Trying to Figure a lot out Before Seriously Starting!

General
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Before I commit to anything seriously I always do my research and found myself here thankfully. I have quite a few questions so any and all help is greatly appreciated.

I’m currently looking at collecting E-Series and older (with the exception of EX Rocket Returns). I am going back to school so my budget will be altered until I’m finished.

I was wondering what people recommend as a beginner to start collecting; graded, ungraded?
Where do people recommend buying from; forums or ebay, or big websites? (TrollandToad for example)
What’s a good way to determine a budget based on your collection goals and financial situations?
What sleeves does everyone keep their cards in? Is penny sleeves inside a top loader, ultra pro / players choice, etc and top loader?

Thanks for the support and help! Can’t wait to start collecting and learning :blush:

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first of all, u have to love pokemon, second of all start form the new set, sun moon & BW, it will lead you to the new world

after you have collected a few sets, you will find out which card you want most and which booster box or pack you would like to get

but anyway ppl always go for the rarest cards at some point, gold star, shining etc but definitely not at first, it will not build up your interests, since those cards just way too expensive and you prob not gonna satisfied by holding only one or two cards.

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If you are going to go ungraded, which I recommend, I’d pick up a couple of binders. Personally I’ve got two binders for expedition and aquapolis and a third with everything from 2003-2007 (this binder is literally exploding and I should probably get another to split it up but I’m not that worried yet :stuck_out_tongue: ).
Any holos I get that are in mint condition I penny sleeve and place in a card saver for PSA grading one day.

The way you collect is up to you but getting started I had a lot of fun purchasing old collections that had cards from these years, it will fill up your common and uncommon slots very quickly.

Now I’m just focusing set to set and I’ve just picked up a mint (PSA 8 or if I’m lucky 9) expedition Charizard for 60$ so I’m stoked about finishing the expedition set.

Good luck with your collection!

P.s I’ve got no tips on saving money lol, just don’t spend more than your rent each month.

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Welcome to the hobby! It’s great that you’re here first.

As a beginner I would suggest you collect ungraded cards unless you only want the most perfect condition cards. Usually you can buy many ungraded cards for the price of one graded 10 card. I’d suggest that you only buy NM or better condition cards though, condition is important to a lot of collectors and sticking to NM or better keeps your collection value consistent and your displays looking sharp. If you decide to collect graded cards you can always switch in the future!

eBay is where I buy almost all of my cards. For better or worse their buyer protection is insane, if you don’t want what you ordered for any reason you get your money back. Trollandtoad can be good if you’re trying to complete sets and need a big amount of specific and obscure cards. However their condition ratings are not accurate and they often ship with limited protection. Buying on the forums is also a great idea, public selling is not allowed here but you are encouraged to post a thread of cards you are looking to buy with prices you are willing to pay. If forum members have the cards they’ll get in touch with you via PM. My personal recommendation is to avoid Facebook and instagram for purchasing, especially when you’re starting out. The likelihood of being scammed is much higher. Don’t agree to pay anyone via Paypal friends and family, only do goods and services.

Determining a budget is important, but determining numbers of how much money you can spend is the hard part. Everyone has different expenses, so I would recommend starting small. Pokemon will be a new expense for you so maybe only spend $25-50/month on it. If you find that’s not a problem for you financially, increase it incrementally until you find a budget that balances your financial ability with your lust for sweet sweet cardboard. The most important thing to remember is not to impulse buy expensive cards or cards that don’t fit your collection goals.

I use penny sleeves for most everything, they’re universally useful and every collector should have an excess of them. For valuable cards I’m not going to grade but want to protect I use KMC Perfect Fit Sleeves and an Ultra Pro Deck Sleeve inside an Ultra Pro Pro-Binder. For ungraded cards, random holos/GXs, and anything else that’s nice but not really worth displaying in a binder, I just use penny sleeves and put them in a deck box. For to-be-graded cards it’s a penny sleeve and a Card Saver I.

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Collecting graded can be good as it guarantees the condition as you may struggle to accurately confirm the condition of ungraded cards. However once you become more experienced buying ungraded cards can often allow you to get cards cheaper than if they were graded.

I purchase almost all of my cards on eBay. I have never used troll and toad but I have heard the condition can vary.

I apend almost everything I don’t spend on living expenses or school on cards. However setting a budget is always a good idea, but I think you have to decide that yourself.

#1 Rule: just collect whatever you like

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I started with new sets, booster boxes, tins, buying collections and things. Then I gradually decided what I like, what I awant to collect and why.

This pulled me back to the old English stuff and japanese. I created a wish list of cards I wanted, so i have a specific goal to aim for, along with enjoying collecting in general. Once I get a card from my list/spreadsheet, it gives a nice feeling and boost to the feeling of collecting.

I stopped with the silly purchases of new booster boxes, tins, collections etc when just before sun and moon came out. I realized I love the hobby, but aswell as collecting and enjoying the cards…I wanted some form of security in my purchases.

It is all good and well speding money, loving the hobby but ending up just tonnes of bulk and items that wont hold value or decrease. I know the word investment is used alot, even over used!

I love collecting, but I also want to know there is a possible future for the cards, if one day I decide/need to sell some(for other expenses or to put towards a new pokemon card collecting goal). The older cards are where my heart is, they are what I collected for a few years back in Primary and High school. I also get to own cards I never did and never could own when I was a kid, plus collect the cards in the years I moved to magic and beyond.

I am a collector but I now make more thought out decisions on what I buy based on what I like, unique and rarer cards, price, possible future value( Meaning buy asap rather than wait and never be able to get my hands on certain cards I want/like).

I originally didn’t have a goal or direction, this can quickly become uncontrollable and overwhelming. Buying for the sake of buying, amassing lots and lots of cards that you never look at…you will find your goals and direction within the hobby. whether it is new cards, older cards, english, japanese, promos or whatever you enjoy.The only way you will know, is to start out and see how you feel after a few purchases, checking out e4, bulbapedia and other Pokesources.

Dip your toes, test the water before jumping in. You may decide it isn’t for you, or you may become the next Gary/ Smpratte within the next 10-20 years!

My advice is to read, gain knowledge and understanding of the hobby to get a feel for it…buy some collections, some packs, crack a few things and take it from there. I started out with RAW cards, and collected them for a good while, then once I knew more about psa graded cards, I bought some cheap ones to see what they were like.

The whole grade yourself, buy graded is another thing altogether(there are threads on here with pros and cons…some cards are best to buy outright, some you may want to try for yourself, and then there is the chase)

I like to ramble! So enjoy the unproof-read splurge of words I have produced for you :grin:

Disclaimer: I am no pro, nor do I hold a fraction of the knowledge most members on here do. I am just giving my personal opinion, so please only take it as that.

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It would help to know your appx budget. Some people going back to school may have 1000.00 a month in expendable income. Others may have 100.00. That’s what I would need to know to advise properly.

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I have been obsessed with Pokemon since the cards first came out so the love for the Pokemon world is not an issue at all! I’ve looked in to the new stuff and I just don’t enjoy their artwork at all so I have no interest in those sets. To me I find it a waste of money when I could put that towards some nicer older stuff.

Like I said, I’m looking at E-series and older (excluding EX Team Rocket Returns). That was the generation when I was kid and was collecting with friends. That’s where my love for all of this stemmed from.

I never thought about that but you’re right! I know they say buy the expensive stuff first but as someone who it literally just beginning I wouldn’t feel satisfied by spending a lot of my budget on a gold star and have to wait a month or 2 before adding to my collection. Thanks!! :blush:

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I have some of my old stuff already sorted in to top loaders and sets but I definitely need to get binders for the commons and uncommons.

If I can find some older collections I’ll look in to purchasing them and adding them to my collecting…never thought of it that way! I think at first I would like to go ungraded and once I have my collection (which I’ll be looking for EX to NM+ only) I’ll start looking in to grading. Thanks for the ideas :blush: Best of luck with that Charizard!

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With school coming up my schedule will be changing as will my income so I need to wait for my final schedule before knowing that and giving that to you as well.

I work as a bartender and server so I was thinking of using 80% of my tips for the month towards my collection at the start.

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Thank you to everyone for responding and giving me a lot to think about! It really helps hearing from you and hearing a lot of different perspectives. This has helped me determine more or less a budget that will work for me as well as how I will be storing my cards and what to looks for when starting! I did’t want to do an individual reply because it looks like it will take up a lot of space and I’m not very good at navigating or using forums but know I have read and appreciate all the responses!

Again thank you very much to each of you for the support and information! I look forward to raiding your ebay pages soon! :blush:

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Start on (if I was you):

Shining Legends (Mewtwo)
Burning Shadows (Charizard)
Ultra Prism (Solgaleo & Lunala)
Celestial Storm (Rayquaza)

WoTC cards (Gold Stars, Shinings, Shadowless)

Japanese Charizard cards (cheap compared to English counterpart)

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Umm… @professortavares already stated twice he prefers pre E-series, and doesn’t really like the looks of the newer sets…

Anyway, welcome to the forum @professortavares ! I personally can’t really give very good advice on the question you have, because I personally don’t collect sets (I collect Pikachus, Sevipers, and Mimikyus primarily in every variation possible), nor do I have a pretty strict budget or the need for only NM cards.

But despite that, I can still give some opinions based on what I’ve learned from others here on the forum and my own experiences:

  1. The most important thing in collecting any kind of Pokémon TCG collection is setting collecting goals for yourself. In the past I personally just bought any cards I liked the artwork of, without an actual goal. Now that I primarily collect Pikachus, Sevipers, and Mimikyus (and some other collections now, like FA Supports and National Index), I can only focus on those goals and not be distracted by other cards that are for sale.

  2. If you have a limited income, set budgets for yourself and stick to it. If you would collect non-graded (which I would advice for a starting collector since it’s cheaper, takes less space, and it’s easier to browse to your collection appreciating the artworks in their binders), regular set cards aren’t too hard to come by in general. So even if you’re already at your set budget for the month, I would advice to not go over it anyway (it’s your own choice of course). But if you go over it once, saying you’d spend less next month, it usually doesn’t happen. I speak from experience with both my twisty puzzles collection and Pokémon collections. :wink: You can always increase your budget of course, but I wouldn’t go over it too much if you can’t afford it financially. You also have to save for the future of course after school.

  3. I personally use Ultra Pro 2 5/8" x 3 5/8" card sleeves and 9-slot A4 binders with loose sheets, so I can move things around or insert a 18-slot page in between if necessary. For the very rare ungraded cards I use these same sleeves, including a toploader, and that toploader in another sleeve with adhesive to semi-seal it, which I put together with the few graded cards I have in a 4-slot A4 binder. For Jumbo cards I use BCW 6" by 9" Photograph sleeves and Ultra Pro 6" by 9" toploaders in regular A4 page clear single-page binder sleeves. This is the combination that works best for me personally, but everyone has of course different binders, sleeves, toploaders, and storage methods they prefer.

Once again welcome to the forum, and enjoy your stay! Good luck with your collection goals.

Greetz,
Quuador

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I was wondering what people recommend as a beginner to start collecting; graded, ungraded?

If you are collecting sets, RAW is probably a good start. Trying to buy old graded cards in sets will be very expensive, and due to your limited funds you may only have a handful of cards (nothign wrong with that, if it is part of your goals…when you know them, then go for it) Personally I would start out small, buying Raw cards you like/want and decide on your goals along the way.

Where do people recommend buying from; forums or ebay, or big websites? (TrollandToad for example)

It really depends on your goals, what cards you are wanting…but a mix of all kinds can be helpful. You cna post a buy and trade thread on the forums to trade out cards you dont need or want, for ones you do, or just outright buy(no selling allowed though). Every different website and place has its pros, cons and card availability. Plus be careful using facebook, IG and other forums because of doodgey people trying to scam. Be vigilant and it should be ok :blush:
Many members of this forum have ebay stores, offer psa grading services, can trade swap and help you get the cards you need (if you agree on price!)

What’s a good way to determine a budget based on your collection goals and financial situations?

Work out what your expenses will be, see what spare income you will have and go from there really. Dont buy cards, and then have to sell to make ends meet. Set goals, put money aside and gradually collect. Your income and general disposable income may increase over time, so you can adjust your budget accordingly. Like I said before, try not to over extend yourself, last thing you want is to buy a card you really want for 200 and then have to panic sell for half the price, in order to pay a bill or other expense.

What sleeves does everyone keep their cards in? Is penny sleeves inside a top loader, ultra pro / players choice, etc and top loader?

I use ultra pro matte sleeves for ultra rares gx ex etc, penny sleeves for rares and holo rares(mainly for newer sets, it depends on the card condition and value to how it is stored) My sets are in ring binders for commons and uncommons, and ultra pro binders for raw rares and above. I keep bulk in big cardboard bulk boxes, and my psa cards stacked in boxes aswell. Some people like to penny sleeve and use card savers, which seems to be a great option. It just isnt as practical to view the cards, but a great way to keep them safe and minty!(plus easy to send to psa in the future for grading, no need to touch them again once pennied up and card savered)

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For anyone wondering I’ve decided to start with Team Rocket and EX Team Rocket Returns as my first sets to go after, in that order or priority and at my own pace / budget. I managed to pick up 2 Dark Magnetons from my local shop for $5 and besides some scratching they’re pretty mint!

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I concur with this statement, especially with TrollandToad. The conditions are inconsistent and I feel like 2 year olds pack the cards. I think if you buy them single, you may have better luck. If you get multiple cards, I can’t stand the way they pack them all into one sleeve just because its a potential to get scratched or whitening in the back. Ebay is your best bet like most people have said and you can utilize E4 members to help complete your sets. Just remember to state a price your willing to pay as it is a mistake w/ all new members not stating it in their post. I am somewhat new myself but still, welcome to the hobby and best of luck in your “journey” :wink:

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Some of the new stuff may grow on you because I felt the exact same way!! Love this new art on the left hand side :grin:, ignore the gold star :wink: