I was browsing YouTube for ex deoxys booster pack openenings and came across this video. At 2:55ish he starts to explain his purchasing of the packs he got. He says he paid $123 bucks for 36 packs! That’s like $3.40 a pack!
That video is from 2012. For all you ladies and gentleman who have been in the hobby for a long time (or the whole time!), what are some stupid low prices you remember paying for stuff when pokemon wasnt hip? It’s hard to believe that that deoxys pack 7 years ago was 3ish bucks and now it’s like 200! That’s a seriously critical increase.
Skyridge, first edition base, shadowless, and first edition neo destiny etc. are all super pricey packs now, have they always been the top echelon of packs that are the most expensive? Or were at some points all packs regardless of set or edition in the single digits?
I hate that I 1. Ever got out of pokemon to begin with… I can only imagine how gnarly my collection would be if I never stopped… and 2. That I didnt get back into pokemon sooner. Even just two years sooner then I did and I would have been able to actually afford the stuff I like and would have a gnarly collection!
I look forward to the sick feeling ill get learning what I missed out on and low prices people have paid for what is now astronomical!
When I first started collecting again around May of 2018, I was able to find a few early ex packs (Sandstorm, Team Magma) for $12-18. I also bought a couple skyridge packs for $230 in December of 2018. Neither example are even close to being as insane as your ex Deoxys example, but its still interesting to see how much prices have changed in only a year. Weird to think I can no longer afford packs that I bought 11 months ago.
My best was back in 2016. I paid $15 each for one ex team magma vs aqua blister, one ruby sapphire blister, one ex dragon blister and one ex sandstorm blister. $60 for the lot of 4.
Another purchase I’m proud of I believe it was back in 2016-17. I paid $320 for 6 base unl blisters in pristine condition. 2 of each artwork. $53 per blister.
I bought a few ex TRR packs for about $8 each in late 2011. And If I recall correctly, +/- 1 year from then, there was a product called “Player’s Pack” which was like the poster boxes or mythical collection style that has become more popular recently. Back then, these were $9.99 at Target and they contained 3 random booster packs.
I still played the game, and only wanted the newest packs at the time, so when I saw there were ex series packs in there like power keepers, I avoided buying those
I bought Power Keepers packs in store for $3.15 when I was 10…
But once I got back into the hobby in 2014, I remember buying the Diamond and Pearl preview tins for like $23 each. They came with 4 EX series packs: 1 Dragon Frontiers, 1 Delta Species, and 2 Power Keepers. Even up til 2016 you could get EX series packs in a lot of the early Diamond and Pearl products (DP Power Packs, DP Trio Boxes, etc) for relatively cheap. Never did pull a gold star but I did eventually pull an ex from a pack which is something I’d always wanted to do. Thankfully I pulled it back when EX packs were relatively cheap!
Back in about 2007-2008 I paid $1 per jungle pack, bought about 200 and they were all no symbol packs. Around 2014 I paid $1 per team rocket pack, I bought about 700 and they were in sealed 72 count team rocket longpack cases
A good while back, probably around 2011 if I were to take a random guess, I bought 6 1st Edition Neo Discovery packs for $17. It was a fantastic deal even for the time–it was a bid auction with no other bids. Seller had zero feedback. But I lucked out big time. Opened them all and got a 1st Edition Holo Espeon, Kabutops, and Scizor out of them.
I remember buying tons of Base Set boosters from Amazon for $5 a piece back around 2010. One of the packs was even Shadowless and I pulled a Poliwrath. At around that time Jungle & Fossil were in the $2-$3 range. All unweighted.
There was a time, for nearly 15 years, that you couldn’t sell Pokemon items. I remember walking into a local store and buying boxes of Base, Jungle and Fossil for $50 each those were the good old days.
I’ll never forget that this could’ve been me. I started up again around that time, and the first time I was looking for a box to buy online I saw a base box for $400, but thought to myself “who the hell would pay that much for a box of cards?” Instead I bought a B&W base set box… I kick myself every time I think about it lol
If it makes you feel better, I ignorantly sold it shortly there after for a small profit. I re entered the hobby in November 2017 and never looked back.
The other solid deal I made in 2012 was buying three 1st Edition Base boosters for $175 a piece.