I think people are increasingly feeling stressed about the market and being priced out. Relax.
The bad news is getting priced out as a hobby matures is normal. Lugia will never be 2k again. The good news is I, a random efour forumer with little to back my claims, would like to reassure you that i think significant retraces for many cards will happen at some point in the coming months
It’s a sellers market right now (the greatest ive ever seen in pokemon), but in the near term a supply response is already in process of forming
On ebay and on pwcc, pokemon lot sizes are discernibly growing
on external auction sides like goldin and heritage, we are seeing more and more pokemon
On insta, much more sales and have been seeing far more pack openings recently…onlycollectables for example just opened five neo gen 1st ed packs, and got meganium 10, gatr 5, slowking, heracross, metal energy…they will all be graded and maybe 1/2 would get a 10 for example
on reddit, there’s an increasing number of people that realise their collection is worth something which could add to supply. more and more people are grading their binder collections
there’s an increasing amount of psa regrading going on as well. last few psa 10 t17s were probably regrades. same story for venusaur black promo, etc. not true psa 10s but they will impact the market regardless
psa is reopening and you can be sure that a massive pokemon submission is incoming
Of course there are new collectors coming in, but so did new collectors come in during prior price increases. But pretty much every instance of extremely sharp price increases, including what has happened to pokemon historically, have resulted in stagnation or some retrace over the next year or two. I would think the bigger the price increase, the bigger naturally the retrace.
If i had to guess, we have another 2 years or so to purchase wotc 1st eds in 10s. after that you’re pretty much screwed (:
no need to do stupid things like take on credit card debt or take money out of your rainy day fund (which is to protect yourself/family in this uncertain employment conditions) because of fomo - just don’t, they are set cards and mass printed, not trophy cards
Productive discussion are more likely to occur when threads aren’t derailed from the start…
Yes lots of threads are on prices, but when card knowledge is optimized to the point we are at now there will be more threads on current trends. The biggest trend right now is price increase and more often than not I see more people mocking price retracement threads than anything (maybe this is why they keep coming up?).
Edit: Also the irony that a thread in price and market discussion section was ridiculed for discussing prices…
People worry too much about prices. Adjust your goals, collect lower grades; there are so many options in this hobby. Majority of Pokémon cards are affordable ungraded or in low grades. For example, Psa 7 cards can have beautiful fronts. Pokémon was spoiled too long with the Psa 9-10 only mindset.
Also everyone is hyper focused on high graded wotc. Pokémon has so many affordable alternatives. Hell xy, sm Japanese promos alone have hundreds of unique art options under $50. Or how about vending cards; Golden era, Japanese exclusive, super nostalgic, and around $5-10 per card.
People get stuck in the safari zone and miss what this hobby has to offer.
How come it doesn’t sound so crazy when SMPratte reiterates my previous claims- PSA 7 is nm.
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Now who’s laughing (??) when I said I collect PSA 4 and up…? These cards have less likeliness of a massive dip, ie. PSA 7 unlimited will not fall to $8 or $2 ‘backtraces’.
Same here! The 20th anniversary was a lot of fun. Evolutions was such a bright spot! The unique promos they released are some of the best modern cards.
Man I feel that. Wish I had been picking up those dirt cheap 7s, and 8s when I had the chance.
As far as prices go, I figured they would get here in a few years. I’m just shocked they went up so fast, and during a pandemic of all times. Anyone predict this correctly?
@tower Tycoon I had a gut feeling prices were too cheap and due to increase. Im sure they are due many more increases throughout the future. The only surprising thing is it took place during pandemic. Yes they gave out one $1200 stimulus check so far but that only gets you thru a month or two maybe less depending on your dependants, state etc. I know they have this huge unemployment increase going on but it’s harder to get on unemployment then it sounds. They fight you tooth and nail. My brother got denied and had to reapply and call like crazy before eventually getting approved. Then there’s this weird grey area for some people like myself that was debating starting a job again but this virus happened while my applications were in. So there’s plenty of people with no income right now that also don’t qualify for unemployment. As far as card prices I care but I really don’t because I just adjust goals as needed.
@nietzsche I never said that I just didn’t take a deep dive into all my personal life. But I’m not shy. I worked for years and saved up a good amount of money. I moved to Florida to live by the beautiful beaches and to enjoy fishing. Anyways I haven’t had much actual income come in for awhile outside of my personal investments like stocks etc. I have plenty of money worth of cards but no intention on selling. Long story short I was going to start working again before this all happened. But I’ve explained myself which there is no need to in the first place. Back on topic I was just mentioning unemployment and stimulus because a lot of people blame stimulus for price increases. I probably should have ignored your comment but I’ll just assume your being curious and didn’t mean to come off as a ass
Its easy to look in the past and be upset with not doing this or that. If the prices dont go back down people are just going to have to live with it. I’ve picked up a lot of nice cards in the past year, and yeah its sucks a bit that I have to course correct for my collection goals, but I am grateful for everything I was able to buy before this all went down.
Also, be grateful for all the cards you did manage to obtain! I know a bunch of mine have doubled or tripled in value, so thats one good thing to look at and be proud of.
Not being an ass. You said you and other people are in grey area with no income. Was just asking how you and other people who have no income can adjust goals for that.
well i get it but im not rly looking to the past and being upset.
i genuinely think prices will retrace, and people will have their chances to buy what they want in the coming year or two
heard that ludkin’s next submission is 50k cards or smth? maybe i heard wrong so feel free to correct me here if i am
also, i already have all the set cards except yanma and t17 which are low pop and wont be affected by the retrace much. if anything i should hope it never retraces and keep going up, since i literally have everything else already
@nietzsche I guess I worded that wrong. What I meant is from a regular job. I can’t file unemployment from the stock market and other investment related things. And ok kool I thought that was a jab at me for a minute. But someone made a great point a minute ago. Just be happy with what we picked up before increases. Prices up or down or staying the same it doesn’t matter. Whatever happens was meant to happen.
Yeah that’s the thing. People have speculated it was the stimulus package driving prices up, but that doesn’t add up. Like you said, a lot of people aren’t getting it, and the majority of those in the hobby who do probably aren’t using it to just buy cards. But even if they did spend it all on cards, I’m not sure how much of an impact it would have on the market considering the countless ways to spend it. It has to be a combination of factors (maybe including some panic buying). To make things even more interesting, MTG seems to be taking a dip in the meantime. My gut is telling me to hold out on buying much for a bit, but of course I’ll probably regret it lol.
