. I’m confident about my packs and guarantee holos.
I have packs from different WOTC sets that weigh around 20.8g and contain holos. When I first weighed them I opened the lightest heavy pack for confirmation. It contained a holo as expected. Many were sold and opened by the buyers.
Someone who wants to keep a heavy pack sealed won’t be fine with 20.8g since 21+ is expected. This is why I generally don’t show the weight in my listings. People would consider it light and think that I don’t know what I’m doing.
I need to mention this in the description and only sell to people who want to open them.
