Hi everyone, it’s a debate I haven’t been able to conclude myself so I thought I would ask here.
If you have a budget of anywhere between £2-5k is it best to buy psa 10 graded 1st edition WOTC cards or a 1st edition WOTC booster box. From what I can tell the cards have settled in value but the boxes from Jungle to Rocket and maybe even the Gym sets have still got room to grow before they reach their potential. I’m new back into the hobby so a more experienced view is much appreciated.
I must add these purchases are for collecting purposes and not to be flipped, although this thread is for insight into which would bring more financial gain in the long run. I myself marginally prefer the art of the cards to the sealed product but that’s down to preference.
Check out the YouTube channel zandgemporium. The dude is a member on here. He does alot of market oriented videos, several of which touch on the questions you’ve asked.
But to answer your question you really cant go wrong with either one! If you prefer card arts, then go with the cards man!
I think there are a lot of mixed opinions on this topic especially as of late with the boom of vintage sealed product. I have my concerns with anything that increases in price so drastically over such a short period of time. There seems to be a group of people who insist that sealed product is the safest “investment” but I notice they have a heavy personal interest in saying that. If you ask them would you pay that record price yourself? I highly doubt they would say yes.
Sealed product as of now. Lately, the supply has become considerably low and many WOTC boxes have increased in value. The only issue that has been rising increasingly is the authenticity of some sealed products. They have better potential in increasing in value over time vice graded cards because product is being opened and more cards are being graded (increasing supply). I do not care for sealed product, I bought some WOTC boxes when I originally started for the nostalgia but as my collecting goals changed, I sold some product. Lately, my Rocket 1st edition box I bought for $1500 and increased double to about $3000, so I sold it. Most of those boxes went up (Fossil, Jungle, and Rocket).
Just make sure you collect what you want to collect, which is why I have changed my collecting goals. People use the word investment way to much in this hobby. What are you interested in collecting? I may have extra stuff just laying around. If you are going to collect newer product and don’t mind going foreign, check out Japanese exclusive promos. Japanese print runs are a lot smaller than English as of late. Here is a few to get you started: Munch Promos, Mario/Luigi Pikachu, Boss Pikachu set, and generally most Japanese boxes (especially the 20th anniversary XY Break set).
Why not sealed product?
Sealed product prices skyrocketed during last few months (some boxes doubled prices). I feel like its a ‘‘bad’’ time to buy that kind of product, i might be wrong. I can’t see the future but i dont actually see those boxes ramping up in price in the near future (maybe E-Series due to the lack of supply).
Why i’d choose graded cards?
Due to the fact that many PSA10’s big hits from boxes are worth way less than the box itself. Lets say…Crystal Charizard Graded 10; it went down to U$S2.000 a couple months ago and now its ‘‘slowly’’ going back up due to it being scarce. Same scenario happens with Lugia and Ho-Oh from Aquapolis, that were selling below the U$S900 mark.
I got a list with prices, of most of the graded cards i bought during last few years, plus some raws that ended up being solid grades and are now sitting in my collection:Some of the cards held the value, but the vast majority increased in price.
There are some cards that are floating on a bubble and been there for a long time; and im quite sure those cards will end up exploding in price sooner than later. In this scenario, Japanese Trophy cards like Grand Party & Fan Clubs were ‘‘affordable’’ less than 2 years ago… Time passed and price exploded; good luck getting a Grand Party below U$S700 or fan clubs graded 10 under U$S1000.
Wich ones are still underpriced - affordable? In my opinion, PSA9 1st Ed. Base Set holos: PSA9’s like Venusaur sold under $600 during a couple months ago PWCC’s auctions, Blastoise’s around 800’s; most of the remaining cards float around 300/450.
I built this entire holo set this year and i dont regret it. And would definitely recommend any collector to do the same.
Wich graded cards set to AVOID at this time?1st Edition Gym Challenge.
Why? Mostly due to it being the ‘‘flavor’’ of the month, that will probably go down. Prices for most of these cards are inflated, suddently everyone is chasing the same cards, demand is going higher and higher and there’s no supply to feed the wolves; social media is helping this process a lot.
Supply and demand rule the market, thats a fact, but nowadays Social Media plays a big ‘‘role’’ too.
Sealed product can always become graded cards, but graded cards can never return to being sealed product.
Buyers are very particular about box and wrapping condition . Accidentally drop a box and you might have just lost $1000. Drop a PSA card and it makes no difference.
People are paranoid about fakes and resealed product. TCAGaming recently opened a very legit looking resealed Base box. Look around the forum to see the amount of times people have asked about a booster pack or boxes being resealed. I feel boxes carry more of a risk in this area. A PSA card is slabbed and certified authentic, no guesswork or expertise needed.
Just adding a bit to this: even PSA slabbed cards can be fake. Same goes for packs; I opened a PSA graded 1st edition base set pack that was resealed with unlimited, played cards.
As for the original question: Graded cards all the way! I mainly collect by which artworks I like so getting the cards makes sense to me, but to each their own! Enjoy and looking forward to seeing what you get.
Sealed product has a special, more powerful kind of grace. As time goes by, more collectors start to feel it and desire to own their favorite sets in this form.
Opening packs is the core enjoyment of the hobby. However that isn’t what people are referring to when mentioning sealed product. Majority of the people subscribed to sealed product just hold the boxes, which can be extremely boring. The ballooned prices are not based on their inner contents. Therefore when people talk about the perks of buying sealed product, its just holding boxes, not opening them.
Where the individual cards are more about appreciating the artwork. Some increase more than others.
In your budget you can do a mixture of both. Ultimately just go for what you enjoy the most.
It really all comes down to personal preference and being realistic at the same time. I personally want to hold sealed product as I think they are great but due to where I’m located, which is in Malaysia, I do not want to hold on to bulky items as shipping them would be a pain so I only stick to graded cards.
As these two options are really the best options in the hobby, just follow your intuition and your preference.
I personally made the shift from singles to sealed a few years ago. I get more nostalgia from having the potential to relive old times by opening the boxes/packs, even though I’m likely not going to open the majority of what I own. I’m content with just the possibility.
In order to realize profit, you’ll have to hold the item for some time. It’s easier to hold an item that you personally value.
Buy an item you’re likely to hold regardless of short term price fluctuations. If you’ll regret the purchase because of a 10% dip in price, don’t buy it. If you’ll sell as soon as you can get a 10% profit, don’t buy it.
I know there are people who genuinely love to collect sealed product. I’m not among them. To me, owning sealed product is like owning a bunch of well-wrapped Christmas presents that you never get to open. I want to be able to appreciate the cards.
But if you’re in this hobby strictly as an investor, then it almost never pays in the long-run to open a box. Once a box is opened it can’t be unopened, but if for whatever reason the individual value of the cards outpaces the value of the box itself you can always open the box later anyway. But in almost all cases these days the value of a box itself outpaces the expected value of the individual cards within the box, often by a significant margin.
So if you’re asking me what the better investment is, it obviously depends on the particular box or card, but generally I would say the boxes. But I’m still not collecting sealed product because that just doesn’t do it for me as a collector.
