Why Are Pokemon Cards So Popular

Pokemon As An Alternative Investment

Before we dive too into the weeds of strategy, pricing, and acquisition, lets first make sure we are on the same page regarding Pokemon as an actual investment.

Yes, I know, it sounds absurd BUT you can buy and trade Pokemon cards just as you would stocks.

Think of cards the same way you would think about investing in fine art. Why do people pay MILLIONS for a specific piece of art by a particular artist?

Supply and demand.

There are a finite number of works by that artist. If there is more demand than supply available, the price will increase.

That art holds value over time due to the fame or notoriety of the artist in question. There will always be people clamoring to buy original Van Gogh paintings. Over time the painting will become rarer just as more people enter the market. As demand increases the price goes up.

The same logic applies for trading cards and sports cards. First edition and rookie cards that had one print run will become valuable as time passes because there are only a finite number in existence.

You cant go back to 1999 and print more 1st Edition Charizards right? Similarly, you cant go back to 1999 and prevent your 8 year-old self from flushing the 1st Edition Charizard you did have down the toilet.

As demand and popularity for Pokemon continue to increase 1st Edition cards will also increase in value. Thus, investing in Pokemon could be a great opportunity to diversify your portfolio or try something new.

Reasons To Invest In Rare Pokmon Cards

Why adding collectibles to your portfolio makes sense in 2020 and 2021.

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Pokémon cards were introduced in 1996 as part of the franchises trading card game. Less than 25 years later, some of these first-edition Pokémon have appreciated in price at over 10,000 percent.

Alongside the limited supply and extremely high demand, there are plenty of reasons why Pokémon cards make for excellent investments.

Misprinted Fossil Krabby: $2200

Yes, you read that right. Krabby is the star of one of the rarest Pokemon cards of all. By all accounts, this crab-based Water-type isn’t exactly a battling superstar. The fact that one version of its Pokemon card is so rare is a bit of a fluke, as its price comes down to a relatively simple misprint of the card.

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The difference between these multiple miscuts and a normal card is that part of a fossil symbol to the bottom-left of its art is missing. This seemingly minor difference has driven up the price of these cards immensely, and despite going for under two dollars in its normal state, Pokemon Prices has the card record of a misprint selling for over $2200 dollars.

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The Best Cards Are Worth More Than Youd Think

In 2018, a man named Gary made digital headlines after appearing on Pawn Stars with a series of Pokémon cards, which he claimed were worth half a million dollars.

While this claim initially astounded both the audience and the shows experts, its perfectly true that rare first edition cards can hold immense value. The cards brought in to Pawn Starsby Gary were just a small fraction of his assets, too Garys entire collection was later revealed to be worth approximately $5 million.

Earlier this month, the YouTuber Logan Paul bought a first edition PSA-graded 10 Charizard card from Pawn Stars Gary for a whopping $150,000. And thats not even close to the highest price ever fetched by a Pokémon card this honor went to The Pikachu Illustrator card, which sold for $233,000.

Though the average price of Pokémon cards is much lower, there are many rare, highly collectible cards with values upwards of $200,000. A 1999 Holographic Shadow-less First Edition Charizard, for instance, is currently worth between $150,000 to $200,000.

Even more common cards can be worth several thousand dollars, depending on their condition. For example, Charizard Holo cards from the 1999 base set have been known to fetch over $5,000 to $10,000 despite the fact that there are over 10,000 of them in circulation.

Is The Card Market A Bubble Ready To Pop

Everyone Marketplace spoke with gave us mostly the same assessment: prices for some cards will probably decrease eventually, but theyre not going to tank so badly that the entire market will crash.

The degree of the decline and when will depend on the type of card, according to Eugene Smith. The vintage cards released back in the 90s are no longer being printed and are basically part of history now, meaning many of them will likely continue to have value.

But because grading companies like PSA are still going through a backlog of cards, Smith thinks there will be an increase in supply.

Then post-holidays, theres going to be far less consumer spending happening. Its pretty much a perfect scenario for a decrease a correction, Smith said of the Pokémon vintage card market.

Garcia agrees that prices will eventually level off, although he doesnt think theyll dip that drastically.

Pokémon is one of those things thats never gone out of style, he said.

Since Pokémon first launched on the GameBoy in 1996, the franchise has spawned the trading card game, a wildly popular anime series that continues to run new episodes, dozens of console games and Pokémon Go, which was The Summer Event of 2016 and helped add $7.5 billion in market value to Nintendo within 48 hours.

Many collectors, like Caitlin Sidhu, Kalvin Foley and Jason A., became Pokémon fans when they were kids, proving its longevity.

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Hidden Fates Tins At Target

The Riachu and Gyrados tins are in stock at target.

True, but theyre fulfilled by ToyWiz and costs like ~$35 each.

Ikr people love their hidden fates.

Is that why people are grabbing these like hot cakes for charizard?

People love Zard lol also helps its worth $400 Mint ungraded, most anyone who gets one then gets it graded and will hold it for future value

Yup. And it has the most expensive singles out of the past recent sets currently. Like 15 cards are worth 20+ and the big boy Charizard is worth tree fiddy.

Aw man already sold out

Im conflicted between hoping these deals stop for what I already have, and wanting them to continue to buy more

Thats a great find. Hope some of you pull a Zard!

Target has the tins separated by art.

SOLD OUT Charizard:

SOLD OUT Raichu:

SOLD OUT Gyarados:

Note These dont seem to be included in the free binder with $25 or more order promo

Damn I still need a gyarados tin. I guess I should have bought more hidden fates when I started collecting. My Walmart had 2 shelves of the stuff before sword and shield. Now all that I can find anywhere is rebel clash and sword and shield.

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Holographic Shadowless Mewtwo: $20000

While the other Kanto starters dont come close to Charizard in the realm of First Edition cards, its hard to ignore the second-place winner off of its fame in the series. Most Pokemon fans are plenty aware of Mewtwo from the original Pokemon movie, and as a result cards featuring the character will often go for record-high prices in any set.

Much like the First Edition Charizard mentioned earlier, Mewtwo has its own Holographic and Shadowless version that PSA Collector has seen sold for at least $20,000, putting it far above Venusaur and Blastoise but still far below everyones favorite Fire-type tyrant of the skies.

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Gold Star Espeon And Umbreon

The Gold Star Espeon and Umbreon Pokémon card are released in the Pokémon Sun and Moon expansion. This card features a shiny gold foil on the cover with an exclusive golden star pattern.

Gold Star Espeon is an evolved form of Espeon that has a shiny gold foil on its cover with an exclusive golden star pattern.

Umbreon is an evolved form of Eevee with a shiny gold foil on its cover with an exclusive golden star pattern.

Some of the other expensive cards include:

• 2002 No. 1 Trainer

Holographic First Edition Machamp: $6000

The Kanto starters and legendaries aren’t the only original Pokemon to boast high-value shadowless holographic cards. Nearly any holographic first edition rare card from the original set can grow immensely in price compared to other rare Pokemon cards, but since they arent as actively hunted, their prices can vary far more wildly based on their quality.

Machamp is one of these. According to PSA Cards range of auction prices based on the cards quality classification, perfect mint condition Machamps of this kind can land between $800 and $6000, while dropping just one rating down will result in prices around $200 and $900. This card in particular truly proves how important it is to keep your trading cards safe through the years, as you never know just what will become valuable twenty years later.

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Flip Graded Pokemon Cards

If you dont like the idea of waiting, you could simply try flipping graded cards.

As the value of Pokemon cards continues to surge, its likely that what you buy today will be worth more tomorrow.

Of course, you need an eye for spotting a good deal, but there are plenty of opportunities on eBay to buy graded cards, and simply relist them at a 10-20% premium.

From a purists perspective, its a bit of a soulless strategy.

But from a profit perspective, youve got to respect the hustle!

Pokmon Trading Card Game

Pokémon Trading Card Game

The Pokémon Trading Card Game , abbreviated to PTCG or Pokémon TCG, is a collectible card game based on the Pokémon franchise by Nintendo. It was first published in October 1996 by Media Factory in Japan. In the US, it was initially published by Wizards of the Coast Nintendo eventually transferred the rights to The Pokémon Company which has published the game since June 2003. As of March 2021, the game has sold over 34.1 billion cards worldwide.

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Are Pokemon Cards Worth Anything 2021

Though its debatable as to how much Pokemon cards are worth in 2019, because their value has gone down over the years, for those who collect them still believe that theyre a form of currency.

Due to this reason, some people have attempted to sell their collection rather than selling the individual cards themselves.

In other words, you might find someone trying to sell you their collection rather than selling you one card at a time. It truly depends on how much the person wants for the cards and what theyre in need of.

In terms of buying Pokemon cards, when it comes to modern editions, there is little value in them. However, when it comes to vintage editions from 1996 and older, each card has some value. And, if you happen to have the rarest cards, they might be worth more than what you think.

So, are Pokemon cards worth anything? If youre selling an entire collection of vintage Pokemon cards from 1996 and earlier, then yes. Each card will go for more than $20 due to its rarity.

First Edition Cards Are King

Pokémon cards that were released before Nintendo began distributing the trading card game were printed in two sets: first edition and unlimited. You can tell that a card is first edition because of the Edition 1 badge located at the bottom-left of the card illustration.

It is these cards that carry great value, while their non-first edition cards are much less valuable. For instance, an unlimited holographic Charizard from the Base Set perhaps the single most famous Pokémon card in existence sells for about $215 on average. However, a quick look at eBay reveals that first edition Charizards can easily sell for thousands of dollars.

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Mew Victory Orb Trophy

The Victory Orb trophy card was handed out to the top 3 players of each age group during the Japanese Battle Road Summer 2003 and 2004 tournaments. Although the card was reprinted with different artwork for subsequent events, the original unnumbered promo card is incredibly rare and highly sought after.

It’s for this reason that one collector was willing to part with $60,000 to get their hands on one in late 2020. Only 14 copies of the card have been graded by the PSA, 12 of which were given the highest possible rating. There are certainly rarer cards out there, but not too many of them sell for quite this much.

Where Do I Buy Pokemon Cards

With the release of Pokemon X and Y, everyone is scrambling to get their hands on some new cards. Unfortunately, despite being a popular franchise with twenty years of history, there are not many good resources for buying Pokemon cards.

This guide will help you navigate the world of Pokemon card shops and help you understand where to look.

First, you need to know where the shops are. The best resource for finding stores that sell Pokemon cards is on pokemon.com . If you live in America, there are only 7 states which dont have at least one dedicated Pokemon card shop .

Once youve found a few within reasonable distance of where you live, its time to look at what each shop has to offer.

The first thing you should check when looking for a new Pokemon card shop are the prices. Unfortunately, most places will inflate their costs because they know that people will pay whatever is asked of them just to get their hands on some rare cards.

In order to make sure that you arent being ripped off, it helps to compare the costs of cards at different stores. If a store has a card for double the price of another, theyre most likely inflating prices and not worth going to again.

Next, you should look into whether or not a shop allows trading. If it does, this will be a good resource for finding rare cards and re-selling the non-rare ones you have for a profit. However, if a store doesnt allow trading then that is perfectly fine as well.

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Holographic Shadowless Charizard: $500000

There are a lot of factors that make the Holographic Shadowless First Edition Charizard card worth so much compared to any other Charizard card. Firstly, it’s a first edition version of the undoubtedly most popular Kanto starter, which already makes it extra valuable to most pokemon fans. Alongside this, the card is also shadowless, which essentially means the card lacks a shadow between the box containing the image of the Pokemon, and the rest of the card.

This “Shadowless” effect is not a misprint or a mistake. It’s actually the original Pokemon card design, as the foiling process has changed and provided a different look to modern holographic and foil cards. These Charizard cards have become one of the prime reasons for the Pokemon Card trend of the past two years, with YouTuber Logan Paul opening one as recently as February 2021 that was estimated by auction site owner Ken Goldin to sell for upwards of $500,000.

Ex Team Rocket Returns Gold Star Torchic

It’s not all that often that a starter Pokemon card that isn’t Charizard sells for big money, particularly one from as late as 2004. Gold Star Torchic from the EX Team Rocket Returns set is something of an exception, though, with a copy having sold for more than $25,000 towards the end of 2020.

The card in question was one of only 17 to have been given the PSA’s perfect GEM-MT 10 rating and 322 to have been submitted to the company for inspection. A few of the other cards in the set have also sold for high prices over the years, but none have fetched anywhere near as much as the little fire Pokemon.

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Why Are Pokemon Cards Selling Out

Pokemon cards are selling out due to high demand as a result of YouTubers and streamers taking up the hobby. The Pokemon TCG has always been popular, but it is currently experiencing more interest than it has in years. Pack openings, where internet personalities open copious booster backs, have seen millions of viewers tuning in to watch their favorite video-makers giddily obtain rare cards.

These pack openings have extended way beyond the Pokemon community. In the past four months, Logan Paul has posted several pack opening videos, racking up over 33 million views in the process. In these videos, Paul opens up original booster pack boxes worth a huge amount of money one reportedly cost him above $200,000 explaining the thrill of the chase when it comes to Pokemon card hunting to his viewers.

If you pull one just one PSA 10 Charizard, a.k.a. the Holy Grail of Pokemon collecting, its worth $200,000, Paul explains. PSA is the Authentication and Grading Service for trading cards, with a PSA 10 being described as near perfect, making it the most valuable. A PSA 10 Charizard would be the most prized possession of anyones collection, with Paul showing fellow YouTuber Leonhart ecstatically finding one in a pack. Congrats man, Paul says. Now youre rich.