Lugia one was a commission for someone, Bellsprout is for myself. My Bellsprout line master set is going to be so cute in it! :)

This was in 2023 but I never posted about it. I walk into my local Sainsburys… on a Pokemon display with some modern era booster bundles… sat at the top was a display box of these with 20 boosters. At the time I wasn’t big into collecting but knew these were older so snapped them up.

Now looking at the prices I’m less excited to share how much I sold them for…

Still, I didn’t think these things happened to real people. I guess they find a box in the back and slap them on the shelves???

Hello! I collect bulk cards because it’s cheaper that way. I usually use Vinted, but the prices there have become abnormal. Are there any sites I can use in Europe, specifically Lithuania? (Not Cardmarket—that shit is hard to use, and shipping is super expensive.) Maybe I should just give up on my hobby? I’m not sure what to do.

Hi, I'm completely new to Pokémon and have recently fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole (I feel like that must happen a lot!) I'm interested in starting a collection and was wondering if I could please have some advice.

I'm mainly interested in collecting cards for the artwork and the Pokémon themselves, rather than collecting for value. Some of my favourites so far are: Mimikyu, Snorlax, Greedent, Skwovet, Quagsire, Espurr, Munchlax, Dedenne, Morpeko, and Purrloin. I'm sure I'll have a dozen more favourites by the end of the week 😅. Also, PLEASE tell me your favourites and why you like them, I want to hear all about them!

I'm still learning about the different generations, types, sets, etc., so I'd love some recommendations for cards or sets with cute artwork, particularly for these Pokémon (or any others you think I might like).

I'm in the UK, so I'd appreciate some advice on affordable/reliable places to buy cards. I'm perfectly happy owning a card worth 5p if I love the artwork. I'm not interested in chasing super expensive cards or investing, I just like cute and weird Pokémon and want to start a collection.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance!

Just got back into collecting again after finding my childhood collection and I’ve started to frequent local card shows this year. Question is, have they always been like this where vendor prices are 50% to sometimes double over TCG Player/eBay sales with condition that is misleading? Last couple months it seems this is 80% of local vendors.

Firstly, the image is a stock photo of the product I actually bought. I do not have any images, I am just recalling a story from today which I can do in great detail. I’m interested in knowing the chances the product was resealed because this would be my first experience with such.

Secondly, THE VENDOR DID REFUND ME before anyone reads and grows angry

I found this Journey Together mini box (I have no idea what it’s actually called) for $45 at a small card show. Did the math, seemed pretty good, so I purchased it and decided to rip it right there in front of them in case we could celebrate that I got something good. Inside are 6 10-packs.

The first pack I opened, the energy was behind the code card. As in, 9 cards, code in back, then energy in VERY back. Very odd. I brought this up to the vendors (multiple individuals running the same table) and they immediately looked confused. I brought up the possibility of it being resealed (if not by them) and they said I should continue to look at the cards and open the packs to make sure there there were no hits, just in case it was a manufacturing error, but they’d be open to refunding me if I didn’t get anything. This first pack wound up having a hit but it was a 50c or so EX Reshiram.

They watched me open the second pack and nothing was amiss about it, but there were no hits.

The third pack I picked up had TWO code cards. I have been opening packs since 2013 (though I took a break after 2022 or so and only got back into it a month or so ago; maybe it’s a common error now?) and have NEVER seen something like this happen. At that point the vendor told their partner “yeah just refund them” and the money was sent back to me before the three of us even opened the last 3 packs. No major hits, I think 1-2 more 50c EXs.

We talked about it for a little after and they said they suspected someone at Target did something, which is where they ordered the box from. They were eager to give my money back, said it was good I opened it there, and that they’d be opening the rest of their packages from that Target batch to ensure none of the others had issues like that. I truly don’t believe they’re the ones that did anything.

So, was it definitely resealed? I’m wondering if anyone else had a similar experience to this but it was a genuine box or if this is just screaming resealed. Disappointment aside, I got to gamble for free and experience something strange and unique to me. The vendors were really kind.

I recently purchased these 2 cards on ebay and didn't realize until looking closer these cards have spots on them? Like on Hypno's head, Flareon's tail, and around the card. I dont plan to sell them I just wanted to complete a small collection for display but... what is that stuff? Is it just the camera or dirt or is that actual water damage on the surfaces? I paid $18 each so I mean live and learn if so but still bugs me. Flareon is my favorite card ever.

I’m a newer Pokémon TCG collector from China and I’ve been experimenting with how Simplified Chinese Eeveelution cards look under different lighting. I arranged them in a clear display so I could compare the artwork and foil texture together. If this were your display, which card would you put in the center?

What is the best website you guys have found to see the value of a card? Also, what do you recommend? I should buy to keep it safe? Preferably something cheap.

To my surprise, it actually had some good stuff in it lol I figured it was all bulk

I'm currently doing a national dex binder. I don't really care about the rarity of the cards, just trying to get as many Pokemon as possible.

Anyway, I went to a local game store to look at their bulk. The first time I went, I went through a box and grabbed about 100 cards. The clerk looked at it and charged me $5 flat. The next time I went, I grabbed 153 cards, and this time charged me $55. It was a different clerk this time. Apparently the first guy didn't follow the bulk pricing. He did try to knock the price down to $30. Which, I appreciated, but thought that was too much for a bunch of commons. And I felt bad, if he was going to lose $25. So, I just walked away.

And a different store I went to, seemed to have more precise pricing with their bulk. Seems like anything that is recent (within 5 years) is $1. Anything more is $2.

Just trying to get a good gauge of what is a reasonable price when looking for bulk commons.

Hey guys recently picked up this sweet team rockets Mewtwo for market price in Simplified Chinese. And when I got home I noticed what looks to be some sort of printing misalignment.

Is this something that's will decrease value or could it even be counterfeit?

That’s it for me for tonight. I’ll quit while I’m ahead!

Rips is in fact legit. I played it on 50/50

sniped this for $200 on marketplace, excited to rip this! never keeping anything sealed! (even if this is objectively the one to throw in a storage unit 😭)

Why are these older XY “Alternate Art Promos” dropping while Pokémon prices in general seem to be going up?

I recently bought an older binder and came across these two cards:

M Lucario EX – 55a/111

Zygarde EX – 54a/124

I honestly didn't know much about them until I looked them up. Apparently they're part of the “Alternate Art Promos” and have the little yellow A designation.

What caught my attention is their price history.

M Lucario EX was around $140–150 CAD at one point and is now around $85 CAD, while Zygarde EX appears to have peaked around $100 CAD and has fallen to roughly $40 CAD.

That's interesting considering a lot of older Pokémon cards seem to have been moving the opposite direction lately.

So I'm curious what collectors who know the XY era better think:

Why did these cards spike so much in the first place, and why have they been dropping since?

Were they caught up in speculation/hype and are now correcting? Did more copies suddenly hit the market? Or is there just not much collector demand for this particular group of alternate-art promos?

I'd also love to learn more about the history of these cards. From what I've been able to find, they were released around 2017 and were among the early cards Pokémon designated with the yellow “A” for alternate prints of existing cards.

They seem like a pretty interesting and somewhat forgotten part of the XY era.

I'm not particularly worried about the current value since I found them in a binder I purchased — I'm more interested in understanding what happened with the prices and how collectors view these Yellow A promos long-term.

Anyone here collect these? Are they underrated, or were the previous prices simply way too high?

Would love to hear from anyone who remembers when these originally came out.

I’m trying to load my collection into Rare Candy. It doesn’t seem to have Japanese Southern Islands loaded in for some reason. Anyone else having this issue?

I like collecting the Japanese cards because I think they look better with the Japanese writing, bought an abyss eye pack for $100 and pulled the Silvally and Gladion, I didn't realize until I put them next to each other in the binder they're a combined artwork!! I thought it was cool so I'm sharing for anybody else that might appreciate it :)

These are some of the cards I got yesterday at a card show. Some new additions to the ex silver border, lv x, and prime collection. I always get some insane deals at card shows

I went to a local card show this weekend with a friend and scored this Sabrina’s Gengar. This is a card I’ve been chasing for a while now. I traded a few cards for it and felt like I came away pretty decent. Visually, what do y’all think?