Current Events > Thinking about selling my old Pokemon cards.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm seeing a number of the ones I have go for a couple hundred bucks each, so I'm very tempted to just sell them. Most of them are from the 90s and I have a bunch of first edition holographic and limited edition cards. I don't have a holographic Charizard card, unfortunately, but I have many others.

Decisions, decisions...

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I would probably sell them and buy investments. If people are willing to pay a few hundred for a card I wouldn't even buy for $20, clearly it would make them much happier than it's making me lol.

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Jabodie posted...

I would probably sell them and buy investments. If people are willing to pay a few hundred for a card I wouldn't even buy for $20, clearly it would make them much happier than it's making me lol.

Yeah, getting more money to invest is my biggest motivation behind doing this. I'm probably gonna do it.

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Look up the prices they're going for on auction sites (as in what they've recently sold for, not the asking prices). If you see any that are particularly valuable, you should see about getting your cards graded before attempting to sell them. If they're even near-mint, their value will go up substantially.

This page can help you get started on that.

https://www.pojo.com/graded-pokemon-cards/

(I was actually prepping to do this myself, so I've been doing a lot of research on it)
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Ahh, getting them graded would likely be a good bet. I think I'll do that. Unfortunately there aren't any places to do that in San Antonio, but I would have to go to Austin to get the cards any way.

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The top grading services all let you mail in your cards.
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Holy crap at the cost of getting them graded, though, LOL. I guess I don't have to have them all done at once. I'd probably be looking at thousands of dollars just to get them all graded. Sheesh

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grading can be good, but keep in mind it'll add a lot of time and upfront cost. iirc, the cheapest option through PSA right now is ~$20 a card, and you won't get it back for several months.

and, for pokemon cards in particular, the buyers want PSA to the point that sending them anywhere else is probably wrong.

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Medussa posted...

grading can be good, but keep in mind it'll add a lot of time and upfront cost. iirc, the cheapest option through PSA right now is ~$20 a card, and you won't get it back for several months.

and, for pokemon cards in particular, the buyers want PSA to the point that sending them anywhere else is probably wrong.

Thanks for the tip

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So apparently I have to join a collector's club to send my cards directly to PSA...

Hmmm

I'll have to do some more research on what all is necessary and how much this is going to cost

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Does being PSA over CGC really make that much of a difference? Ugh I really don't want to wait that extended amount of time to get my cards back.
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Haha I was thinking the same a few months ago

I decided to keep them as its too much effort pricing each card, researching each card, haggling each card to sell to people etc.


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I knew a kid back in like 2nd grade who brought his first edition holographic Charizard to school and kept it in his pocket so it got all crumpled up

smh

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SaccharineSmile posted...

Haha I was thinking the same a few months ago

I decided to keep them as its too much effort pricing each card, researching each card, haggling each card to sell to people etc.

I'd say it's still worth grading the rarest ones now. They're only going to get more valuable as time goes on.
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pokedude900 posted...

Does being PSA over CGC really make that much of a difference? Ugh I really don't want to wait that extended amount of time to get my cards back.

i thought so, but a quick look on ebay says maybe not. but i was looking at current cards, not og base set. CGC seems way more willing to give out 10s than BGS, so that might 'help', even though most BGS 9.5s are probably actually better than most PSA 10s. people want the label.

littlebro07 posted...

I knew a kid back in like 2nd grade who brought his first edition holographic Charizard to school and kept it in his pocket so it got all crumpled up

smh

this is exactly why the ones that weren't are worth piles of money, though.

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Looks like Pojo has another article on this.

https://www.pojo.com/are-cgc-graded-pokemon-cards-catching-on/

tl;dr: CGC was worth less for a while, but they've been growing in popularity
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that's good. hopefully they'll drag BGS up at the same time. black labels are just too damn sexy not to chase =)

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Ill give you magic beans for them.

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Bawf you are so lucky, my love a<3

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If you have 1st editions then make sure to have them graded, $20 to get a great card graded could be $500 in your pocket when you sell it.

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Even non-1st editions have value if they're in good condition. Especially the starter trio from the original set. Also watch out for "shadowless" cards (that is, cards that don't have a drop shadow behind the art border). All base set 1st editions are shadowless, but there was a very limited run of non-1st edition shadowless cards after that. They hold about as much value as 1st editions.
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littlebro07 posted...

I knew a kid back in like 2nd grade who brought his first edition holographic Charizard to school and kept it in his pocket so it got all crumpled up

smh

That was me unfortunately : (. First ever booster pack I opened had Charizard. Had no idea how rare it was until I got to school and people were offering EVERYTHING they could for that char

It's not like it was any rarer than any other base set Rare card (as far as I know anyway). It was just the most sought after because a) Charizard was way more popular than most other pokemon that were available and b) it was objectively the strongest card in the game at the time.
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Dingydang166 posted...

That was me unfortunately : (. First ever booster pack I opened had Charizard. Had no idea how rare it was until I got to school and people were offering EVERYTHING they could for that char

Yeah I had to remove my Charizard card from my collection after so many wanted it and decided to only trade my duplicate cards after 4 days.

Fun times and it was a true joy to collect the ones you did not have.

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I might buy some off of you if you show me what you have. I'll even help you price them through EBay sold listings and TCGplayer just so you know you're not being screwed.

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CableZL posted...

Holy crap at the cost of getting them graded, though, LOL. I guess I don't have to have them all done at once. I'd probably be looking at thousands of dollars just to get them all graded. Sheesh

Yeah, but these things are basically already stocks/investments. Getting them graded insures your card's value.

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SquirtleSkwad posted...

Yeah, but these things are basically already stocks/investments. Getting them graded insures your card's value.

That's a good point.

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pokedude900 posted...

Does being PSA over CGC really make that much of a difference? Ugh I really don't want to wait that extended amount of time to get my cards back.

Yep. PSA grades more strictly than CGC and BGS grades more harshly than PSA. CGC is working it's way up, but only because of people's budget constraints and turn around times with other graders.

Typically, if you get a graded 10 through PSA, you want to send it into BGS to see if it's worth one of their 10's or black labels.

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I have an edition d butterfree im pretty sure I'm gonna unload.

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SquirtleSkwad posted...

Yep. PSA grades more strictly than CGC and BGS grades more harshly than PSA. CGC is working it's way up, but only because of people's budget constraints and turn around times with other graders.

The second article I posted actually suggests that CGC is on par with BGS. I think the main reason CGC was initially selling for less was that they were new and hadn't proven themselves yet.
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