Random thought… What was the hobby like before 2020?
I joined last year and went gungho on buying and collecting… Its been great… Alot of fun. But I came in during the boom so i paid the inflated price because that’s all I knew. Which is fine by me, but…
… I’m curious what it was like before 2020? Not just prices but the hobby as a whole… For example
Much more niche or still pretty popular enough…? Much more affordable and attainable cards everywhere…? Or Less supply due to less demand maybe…? Surely it was way way different right? Or not really?
If anybody cares to weigh in and put it in a perspective I’m quite curious…thanks
Around where I live it was much quieter. Product was always available on the shelves - sometimes booster packs would sell out but there were always tins and boxes, and the packs would be restocked by the next visit anyways. I’d go into my lgs a few times a month to pick up singles for $1-2 each, just for fun. I didn’t know of many people into collecting at the time, just myself and my best friend who would go to the gamestop/toys r us events and grab some free cards for each other.
Now there are a bunch of kids I knew in highschool and some older guys around buying up all the local stock to resell on fb or ebay. I’m sure some of them are collectors just cashing in, but some I know are completely new to it. It’s just kind of strange that what used to be a quiet, casual hobby space for me has become so loud. I’m not complaining, I just wish I’d chosen a better time to start collecting sealed product, lol
It was different from now, but not necessarily more enjoyable or better in my opinion.
When I got back into it a few years ago, first thing I did was buying PSA graded cards of my favorites and opening vintage and modern product. This didn´t change, just the rate of buying had to be adjusted over the years
It was a lot more niche, there were only a handful of (good) content creators, which were still small at the time. The recent surge of popularity made certain things more expensive but what I rarely see being talked about is the surge of great content that came with it. We are super spoiled nowadays with brilliant creators covering pretty much every topic imaginable.
For me personally, I like it even more today than I liked it when I got into it.
Interesting… Wow bulk submissions returning in just a few months… I couldnt imagine
U say base and vintage hit cards weren’t even worth breaking a seal on a box back then … that tells me prices must have been dramatically effected more than I was aware… Old school Collectors valued the sealed box while 2020 people just want to rip them open for all the charizards or any other holos…interesting difference in collectors
No grading craze, no vintage hype.
Recent cards went for 10-25€ (EX cards), goldstars… i dont know tbh, i think when they were released they were like 30-40€ per piece, Lugia EX used to be 30-50€ back in the days on ebay i remember.
But yeah no one graded anything, there was no scalping / reselling trend going on (at least it wasnt this bad), booster boxes werent sold out everywhere, I wasnt aware of weighing booster packs or that there was mapping going on.
Ummmm and no one i knew payed any attention to the centering ect.
You just bought a booster of an EX set at some store with friends and saw who got luckier.
I’ve posted my experience before, but prior to 2020 the best way I can describe collecting was that it was relaxing. There was plenty of supply on ebay for pretty much every type of card. You could search for an item, find 5-6 copies available for sale, add them to your watch list, and buy when you were ready. Most of my collection I was able to purchase for very reasonable prices ($35ish for WOTC 1st Ed. PSA 9 level of reasonable).
The advice I would give you though is to not focus too much on the past. That time is gone and adjusting your mindset to what the market is like today is the best thing you can do for yourself
I agree I just wonder what is was like as a hypothetical convo… These prices seem so arbitrary today but the expense kind of adds to the allure if that makes since haha…
Now I’m at a plateau… Ive gotten my goal cards and spent an arm and a leg for a couple of them!! but next up is…well… trophies I guess, and perhaps gem mint copies of cards… I suppose… Ill never have 50,000+ bucks for my collecting… Not to get off topic but to think 10 years ago a 50,000+ dollar card could have been 5000 or even 500… Just weird how it works… Hard to compute the value looking back in time or into the future with this stuff
Interesting …anyways thanks for discussion my friend
Efour was much more quiet. There was almost no talk of stonks or investment. If you graded any card at an 8 you could basically throw them in the trash. If you loved Japanese you could have almost any card you wanted for pennies, even in PSA 10. If you wanted modern you could have almost any card you wanted for pennies, even in PSA 10. If you wanted Ex era, you could have any card you wanted for pennies, even in PSA 10. PWCC had like 500 cards per block not 4000. Grading was simple and cheap and usually fast. It was fun as hell but there was more risk. Everything I bought I knew full well could be worthless if Pokémon died down. It’s not like that anymore
I’ve been playing and collecting since 1999, a lot of my collection jumped in price 2x, 5x, 10x. I’m in the process of getting everything together from my parents home, assessing and grading a lot, and probably going to have to get insurance.
On the down side, the price of the cards I’ve always wanted but haven’t yet acquired has also gone way up. So it’s pretty even across the board. I’m certainly happy we’re finally getting to that point where a collection in your parent’s basement is a gold mine, and very glad to see renewed (and mainstream) excitement in the hobby. The pros outweigh the cons.
Wow what a trip… Thanks for input… But like I mentioned earlier I think the huge price increase naturally adds to the allure… And the difficulty in grading a card with select graders adds even more to desirability in those copies
Idk thats how I see it from a newcomber perspective… People want what they cant have
What you need to keep in mind is that the question you are asking now is the same question that people who entered the hobby in 2016 and 2017 were asking, and five years from now, there is a very good chance that people will be asking, “What was the hobby like in 2020?”
Ask Scott, Gary and any of the most seasoned collectors here how tired they got of all of the “I wish I started collecting back in 2010 when it was cheaper” comments that flooded this forum in 2016 and 2017. It was the same thing.
It’s funny, because all of the people replying are saying how much more quiet and easy it was a few years ago, but a few years ago, people were saying it was so much more quiet and easy a few years before that. Lol.
Basically, the hobby has been growing for 10 years now. Obviously, things were certainly expedited this past year due to the pandemic, the Logan box opening, etc., but the frustration over not being able to afford certain things anymore was also there three or four years ago. It’s just on a grander scale now.
True… I know its just inflation doing its thing … If I seen a psa 10 charizard 1st ed on the floor in 2019 I dont know if I would have even bent over to pick it up… I didnt know anything a of the hobby before 2020 but I love it now so thats why I love to hear stories of before I was here just for curiosity sake
It’s alright to be at a plateau, I’ve been there before myself. Just collect what makes you happy and you’ll never regret a purchase. I’ve constantly re-evaluated my collecting goals and made adjustments as needed. A card doesn’t have to be a trophy or gem mint copy to fit in your personal collection.
I live in the middle of nowhere. You could still find those XY-era giftboxes/promo boxes with the EX promo card in them on clearance. Lots of early sun and moon stuff no one wanted to touch at all.
Then a few months ago, everything was wiped out completely. Suddenly everyone and their mother has to have pokemon cards now. It’s kinda funny seeing how literally no one in town cared about pokemon cards until about February hit.
