What are some problems you have with collecting that you would like to see solved? Could be big problems or benign I.e. you have no good way to display boosters or cards
Would love to hear some challenges so we can get some solutions goin!
Seems the number 1 concern for sellers, buyers, and collectors revolves around shipping (no, there’s no such thing as a shipping charge;)
Is there a solution, even if it costs extra money, that will satisfy all?
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Honesty regarding PayPal’s terms of use. My biggest pet peeve in this hobby is “paypal ff or u pay fees.” It’s a shady practice and I’ve lost many purchases because I can’t pay using friends and family as a buyer or pay their seller fees.
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~ no 1st edition on modern
~ holo pattern on modern (please amend to cosmos holo)
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Something that has been on my mind for a while, I’d definitely like to see more informative/entertaining channels on Youtube in regards to the TCG.
Scott of course has a great channel and is very informative, but I’d love to see something in the vain of Gaming Historian, where a variety of topics are discussed at length, looking into the history and origin of some cards/sets and the creators/artists behind them; and also the popular culture surrounding whatever topic at the time.
I think it’d really encourage casual fans to take the leap into the more involved side of the hobby.
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Knowing the quality of a psa 10 card before actually buying it.
Unfortunately the only way to know is by inspecting the card in hand. -
People who suck at communicating.
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Risking close to a grand everytime i have to ship my own items to me cause EU import laws are cancer.
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Being autistic.
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That’s a valid complaint as I’m fully against this sort of practice from sellers. However, saying you can’t pay 3-4% extra is a bit silly…
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I feel like Pokémon doesn’t focus on what the serious collector wants. They need to bring back some form of 1st edition limited printing for us collectors. Or something to replace it.
I would really like to invest in modern product, but it does not meet my needs as a collector. Modern product is a turn off for me, but Pokémon definitely has the power to fix this problem. They need to look at the long term picture. Focus more on us adult collectors who spend thousands on Pokémon cards a year.
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Too many scammers. I’ve had to learn to watch for a ton of red flags. I’m guessing as the values continue to increase it will only get worse. Thank god for E4 one of the few places I feel good about.
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Yeah at the very least they could do limited release or promo stuff like they do in Japan. For example, I think the Cosplay Pikachu boxes are really cool. I don’t expect something similar as the NA market is very different from Japan, but I’m sure they can figure it out.
The current set up of ultra rares is stale. The hyper rares are kind of passable, but the constant secret rares of items nobody cares about is boring. I would prefer to see a return of unique cards like alakazam ex secret, and have them be significantly rarer. Also english needs to step up on the promos.
More (something) for collectors essentially.
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Exclusivity in English releases
Variety in the product would help honestly. Pokemon doesn’t really give people many options, we get 5 sets a year which become incredibly stale quickly.
There needs to be more supplementary sets in the same vein as Dragon Majesty, Shining Legends and Generations.
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In what ways does HF autism make it difficult to maneuver within the hobby?
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Modern PTCG is geared towards players, while I love playing the game even more than collecting, throwing some incentives for collectors would be nice.
I for one don’t care for a 1st edition mark but I would like super limited varients like in sports. Alternate arts that are limited to 1000, or super limited that are only 250. This won’t affect the players but would make it more fun for collectors.
The pre release for evolutions did this perfectly( on accident). Since it gave us 2 different charizards that were much more scarse.
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Consistency in good market sales. Maybe I’m mainly speaking about PWCC and Scott’s last YouTube video. Even so I have thought about it for a long while now on what things would be like if PWCC changed things up on their end in a positive way.
A couple things here:
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eBay’s ridiculous buyer protection, but more specifically eBay and PayPal attitudes towards graded cards on buyer returns. On professionally graded cards from companies that offer a financial guarantee, buyers should not be able to return the card because they disagree with the grade assigned (if the seller does not offer returns). The point of a professional grading company (the exact reason why they were created) is to stop these sorts of disputes.
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Professional grading companies need to invest in non-sports cards and Pokemon in particular. Where is the non-sports member of PSA’s Board of Experts? Spoiler alert: they don’t have one. PSA in particular has recognized Pokemon as a major area of new revenue and we see this in the SMR articles, PSA attending Comic-Con, etc. However at the same time we see reports of a decrease in reliability among high grades. It appears PSA is having a difficult time coping with a massive influx of lower-value (sub-$500) Pokemon cards. As I’ve said previously, you get what you pay for. Hire experts from the Pokemon card hobby and train graders on grading Pokemon cards.
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I completely agree, and I definitely would pay the extra percentage if it weren’t just blatantly against PayPal’s terms. It’s really not about the money since in 90% of these cases, it’s really not that much, but I can’t adhere to their terms and pay the fee at same time.
Limited Edition Box sets in english.
in MTG’s Judge promo program they printed popular newer cards in old print templates. Very nostalgic. A lot of appeal to older players who remember the old template/border fondly. Why Couldn’t pokemon print the new shining pokemon in the old print template/border in a limited edition box set? You could print 10 cards, put them in a nice box and sell them to collectors for $40.00 for some insane margins. Evolutions did a great job at this, except it was printed into oblivion. We need LIMITED EDITION box sets for this.
Maybe a 1st edition themed box set that has 5-6 popular pokemon (charizard gx, test tube mewtwo etc…) from the modern era with an honorary 1st edition stamp to set them apart (the stamp wouldnt represent an actual 1st print run. Just another nostalgia play.)
Pokemon should do way more limited edition box sets and releases. The margins are really high and people would buy them. Very collectible.
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Great topic @pokenoob! Here are a few that come to mind:
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Pokemon US could cater more towards collectors. The japanese side already does, and it’s clearly successful. People literally book flights to primarily shop at pokemon centers and collect in Japan.
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Ebay needs to balance out their system. Literal scammers and fake card sellers are consistently selling, yet they ban one of the most upstanding sellers (@thecharizardauthorty) for a week. Let that sink in; actual scammers selling fake product are fine, and fucking Rusty is banned for a week. I feel like I am taking crazy pills.
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PSA still needs to take Pokemon more seriously. This includes being more aware of values. Increased value (monetary) = increased value (psa quality).
In general the collecting community is much larger today and better than ever! It is better to have more people collecting what they enjoy with flaws than less collectors in a “pure” utopia.
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I wish that ebay would offer a StockX approach, where they middle man with authenticators. “Sneaker heads” quit buying off ebay all together because so many replicas were being sold, they had about a 50/50 shot of getting screwed. All StockX sales are sent to StockX, their team expertly authenticates the shoes, and then the buyer can’t make any false claims.
I’d be equal parts interested in this as a buyer and a seller.