I used to collect and play these cards when they came out. It almost makes me want to be sick thinking of what I had and gave away or sold when I got a little older for next to nothing.
I’ve always been a collector of things and I’d love to get back into some pokemon card collecting but I find it very confusing as a new enthusiast. I found this forum searching the internet for a safe place to buy authentic cards. I guess my biggest concerns are buying anything from ebay as its not something I normally do and trying to put together a realistic buy list without wasting peoples time by putting forward buying prices that are way off the market value.
I don’t think I’m incredibly concerned with highly graded cards. Just cards that aren’t visibly damaged or have bad corners upon normal inspection. I collect magic and this is what I’m used to being NM condition.
So I guess I’m wondering what PSA or Beckett grading would I likely be satisfied with. I’d love to start my collection with a base set card. Probably a shadow less charizard. Whats a realistic expectation on here for pirce ranges of 6,7,8 and 9 grading for such a card?
I read through a bunch of the rules and know I can’t make a buy three yet but figure I should know this stuff up front.
Looking forward to meeting and hearing from the members here. And hopefully being able to contribute in a meaningful way in the future
Everyone has different personal standards for near mint, so my recommendation is take a look through some psa 6 through 9 Shadowless charizards or other Shadowless holos currently on eBay, and decide which ones you’d personally be happy with, then collect whatever the lowest grade you’d be happy with is
Hey welcome to the forum! In terms of grade you may want a 7 or 8. I have looked at this scale for reference in the past so maybe it can help you find a grade that works for you:
In terms of prices here is a link to Pokémon Price’s page on Shadowless Charizard from Base Set. it will show you how much past sales for every grade have sold for. I believe all being Ebay sales, but I may be mistaken. Maybe it can help you make an educated guess on a good price range of each grade:
Thanks so much, already some great info! I’ll check out all these links in detail and start shaping my ideal grade. Glad to see people in the forum not discouraging lower grades and just encouraging the hobby.
That Pokémon price link is very interesting. The price jump from grades 7 to 8 to 9 is huge. Compared to say grade 6 to 7 which is close in price. Have a feeling 7 is going to be my target. 8 if I really want to reach.
I guess no ones really afraid of buying graded cards on ebay? I read a post on here that it’s pretty safe. Someone did mention PSA grading some fake yughio cards which terrifies me considering the prices.
I haven’t really looked at the prices between Base Set Shadowless Zard’s grades so that’s interesting to hear. Again good luck it, I hope was able to help!
Haha tbh charizard is not my favorite but I feel like from a collectible point of view is a must have so I’ll start with that. Venasaur has always been my favorite and will be excited to tackle that one afterwards. When I was a kid I had a 1st edition base venasaur… gonna be tough to pay today’s money for a lesser version
If 1st Edition is your goal, buy those first before they rise even further in price. Get your biggest and hardest-to-get wants out of the way before you settle for anything less. A few years back you didn’t have to worry about this but people are being priced out of their wants quicker and quicker as the months roll by. Welcome to the forums though!
I wish I had listened to this advice. If so I would have probably 7/16 holos including a zard instead of having 3/16 holos and an (almost complete) non holo set. Can still easily get the non holos, holos getting further and further out of reach quickly ;p
Psa7 is a great entry grade especially for cards that are quite expensive like shadowless zard. They look great from the front so display really nicely. Welcome to the hobby!
Imo i would suggest not to be too gung-ho, now is a sellers market but I’m not convinced it’s s the time to buy, the FOMO is high.
Maybe take a break do your research and wait for a correction/dip sometime.
I have a bit of a line on a charizard card a guy at work has from when he was a kid. He’s a bit younger than me so not sure if it’d be base shadowless or unlimited. I don’t think he cared about it until I told him I’d be intertsrd in buying so now i think he’s having second thoughts about selling. I’ll get the details on that around Christmas but in the mean time want to become very familiar with pricing in case it falls through.
Has the market just recently increased by a lot? I only started checking current prices a day or 2 ago.
