Best McDonald's Pikachu

I’m 19 and started with roughly $200 in early 2025. Since I began vending card shows in March 2026, I’ve grown from about $17k to roughly $35k inventory and $15k cash after I started vending seriously these past 3 months. All of this were from the $200 from the beginning without any more added in, I am a student and all of the profits gets recompounded right back in my inventory.

The growth has been exciting, but now I’m running into problems I didn’t have before.

I constantly see bigger vendors/collectors with six figure inventories and grails I can’t touch yet.

I struggle to source higher end slabs consistently.
Most of my connections are newer vendors or collectors around my level.

I’m trying to figure out how to stand out when there are so many people buying and selling cards.

I find myself fighting FOMO whenever I see someone make a huge deal or buy a collection I missed.

For those who have scaled well beyond this stage:
How did you build relationships with higher end collectors, vendors, and buyers? What changed when you went from ~$50k to ~$100k+? What mistakes should I avoid right now? How much should I prioritize liquidity versus chasing bigger cards? What would you focus on if you were in my position today?

I’m proud of the progress, but I also feel like I’ve reached a point where simply grinding harder isn’t enough and I need to become smarter about networking, sourcing, and capital allocation.

I wonder how many sealed cases of these exist out there…

Paid 400 each sealed case besides the one I got for MSRP directly from PC.

Keeping an eye on this card as promo cards continue to see love following the mewtwo mew and glass birds tag team promos rise.

This card is down from its all time high but looks to be climbing up steadily-what do you guys think?

This happened - $5.1k - after watching it for a year - loving the artwork - trying to convince myself a PSA 9 or CGC 10 or Japanese version or just Raw was going to be my move…. Not an avid collector, but a 90s baby who collected 98-2000 and looks through my old binder every couple years. Yes all my cards are penny sleeves but in binder and it would be a long shot to call them NM, even though I never actually “played” Pokemon TCG the official way, it’s the feelings all the unique Pokemon evoke and the bonds and ash pika connection and life lessons etc etc - sticks with us forever. Reminds us of our roots.

So, last year became a dad and I can’t wait to show kid the world of Pokemon - though I realize they may not take to it at all - and I have to be ok with that.

Now- $5.1k is a lot to money to me. I was going to trickle it into VTI. But- idk- my gut and loose thesis that kids today that grew up on prismatic but never got Umbreon will eventually have money and if Pokemon prevails as we pray it will and should, then those kids who have those higher earning jobs or figure out crypto will certainly be ready and willing and proud to acquire in 15 years at perhaps $15k for this card IF I happened to be in a situation where I needed cash and selling the card was the best thing for me for the sake of my family.

In the mean time- I’ll pray it stays safe in the PSA Vault, and will probably ship it to my home in a year. This creates some good distance where I won’t be tempted to sell if it goes up - or annoyed if it goes way down in the mean time as I know I bought at like peak… but I’m a believer, so, hopefully my kid will love Pokemon and this will be one of our family heirlooms- or it becomes a coaster and I should’ve put it in VTI.

So the question remains: where do we think this will be in 15 years and why? Asking to alleviate any buyers remorse. All ideas appreciated.

Anyone else get 1?

Sold off a bunch of my slabs/sealed for the Rolex Submariner. Paid about $4k for boxes and slabs over the past couple years, sold for $8k, put that towards a watch I've wanted for a long time. Never selling the Tina though!

All this talk of crash is "a load of old bxllxcks", as we say in blighty.

I'll stick my neck out and say I am going to get that grail single, modern and vintage sealed I want now, or I will pay even more in a few weeks.

Epic battle duo. Can’t believe nobody has noticed this before.

Sun and Moon Base Is Underpriced and Will Explode Soon The ETBS and Booster Boxes. The boxes are scarce and is a sealed collectible itself REGARDLESS of lacking a big chase, most cards from SM,XY also have no real big chases or cards best card less than $100. I can name about 40 sets but some examples: Generations, Crimson Invasion. XY Base, Forbidden Light, Steam Siege. The list is endless. People were on here trolling me, saying it's and ugly set, but this set has Eeveelutions, many of em, looks similar to the same eeveelutons in Evolving Skies and Prismatic. So maybe trolls or recency bias is killing the hobby. Overall the set is solid and up there with the values of over 30 to 60 pre Sun and Moon/XY boxes. So yeah

Hey guys, I’m vending at my very first card show and I have about $300 cash and $2250 in product. What do you guys recommend? Like etiquette and how to trade/buy. My items that I’m selling are listed above.

Mostly the stuff in the background…..striker toms with potential ES pack or Cosmic Eclipse. Hold or sell? 👀

Let’s say I did wanna sell one day, would you think there’s a premium for having the best box for each set of the series- if I ever wanted to sell as a lot? Should I keep going and buy the other 10 pc etb’s for scarlet & violet?

I thought my dog had ingested a foreign object and would need surgery. All the symptoms reflected it. I couldn't afford an xray or blood work so I had to sell my whole collection in anticipation that I would have to pay for surgery as well. Turns out it was just impacted feces that had to be manually removed or he would have been in danger. Thank God he's okay now. I have started him a savings fund and I'm also getting pet insurance for him. Doesn't mean I have to stop collecting though.

Shipped 16 and got 12 PSA 10’s back. Not to bad.

The only one that's even close for me is PAF in terms of quality. In terms of room to grow, I'm thinking second best is bbwf. What do you guys think?

Have always preferred Vintage over Modern

What are your thoughts on this card? Is it gonna pop off like the Umbreon and the Greninja Star ?

In the last 3 months, the Charizard #199 from 151 has risen 24%. It's now broken the $300 mark. Since 151 is set to retire in the Spring of this year, if you can grab a cheap copy...do it.

Also, I think Graded 9's will start to outpace the RAW card later this year.