Another big key for me is you don’t have to buy Mint. I’m a big binder guy and as long as the front is good I have no problem buying LP or MP cards, especially when it comes to vintage
Been thinking about this lately. I bought the espeon vmax alt art from fusion strike at $100 because of some creases on it. You can barely see them because of the texture and even less noticeable in my binder.
@@Hardeststyler the beauty of a collection that’s Nm is in case of any emergency say 10 years from now your collection will be worth something, especially those cards that are extremely hard to pull like Alts. But they have to be NM
@Pokémon Scarlet And Violet i don't like fusion strike so it didn't really matter to me. Now if we're talking about a set like evolving skies then thats when I'll care about all the rare cards being NM.
Something I think people need to think about is collecting vs investing. Is your goal to collect products that will gain the most value? Or products that you just want to have because you enjoy them regardless of value?
I’m starting to collect myself and I would love to see the $100 budget challenge come back monthly or maybe put all the episodes made so far into its own playlist maybe
I've changed my goals before. I had a goal to collect at least 1 card of every pokemon (which is now over 1,000 Pokemon) and each card had to be a holo or reverse holo . Once I did that for Gen 1 - 8 I realized a lot of pokemon cards I had didn't interest me as some designs I like over others so I sold a good amount of my reverse holos and gave some away to a family member. Now I'm trying to collect strictly cosmos holos, full arts holos, or Wizards of the Coast era cards (holo or non holo). The hobby can be expensive so it's key to figure out what you want ahead of time and budget as mentioned.
@Michael Seamans Yea, for sure. I am finishing the WOTC sets from my childhood collection. Trainers Pikachu cards Charizard evolution line cards Eeveelutions Individual binder pages for other pokemon I like. Have goals for about 10 slabs I'd like to own eventually. The binder pages are a lot of fun so far as I can swap out for better cards I like over time. Without having goals, the hobby can become aimless and stagnate your enjoyment.
My current multiple collection goals go EX/ E-reader cards Lv.X cards Tag Team sets I sort of randomly collect too, for example I'll only buy singles for EX and Lv.X cards but I usually prefer to buy packs to open up tag team cards since Sun and Moon era packs, boxes, tins aren't the worst money wise (aside from Team Up since that set is hella inflated)
@@RU-vidfan567 OMG I've yet to find someone else collecting one of every Pokemon (my only stipulation is that it can't be a promo). I'm happy you found a method that works better for you though!
I agree with being scrappy. Found two evolutions etbs on clearance at Walmart for $30 each in 2019 and got them because they looked cool! Now I don’t have to pay a booster box and a half to get one!
Great video, I remembered when you started a budget collection a while back, I think bringing it back would be nice to see, but its just a recommendation!
You are my fav streamer man! Super informative, knowledgeable, and humble. You are awesome bro! Thank you!!! This was an amazing video! Pokemon can get so expensive and endless. For me it was like you said. Know what I want and stick to that and have an ending to each set or collection.
I found an Evolving skies blister in the wild opened it and got the Noivern alt art on the way home from a long and abysmal day at work which really helped me that day. I've also ripped 10 packs in a row and only got a regular art v and though " I could have bought a few cards cards I KNOW " I'd enjoy for this price. I mostly just by sealed products that I think look cool or singles that I enjoy the art on a long with obscure promos from weird events that I feel are undervalued.
I came back into the hobby after about 2 decades. I’ve been kind of lucky with packs but I only bought them when I had spare money. It’s ok to open new products, especially when they go on sale. I didn’t want to spend too much either, just try to find good sales, usually tins, boxes and other collections may have a good price per pack
Came back to the hobby a month ago after not buying any for 22 years :'). Trying to collect those I miss from my childhood, working on Gym Heroes. Thnx for all the videos
Sometimes I like to use time as currency. Sometimes, you just gotta use time to research great entry points for certain cards. Other times, you pick up multiples of a card that isn't sought after on release and let those cook a bit to trade when they are of higher value.
EDIT: It's fixed now, so I'm gonna use this liked comment to wish everyone a great day! Typo I. The title - just thought you should know. It won't get pushed to Pokemon fans as much in its current state
I am always nervous about the “secondary market” because of the possibility of buying fakes. Could you do an episode on identifying fake cards? Most people don’t have the funds to buy all graded cards - so I think this could really help protect your viewers.
I mean there's plenty of videos out there that teach you how to tell the difference between a real and fake Pokémon card. And how to buy product in the secondary market without getting scammed. Deep Pocket Monster has a video explaining all of that.
I love buying singles from highly reputable sellers from the TCG Player site. Many of those are verified to have physical retail card stores and have thousands of positive reviews. I also buy from the TrollandToad site which is a legit card site but most of the time those prices are higher than sellers from TCG Player. I'm not a fan of opening packs because I am very picky which cards I want in my collection and will sell anything that doesn't look consistent next to with other cards in my collection.
Also, fake only matters if you're selling. I took a deep dive into watch investing and they came across a fake Rolex that was such a good fake, that it was almost indistinguishable from the real thing. The guy paid under a grand for a really nice, well made watch despite it being fake, was still a great watch at an okay ish price. So for me, a psa 10 1st edition base set shadowless charizard will never happen. But if I got a well made knock off, I could live with that so long as there was no deception.
I guess I'm a random Pokémon collector. Since I got back into collecting I try to buy at least one booster pack of the series that comes out, although some I just haven't managed to pick up, or chosen not to, but in doing this I've noticed that buying boxes or tins every now and then that contain several different booster packs works for me.
I ve tried for a long time to find the kind of collector i want to be but i cant just do one thing. The only thing i care about is that i want the collectible to look cool on display or make me feel cool bc i have it. So just make your own goals and dont worry too much about it
Great video, thanks for the advice. Back into the hobby within the last few months after a 20plus year absence. Gonna concentrate on the vintage sets and sealed products.
getting back into the hbby after like 6 months glad to still come back to the channel also all yall gotta pick up gold star greninja its a sleeper for like 5 bucks
I just bought the 3 new Crown Zenith promos (Galarian birds) for £10.99 combined, I am focusing right now on small promo sets, ETB promos, and smaller ongoing sets that have few new cards releasing in every new set (amazing rare pokemon, 2022 radiant pokemon). It's the only way to have some satisfaction in a world where getting master sets is virtually impossible
back when it was still in stock I had to buy at least 3 or 4 Pokemon Center exclusive ETBs because I wanted to keep it sealed, but I would always give in the temptation and open it 😂. Now I managed to be a good boy and left one sealed, I think it will raise in value nicely once we get to the 30th anniversary and people will be feeling nostalgic for the 25th
Wait till they go on sale🤣 The Pokemon Company has no problem acting like they are handing out golden bars…you won’t even pull a $3-$4 card after spending a couple hundred dollars
I try to buy single packs of a mix of packs of tcg player for 2.50-5 a pack and I’m just building a collection. Open up 1-2 packs a week and I can do this for under a few hundred a year!
Nice vid. Great advice. I'm shopping for singles, cause it's cheaper than buying packs. Though I love opening packs, I'll watch youtubers for that excitement. Haha...
Hey Jake thanks for the awesome tips. I was just curious what's a good under 10 dollar card to pick up right now or one that you'd pick up for yourself?
Maybe a Blastoise from Celebrations, some SWSH Trainer Fullarts or japanese Tag Team GX cards... it's always a gamble and you never know what the future brings but I would check some cards which are 2 - 5 years old as they should not drop anymore in price🖖
Great video (excellent topic) started collecting at the beginning of last year. I've learned a lot. Everything you mentioned was part of my experience. Question: do you know where to get the best price for Vstar Universe? I've been looking and looking. Thanks for the content.
Thanks for this video I only got a $200 budget on Pokémon cards a month so it’s tough to find the right cards I want to collect especially when I love playing and have so many favorite Pokémon haha
Hey Jake. Can you share the community Portfolio as a template? I would love to use it as formate to keep track of my collection and others might find it useful! 😃
I'm a shiny collector but splurged to complete Evolving Skies. I echo to not spend over your budget if you can help it. I'm excited/scared for the upcoming Shiny Treasure set😅
Just getting back into collecting, trying to get my older cards I had back. I was 10 and I washed them all by accident when they were still in my pants pocket. Starting with mega charizard Y, which I now know is from XY evolutions, and then I’m gonna try and go for an all mudkip evo line collection. Which leads me to my question.. Is it worth it to even go for that, because on tcg player I’m finding that everything added up is close to like $200. So should I get cards I want as singles or get like an ETB instead and roll for some cards I like that from that set, for example I really like the Obsidian Flames one.. should I order that instead of going for all the single cards Sorry this is long omg
I really wish my friends would collect or at least crack packs with me, it would be a lot of fun buying 10 etb’s and open them with a friend… But none of my friends do sad face
anyone know any good discords or places to contact other people trading cards? I'm also down to dm anyone who wants to trade or just talk about the hobby too! let's grow our collections together
Thank you for the video Jake ❤️👍🎉!! Really helpful and has me thinking about what I really should be focusing on. Thoughts on switching from a 36 pack booster box to a 6 pack booster bundle? As far as holding for a sealed collection. Then shifting my budget/allowance that would have gone into a booster box onto singles. I'm on the fence about the idea because a 36 pack booster box just looks too good to pass up when it's a good deal, but then I kick myself because I will use up most of my budget and have to wait a month later to buy singles. 😭🧐🫠🤷♀️🙏