The Question of the Day is a way to facilitate community discussion to help members ponder the unanswered questions of the world that are somehow relating to the hobby. Questions are many times open ended and up to interpretation. Feel free to post your thoughts in as much or as little detail as you’d like.
Helpful Considerations may or may not help some people focus their answer, these are blurred to not bother those who have their own ideas.
Today’s Question: QotD: You would go to more cardshows and purchase things if ___?
Helpful Considerations: You had more shows near you? Life was less chaotic? If the vendors were less aggressive on making a massive profit? You had a bigger budget?
If the shows actually had interesting things. So boring to see 100 vendors with 80 of them selling the same popular boring slabs. I want to find some random one-off things that vendors have had sitting in the shop for ages. If i can find it in 5seconds on ebay at better prices then why would I buy at a show.
I would go more if there was designated spots for certain sellers, I don’t like to walk from end to end of a convention to find specific sellers they should just group all of pokemon together then put sellers who sell similar wares near eachother
If they had more niche stuff, cards in other languages, etc. It’s tough to find anything outside of super popular modern English cards at my local card show, because the vendors have limited space and understandably choose to bring things that’ll sell well.
I asked a seller at a card show recently if they had any Japanese cards, because I was working on my Slowpoke master set. He told me no, and that there “weren’t really any good Slowpoke cards” except the SV Base full art. I immediately responded “actually, there are a lot of good Slowpoke cards. I have all of them.” I think he felt kind of bad after that, and started asking me a bunch of questions about my Slowpoke collection.
While this was kind of a funny interaction, I think his definition of “good” was just skewed towards modern/popular full art cards, which is reflected in the stuff you find at card shows in general
If there were more people selling things besides PSA 10 (insert current hype card here)
Also if they were closer the last local one I went to was 90% sports and 10% pokemon, and man some of those vendors looked really grumpy which made me feel a bit awkward haha. I always try to buy something from anyone I talk to but it’s hard when the only options are super expensive or just nothing I’m even remotely interested in.
I have no interest in being filmed or having my purchase/trade be part of a clout-generating machine. I would go to more card shows if social media was left at the door and genuine human interactions were prioritized.
No, I don’t want your Pokemon business card. No, I don’t need your IG or WhatNot QR code. Just talk to me about Pokemon cards and our shared interests.
I would if they had them more frequently around me. Woodbridge,NJ has a show every so often. Besides collect-a-con, Morris county where I live has a “card show” but you can see all the vendors and their inventory in 15 mins. None of my friends collect sadly so going alone doesn’t sound appealing.
I’d probably visit cardshow if one was held in my nearby city, I honestly can’t remember last time when I saw advertisement for one.
Couple weeks ago @Ratequaza posted this list which indicates only single major event happens in Finland this year. I’ve watched recaps from previous ones and most vendors have hockey stuff, I like the sport but have little to no interest for cards and merchandise. Surely there’s people selling Pokemon stuff but I’m not gonna drive multiple hours per way to buy new products.
Meeting another long time hobbyist from past might be highlight of the trip if I had time/chance to participate these.
I would go to more if there were more near me. It’s slim pickings around here. The one I do go to each year is really fun. I met lots of cool people whilst looking though vintage bulk.
I would go to more shows if they had a greater variety of cards. Always heavy on the overpriced modern hype, and low on other languages, eras.
Availability is also an issue there is a regular show nearby that happens 4 or 5 times a year. It’s mostly sports and limited Pokemon vendors . It gets old pretty quick.
I’ve been vending at shows and had multiple other vendors absolutely perplexed as to why I wasn’t interested in recording/turning the shows I do into content.
They were less expensive. You can get cheap binder cards, but this moreso pertains to how broke I am I suppose, and less about how expensive things are I guess.
I’d go often if it could really help to complete sets, have cheaper cards where i don’t have to pay for the shipping. Often I feel like it’s almost only gradef stuff, but that’s not what I’d be looking for in person.
The only reason I even go to card shows anymore is to hang out with my buddies. It’s the same overpriced modern or mostly junk/low grade (still overpriced) vintage.
the last local one I went to was 90% sports and 10% pokemon, and man some of those vendors looked really grumpy which made me feel a bit awkward haha. I always try to buy something from anyone I talk to but it’s hard when the only options are super expensive or just nothing I’m even remotely interested in.
