After achieving some collection goals last year, I convinced myself to aim a bit higher this year. I am a casual collector that’s been selling my old cards (lots of bulk 1st ED commons and uncommons) and consolidating my collection.
I have a set of Unlimited Neo Shinings that I completed last year, 7/10 are PSA 10s, with Charizard, Gyarados, and Magikrap as 9s.
Just looking for some tips and knowledge on how you guys go about buying more valuable cards that are not readily available on say eBay or PWCC? How long do you wait for a card before considering paying above market? Would I be naive to think it’s reasonable to find deals?
Also read on efour sometimes contacting a seller on eBay to work out a deal to save some money, is that a thing and how often does it work?
Appreciate any tips or ideas you guys can prove.
Edit: Thanks for all the replies, seems my biggest issue is I am not on any of the major social network sites like IG, FB, and other groups.
Updated title as many consider low pop probably under 50. The 3 cards seem to be pop 354, 112, and 61.
Expand your search so you are covering as many places/sources for the cards you want. Theres some half a dozen auctioning sites commonly used for Pokemon, but theres also Facebook, IG, and various Japanese sites. A WTB/WTT thread here could work too
Seconding this. Instagram, while a cesspool, is a great place to advertise that you’re after a card or look for people who have it. If you like, you can even pay to put a post on popular market pages saying that you’re looking for a specific card, and that will get the word out there. Facebook is a bit more dicey for higher-end stuff in my opinion, but it’s still another outlet to make use of.
As @pfm rightly points out, if the main difficulty is finding the card, following that up with a lowball or even standard market value offer is the easiest way to ensure you won’t get it. The reason why the card is hard to find is likely because many of the people who own it don’t want to sell for the current market prices.
Depending on how high-end you’re looking and how many cards you have for your goals, finding deals isn’t impossible. But those deals will likely come from auctions, not someone you seek out or someone who comes to you being willing to accept a lower price.
Yes! It obviously would take time, but some general steps are to:
Search out accounts of people who collect similar things, follow/contact/interact with them, and make them aware of what you’re looking for
Make your own posts with similar cards to the one you’re looking for, or other cards in your collection to gain interest/followers
Advertise on buy/sell pages
Post stories or ask friends to post stories looking for your card (even better if you include an offer price)
Use the search feature/dig through Pokemon accounts trying to find the card you’re looking for
Ideally, you get to a point where you’re in a community of people who are collecting similar things and you can all help each other out. I don’t use IG too much anymore as I’m jaded af by now, but back when I was more active, I was friends with several BW full art collectors. They knew what I was after and I knew what they were after, and we’d share eBay listings, IG posts, and general information with each other. Sometimes I’d catch a listing they missed, or vice versa.
Thank you, this is a very helpful input. I am afraid to lowball and get “blacklisted” that’s why I am asking people with more knowledge. Seems buying higher value cards has it’s own subset of etiquette.
Also wanting to see how others approach buying higher end cards, do you just buy the card regardless of price (within reason)?
This is the play. I’d personally not recommend shelling out money to the advertising pages. They have some use but idk if it’s really low pop like the title says, it’s not gonna matter. Plus some of them charge ridiculous prices.
I dont really have many low pop cards, and I have 0 trophy cards but the cards that I do have that are on the periphery of “low pop” were all bought with 2 things: patience and persistence.
Its taken me over 2 years to seek certain cards, and some I still don’t even have!
I’ve been after a set card for a few years now, not even a promo. I search eBay and Mercari daily. Once a month I would search google just to see if something pops up. I have not found the copy myself, but when one showed up on Instagram, I had like 5 messages from different people and sources.
Letting people know what you are lookint for is the way to go
You could also post a buy thread on E4 listing what card(s) you’re seeking. I’m sure many E4 members would be happy to help, especially if they have doubles. I would also check the E4 rules, I believe you’re required to list a price.
Can’t say I’ve purchased many super low pops (such as trophy cards etc), but I do tend to collect low ish pop cards. Or at least cards that have few ebay listings that are always overpriced.
My general advice is to just be patient and persistent. Keep saved searches in case the card may pop up on eBay at some point (if it’s not like a 1/1 card lol), and diversify your searching while also checking up on alternative platforms regularly.
Patience is key. Since I started collecting many years ago I was always fascinated by low pop / rare cards to collect. Google search exactly what youre looking for (dont rely solely on Ebay). Try other sites as well such as pwcc, heritage auctions, goldin, google in general, and Ebay of course should be your #1 but not singled out. Instagram is tough unless you have many followers but it doesnt hurt to try even if you do have a small account. Try looking up hashtags of the card youre looking for. For Example, in the hashtags search bar write “#universitymagikarp#psa10” it allows you up to three hashtag key words to look up in a bundle. It may pop up youd be surprised. Facebook marketplace is another site to try. Also try 130 point and see the last solds of the card youre looking for, then contact the person who sold it and ask if they would kindly reach out to the person they sold it to with a message from you. This has worked for me countless times if you give them a great offer. I always look up last solds on “130 point” and “ebay watch count” and reach out to the sellers. I ask if they have any more in stock or know anyone who does. If ALL that doesnt find you what youre looking for, patience patience patience. It will show up. And maybe even cheaper than what youre looking to pay. Goodluck!
My way of sourcing low pop cards is to grade them myself. Not very helpful, I know. But sometimes going that route is easier than trying to search out the card you need already graded.
I had the same thing, not with Pokemon but with a Norwegian Donal Duck magasin that came with a sealed Duel Masters booster pack back in 2005 ish. After many years of searching for it I got a tip to post in this one comic book group in Norway and it only took a few min and this old guy sent me a DM saying he had the it complete still sealed.
Sosial media like Instagram and facebook are different beasts when it comes to finding rare stuff. Most of my high end purchases have been through instagram and 90% of my Art Academy collection is from there
These aren’t really low pop, or even low-ish pop in my opinion. Those of us going after truly low pop cards (single digits to none) usually have to submit ourselves. That might help you even though you’re going for higher pop cards You can also look at cross-grading from CGC/BGS to PSA if you’re afraid to buy raw.
Thank you for the tips, will definitely try using the google search, a couple of others also suggested this.
Never really feel comfortable messaging people directly, that was one of my questions, but sounds like you had success with it.
I am not a user of IG or FB, so will rely more on patience. Really nice to read how long some of you guys take to search for a card. As some have pointed out, the cards I am after are not that rare, but doesn’t show up unless it’s double or more of the actual value.
not graded cards but I collect sealed packs of promos from gen 3 and 4, mostly prerelease and championship,
One of the 2 hardest parts about collecting these is finding them, not many people collect them, and unfortunately its often more profitable for people with them to either open and grade them, or sell NM copies of cards one by one,
Ive scoured ebay, facebook, IG, cardmarket, google images, and about every other platform I can to find them, some of my most successful finds were from checking every seller of a card and seeing who has multiple NM copies of a card and messaging them to ask if they have NM copies, I also have had some success in contacting tournament organizers from years ago.
and of course just checking daily for the occasional pack that actually gets listed
You can also look at cross-grading from CGC/BGS to PSA if you’re afraid to buy raw.