I hit pretty big on some packs and also bought some pretty flawless PSA 9s. Wondering if I should send the 9s and some of my big hits to CGC because sending something on the borderline and getting back a 9 and having to regrade again just eats at the value of grading to being with.
No, this isn’t a $2 card that went to $4. Pikachu 131/091 from Paldean Fates was a $37 card just two months. Market price is now $79.95, up 116% in two months.
It is now the 4^(th) highest priced card in Paldean Fates by raw market price and just yesterday slid into the #2 spot for highest-priced card based on PSA 10 prices. Yesterday, three PSA 10s sold on eBay for $850, $949.99, and $949.99 before tax.
What does everyone think? Would you pay $80 for that Pikachu? Or $950 for the PSA 10?
Not that the register interest is over when will they send out emails if you made it in? Have people been receiving theirs already?
Does anyone have a good strategy for completing a master set without going broke?
Trade nights? Flipping through binders at card shows and LCS's? Just buying ETBs and booster boxes?
Also, what's the easiest master set to complete?
At this time, the top chase in Mega Evolution is Mega Lucario ex #188.
According to PriceCharting, Mega Lucario's ungraded price peaked six months ago at $696.87 and currently sits at $268.02, down 61.54% from its all-time high.
Interestingly, the #4 chase card in the set is Mega Lucario ex #179. That card also had a steep fall (51.38%) but has started to move up again, now up 26.6% from its February low. Meanwhile, #188 is still hovering right around its low.
This begs the question: Since Mega Lucario #179 has started to move back up, will #188 soon follow? Or is it still too early?
Built a tool that monitors eBay 24/7 for underpriced Pokémon cards — thought I'd share it here.
PokeDeal Finder covers both eBay UK and US, picking up BIN listings, auctions, raw cards, and all graded variants. It compares live listings against over 6 million scraped eBay sales records to find cards that are genuinely below market value.
I've set up a free Discord with live deal monitors if anyone wants to check it out — no sign-up needed, just join and watch the deals come through. There's also an app on the App Store and Google Play where you can set up personalised alerts for specific cards.
Screenshots in the comments so you can see what the alerts look like.
Terapagos ex #170 from Stellar Crown - TCGplayer has market price (raw) at $34.37. Pricecharting has it at $32.41. The all-time high was $116.11, shortly after release.
The artwork and border remind me of cards from Prismatic Evolutions. But this one has been stuck in the penalty box for a long time. What's holding it back? Just that it's Terapagos?
I'm looking for raw cards that I can send in for grading that meet three criteria.
The PSA 10 price is at least 3x the raw market price and preferably 5x or more for lower priced cards.
The raw price + grading fees is less than the PSA 9 price. This way if the card doesn't come back a 10, I wouldn't lose money sending it in for grading.
The raw price is under $300 and preferably under $200.
An example is Seismitoad #105 from Black Bolt. Also, Roaring Moon ex #162 from Prismatic and Charizard ex #234 from Paldean Fates, though the Charizard barely meets the criteria.
Any others?
people are only willing to pay $200 for this card in a 10. that’s too little in my opinion. until this card fetches an absurd price, we keep going
Yet again, I stopped by my local Pokémon vending machine, and it’s “sold out.”
I think it’d be great if Pokémon would add a bunch more vending machines all over the place. They'd almost certainly still sell them all out.
Where would you like to see Pokémon add vending machines?
I’d like to see them at gas stations and auto repair shops.
According to Pricecharting.com, Perfect Order currently has just four cards with a raw value over $100.
To put that in perspective, Journey Together has one raw card currently valued over $100 and Surging Sparks has two (with a third card at $97.24), while Prismatic Evolutions, Ascended Heroes, and Destined Rivals have 12, 12, and 9, respectively.
Do you think Perfect Order stays on the lower end of $100+ raw cards? If so, do the ETBs at least make their way up toward Journey Together and Surging Sparks prices?
I consume a ton of content every week on a whole host of topics. In the world of Pokémon, here are my three favorite commentaries I read this week that I think are worth passing along.
From a bit of a history lesson to a timely investing-related article to a ridiculous disqualification at the Orlando regionals, there’s a little something for everyone in this weekend’s list:
Take a trip back in time to the 2022 bear market. Even though the article is nearly four years old, I just found it this week, and it reads as if it was written today. Why Pokemon card market is in flux entering 4Q of 2022
There is a surprising metric with more than 20 years of correlation to Pokémon card prices. From a Pokémon investing standpoint, this is the most timely article I am passing along: Can Google Trends Predict Pokémon Card Prices? A Guide to Market Cycles
Pokémon finally issues a statement regarding the recent controversial “unsportsmanlike” conduct that stripped “Firestar73” of a regional championship. In case you never saw the video of what gets someone stripped of a regional title, here is the video on X. And here is Pokémon’s response: Play! Pokémon Issue a Statement After Controversial Firestar73 Ruling For the record, I think the disqualification is ridiculous.
If you come across any commentaries or news stories you think I should include in a future post, please let me know.