Share your general tips for investing in Pokémoncards

[ArcticLapras]

I thought I´d create a topic for general tips for investing in Pokémoncards. This can be individual cards, graded cards or sealed product.

The idea is to share knowledge so that it becomes a place with interesting, different takes for investing that can be used by members/people to take advice from.

I have been investing in Pokémoncards for almost ten years now, so while I don´t consider myself to be someone who knows it all, I do think that I´m somewhat experienced at this point. I have also done a lot of research in those years and these are my most important findings.

*If you go for it, go for it. Do your research about what you would like to invest in and don´t doubt your final decision when the market doesn´t go your way. Stick with it.
*Learn to discipline yourself in keeping things sealed at all times if you bought it for investing purposes.
*Only buy what you like. This way you reduce a lot of stress because you know that even when things go completely south, you still have positive vibes.
*Go for cards/sealed product that has not seen a rapid growth in recent times, but try to find products that seem to be undervalued. This can be an expensive product, as long as it isn´t immediately hyped up and seems like it could gain traction.
*Lastly, if the product has Charizard in it´s name, that is a plus ; ) (whatch out for hyped up products though).

[cwebfan23]

Invest in Steam Siege.

[c0ll3ct0r]

Never sell.

[wisewailmer]

• Sell during covid only

[johto]

Buy everything hold forever.

[eeveeteam]

Collect only what you like. Free enjoyment value. If it goes to 0, no big deal. If it means you can buy a house or retire, sell it if you want

[DarthEevee]

Pokemon cards are a commodity not an asset

[lyleberr]

I just learned this from a charizard discussion but “It helps if you dont buy at the peak”. Would have helped me in the past.

Keeping in mind all your costs as well: physical space, storage fees, tied up money, etc. Its nice to think that it only cost you $X but when you factor fees, shipping, and lost opportunities it can really add up.

[wisewailmer]

I will say on a serious note, that fomo purchases have accounted for 100% of the purchases I regretted. Not saying I regret every fomo buy, but when I regret something it’s because I fomo’d in

[Lemon]

Everyone’s investment “strategy” will end up being slightly different based on their personal goals and life circumstances. For example, someone who wants to resell Pokemon products as a part-time or full-time job will have a different strategy than someone who, for example, is an accountant for a living and just wants to buy/invest on the side with their expendable income.

Full-time reseller person, let’s call them Jack, might want to employ a strategy involving a lot of hands-on time and effort with a high rate of churn - buying frequently, selling frequently, with lower margins but overall might see greater returns than if they put more emphasis on larger margins. Meanwhile, accountant person, let’s call them Jill, already has a steady stream of income from their career as an accountant and thus will have different advantages and opportunities than Jack. Jill might be more inclined to make larger purchases of singular, high-value items and be okay with having that capital tied up for a long time because they don’t need to sell due to their income stream being independent of their Pokemon purchases. Jill doesn’t have to sell frequently and can sit on these items and play the long game aiming for larger margins.

There are of course many more and different sorts of circumstances but I like to define these two examples on a spectrum of “elbow grease”. Jack might have an account with a distributor or perhaps a deal with another reseller and is constantly hands-on with buying and selling modern product, keeping up with new sets, shipping out orders for smaller margins. This is a high elbow grease strategy.

Jill, comparatively, spends very little time and effort with her investing. She merely browses auctions or social media and makes purchases such as a PSA 10 2016 festa Pikachu, or maybe some art academy cards, or other rare/scarce items ranging in the high four figures - low five figures. Perhaps over the course of a couple years, some of her purchases have doubled in value, but she hasn’t sold anything yet and has not realized any of these gains and also may not see as high returns as Jack even though Jack’s margins are much smaller. Jill employs a low elbow grease strategy.

Personally, I’m more inclined to “invest” in a similar manner to Jill since my circumstances are similar to hers. Jill buys stuff she likes and buys stuff with good fundamentals. Typically the best items are going to have some combination of rarity, scarcity, popularity, exclusivity or all of the above. Timing is another dimension to consider when making a purchase decision. When you buy can often be more important than what you buy. I don’t know where I’m going with this rant but my investment advice is …

TL;DR - BUY THE GOOD STUFF

[thurco]

complete collection goals and then be happy as you watch them rise in price

[thsigma]

Buy the worst set of each generation

[Gomos]

Plan your exit strategy. Generally people have a lot more experience of buying and hoarding, rather than selling.

Will you be comfortable sending your $$$$ booster boxes internationally to an auction house? Know how to properly insure? Prepared to deal with pesty buyers eBay? Have you built good feedback? Etc. It’s a bit more work than selling stocks!

[Vertemes]

FOMO is a tool. Learn how and when to use it for your advantage. The best time is usually when the initial IPO (4 days to 2 weeks of when it releases) calms down for bigger cards. You can track the market better and make sure if you should hold or sell (just like the stock market.) Here are pictures of 2 cards that rose in price after I sold it in the first few days that were mostly just regular hits:

Most likely your going to hold for cards after the IPO, especially if its a good set.

This is my $0.02, there are other methods that may work better.

[cwebfan23]

DON’T invest in PSA 10 Meiji Charizards (at least don’t purchase it 100% above recent sales values).

[eeveeteam]

Gonna need a first aid kit for that burn
edit - you took the words out of 99% of e4

[cwebfan23]

I’m just out here trying to give sound advice. Listen to everything I say and you may make some money (or lose some, idk).

[tidaldreams]

buy high, sell low

[pokefitart]

Don’t listen to Poketubers with the exception of a very very select few.

[wisewailmer]

Only listen to e4