hi Tell me, is it so unusual to buy signed cards that have been personalized for someone else? I got a message saying it was disrespectful of me to post something like that because the card wasn’t signed for me. Personally, I don’t care who the card is signed for because it’s all about the artwork on the card and the artist who signed it. Some people like me don’t have the opportunity to go to events, which of course makes them complain. And I don’t care about the value of the card after it’s signed. I’ve already had some Funko Pops personalized for me signed by German voice actors, and I’m not giving them away anymore. What do you think about this topic?
Generally speaking I am not interested in most cards personalized to someone else, but there is a market for it just for the reasons you said (mainly people aren’t always able to go to signing events in person). Not necessarily unusual for people to get into, just not really my thing. I don’t have a problem with it or think it is disrespectful exactly….unless you foster a relationship with an artist and get personalized items under the agreement not to sell them, and then you alter the cards to remove the personalization just to sell them. Then you’re slimy.
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Definitely not unusual, and definitely not wrong to buy personalized autos. It’s likely just something you have to deal with if you want to engage with the autograph space now, unless you want to pay a high premium for an older/unpersonalized auto, or buy one personalized in Japanese so you can’t read it.
The real disrespectful and cringey practices in the autograph market are removing personalizations, selling autos you committed not to, getting autos personalized “to trainer,” and pestering artists about Pokemon autographs at events when they have already stated they would not be autographing cards.
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For me personally, I would only want signed cards if I was there at the event and interacted with the signee in some capacity. The signed card will be a memory of the event.
That being said, I always believe that focusing on what you can control should be the primary thing, hobby or otherwise. You can never control what other people think of you or say about you so there is no use worrying about it. I believe that if you are legally and morally not wronging anyone (the artist or your fellow collectors), then you should focus on your own happiness.
Also I do believe that when people have strong opinions, specially in this hobby space about something it’s not actually about you but most likely that you are doing something out of the norm from what people consider acceptable and it is probably triggering something in them. I would like to believe that it comes out of passion because so many people are invested in various aspects of the hobby. People wish deep down that they were in your place and had the opportunity to get the cards but somehow are worried that they might get shamed by other collectors etc.
So again the ideal thing you can do is confidently do the thing that makes you happy! You will regret it otherwise.
Cheers!
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Thank you for your opinions. Yes, I collect autographs for myself and I’m enjoying it at the moment. Of course, I would also love to have personalized ones or meet the artist or voice actor, but that’s not so easy with family, children and work. I’m all the happier to have signatures, even if they weren’t made especially for me.
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That’s exactly what I’m doing with a personalized signature item for my own collection. Basically making one of these for a fraction of the price and keeping the old PSA label behind the frame:
Going to those signing events isn’t for everybody, so I’m glad for the unique opportunity.
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The only disrespectful thing happening is the persons comment. There is nothing wrong with collecting personalized signatures. The person who got it signed put it up for sale. Don’t give it another thought. 
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Buying things addressed to others is pretty normal these days, for better or worse. It seems nearly all signing events have required personalizations, so naturally you will see more being sold of that variety. I dont consider it scummy to buy them, though it depends on context in some cases.
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Personally to me, once you own the card, it’s yours to post or show off. Only caveat for me is if I’m getting it directly from an artist and they ask not to post, I will not post it (I don’t even post any autographs and have taken down all my signed cards on IG).
I’d rather own a card that hasn’t been wiped due to not knowing what kind of chemicals were used on it. Definitely hate this behavior since there are many different ways people have done this and I see it as ruining the card.
Personalization has no bearing on me on whether or not I choose to buy a signed card. However, I’ve noticed some cards that have sold on auction had their original personalizations wiped and had new ones re-written.
This was strange to me until I realized why they did this. I only know this happened on Himeno cards from her October, 2023 event in Japan, so I stay away from those without question since they have so many problems in general besides that.
If collecting autographs, I wouldn’t worry about personalizations, I’d focus on making sure you’re getting legitimate autographs.
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I do my absolute best to avoid autos personalized to other people. Feels weird to me. But I get that I have had the privilege of being able to get many done for myself in-person (would highly recommend).
Although I wouldn’t want an auto personalized to someone else, I wouldn’t impose that standard on others. The person who went out of their way to message you and complain needs to touch some grass.
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thank you very much for your opinions. I will stick with the one I enjoy 
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i dont mind them, sometimes the auto is more unique when its personalized. and i guess you can always just wipe it off if you really wanted.
also a personalized auto prolly is 100x more likely to be real than a non-personalized one 
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Pretty much what everyone else said, just collect what makes you happy and don’t worry about the others. Crazy if anyone says anything about it to you or anyone collecting imo. Hope to see your collection!
For me personally I would not want an autograph signed to another person, but I haven’t done anything with Pokemon autographs, only in person baseball autographs.
I don’t prefer to own cards personalized to someone else.
I am not a fan of wiping personalizations, even if it’s going to stay in your binder. At some point, you will no longer own that card and it will go to the market altered.
Whoever said that it was disrespectful to post cards not addressed to you is probably having a bad day. Nobody takes offense to posting cards that you own, unless you explicitly promised an artist that you would not share a dedicated autograph or you post the back side of a YGO The Seal of Orichalcos UDE Promo.