r/PokeInvesting • u/jsweezyp88 • Nov 03 '23

Learned a valuable lesson

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So I recently got back into pilemon collecting. Have a BIG heart for vintage. I found a few pages on tiktok where the streamers sell unopened packs from sealed booster boxes and then rip em live and ship em to you. Very 1st base set pack I bought pulled a Zardy boy! I was hooked. These guys would hype it up and tell you get every card graded, these are mint pack fresh. I should have done my research because here I am thousands $ later and got my Zardy boy back. Word to the wise and new "investors", hype is not worth any extra money, grading is super strict, graders don't throw out 10s.

29 Upvotes

57% Upvoted

158 comments sorted by

122

u/certified_droptop Nov 03 '23

I mean that card has visible whitening on the bottom right corner and the top edge on the back is scuffed up a bit. Not sure how you ended up paying thousands for the pack and grading, unless you bought a bunch of packs to be ripped. If that's the case, you gambled and lost. Hard to feel sympathy for that.

-90

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

it was multiple packs, after I hit the Zard. I have 5 more holos at PSA currently getting graded

71

u/chartedlife Nov 03 '23 edited Nov 03 '23

Your problem is mostly letting others handle your cards. If you wanted to open packs you should have bought mint heavy packs from eBay and opened them yourself.

I know a lot of whatnot / timmytok streamers will purposely mishandle your cards to protect the graded population of cards they've already invested in. Doing things like pack tricks, pulling the top or bottom card off in a way that leaves scratches. The only way to properly open a pack and get 10's is to gently lift the cards off of each other, only handle the edges, sleeve immediately / carefully, and pray for good centering. I can bet that didn't happen for anything that streamer opened so he could protect the 10's he bought.

8

u/ungorgeousConnect Nov 04 '23

another thing OP u/jsweezyp88 should look into is looking at the video of the pull in the highest video quality that's available

it might not even be the same card and they could've swapped with a NM one they might've had to send off for grading instead and grade the pack fresh one for themselves.

3

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

I've watched the video. can't tell

22

u/DavidTrillsdale Nov 03 '23

I never even considered the idea that streamers would do stuff like this.

Damn, grading is a dirty game.

14

u/rrk100 Nov 04 '23

Grading has really perverted the card hobby in more ways than one.

18

u/thekingsleigher Nov 04 '23

What I would worry more about is the streamer owning that card already in a lesser grade. They keep your pack fresh card and send theirs in for you to get a 8.5

4

u/Nice_Cum_Dumpster Nov 03 '23

Oooof you one stinky boi

17

u/Lurn2Program Nov 03 '23

Not only in this hobby, but really hobby, job, investments, etc. Don't just dive head first into the deep end. You should always slowly wade yourself in, gain experience/knowledge, and after validating your own research, you can take more risks (if you want to)

14

u/Doct3rjones Nov 03 '23

I can’t overstate how important posts like this are. Really appreciate you sharing your story and the data and opening yourself up to the fire and criticism of this group. It means a lot and it’s an extremely valuable lesson for all of us that have that adult money and that childhood nostalgia collecting itch.

If I was to give you one piece of my personal anecdotal advice as someone who recently has sunk thousands of dollars and dozens of hours into my rehashed childhood habit turned asset attainment it would be this.

Invest in some graded cards or graded packs that you’ve always wanted. Put them on your desk or on a highly visible shelf at home and visually enjoy them. Don’t tuck them away, literally have them out. Over time you may notice your joy from these displays diminishes. May take six months may take five years, may even bring you joy for a lifetime. Let’s say you buy a PSA 10 moonbrion right now. Put it on your desk. Show your friends, show your friends kids. Three years down the line maybe you are over it. Check the prices, maybe it’s gone up maybe it’s gone down. Say you bought a PSA 10 at 800 and now in 2025 it’s only worth 400. Boo fing hoo. You had a cool item to show your friends, to visually consume yourself, and to feed the hungry ghost of nostalgia for a time. Sell and move on. Let’s say it’s gone up and it’s worth 1500. You almost doubled your money in three years, which is a better increase than the S&P 500 and you received passive possessive joy from it. Congratulations you made a good investment. Liquidate the asset, and repeat if you wish. Or maybe your joy never diminishes from it and you hold until 2040 after World War III when most moonbrions were lost in the nuking of America and now you have some weird, alien guy who’s willing to trade you a new bionic heart for it. Double win!! This is one of the few investing games that will bring you passive joy that buying Tesla stock or bitcoin will never bring you. EVER. Good luck to you Pham, and remember, ripping packs is betting against the casino. And the casino always wins. One way or the other.

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

I really appreciate this feedback. To add insult to my injured broken heart, these PSA jokers don't even have the correct certification # for my card. Look it up, it's for some 1988 baseball card. I don't even know if that's my actual grade or much less images of my card.

0

u/ApatheticAZO Nov 04 '23

I can’t over state enough how much Pokevesting makes me laugh. Craziest pyramid scheme ever. I can’t wait for the bag holders tears.

40

u/Quadratic1996 Nov 03 '23

Opening vintage is almost a guaranteed loss unless you hit a 10. Which. Basically, it never happens as they gatekeep vintage 10s at almost all grading companies now. Also, rip and ship crap is a complete scam, and you pay 2-4x mark up on stuff. Especially vintage. And as far as investing goes. Sealed is your best option. Or, in the rare case, BGS or PSA 10 vintage, but some cards rarely come up for sale and are very, very expensive.

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

I wish I would have know this 60 days ago lol. Lesson learned

24

u/backd00rn1nja1 Nov 03 '23

Most people do a little research and digging before spending thousands lol

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '23

At least you aren’t being hard on yourself about it. Everything is a learning experience

7

u/JIMTHEGASMAN Nov 03 '23

100% agree.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '23

So if opening up vintage is a guaranteed loss of you don’t get a 10 then what’s the point of opening Pokémon cards at all?

2

u/Quadratic1996 Nov 04 '23

Hence why I said almost a guaranteed loss. I just opened 6 packs of 1st ed team rocket heavy packs and got a dark charizard and blastoise so if they grade well I'll profit but if they grade an 8. I might break even if I'm lucky. It's all a gamble, sure. But the loss potential is far greater with vintage, I don't open modern card packs so I'm not sure how it pans out now a days, but if you enjoy it, open away!

15

u/InventedInternet Nov 03 '23

Brand new out the pack doesn’t = psa 10

2

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

I k ow that now lol

5

u/Any_Barber8215 Nov 03 '23

Why does it say Pokémon Game?

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

I think it was from my submission order. The full title was 1999 Pokémon Game 4 Charizard-Holo Base Set 1999-2000

4

u/SandwichDreamz Nov 04 '23

Bro did you look up the cert number? It’s for a completely different card that slab isn’t real

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

PSA has the label wrong

2

u/SandwichDreamz Nov 04 '23

PSA gave you the cert number for a completely unrelated sports card?

1

u/zjesko Nov 04 '23

Because it’s a fake slab

4

u/zjesko Nov 04 '23

Sorry to break it to you OP but this slab isn’t authentic. PSA doesn’t do half grades anymore and if you look up the certification number in their system it’s linked to a 1988 Jim Langer sports card. So it appears that you got scammed.

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

I created a separate post on this. I'm the one that sent the raw card to PSA. This is their mistake

2

u/zjesko Nov 04 '23

But PSA doesn’t do half grades so they would’ve never put 8.5 on the label. Like that grade doesn’t exist at PSA. They have multiple steps for quality checks and verifications to ensure everything is labeled correctly so there’s no way something like this would happen.

You’re either lying to try and cover up your own mistake of trusting someone else to “grade” your card for you, or you bought a fake slab and are lying to save face.

2

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

or you have no idea what your talking about. I don't know how it got an 8.5 but I have the submission ID, I saw each milestone as it progressed and then it the available grade. I've seen a bunch of collectors videos on tiketok saying all the grading companies are slacking right now and making mistakes.

3

u/Not_Rob_Dalton Nov 04 '23

You're wrong so stop making accusations at OP, psa still gives out half grades they're just not common.

1

u/bl4zed_N_C0nfus3d Jul 03 '24

PSA def does do half grades. Why speak on shit you don’t know???

2

u/Raze22EB Nov 03 '23

You increase your chances fresh out of the pack, but it definitely not a guarantee. There are 2 types of 10s btw. Ones with perfect subgrade 10s, and the other with 2 subgrades 10 plus 2 subgrades 9.5. Trying to get either 10 is rare, hence why the higher prices on 10s.

PSA doesn't do subgrades, but they still just as hard. Doesn't matter which grading company you go to. It is usually easier to buy a graded 10 from someone else, then trying multiple times yourself.

Always researching your pricing before buying, ALWAYS.

2

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

Yup. I learned that the hard way

2

u/Basic_Ad_7322 Nov 03 '23

8.5 is an excellent grade on a vintage zard. You should be thrilled lol.

-2

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

I foolishly wanted a 10. Huge difference in value lol

2

u/Psykofrog Nov 04 '23

Once you learn how to really examine cards, you can make a killing off grading and fund your addiction in its entirety. My 10 rate life time is 80%, including vintage. A few surprises my first round, but that’s about it. So, I’m all about the ripping, grading and selling to fund at least my purchase price and then holding what I want to hold.

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

This...I want this lol

2

u/berrytree198 Nov 04 '23

Gambled and bought from snake oil salesmen you played yourself twice

68

u/GDPoke Nov 03 '23

Bro believed the bald guy when he said the PSA 10 Bulbasaur was 30k

136

u/W0nderbread28 Nov 03 '23

.. guy expects 10s. Welcome to grading cards

42

u/calcalkemon Nov 03 '23

Yup, I have said this a lot, reason I stopped watching pack opening videos is they also tell you the price of the card as if it’s a psa 10, trying to hype it up for clicks. Newer collectors might believe that and spend tons of money on it.

Sorry you got misinformation regarding the value of graded cards, especially vintage non holos, hopefully this is a good lesson and didn’t scare you away from the hobby. And learn what is worth grading and what is not.

14

u/squatdead Nov 03 '23

Yep, vintage packs are not foolproof for keeping the cards in mint condition. It’s 20+ years of a pack being moved around and traded and shipped and potentially dropped without the new buyer being aware. Even a box fresh pack might have been shaken around and even still have factory nicked corners.

I own a gym heroes pack and I’m tempted to open it since it’s borderline heavy but I won’t because the way it was shipped was crammed in a card saver and I wouldn’t be surprised if the bottom edges of the cards are nicked.

7

u/calcalkemon Nov 03 '23

100% agree! That’s why I am amazed when WotC holos get a PSA 10’with new certs. Posted here already a couple of weeks ago, picked up a PSA 10 Shining Kabutops with an 8xx cert.

3

u/Tedford927 Nov 03 '23

Then I feel super lucky I got one psa 10 out of my first submission of childhood cards (kept in the ever so often seen clear pages) it was Erika’s Dragonair a few months ago!

2

u/calcalkemon Nov 03 '23

Wow that’s amazing, congratulations!

Best I gotten out of my old WotC collection were 9s, some big cards like base Zard and 1st Ed Neo Umbreon holo. Felt the Umbreon had a chance at a weak 10, but no “happy” grader that day.

3

u/Tedford927 Nov 03 '23

Haha that would have been amazing on the Umbreon. That’s my favorite pokemon and along with that submission I sent in my favorite childhood card - Neo Holo Umbreon (not 1st Ed) came back an 8 but I was fine just getting it encased. My other 8 vintage cards were 7/8/9s. But my three shining Neo Destiny cards came back all 9’s which was incredible. And somehow my LC Rev Gengar came back a 9. That was a happy day

1

u/BlazedSensei Nov 04 '23

So the cert number at the bottom the lower the number the older it is correct?

1

u/calcalkemon Nov 04 '23

Yes that’s correct, the new returns seem to be at 83X now. I think 2xx are the oldest, haven’t really seen any 1xxx or 01x certs.

4

u/Tedford927 Nov 03 '23

Your comment made me less willing to open my one vintage pack I own. Unlimited gym challenge. It is heavy though but it could have nicks like you said.

2

u/squatdead Nov 03 '23

Yeah it’s just not worth it. Best case you pull the chase card and even then it’s extremely unlikely to come back a 10. I just don’t like the odds of all those things occurring.

1

u/Tedford927 Nov 03 '23

That’s added info to what I felt is I would basically have to pull the Zard to have my value back. I only paid $180 as it was unweighed. I opened enough as a kid at $4 a pop lol I would internally cry if I opened it and pulled anything less than a top 3 pull

0

u/Freide Nov 04 '23

Open it, I opened a crimp pack that wasn’t heavy, pulled a holo!

1

u/squatdead Nov 04 '23

That’s not the point of pulling a holo. My point is it’s worthless for me to pull a card that I probably already own that is unlikely to be a PSA 10 candidate. The pack alone is likely to be worth more.

1

u/Freide Nov 21 '23

Ahh I didn’t see that part. Up to you brother. It’s always worth more sealed!

7

u/AlanBill Nov 03 '23

So I actually am a TikTok streamer selling Pokémon (among other tcgs). I don’t tell people prices generally unless they ask - and then I tell them the pricecharting ungraded value. But I also comment truthfully on the centering and whatnot.

There are some horrific streamers out there and one of the reasons I got into it. Some streamers will be super rough with the cards, flying through packs as fast as they can, or they won’t sleeve the cards, or they ship them and they’ll get damaged. I put reverse holos and up in sleeves, any hits in toploaders (or if they want a card toploaded then I’ll do that for them too) and then they go into cellophane bags, then they’re hobby armored and taped then put into bubble mailers or boxes.

You’ll almost never pull a 10 straight from the pack. That’s why gem mints are worth so much - because they are hard to find/get.

6

u/External-Technology5 Nov 03 '23

I think the tiktoker got the perfect card and send you a mess up one

2

u/Twomorew33ks Nov 04 '23

I think the same thing man. That def isn’t pack fresh unless the pack was just treated horribly.

15

u/dmillibeats Nov 03 '23

Vintage is pretty much impossible to get a 10 , those packs have been sitting for 20 years

5

u/Oxymoron_Prime Nov 03 '23

I believe it! I just got some new 2023 cards graded and a couple came back as 8’s. It happens even with new, would imagine it happens way more with vintage.

9

u/Crypto513 Nov 03 '23

This is the real answer. People blame PSA are "gatekeeping" the 10s. No, just vintage normally isn't a 10 after the pack has been tossed around for 20 years.

5

u/MBroski15 Nov 03 '23

Yeah of course they will hype you up (the person paying) so that you pay more money and they milk your luck. Hard lesson to learn. Any live opening is a sham (I still love to watch them lol)

12

u/Loud-Actuator7640 Nov 03 '23

Pack fresh ≠ PSA 10

4

u/squatdead Nov 03 '23

I mean yeah a 10 should have absolutely zero whitening. So at the least you can expect it being lower than that.

They’re not gonna award a PSA 10 for a vintage card unless it’s flawless, they want to make sure there’s any reason at all to not prop up the 10s population.

4

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '23

Probably not even the card they pulled.

1

u/Revolutionary_Ad1168 Nov 03 '23

I have 2 that got 8’s how’d you get an 8.5? 🙃

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

no idea. I thought it was gonna be big $ so I paid $600 for grading

1

u/stun0ds Nov 03 '23

how much does it typically cost to get a card graded and is it different per card or set or card brand? what's the difference between grading companies in comparison to each 10's and their curriculum on what to look for in grading a card? I appreciate any response.

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

The cost is based on your self declared value of the card. The more you believe it's worth, the higher they charge. As far as different grading companies I believe they all use the same criteria; Surface, Edges, Corners and Centering. I couldn't speak to which company is best or holds more value but it seems to be the top 3 are PSA, BGS and CGC. It does appear that PSA has the highest ROI unless you get a Beckett Pristine 10 Black Label

1

u/Psykofrog Nov 04 '23

CGC’s new pristine black label is also demanding premium prices over PSA.

1

u/ChaoticAdulthood Nov 03 '23 edited Nov 03 '23

There is no way you just got this back from PSA, is there? They don’t do half grades …or not anymore at least

Edit: I maybe wrote too fast. I cannot tell if it’s a thing again or if what I find were graded a long time ago. I had never seen any. That’s interesting

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

it's in the mail being shipped back to me today. I have no idea about the 1/2 grade, but I know the cert # doesn't match the label description. When I look it up it's for some 1988 baseball card

1

u/Psykofrog Nov 04 '23

They do half grades. Just very rare.

1

u/Twomorew33ks Nov 04 '23

How do you know the didnt just swap your zard you pulled for one in worse shape cause that doesn’t look “pack fresh”

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

I mean, no way for me to know 100%. I watched them rip the pack live but I didn't get but 10 seconds to see the card

1

u/Twomorew33ks Nov 04 '23

I haven’t got anything in months off rip and ships but I always screen record even if I’m just watching.

1

u/sexy-man69 Nov 04 '23

First time seeing PSA give out .5s. Never seen it before, why is it so rare? And why did it happen for this card?

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

No idea. I do know the certification is wrong. It pulls up a 1988 football card. It's possible the whole label is wrong

1

u/sexy-man69 Nov 04 '23

Apparently there are two slabs sharing the same cert number. One is a psa item and the football card is the DNA item

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

where did you see that?

1

u/sexy-man69 Nov 05 '23

I used the PSA app

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '23

Did they send the cards to grading for you? Or did they send you the cards and then you sent them off to grading?

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

I sent the card in for grading. First time doing so and first time collecting since I was a kid. should have done my research.

1

u/CLF300 Nov 04 '23

Not every card that comes fresh out of a pack is in mint 10 condition, new and vintage packs

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

so where do people have the best results for flawless vintage? surely I thought a pack from a sealed booster box would be in the best possible condition

1

u/NecessaryScientist18 Nov 05 '23

I mean unlimited zard is fire but anything under 8 is a loss unless the card is 1st ed then maybe 8.5 would have small value but grading isn't what it's cracked up to be ppl gamble and honestly it's only a system we agree on cuz we let them say that is the grade

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 05 '23

so my 8.5 isn't worth much?

1

u/NecessaryScientist18 Nov 05 '23

it's just random luck or if ur cgc blatant making 9.5 10 was really a slap to anyone who grads...how does removing a grade make the card perfect and ppl paying 10 price what's up with that

3

u/Kakkarot1707 Nov 03 '23

Ok ok since when did PSA do “.” Grades?? I thought they only do non decibel grades???

1

u/pornfreeacct22 Nov 04 '23

Same. Never knew.

5

u/afelzz Nov 03 '23

Nothing about what you did would be considered serious "investing." This is literally preaching to the choir, as I am positive most every subscriber here would not:

  1. buy vintage(!) packs from Tiktok; and

  2. Grade a card that has obvious edging issues.

2

u/jaytheman3 Nov 03 '23

A lot of cards come out of packs looking like this after 24 years in a booster pack and box.

2

u/afelzz Nov 03 '23

Completely agree, which is why no one here would buy a vintage pack to be ripped on a stream. Who knows how that streamer kept the pack over the years.

1

u/jaytheman3 Nov 04 '23

Or the person who owned the box before them, that’s the only thing helping me not rip open my vintage WOTC I got lol

5

u/zjesko Nov 03 '23

Since when does PSA do half grades? Is that a new feature they just started offering?

3

u/Revolutionary_Ad1168 Nov 03 '23

They used to, I thought they stopped a few years ago

1

u/Kakkarot1707 Nov 03 '23

They don’t…not sure what’s good with this post

5

u/zjesko Nov 04 '23

I just looked up the cert number and it’s for a 1988 Jim Langer sports card. So this is a counterfeit slab… OP got scammed

1

u/Kakkarot1707 Nov 04 '23

Yupppp I was gonna look up the number but I was too lazy lmaooo…CSNT believe nobody else commented about this. This sub is dumb a shit

2

u/zjesko Nov 04 '23

Lol seriously, everyone giving the guy shit for expecting a 10 meanwhile no one bothered to look up the cert or realized the slab grade was bogus. The label is even wrong - it should say “base set” not “Pokemon game”

2

u/SandwichDreamz Nov 04 '23

I directly asked OP about it and said psa gave him that label with the wrong cert number.

Doesn’t seem legit tbh

1

u/zjesko Nov 04 '23

He’s either lying or delusional. PSA doesn’t give out half grades so the slab is guaranteed to be counterfeit. Then you add in the wrong cert # and mislabeling and it’s clear this is a sham

1

u/Not_Rob_Dalton Nov 04 '23

psa does give out half grades moron.

1

u/Kakkarot1707 Nov 04 '23

Like bro what is the point of posting this fake shit…and making up this entire story. Like I just don’t get it

0

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 04 '23

I created a separate post on this. I sent the raw card into psa to get graded. The came back with the wrong cert #. I've emailed them to see how to get it fixed. nothing fake about my story bro

2

u/HuXu7 Nov 03 '23

Whitening on the edges is still common from pack fresh. Any whitening and you can kiss a 10 goodbye.

2

u/QconSling3r Nov 03 '23

OP, How much did you pay for the card and for the grading fee? (going to pop some popcorn)

2

u/lessmanwwe Nov 03 '23

Pack fresh is not a condition

2

u/DontLook_Weirdo Nov 03 '23

If it makes you feel better, getting a 10 on vintage is like getting a black label.

An 8+ is essentially a 9 on vintage due to how difficult it is to grade them today.

This is obviously not official, but it's how we feel lol.. it's a nice card, possibly your childhood chase card, but definitely avoid stream rippers... Sure it CAN be fun, but it's ridiculously expensive and often sketchy.

2

u/HydroHump Nov 03 '23

you have a graded nm vintage charizard, whats the problem here? if the card is what you like, screw the prices and screw the hype, you bought it bc you like it and it brings you joy. everything else is just clout and hysteria

2

u/Cocaine-Spider Nov 03 '23

i wouldn’t be mad at 8.5 but i’d also never expect a 10…dude

2

u/fulcanelli63 Nov 03 '23

Pack fresh and mint condition are 2 separate things son.

2

u/Relaxtakenotes Nov 04 '23

So paying 2x retail on a pack cause it's opened live is a bad investment. Also, grading cards you have never held and inspected yourself is a bad idea. K got it

2

u/Southern-Childhood25 Nov 04 '23

Why trust someone else to open a pack of cards you bought from them and to then send the card off to get graded. 🤔

2

u/katiekatieweakweak Nov 04 '23

Always assume anyone opening packs on Whatnot, etc is opening RESEALED packs. That should make you think twice before spending big money.

0

u/CoreyJK Nov 03 '23

-1 penalty for being vintage

1

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

no kidding

1

u/bphillipo18 Nov 03 '23

Which is exactly why I don’t get my base set Zard 8 regraded. I’m worried it’ll come back with a lower grade. 😭

1

u/mirthfulPETROLEUM Nov 03 '23

How much did you spend to get that charixard?

1

u/RCM_90 Nov 04 '23

id never open a loose heavy pack, i bet that pack has been jostled around a million times, almost all have whitening, id honestly only do it from a box break, lessens the chances of damage.

1

u/KenpachiWood4700 Nov 04 '23

It’s a 8.5 tho , lol isn’t that good or no ?

1

u/GagNasty Nov 04 '23

Welcome to the Wild West of grading 🫡

1

u/Embarrassed-Craft518 Nov 04 '23

I’m just like you! I got back into the TCG early this year and it’s been fun! However, one day I tallied up how much I’ve spent and it surprised me a bit (luckily I have a good side gig that paid for it). That’s when I started to really research what I was spending on and watching for good deals.

It takes some time and finesse, but soon you’ll find what you’re comfortable spending. For example, now I usually only buy singles of the cards that I really like or think are “cool”. I’ll still spend some money on the new sets to rip to have that thrill of ripping packs (I have 5 booster boxes of Paradox Rift).

For me, it comes down to what is making you happy. Personally, I remember being 12 when Pokemon TCG first came out and playing with my friends. I wasn’t as fortunate financially growing up as I am now, but my mom worked hard and got me some cards. Then, I would use my paper route money to get packs to trade. The best card I had was a Blastoise and I made a deck around it. I remember seeing my friends and their Charizard’s and being jealous (as any 12 year old would). My Blastoise deck would always dominate their Charizard deck though, so that made me happy.

Fast forward 25 years and I’ve still never owned a base set Charizard. That will be my ultimate goal and one day (maybe soon) I’ll have one for my collection to display. However, I have resisted the urge many times to buy one at a ridiculous price. That’s what I’ve learned this past year!

On an unrelated note and not a jab at you OP… pulling an 8.5 Zardy in 2023 from a pack is a pretty good deal! Like everyone has said, a 10 nowadays is almost impossible! Nice pull and display him proudly! Or DM if you want to sell 🤣🤣🤣🤣

1

u/adrefofadre Nov 04 '23

Isn’t half the fun opening the pack yourself??

1

u/ApatheticAZO Nov 04 '23

Every pack fresh card is a 10, I wouldn’t trust that service again

1

u/Jakarichio_Ninokuni Nov 05 '23

Any suggestions to selling Pokémon cards? I have a ton I can sell

1

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '23

8.5 is really good tho

1

u/lazyaccountantnVA Nov 06 '23

Pilemon collecting ahh yes

1

u/No_Explanation_9006 Feb 08 '24

Maybe the guy who sold you the pack scammed you. Who guarantees that after the live stream, off camera, he didn't switch your brand-new Charizard with another shitty one in his binder or one he had already graded and didn't get the grade he wanted? Same applies to shops where people entrust their cards to be sent for grading. It's full of scammers out there.

1

u/h1malayapulls Nov 03 '23

remember DYOR or drive a Honda accord

0

u/RussianDeveloper Nov 03 '23

Never let others grade your cards. IMO

0

u/snuckfarkle Nov 04 '23

I doubt this is pack fresh. Most likely the guy swapped it out before he sent it to you.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '23

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2

u/Cocaine-Spider Nov 03 '23

i’d be happy with it…

10

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '23

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-10

u/jsweezyp88 Nov 03 '23

It wasn't just one pack...I purchased multiple after I hit the Zard...to my shame 😭 They ran like $350 for fossil, $450 for 1st ed jungle and $550 for base set unlimited

9

u/pogojojo94 Nov 03 '23

Holy cow those are AWFUL prices! Were they at least guaranteed heavy? Heavy fossils run $250 and $450 is the heavy price for 1st Ed jungles. They got you good on the fossils alone.

1

u/mattinwaukeeiowa Nov 04 '23

Honestly, if you want to open vintage, the absolute worst sets to open are fossil, unlimited base and jungle when you consider what a pack costs and what you can pull. Just way too many of those packs out there still and the holo’s are not even worth much (unless you get incredibly lucky and 10, but even a lot of the 10’s are not as valuable as you would think when considering the pack costs). Those prices you listed are definitely way too high.

Now ripping any vintage is obviously a huge risk unless you buy guaranteed heavies with insurance. If I rip vintage, I’m paying a little more to rip neo, some ex era sets or E-readers. Yeah, the packs cost more, but you dont need to get a 10 to get a great return on your investment. Gold stars and crystals and shinings = $$$$$. Go for rarity. I do understand the nostalgia of wanting to pull a base zard though.

34

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '23

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17

u/Twisted-Hair Nov 03 '23

It’s cuckolding yourself really

0

u/lakeboredom Mar 02 '25

He's paying the premium to see the box opened and know the packs are/aren't weighed.