How to make money with Pokemon Cards?
- Thread starter Mimic
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funmonkey54
Active Member
None of them.
Typically, the packs are worth more sealed than they are opened. If you are absolutely determined to make money opening packs, your best bet is to open lots of packs at prereleases or immediately after a set is released and list them all. Still, no guarantee here.
But basically, if the packs contained super rare and valuable cards and anyone could make money opening them, then everyone would open them. It just does't make sense that packs/tins/boosters could be opened and immediately profitable.
Now, I recognize your post says "possibly," but that is a worthless word as you could technically open a single pack of any set and pull the rarest card out of sheer luck, grade it and make a profit. But that is not realistic. My answer accounts for reality.
Typically, the packs are worth more sealed than they are opened. If you are absolutely determined to make money opening packs, your best bet is to open lots of packs at prereleases or immediately after a set is released and list them all. Still, no guarantee here.
But basically, if the packs contained super rare and valuable cards and anyone could make money opening them, then everyone would open them. It just does't make sense that packs/tins/boosters could be opened and immediately profitable.
Now, I recognize your post says "possibly," but that is a worthless word as you could technically open a single pack of any set and pull the rarest card out of sheer luck, grade it and make a profit. But that is not realistic. My answer accounts for reality.
It's much harder in Pokemon to make your money back from a box (the best standard for this type of thing) than, from what I've heard, Yu-Gi-Oh and MTG. It's possible, but when you buy a box you have to get into the mindset that you're likely to be losing money by opening it.
Swordfish1989
New Member
The only way you're going to make money off of opening boosters is if you get them incredibly cheap.. and even then you'd make more money just reselling the packs.
If they didn't release every single good card in a tin then buying Next Destinies or Dark Explorers would be good bets.
I traded a PS box the other day to someone at league. She pulled the two worst Ace Specs, the two worst FAs (Articuno and Victini), but got a shiny Charizard which is the most expensive card in the set. So she traded me $95 worth of cards and got maybe $60 back in chase cards, maybe $10 worth in the TSS department, about $12 worth of codes, and maybe $15 worth of bulk. Woohoo, she made a whole $2 on that box! If she hadn't pulled the shiny charizard, she would've lost serious money on it.
It's why I don't bother with Pokemon packs anymore. Unless you buy just 1 or 2 and get lucky, it's a losing proposition.
If they didn't release every single good card in a tin then buying Next Destinies or Dark Explorers would be good bets.
I traded a PS box the other day to someone at league. She pulled the two worst Ace Specs, the two worst FAs (Articuno and Victini), but got a shiny Charizard which is the most expensive card in the set. So she traded me $95 worth of cards and got maybe $60 back in chase cards, maybe $10 worth in the TSS department, about $12 worth of codes, and maybe $15 worth of bulk. Woohoo, she made a whole $2 on that box! If she hadn't pulled the shiny charizard, she would've lost serious money on it.
It's why I don't bother with Pokemon packs anymore. Unless you buy just 1 or 2 and get lucky, it's a losing proposition.
Okay thankyou everyone!
I'm just really new at this so stupid questions like this will be asked by me 9 times out of 10 lol.
I've been looking into the ORIGINAL Pokemon cards that first came out. I haven't got a clue about ANY other newer Pokemon cards. Now I want to trade them and sell them etc... but I'm seeing stuff like; base sets; fossils, jungles, first edition stuff which I didn't even pay attention to when I was a child and collecting!
I have another question about this though, STRICTLY talking the OLDEST Pokemon cards, which cards would be the most worthwhile card to buy? I mean I KNOW people with OLD pokemon cards still who collected them when I collected them and also didn't pay attention to base sets/1st edition etc so there HAS to be someone with a rare card in their posession without knowing about it! Maybe I could buy it cheap off them... but first I need to know what cards I should be looking for!
I'm just really new at this so stupid questions like this will be asked by me 9 times out of 10 lol.
I've been looking into the ORIGINAL Pokemon cards that first came out. I haven't got a clue about ANY other newer Pokemon cards. Now I want to trade them and sell them etc... but I'm seeing stuff like; base sets; fossils, jungles, first edition stuff which I didn't even pay attention to when I was a child and collecting!
I have another question about this though, STRICTLY talking the OLDEST Pokemon cards, which cards would be the most worthwhile card to buy? I mean I KNOW people with OLD pokemon cards still who collected them when I collected them and also didn't pay attention to base sets/1st edition etc so there HAS to be someone with a rare card in their posession without knowing about it! Maybe I could buy it cheap off them... but first I need to know what cards I should be looking for!
when you say 'mint' do you mean the condition?
Also when you say '1st edition base' does that mean on the Pokemon cards if there is a 1 edition in small print below the picture on the left hand side it is rare?
Mint meaning as in mint condition.
The 1st edition symbol is the symbol on the middle left of the card next to the height/weight
1st edition symbol means that it was the first print and will cost more than the ones without.
If you are on a budget, I recommend you stick with the non 1st editions.
Rare = the star symbol
Uncommon = the diamond
Common = the circle
The 1st edition symbol is the symbol on the middle left of the card next to the height/weight
1st edition symbol means that it was the first print and will cost more than the ones without.
If you are on a budget, I recommend you stick with the non 1st editions.
Rare = the star symbol
Uncommon = the diamond
Common = the circle
If you want to start making money off of pokemon cards, it takes a lot of research too. Knowing what card is worth what and you have to look constantly to find it for a cheaper price than what it can sell for. Most valuable cards can not be obtained from packs if you want to make a lot of money, that is where knowing the value and constantly looking will help you make the money.
Fully agree with this. I've been doing mad research for weeks but still have A LOT to learn..
I know 1st Edition Holographic Charizards Mint/Near Mint and Graded can go from £900-£1,300
Venasaur about £500-£800
Blastoise about the same as Venasaur?
I might be wrong..
soleosnip3rv2
New Member
Blastoise fetches a bit more than the Venusaur, but not too much.
As for making money, packs are def not the way to go. Packs are much like gambling, and unless you are a very lucky person, 9 times out of 10 you will lose money on packs. Easiest way to make money off of Pokemon is to buy bulk lots on eBay, and then sell out the cards individually.
I have done this for the last 4 years, and it is quite a profitable trade, if you know what you are doing. Recently bought a lot for $40, then broke it up and sold individually for over $100. Best advice would be to learn which cards are in high demand, and what they are worth. After you figure that out, just search around eBay until you find a deal.
cookymonster
New Member
Yeah do not buy packs if you want to make money since you will end up losing money one way or the other lets get a little hypothetical here ,
You buy a box you get a good amount of playable or collectible cards you estimate that if you sell everything you got on the box you will get 30 dollars in profit from that box but you still have to waste all the time in separating listing/selling the card so if you think about it you wasted a ton of time for only 30 dollars
The other scenarios is you get a box full of crappy cards and you lose even more money,
Understand I am only telling you this so you know what to expect however I will say that opening boxes is extremely exciting and fun and I recommend you try it out
You buy a box you get a good amount of playable or collectible cards you estimate that if you sell everything you got on the box you will get 30 dollars in profit from that box but you still have to waste all the time in separating listing/selling the card so if you think about it you wasted a ton of time for only 30 dollars
The other scenarios is you get a box full of crappy cards and you lose even more money,
Understand I am only telling you this so you know what to expect however I will say that opening boxes is extremely exciting and fun and I recommend you try it out
raichuforyou
New Member
Also, when selling on ebay you are charged for each listing. After that, Paypal and ebay take a percentage of the sale price. Then, you also need to include any profit you made on your taxes so the government takes some of your money as well. You need to factor in all of this in when trying to make money off of Pokemon stuff.
garyis2000
Member
What kind of a budget do you have to invest?
As much as I have to be honest... If it makes me profit then I don't mind spending as much as it costs AS LONG as the profit is there!
I'm from the UK so would that be a problem?
and take for example..
Charizard 1st Edition Base Card...
How much profit would I make taking into account I pay the charges to get it graded etc?
I don't know the price an ungraded would go for so I can't give you much of an example lol
soleosnip3rv2
New Member
I would strongly suggest that you research these prices for yourself. People on here will post what they pay to get cards graded, but that may not be what you would pay. Living in the UK will mean that shipping will cost much more for you, as you need to send over-seas. Last time I checked, PSA only accepts boxed items (insured only?), and shipping for me was around $20-$30. Living in the UK, it will probably cost you upwards of $40, so keep that in mind when thinking of making a profit.
As for knowing which cards to grade, here is a good rule of thumb. If the card does not sell for more than $10 by itself ungraded, is it probably not worth grading in the first place. Grading will cost anywhere from $5-$15 per card (depending on which discounts you can get), so graded lower valued cards is generally a bad idea.
There is profit to be make grading, but you need to have a good amount of cash up front to even start. After that, you need to sell it; and sometimes graded cards will take awhile to sell (unless the card you graded was in high demand). Again, I strongly advise you to research this route yourself, as being more knowledgeable will def help in the long run.
