@@Iamwillz 1. I don't believe they had ES in them before 2. Rev uploaded that in the past two days Typlosion version have been sold out for over a week.
@@rell660 I've been buying them along with First Partner: Johto and then also prof juniper boxes when they released. People only learnt to look towards other products coz youtubers find them. Everyone only realistically did this on Pokeballs but they buy the wrong ones 🤣🤣🤣
Sleeved booster packs seem to be fairly liquid if you're not in a rush, but on a much lower scale of course. I like buying a case if I already have a booster box case of the same set. That way I can offload a few packs at a time when the set matures to get a little supplemental cash when I want it. It feels like more of a sidequest though haha. And who knows, maybe I just like the idea of being able to crack a few packs with low commitment in the future. Booster boxes are always #1! Appreciate the video as always!
Terrific video. Also look at how often an item sells weekly-yearly before investing in it. I used to make this mistake a long time ago, now every single item i sell (single cards or sealed product), I always research the sales turnover rate.
Good advice and definitely the truth. Understanding risks is very important in making plays along with understanding consumer demand for particular characters.
I passed on the reprint of the heavy hitters boxes for that reason. Great cost/pack but without ES to anchor it, hard pass. Ive definitely pivoted away from collection boxes, tins, etc. and focused on booster boxes and speciality set ETBs.
Give it 2/3 years when all the BB prices spike. I couldn’t pass it up … with the clearance deals too?!? I got 14 packs of SwSh for like $34 tax and shipped. I don’t care if I have to sell for 80% down the road, I just don’t see how I CANT make money off these at $2.44/pack. Literally comes out to $88 for 36 packs. A booster box for $88?? Of sword and shield?? I scooped em up ;) if only to open some in the future! And if I have to break it down and sell loose packs I think they’ll sell!!
@@TheSnackAttackingSnorlax absolutely. I'm deploying my assets for less cumbersome sales down the road. Booster boxes, as Alex points out, are king in that regard.
I am still more a fan of the booster box. I haven't seen other items hold premiums the way booster boxes do. They arnt valued on the per pack price, they are valued on the scarcity and Collectibility of the time itself.
Thanks for making this video. A few days ago I was debating on buying some sealed case tins. Price was right and I was ok with holding for a while. I had it in my cart and I was ready to pay but i just wasn’t 100% sure and I slept on it. The next day I told myself it wasn’t that good of a deal and bought a sealed case of temporal forces booster boxes instead. I felt much better about my purchase after that. Now I see this video and I see your argument and definitely agree. I have purchased several different products and I have definitely struggled to sell some more than others. Booster boxes are king!
Hey Mr. Nomics Great video.. I have some LO bb’s with big openings on the bottom because PC doesn’t like to use any packaging… could I sell these down the road for a 10-20% discount as is w/ the PC receipts?
You definitely can, someone who wants to open those booster boxes down the line will gladly pay 80% just for the chance to rip packs for cheaper than a minty box.
if your looking to sell for a discount later then just sell them now for a discount or just open them up and sell the packs. then use that money to invest in something else.
@@XingCollectables so you think just try to sell and take that $20-$25 loss and put that money back into more ST from PC and just hope they send me a good wrapped box this time? Good idea tbh thank you.
@SarahFern23 yea that's what I would do. Someone now will buy to rip way faster than if the box gets to be like $500 and you try to sell with 10-20% off.
Liquidity... yup! I'm not much of a sealed investor (YET!) but if and when the day comes, it will be Booster Boxes and specialty ETBs pretty much exclusively.
For someone that is only 3 months back into the hobby, primarily for playing the actual TCG but also as an investment play, this is a great video and anyone hating on it is mad at reality.
Sell it?? Na bro, rip it..cuz while u spend that cash on watever, ill hav that card 4eva... investors really messed it up for a real collector...but then again collectors are investing in cards so yea wat are we talkin bout again..
Completely agree! Those random boxes with mediocre promos and some packs are cheap as hell. But you will never sell them because there is 0 interest in them!
You are focused on the investment side. I appreciate that. From a collector side, booster boxes are the most desired because it’s a large concentration of packs that you can (with limited skill) determine the authenticity and unaltered nature. Blisters and ETBs are fine, but less packs at a time and you only pay about 2/3 of the value of a pack in a booster box. Tins and minitins are undesirable because the cards are often damaged. Your point on liquidity and value is completely on point because you want to get the products and cards that everyone wants. 10 Rainbow Pikachu are gonna be much harder to sell than a moonbreon. I saw a guy selling a massive Nidoking collection, he wanted TCG price for it… I laughed for this reason.
Love this video - people need to know what the liquidating side of the hobby looks like. Another trap that people fall into is calculating only the price they bought an item at without the tax and shipping costs. Then they look at what an item is worth currently without taking into consideration seller fees and shipping costs. So it sounds good saying I BOUGHT IT FOR $100 AND NOW IT'S $200 but that is just making yourself feel better about your gains.
I've been watching Poke investors like Alex for about 6 months and I have learned a lot of helpful lessons. By far, the most important thing I learned was "who are you going to sell to?". It's a great question that I didn't ask myself in the beginning but now I know how crucial it is. My solutions are A) start an eBay page and slowly start building up positive feedback so when I want to mass sell, I already have customers ready.....and.....B) Mainly stick with Booster Boxes. Storage is limited for me so ETBS, tins, and collection boxes aren't a good fit.
Worth noting that some of those alternative items don't have as much liquidity issues by the case. For example ETB cases are pretty liquid single ETBs not so much
Never had trouble selling sleeved Booster Packs. Just depends on the set and the competition. I have heaps of ancillary products, but didn't go heavy into any (except Arceus V Figure Collections). For me, Booster Boxes, loose packs and ETBs have all moved the quickest by far.
ETBs will always sell well since they are a staple for peoples displays. They are the best product to put on a shelf and admire. BBs second. Collection boxes are tuff unless they look amazing like the arceus figure box or the eeveelution boxes.
Have you thought about getting some acrylic cases for your booster boxes? Eveytime you grab them you can wasily dent the boxes, speacially those evo's stacked. I INVESTED in some to protect the boxes going up in value. Smoke and mirrors have a great deal right now.
translation: most of y'all aren't real investors and buy up trash items with low liquidity...not saying you can't make profits on them it depends on the person entirely...most of y'all buying miscellaneous items that doesn't have much to any demand// key takeaway demand is extremely important....also another myth is if your card is worth $6 and you sell it for $3 is a loss isn't true it depends on what margins you paid when you bought those items meaning even selling at half you can walkout with quick profits for other plays be smart most of y'all aren't
Liquidity is a huge concern in investing. Lot of people reaching out ot me within similar stuff. Some 6 figure collection /investments of that lower tier stuff that I end up offering more like 50% on. Or just 80% of the broken down packs
What's better a single card of high value or a booster box? I saw the black lotus sell for $3,000,000 but I have never seen pokemon hit that high of a value at least not in the public eye.
The booster box is the easiest investment out there. Get them when they're at their lows, well below MSRP and just wait. Long term percentage gains will beat almost any stock out there - and probably safer than stocks too if you buy booster boxes at their bottom.
This is why you are my favorite poketuber. I realized that its not a great investment because its not very liquid. People can sell at market price online but have to deal with listing fees, shipping, etc. I noticed, people will buy at a store first before some random guy on facebook marketplace or offer up
Good information about liquidity, but Pokémon its own beast on its own. Popular sets will still hands down move even if its blisters, 3-pack check lanes, loose packs. Look at evolving skies, 10$ a pack. Knowledge and experience in the hobby will go a long way. I collect ETBs, in a way for me it’s a good mix of BB, affordable entry price and looks cool on display.
Same. I think Alex is just letting people know to weigh how fast you want to move product when you want to sell. If you dont mind selling 100 items over a year then buy all the single packs you can. If you want to move a whole porfolio over 2 months then BBs may be the best thing. But I will say this. Imagine if you had 50 Team up BBs. How long do you think it would take to move those? Looking at tcgp theres not many sold this year (5) Then theres over 100 packs sold this year which is close to 3 bbs worth. It all depends on how low of a price per pack you can get in on.
My own personal concern is I have 800 loose Evolving Skies packs. Got them from the Costco stacking and galar tins. When I want to sell those I may have to reach out to a youtuber or something to sell them all at once for 8 to 10k. It will take forever to sell them 10 to 20 packs at a time.
@bigtoke5220 possibly, it is what it is 😒 but that's why the booster boxes, etc go for so much more than 36 loose packs. Again why I'll probably just sell them at once to a single buyer. There is no way there aren't several alt arts in there.
Really appreciate you taking the time to set realistic expectations for everybody attempting to get involved in investing through Pokemon Cards, thank you Alex!
Common sense stuff from you man, They can dish out all the hate they choose but you are speaking facts and you understand the market which the majority don't really understand. Great content and valuable :)
This is actually one of your better videos. It's exactly how I feel about a lot of my sealed. Take the Costco stacking tins that had evolving skies. 9 packs with 3 ES and I got them for $20. I bought a ton and am glad I did, but I have to break down that product and put 36 packs up at a time on Ebay to make it work. No way am I going to ship all these stacking tins one at a time. So, ultimately you need an exit strategy.
worst case scenario you always can move lose packs. Just dont go buying random collection boxes thinking they hold any more value than the lose packs inside. Its not hard to liquidate packs.
from my past 8 months in investing in pokemon the most gains i have had on any sealed product it is in sealed booster boxes, they are king and always will be
Same for the charizard box, not only it takes lots of space , not that liquid except in fomo time, expensive to ship, meh as a display... not all collection box are equal, same could be said to booster boxes & cards... beware that tcgplayer is not a reference when selling... have in mind 20-40% discount...and worse if all suddenly are selling at the same time , in times of crisis: we haven't seen one since 2008 put aside covid time.
conflicted here, if people catch on that they need to buy booster boxes, then demand for what I have will increase - good for me. but... if demand increases too much pokemon might start printing more (unlikely?) like they did with ETBs, and that would be bad for me :(
A lot of appreciation is closely tied to pull rate, boosters have guaranteed pull rate, once again Alex is spitting facts. Tins and loose packs are always a longer hold.
Also don’t break down cases purchased from reputable sources, again, you are affecting perceived pull rate of case(or rather how the potential purchaser views the item.)
People that buy the collection boxes do seem to just want one. You could try listing 5 together as one eBay listing and see if anyone bites but it could be a long waiting game
This is exactly it. Sure TCG player can say that item you bought at 40 is worth 100 on there. But you really look at it, that item only has 1 sale at that price in the last 3 weeks. And you have 10 of them. Good luck selling them for the next 30 weeks. Not counting the others in that time who also own it and want to sell it before you so they list it at 95, then 90, etc.
@NostalgiaNomics Amazing video!! Very informative info for the community to really take in ! Maybe post another video posting top examples of both good and bad types of product ?
think everyone already knew this, and I do notice you yourself Alex don't really talk about collection boxes/tins at all because they are pretty much hit or miss and heavily depend on the promo card, like the entire SWSH era i can only think of a handful of collection boxes and tins that were insanely good
Definitely makes sense. I was thinking of buying the fusion strike blister packs and then I checked on tcg player and realized they basically sell one every 1-2 months. That totally made me back off.
theres multiple blisters of fusion both the single and triple selling on ebay everyday. TCGP is not the best place to gauge interest for sealed products besides BBs. If we use that logic we can say investing in team up would of been a bad idea since only 1 bb sells every 2 months lol
@@XingCollectables you really just compared team up to fusion strike? that's like me saying hey look team up blisters on the pokemon center website lol... you are assuming to many things.
Yep it took me about a year of just buying everything before I realized bb are where it really is. So all the other stuff I have I just give to my kids for Christmas or birthdays since I was going to buy them Pokémon stuff anyways lol
I wish I saw this video two years and 30k earlier:) one of the best videos on TH-cam and I can sign every word. I was thinking, nah, BB are ugly...but nobody cares that ETB has beautiful design with just 8 packs and a lot of air inside:)
Is there a world where breaking these products down could be your most liquid move? I 100% agree collection boxes I’m trying to get rid of are very hard to get rid of- to the point where I’m just saving them for a rainy day rip if they don’t move after a while 😂
Thanks for this video brother this is the best one I’ve seen from you so far I actually watched the whole video for once I saw your debate video with OKJLUV and crew I kind of felt bad for you cause I could see you couldn’t really get your point across well during the debate and it felt like a couple of the other guys were almost ganging up on you I know you will get your haters and people who disagree with what you say or do but keep going hard and do what you think is right and let’s see in 5, 10, 20 years time who was right or doing right in the Pokémon card investing space Appreciate your work Cheers from Sydney Australia
The market shifted so hard I lost interest in vintage. Only ever considered buying sealed for vintage. For actual singles I would only buy swsh era card . Anything evolution celebration unified cosmic eclipse I would never buy singles from. Because the kids today are not interested on those cards which impacts the market hard
Just wait for the inheritance windfall. Everything goes in cycles. Even swsh is going to dip after it peaks this cycle. Vintage will have it's time in the sun again.
Ive got 9 umbreon 3 pack blisters i bought at release, that are selling for like over 70 bucks i believe. But i know for a fact i could not sell them in a lot, or on auction and get close to that. When the time comes, i expect it to take 30-60 days. That being said, i also bought 2 team up 3 packs for 40 each, worth 200, and 3 tcg lightning 4 pack blisters that all had 3 hidden fates and 1 burning shadows, bought for 40, sold for 87.99. It depends on if its a good item with good packs that people actually care about it. hidden fates blisters took about 2 weeks.
Im curious if your talking about eBay specifically or just in general? Ive sold a decent amount on eBay I guess like 30 items I know that's really just a start in my eyes. Doesn't take much effort with eBay I just don't think the fees are worth using or free advertising especially if its items & singles that sell themselves. I'm super Small time investment wise also so those fees kill me.
@@Sugafr33 i mostly use ebay, ive got like 900 sales or somthing. I occasionally use FB and IG to sell graded cards, but people are usually wise and will expect a 13% discount, because they know you are saving money. Its good to avoid the fees when you can, but dont expect to always get the sold price on ebay. If your lucky you can split the diffrence, and you can save 7٪ more than you would on ebay, and they can save 7% as well, although they also get to avoid the taxes, which helps if its an expensive item. It usually leans more in the buyers favor overall.
I watch all your videos but I gotta disagree with you on this one. Three pack blisters get bought out more the older sets get because people can’t afford the 5,000$ price tag on these older booster boxes so that is the only way to buy in.
I gotcha. I'm just going off what I see in xy and sun&Moon. Booster Boxes seem to fetch market price even when auctioned and the other products seems to move slower. That's all. I respect your point though.
But Alex I trim my tonails twice a week and glue them too my pikachu v card and sell it for triple the price I open up booster boxes and always lose money idk how this stuff is investable I bought 3 sealed cases if fusion strikeeeeee for 800 each and now they are 1600 2 months later but idk those shining fates pikachu v boxes are the future bro when people need toilet paper in the future when it's 3k a roll
If I would have started collecting again in 2015 whatever time you say you started I would be playing monopoly with this stuff too 🤣. The way I get hooked on phonics
Everytime I watch a mew video I get excited follow by the next video where I second guess what I just did LOL 😆 I'm mostly just booster boxes which is great but dabbled into SV psa 10 SIR Not all are super popular pokemon and no idea if I'll see 50% on a $25 slab but it's basically covering grading fees. Another I bought at 45 and even tho I think the art I'd absolutely amazing.. I wonder if needed to be manipulated or pumped in away for me to even see appreciation (great tusk SV base SiR) Anyways love your videos
I break up 3 pack fusion strike blisters and I fart on the packs and sell the for 30 dollars each I poop on the espeon promo card and send it in get it graded and triple my money you definitely have no idea what your talking about my friend booster boxes are a terrible investment lol
But Alex I made money breaking down shining fates boxes I get the pilschu v promo as profit after I pay for shipping lol 😆 you don't know what your talking about lol 😆
this is 100% accurate
HUGE mistake made by early collectors LIKE MYSELF but now, I stick to sealed Booster Boxes and Cases
I started collecting in January, I was able to avoid picking up too much axillary product through the advice of videos like these thank goodness.
After selling TONS of random items, I've def learned my lesson through the years...Booster boxes for the win
*stares at divergent power tins*
Same LOL! But I’m in no rush and these tins are awesome so I’m not tripping
Hahaha those and others but sticking with booster boxes
Been sitting for the last 2 years and people decide to get it coz rev did. 😂😂😂😂
Rev didn't know nutting
@@Iamwillz
1. I don't believe they had ES in them before
2. Rev uploaded that in the past two days
Typlosion version have been sold out for over a week.
@@rell660 I've been buying them along with First Partner: Johto and then also prof juniper boxes when they released. People only learnt to look towards other products coz youtubers find them.
Everyone only realistically did this on Pokeballs but they buy the wrong ones 🤣🤣🤣
Sleeved booster packs seem to be fairly liquid if you're not in a rush, but on a much lower scale of course. I like buying a case if I already have a booster box case of the same set. That way I can offload a few packs at a time when the set matures to get a little supplemental cash when I want it. It feels like more of a sidequest though haha. And who knows, maybe I just like the idea of being able to crack a few packs with low commitment in the future. Booster boxes are always #1! Appreciate the video as always!
you mean to tell me it wasnt a good idea to buy cases on cases of sticker packs and back to school pencil cases as investment pieces?
If price per pack is low enough its never a bad idea. Just depends on how fast you expect to move product.
Terrific video. Also look at how often an item sells weekly-yearly before investing in it. I used to make this mistake a long time ago, now every single item i sell (single cards or sealed product), I always research the sales turnover rate.
Good advice and definitely the truth. Understanding risks is very important in making plays along with understanding consumer demand for particular characters.
Absolutely
I learned this a little late. But good information. I'm starting to sell off my collection boxes, ETBs and singles and flipping them into BBs.
Think it's a good play. Been unloading my stock the last year or so and only reinvest in booster boxes
Man this felt like a personal attack to my sandaconda AA play😭.
All kidding, spot on Alex!
My Bad Bro 😔
Does this make specialty sets that dont have booster boxes bad or worse investments?
I think it makes those etbs much more valuable
Hard to tell at this point. We will see how the next 3 to 5 years play out.
I passed on the reprint of the heavy hitters boxes for that reason. Great cost/pack but without ES to anchor it, hard pass.
Ive definitely pivoted away from collection boxes, tins, etc. and focused on booster boxes and speciality set ETBs.
Give it 2/3 years when all the BB prices spike. I couldn’t pass it up … with the clearance deals too?!? I got 14 packs of SwSh for like $34 tax and shipped. I don’t care if I have to sell for 80% down the road, I just don’t see how I CANT make money off these at $2.44/pack. Literally comes out to $88 for 36 packs. A booster box for $88?? Of sword and shield??
I scooped em up ;) if only to open some in the future! And if I have to break it down and sell loose packs I think they’ll sell!!
@@TheSnackAttackingSnorlax absolutely. I'm deploying my assets for less cumbersome sales down the road. Booster boxes, as Alex points out, are king in that regard.
@@PokeCollectorJ facts!! I’m into SV booster boxes! I just missed the train on SwSh… so this is my play lol!! 😂! Booster boxes are
King though!!
What do you think about the newer booster bundles? WOuld be a good video to share your thoughts!
Just ask yourself if you think someone would rather pay $2k for a booster box or a pack of 6 packs for 300?
@@XingCollectables that is my thought makes sense for long term right?
@CryptoGnome I think so. It's a cheaper option for someone who wants to rip years later and doesn't want to pay the premium a BBs commands
I am still more a fan of the booster box. I haven't seen other items hold premiums the way booster boxes do. They arnt valued on the per pack price, they are valued on the scarcity and Collectibility of the time itself.
@@NostalgiaNomics thanks for the insight!
Thanks for making this video. A few days ago I was debating on buying some sealed case tins. Price was right and I was ok with holding for a while. I had it in my cart and I was ready to pay but i just wasn’t 100% sure and I slept on it. The next day I told myself it wasn’t that good of a deal and bought a sealed case of temporal forces booster boxes instead. I felt much better about my purchase after that. Now I see this video and I see your argument and definitely agree. I have purchased several different products and I have definitely struggled to sell some more than others. Booster boxes are king!
I do collect mostly booster boxes, but ill pick up sometimes tin/collection boxes if they have evolving skies or cosmic/team up etc..
Hey Mr. Nomics Great video.. I have some LO bb’s with big openings on the bottom because PC doesn’t like to use any packaging… could I sell these down the road for a 10-20% discount as is w/ the PC receipts?
You definitely can, someone who wants to open those booster boxes down the line will gladly pay 80% just for the chance to rip packs for cheaper than a minty box.
if your looking to sell for a discount later then just sell them now for a discount or just open them up and sell the packs. then use that money to invest in something else.
@@XingCollectables so you think just try to sell and take that $20-$25 loss and put that money back into more ST from PC and just hope they send me a good wrapped box this time? Good idea tbh thank you.
@SarahFern23 yea that's what I would do. Someone now will buy to rip way faster than if the box gets to be like $500 and you try to sell with 10-20% off.
Ya they will sell for you. No problem
what about specialty sets, 151 doesn't have booster boxes. The booster bundle is probably the bet then? or ETB's?
Ya the specialty sets are harder..
Liquidity... yup! I'm not much of a sealed investor (YET!) but if and when the day comes, it will be Booster Boxes and specialty ETBs pretty much exclusively.
What’s the best product to buy when the set doesn’t offer a booster box
That is definitely more difficult...
Agree on booster boxes, I think there are plays in popular set 3 pack blisters though.
That's why unless it's a box with a fan favorites I stick to etbs premium collection boxes or bb
For someone that is only 3 months back into the hobby, primarily for playing the actual TCG but also as an investment play, this is a great video and anyone hating on it is mad at reality.
Sell it?? Na bro, rip it..cuz while u spend that cash on watever, ill hav that card 4eva... investors really messed it up for a real collector...but then again collectors are investing in cards so yea wat are we talkin bout again..
Completely agree! Those random boxes with mediocre promos and some packs are cheap as hell. But you will never sell them because there is 0 interest in them!
You are focused on the investment side. I appreciate that.
From a collector side, booster boxes are the most desired because it’s a large concentration of packs that you can (with limited skill) determine the authenticity and unaltered nature. Blisters and ETBs are fine, but less packs at a time and you only pay about 2/3 of the value of a pack in a booster box. Tins and minitins are undesirable because the cards are often damaged.
Your point on liquidity and value is completely on point because you want to get the products and cards that everyone wants. 10 Rainbow Pikachu are gonna be much harder to sell than a moonbreon. I saw a guy selling a massive Nidoking collection, he wanted TCG price for it… I laughed for this reason.
Love this video - people need to know what the liquidating side of the hobby looks like. Another trap that people fall into is calculating only the price they bought an item at without the tax and shipping costs. Then they look at what an item is worth currently without taking into consideration seller fees and shipping costs. So it sounds good saying I BOUGHT IT FOR $100 AND NOW IT'S $200 but that is just making yourself feel better about your gains.
💯
Evo Skies Build and Battle kits and Stadiums, sleeved blisters are flying out the door for me
…because it’s evolving skies
@@BrokenAvatar Lost Origin next
I've been watching Poke investors like Alex for about 6 months and I have learned a lot of helpful lessons. By far, the most important thing I learned was "who are you going to sell to?". It's a great question that I didn't ask myself in the beginning but now I know how crucial it is. My solutions are A) start an eBay page and slowly start building up positive feedback so when I want to mass sell, I already have customers ready.....and.....B) Mainly stick with Booster Boxes. Storage is limited for me so ETBS, tins, and collection boxes aren't a good fit.
I wonder how much impact it'll be with Gamestop getting into the psa trading business
smart, many investors have never sold a single card/product yet holding tons of them
Worth noting that some of those alternative items don't have as much liquidity issues by the case. For example ETB cases are pretty liquid single ETBs not so much
Never had trouble selling sleeved Booster Packs. Just depends on the set and the competition. I have heaps of ancillary products, but didn't go heavy into any (except Arceus V Figure Collections). For me, Booster Boxes, loose packs and ETBs have all moved the quickest by far.
ETBs will always sell well since they are a staple for peoples displays. They are the best product to put on a shelf and admire. BBs second. Collection boxes are tuff unless they look amazing like the arceus figure box or the eeveelution boxes.
Great video! I'm pretty much sticking with booster boxes from here on out!
Have you thought about getting some acrylic cases for your booster boxes? Eveytime you grab them you can wasily dent the boxes, speacially those evo's stacked. I INVESTED in some to protect the boxes going up in value. Smoke and mirrors have a great deal right now.
Ya I know eli at pokemart usa has them on his wholesale program. I may consider it.
What do you think of mini tins? E.g. Pokémon 151 Tins?
You can do fine in them. Again just be aware they will be less liquid in the future than some of the other items.
translation: most of y'all aren't real investors and buy up trash items with low liquidity...not saying you can't make profits on them it depends on the person entirely...most of y'all buying miscellaneous items that doesn't have much to any demand// key takeaway demand is extremely important....also another myth is if your card is worth $6 and you sell it for $3 is a loss isn't true it depends on what margins you paid when you bought those items meaning even selling at half you can walkout with quick profits for other plays be smart most of y'all aren't
Liquidity is a huge concern in investing. Lot of people reaching out ot me within similar stuff. Some 6 figure collection /investments of that lower tier stuff that I end up offering more like 50% on. Or just 80% of the broken down packs
💯
What's better a single card of high value or a booster box? I saw the black lotus sell for $3,000,000 but I have never seen pokemon hit that high of a value at least not in the public eye.
Better In terms of what?
That question would make a good video , obviously it would depend on the set and the different products available
I tried joining your discord but it keeps telling me link expired
discord.com/invite/DeCbakm4r4
Alex, thanks for being experienced and sharing that experience honestly. It is very much appreciated.
Good point on sales made vs. last sales price. It speaks to the liquidity of a specific item.
You are teaching a great point. Price alone means nothing. Price + volume is everything.
The booster box is the easiest investment out there. Get them when they're at their lows, well below MSRP and just wait. Long term percentage gains will beat almost any stock out there - and probably safer than stocks too if you buy booster boxes at their bottom.
This is why you are my favorite poketuber. I realized that its not a great investment because its not very liquid. People can sell at market price online but have to deal with listing fees, shipping, etc. I noticed, people will buy at a store first before some random guy on facebook marketplace or offer up
Super important video that most people won’t understand. Sell through rate is the most important factor when it comes to buying and selling.
Good information about liquidity, but Pokémon its own beast on its own. Popular sets will still hands down move even if its blisters, 3-pack check lanes, loose packs. Look at evolving skies, 10$ a pack. Knowledge and experience in the hobby will go a long way. I collect ETBs, in a way for me it’s a good mix of BB, affordable entry price and looks cool on display.
Same. I think Alex is just letting people know to weigh how fast you want to move product when you want to sell. If you dont mind selling 100 items over a year then buy all the single packs you can. If you want to move a whole porfolio over 2 months then BBs may be the best thing. But I will say this. Imagine if you had 50 Team up BBs. How long do you think it would take to move those? Looking at tcgp theres not many sold this year (5) Then theres over 100 packs sold this year which is close to 3 bbs worth. It all depends on how low of a price per pack you can get in on.
Background change looks 🔥
My own personal concern is I have 800 loose Evolving Skies packs. Got them from the Costco stacking and galar tins. When I want to sell those I may have to reach out to a youtuber or something to sell them all at once for 8 to 10k. It will take forever to sell them 10 to 20 packs at a time.
Who cares though that set is gold
Unfortunately everyone will assume they are weighed 🙃
@bigtoke5220 possibly, it is what it is 😒 but that's why the booster boxes, etc go for so much more than 36 loose packs. Again why I'll probably just sell them at once to a single buyer. There is no way there aren't several alt arts in there.
Really appreciate you taking the time to set realistic expectations for everybody attempting to get involved in investing through Pokemon Cards, thank you Alex!
worst case for non-BB products-just free them from the products and put them as a 36 booster bundle, they have been selling like hot cakes
Common sense stuff from you man, They can dish out all the hate they choose but you are speaking facts and you understand the market which the majority don't really understand. Great content and valuable :)
I only look at price per pack if I'm (rarely) ripping
This is actually one of your better videos. It's exactly how I feel about a lot of my sealed. Take the Costco stacking tins that had evolving skies. 9 packs with 3 ES and I got them for $20. I bought a ton and am glad I did, but I have to break down that product and put 36 packs up at a time on Ebay to make it work. No way am I going to ship all these stacking tins one at a time. So, ultimately you need an exit strategy.
worst case scenario you always can move lose packs. Just dont go buying random collection boxes thinking they hold any more value than the lose packs inside. Its not hard to liquidate packs.
Safari zone has 144 brilliant stars sleeved pack cases for 600- no tax free delivery 😳 I’m sitting on the equivalent of 12 booster boxes😂
from my past 8 months in investing in pokemon the most gains i have had on any sealed product it is in sealed booster boxes, they are king and always will be
Same for the charizard box, not only it takes lots of space , not that liquid except in fomo time, expensive to ship, meh as a display... not all collection box are equal, same could be said to booster boxes & cards... beware that tcgplayer is not a reference when selling... have in mind 20-40% discount...and worse if all suddenly are selling at the same time , in times of crisis: we haven't seen one since 2008 put aside covid time.
conflicted here, if people catch on that they need to buy booster boxes, then demand for what I have will increase - good for me. but... if demand increases too much pokemon might start printing more (unlikely?) like they did with ETBs, and that would be bad for me :(
The future is always a mystery
A lot of appreciation is closely tied to pull rate, boosters have guaranteed pull rate, once again Alex is spitting facts. Tins and loose packs are always a longer hold.
Also don’t break down cases purchased from reputable sources, again, you are affecting perceived pull rate of case(or rather how the potential purchaser views the item.)
People that buy the collection boxes do seem to just want one. You could try listing 5 together as one eBay listing and see if anyone bites but it could be a long waiting game
This is exactly it. Sure TCG player can say that item you bought at 40 is worth 100 on there. But you really look at it, that item only has 1 sale at that price in the last 3 weeks. And you have 10 of them. Good luck selling them for the next 30 weeks. Not counting the others in that time who also own it and want to sell it before you so they list it at 95, then 90, etc.
Great points dude awesome vid
I definitely made this rookie mistake when I started out, have slowly been shifting that for the better though.
Liquidity is the smartest play.
"Today's video gonna be one of those uncomfortable, controversial videos..." As opposed to...? 🤣🤣🤣👍
Right 😆
"Be ready to wait." yeah that's kind of the whole point of investing lol.
I remember when everyone loved ETBs.
There’s a lot of junk products in the hobby like tins poke balls etc! Fuck that!
@NostalgiaNomics Amazing video!! Very informative info for the community to really take in ! Maybe post another video posting top examples of both good and bad types of product ?
🤔
think everyone already knew this, and I do notice you yourself Alex don't really talk about collection boxes/tins at all because they are pretty much hit or miss and heavily depend on the promo card, like the entire SWSH era i can only think of a handful of collection boxes and tins that were insanely good
eeveeloution collection boxes and arceus figure box about the only ones imo. Maybe the charizard and pikachu tag team boxes too.
Definitely makes sense. I was thinking of buying the fusion strike blister packs and then I checked on tcg player and realized they basically sell one every 1-2 months. That totally made me back off.
theres multiple blisters of fusion both the single and triple selling on ebay everyday. TCGP is not the best place to gauge interest for sealed products besides BBs. If we use that logic we can say investing in team up would of been a bad idea since only 1 bb sells every 2 months lol
@@XingCollectables you really just compared team up to fusion strike? that's like me saying hey look team up blisters on the pokemon center website lol... you are assuming to many things.
Everyone needs to watch this video. So true
My man spittin bars
You’re doing so good with the content game, my man. 🎉
Appreciate it brother!
Very underrated advice Alex 🚀
Yep it took me about a year of just buying everything before I realized bb are where it really is. So all the other stuff I have I just give to my kids for Christmas or birthdays since I was going to buy them Pokémon stuff anyways lol
I wish I saw this video two years and 30k earlier:) one of the best videos on TH-cam and I can sign every word. I was thinking, nah, BB are ugly...but nobody cares that ETB has beautiful design with just 8 packs and a lot of air inside:)
Appreciate it man and all good still tons of opportunity ahead!
Is there a world where breaking these products down could be your most liquid move? I 100% agree collection boxes I’m trying to get rid of are very hard to get rid of- to the point where I’m just saving them for a rainy day rip if they don’t move after a while 😂
Ya breaking them down to sell the loose packs and promos can sometimes be more liquid.
Thanks for this video brother this is the best one I’ve seen from you so far I actually watched the whole video for once
I saw your debate video with OKJLUV and crew I kind of felt bad for you cause I could see you couldn’t really get your point across well during the debate and it felt like a couple of the other guys were almost ganging up on you
I know you will get your haters and people who disagree with what you say or do but keep going hard and do what you think is right and let’s see in 5, 10, 20 years time who was right or doing right in the Pokémon card investing space
Appreciate your work
Cheers from Sydney Australia
Glad you caught the debate and really appreciate all the support. Appreciate it
The market shifted so hard I lost interest in vintage. Only ever considered buying sealed for vintage. For actual singles I would only buy swsh era card . Anything evolution celebration unified cosmic eclipse I would never buy singles from. Because the kids today are not interested on those cards which impacts the market hard
Just wait for the inheritance windfall. Everything goes in cycles. Even swsh is going to dip after it peaks this cycle. Vintage will have it's time in the sun again.
I guess time will tell. I don't see that happening though.
Bboxes are kings
Great content!!!
There he go trying to hoard all the 🌳 pack blisters😂 🐐 ed
The shelf flex tho > gets better every video 😅
Banger advice 🔥🔥🔥
The magic is in xy cards. With 2025 legends game bringing back mega evolutions
Ive got 9 umbreon 3 pack blisters i bought at release, that are selling for like over 70 bucks i believe. But i know for a fact i could not sell them in a lot, or on auction and get close to that. When the time comes, i expect it to take 30-60 days. That being said, i also bought 2 team up 3 packs for 40 each, worth 200, and 3 tcg lightning 4 pack blisters that all had 3 hidden fates and 1 burning shadows, bought for 40, sold for 87.99. It depends on if its a good item with good packs that people actually care about it. hidden fates blisters took about 2 weeks.
Im curious if your talking about eBay specifically or just in general? Ive sold a decent amount on eBay I guess like 30 items I know that's really just a start in my eyes. Doesn't take much effort with eBay I just don't think the fees are worth using or free advertising especially if its items & singles that sell themselves. I'm super Small time investment wise also so those fees kill me.
@@Sugafr33 i mostly use ebay, ive got like 900 sales or somthing. I occasionally use FB and IG to sell graded cards, but people are usually wise and will expect a 13% discount, because they know you are saving money. Its good to avoid the fees when you can, but dont expect to always get the sold price on ebay. If your lucky you can split the diffrence, and you can save 7٪ more than you would on ebay, and they can save 7% as well, although they also get to avoid the taxes, which helps if its an expensive item. It usually leans more in the buyers favor overall.
I watch all your videos but I gotta disagree with you on this one. Three pack blisters get bought out more the older sets get because people can’t afford the 5,000$ price tag on these older booster boxes so that is the only way to buy in.
I gotcha. I'm just going off what I see in xy and sun&Moon. Booster Boxes seem to fetch market price even when auctioned and the other products seems to move slower. That's all. I respect your point though.
WHOAH there Timmy! 🤣
But Alex I trim my tonails twice a week and glue them too my pikachu v card and sell it for triple the price I open up booster boxes and always lose money idk how this stuff is investable I bought 3 sealed cases if fusion strikeeeeee for 800 each and now they are 1600 2 months later but idk those shining fates pikachu v boxes are the future bro when people need toilet paper in the future when it's 3k a roll
🤣 so ridiculous
Goat video 💯
Valid points
If I would have started collecting again in 2015 whatever time you say you started I would be playing monopoly with this stuff too 🤣. The way I get hooked on phonics
“Hey Alex come here look at this” 🤣🤣🤣 bro this video is great
🤣 thanks man!
Everytime I watch a mew video I get excited follow by the next video where I second guess what I just did LOL 😆
I'm mostly just booster boxes which is great but dabbled into SV psa 10 SIR
Not all are super popular pokemon and no idea if I'll see 50% on a $25 slab but it's basically covering grading fees. Another I bought at 45 and even tho I think the art I'd absolutely amazing.. I wonder if needed to be manipulated or pumped in away for me to even see appreciation (great tusk SV base SiR)
Anyways love your videos
Are you saying that my closet full of collection boxes may have been a bad investment?!
Signed: Local Walmart Scalper
Guys guys guys just wait to bring it to game stop xD
I watch your vids alex i got 99 problems but, the investments aint one.
🚀
I break up 3 pack fusion strike blisters and I fart on the packs and sell the for 30 dollars each I poop on the espeon promo card and send it in get it graded and triple my money you definitely have no idea what your talking about my friend booster boxes are a terrible investment lol
🤣
But Alex I made money breaking down shining fates boxes I get the pilschu v promo as profit after I pay for shipping lol 😆 you don't know what your talking about lol 😆
It hurts when you see the "howd i do" posts
Its some guy buying up all junk etb from another guy who knows this and wants more BB.
So you’re telling me … my 378 mabostiff ex boxes ARENT gonna sell …….????
Nothing but facts!
Reality check alert!
FACTS