Gamestop to start selling PSA graded Pokémon cards

Article 1, Article 2

  • Select GameStops in the US will buy PSA graded trading cards from customers,

  • Eventually, the program will expand to all locations and will sell the graded cards on https://www.gamestop.com/graded-trading-cards

  • Initially accept PSA 8+ cards valued at less than $500. CGC and Beckett will not be allowed yet.


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I think it’s a good idea for GameStop to move toward trading cards, but I’m not sure that selling junk slabs is the most lucrative way forward.

Sure, children going into the store will be happy to spend their pocket change for a chance at a Charizard V, but selling cards at scale requires a lot of knowledge and ability to pivot.

Modern Pokemon has a flavor of the week nowadays.

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Well anything that brings in people I guess. With modern physical media pushing more and more towards the “you still have to download the game. The disc is just decoration” I guess they’re just doubling down on the Pokemon cards. Just gotta hope you have someone local willing to offload a bunch of decent slabs or the selection will be pretty bad.

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One last push to make it before they permanently close in the next 5 years

This seems weird.

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fr, I don’t really understand the point of it at all.

:moneybag:

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My gamestop promos are gonna be worth jillions when they close down.
Jillions i tell you

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In theory in feel this would be fine, but I assume most cards they would receive and sell would be the average modern junk slab < $100

Trading cards being the future is a wild statement. I think of tcg as holding onto the past, reliving it a bit, but not a massive new territory that is unexplored with endless growth. I could see it if at least one well funded popular tcg put the resources into their digital games to make them more visually interactive, similar to hearthstone and the animated cards people sometimes create. But even then, its still a crazy expectation.

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What the hell i just read lol

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People like owning stuff.

In a world where everything is digital or subscription based, it’s nice to have something tangible to hold on to.

When steam goes under, all those unplayed games bought for $5 each will disappear.

But I’ll still have my shiny cardboard.

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My dvd and record collection have no argument to that but spending gamestop prices in this day and age for cards that are easily bought on ebay for cheaper seems like a bad idea to plan on. Card values seem too flexible for a store like Gamestop to keep up with. Then again cardshops are still a thing so i guess its a viable industry.

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I think many of lose sight of how broad of market the card market is. This isn’t just about your obscure Blastoise error misprints having better liquidity.

Believe it or not, sports and cards outside of Pokemon are doing pretty well right now, obviously with most of having heard about Lorcana and One Piece. But through most of sports there’s some generationally talented rookies that are creating Moonbreon-like FOMO.

While many of us ‘die-hards’ love sniping an auction on eBay, believe it or not, some people rather pay more to have the card in-hand from a brick & mortar store like GameStop then having ‘KoolPokemonKid42’ canceling their $.99 starting auction because the card magically vanished.

I think it’s pretty clever to embrace the graded card market, which right now is pretty much dominated by the big consignment sellers. Also, as we know, most of the card condition ‘subjectivity’ is removed when graded, thus streamlining buying and selling once the slab has been verified.

I would think we would be happy that GameStop could be morphing into your LCS (unless of course you own a brick & mortar LCS). Obviously, they don’t have the space to cater to TCG-events, but I’m not sure why they wouldn’t try to capitalize on graded singles and sealed, seeing how it appears that Costco, Wal-mart, CVS/Walgreens and Target appear to be the current benefactors of the everyone buying and holding modern sealed.

I think stores being limited to less than $500 slabs is really only logical since inventory could easily get out of hand, though I do think the PSA 8+ at $500 max is a little limiting. But you can pick of a PSA 8 shadowless (not 1st) for anyone short of Charizard for that price, so it’s not as bad as it could be.

If I am being honest, I stopped looking at Pokemon in retail places for a couple reasons. One, I don’t particularly care about modern, and two I look a little too old to be in standing in front of Lorcana and Pokemon cards. I think going to look at my local slab selection at GameStop sounds far more appealing than current retail offerings, and is more in-line with a quality LCS or card show.

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I think you basically nailed it with this take

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If this was a answer question thread that would be the solution.

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To put a lot of perspective on this moment of the hobby, there are over 4000 GameStop locations. If you put one PSA 10 Moonbreon at each location, that accounts for almost a third of the POP

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Should have just posted this in the what’s the best way to sell junk slabs.

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US only though :melting_face:

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Sounds like a US middleman Gamestop junk slab sales opportunity

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