When I first started collecting, I collected what I liked. What made me nostalgic. One of the cards happened to be Blaine’s Charizard. 1st edition psa 10. I have a few of them and the price has skyrocketed this year. So my question is at what point is an appropriate time to sell? When you’ve quadrupled your investment? The average price i paid for one is between 600-700 dollars. The last two sold for 3.5k each. I could sell one of them for that and that basically pays for the rest of the ones I bought. But I also feel like this will be a 5k card one day. I’m just spitballing ideas here and want to know your guys take
3 Likes
@chavycat, if you don’t need cash right now and are ok with them potentially dipping a little bit in the short term, then I’d suggest you hold on to them as you’re absolutely right they will get to $5k someday (might take weeks/years, no one knows).
3 Likes
Only you know the right time to sell for your situation. If you’re not in need of the cash or actively trying to acquire another card then it doesn’t make sense to sell since you think the price will continue to go up. You could sell one at 3.5, hold until the price reaches your expected 5k, and keep selling incrementally as the price increases.
5 Likes
I don’t like to own duplicates so I’d sell the extras to buy cards I’m still missing.
But when it comes to the right price I think it just has to feel right to you. You could list them for 5k and wait until its the cheapest listing and someone buys it. I have cards listed for years this way but I won’t regret it if they end up selling one day.
2 Likes
@chavycat, it depends! For me, I always regretted selling off my Pokemon-EXs when I was a kid just because I “needed” the extra money. If you don’t need to finance another purchase, then just hold on to it.
Next time, when you have the money to buy anything you want, you might not be able to find what you sold off. That’s my take at least! Clearly you have an attachment to this particular card, so I wouldn’t let it go and would rather cut down on my expenses or other bits of my collection
3 Likes
Hmm good points, good points
1 Like
I agree with the others, if you’re going to use it to fund other purchases that you would rather have then go ahead and sell. From November 2019 to about the beginning of January 2020 I sold about $1000 worth of lower grade PSA cards (8’s and below) to fund purchases of the same cards in PSA 9. I’m glad I did that because I was able to get in before the massive price increases.
If you have cards you want now, go ahead and sell to get them while you can. If not, hold onto the card and sell when you need the money
3 Likes
I sold my PSA 10 Base Charizard back in like February or March for $2200 and regret it. I had paid $500 for it maybe back in 2016/2017 and only had 1 copy and granted it was kind of right before the covid run up, so a little different scenario… I guess it just depends on your financial situation and if you would/wouldn’t regret it and also if you’d use the money to reinvest in Pokemon (bc then you’d be paying high prices too on the buy end) or just have the $ waiting to buy incase of a dip (that may or may not happen…)
Either way - it’s a “good” problem to have. You can’t really lose to badly with multiples. If you sell 1 and the price runs up even more - you’re others are better off - if you sell 1 and prices dip, could buy back if you wanted.
1 Like
It’s sort of like asking when is the right time to sell a stock. Of course it is impossible to determine the absolute best time before a dip or tank and you’re always risking selling before another huge boom. Who knows.
I think the big question is what are you happy with if/when you sell it? I see a lot of people with regrets for selling at a certain time, not because they miss the card but because they wish they would’ve gotten more out of the deal.
For me, I have a few cards I don’t really need to sell right now but I am anyways to raise some capital for other purchases and collecting goals. I put them on auction and if get close to market and at least doubled my money put into them, I am quite happy with no regrets, even if it shoots up more. Hard to be upset by this, even if it comes in slightly “under market”. Tough to find other markets where you can 2-4x your investment in only a few years or hell, a few months in some cases lol.
1 Like
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.
The best time to sell a Pokemon card is never, the second best time is when you value or need other things more than the card that can be purchase with the sales proceeds of the card. Selling a card to just increase the numbers in your bank account I would imagine would be the least fulfilling way to go about it. But if you are putting that money towards paying down debt (freedom), a different collection goal, another hobby or passion entirely, or anything of substance other than just money I think it is much more fulfilling and much less likely to cause regrets if/when the card increases substantially.
15 Likes
I agree here and would like to add that selling to increase your bank account numbers is good as well if you’re wanting to be “capital ready” for the next big deal or want. I think that is important as well so when an opportunity arises, you are ready, even if you don’t know what that opportunity is yet.
I am doing this a bit to build up my pokemon funds and increase the numbers in my bank account, even though I don’t have any real plans on what card or goal I will be spending it on yet. However, whenever I see it, I’ll be ready.
4 Likes
If you don’t need the funds (or have another collectible goal) ask yourself what the cash would go towards.
Is it going to sit in a savings account at half a percent interest? Is it going towards debt? A home? A child’s education?
There’s no set price for selling. Making 400% in two years is AN INCREDIBLE RETURN. Most people will go entire lifetimes without making those kind of returns on anything, even stocks.
If the money is going to sit in a savings account, what’s the point? If there is another goal (or frankly something more important than encapsulated cardboard like family) then yes, you should happily lock in large gains, especially since it’s duplicates:) Personally, I’m selling a lot of things as I prepare for a large collectibles purchase later in the summer. There is nothing that I own from Pokemon that doesn’t currently have a very large percentage gain.
6 Likes
I’ve sold 2 cards ever and regretted selling both. That’s my selling experience.
5 Likes
Everything has already been said that I was thinking. There is still tons of value buys out there that havnt boomed yet. You could sell one and buy a ton of $50_$150 PSa 9s and 10s that havnt started to rise yet which could pay out even better then holding the card. Or just let them sit and go up. Or you need money for another expense it’s all your choice but congratulations!! I want to say I wish I bought one of them when they were $700 not long ago but instead I used that $700 to complete whole sets ungraded. So it’s all a preference thing. Also let me note my ungraded cards did equal to your gain if not better. Good luck in any decisions you make and again congratulations!! 
perfect non problem to have
2 Likes
- When you want to
- When you want something else and need the funds
4 Likes
Never
1 Like
It really just depends on your collection goals and/or investment goals.
I’ve sold a lot of psa 10 zards in the last two years inclusive of a psa 10 1st ed shining. Always for 2-3x what I paid, but that doesn’t mean much when the cards have been rising so fast.
I think you’re better trading up than selling if you have an eye for what is rare vs scarce and what has the potential to increase in value at a higher rate than having multiples of the zard.
1 Like
14 Likes
Impossible to time the market. 5 years from now if its a $5k card you could be thinking “this could be a $7k card in a few years…”
Just sell if you need the money for other things, life is short.
4 Likes
Pretty sure someone on E4 had it in their buylist for 4,500
2 Likes