How Much Are My Pokemon Cards

Why Cards Are Rising In Value Right Now

Pokémon card sales and prices have skyrocketed this year, with some cards selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars.;

On Thursday, a sealed box of Pokémon booster packs sold for a record $360,000 through Heritage Auctions, while a similar set sold for $198,000 only two months ago. According to eBay, there were 60% more Pokemon card sales on its platform in September compared to January of this year.;

YouTube stars, celebrities and investors have dropped big bucks on cards, which has contributed to the frenzy and helped push up their value. That, in turn, has encouraged others to; snap up cards in hopes that theyll be able to turn a profit.;

Theres an entire genre of buyers unboxing card sets on YouTube and Twitch, where DJ and producer Steve Aoki recently hosted a live charity event devoted to opening up packs.

Publicity is always something that can drum up momentum and price, said Eugene Smith, a 24-year-old card collector and investor from Tampa, Florida, who also happens to work in finance.;

Controversial YouTuber Logan Paul has spent almost $300,000 , while the rapper Logic dropped $226,000 on a rare 1st edition Charizard.;

When I was a kid I absolutely loved Pokémon but couldnt afford the cards, Logic .

People my age are finally in their late-20s, mid-30s, and they can afford the stuff they liked when they were kids, said Jesus Garcia, an assistant comics & comic art operations supervisor at Heritage Auctions.;

Pokemon Card Set Symbols

Use this handy guide to look up Pokemon card set symbols, set names, and set years.

The most common way to organize Pokemon cards is by set. To identify the set, look for a little symbol at the bottom of the card, next to the card number. There are a bunch of these set symbols 5-6 sets are released every year, each with a different set symbol, and theyve been printing cards since 1999!

The following table is a complete list of Pokemon card sets, sorted by date the newest sets are at the top the oldest are at the bottom. If I missed something, let me know if the comments! I want this to be THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR POKEMON CARD SETS!

The Authenticity Of The Pokemon Card

Fake Pokemon cards have become increasingly prevalent in recent years as the Pokemon TCG has become more popular. Theyre commonly found on eBay, at flea markets, and in dollar stores.

Fake cards are not worth anything. Theyre illegal for use in tournaments and collectors will not buy them. Therefore, its important to determine that you have genuine Pokemon cards before you try to sell them.

You can use our guide to fake Pokemon cards to tell if your cards are fake.

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Whether The Pokemon Card Has Been Professionally Graded

You dont need to have your Pokemon cards professionally graded in order to sell them. Often, its not worth the cost of getting them graded, unless you have an extremely rare card in perfect condition.

However, if a card is graded by a company called PSA and gets a good score, it may be worth a lot more than if the card wasnt graded.

The amount a PSA grade will improve the value of the card depends mostly on the score. If PSA gave the card a 9 or a 10, then this can increase the value by 3-4x or even more, depending on the rarity of the card.

On the other hand, if they only gave the card a 6, 7, or 8, then it might be worth only a bit more than an ungraded card.

If a card is PSA graded, it will be encased in plastic with a red PSA sticker at the top specifying the grade.

How To Find The Value Of A Pokemon Card

To determine what a specific Pokemon card is worth, there is an easy process you can follow.

Often, Pokemon card price lists and websites are out of date, so its important to look at what the card is actually selling for right now to see what its really worth.

Below, well show you how to perform a Pokemon card valuation using this Shaymin EX Pokemon card as an example.

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Do Pawn Shops Buy Pokemon Cards

Pawn shops do buy Pokemon cards in some cases, but we dont recommend selling them there. Unless the pawn shop is known to specialize in trading card games, chances are high the clerk wont know the ins and outs of Pokemon card trading. So you can expect a lowball offer.

If you want to sell them locally and in-person, try comic book shops or hobby shops instead.

Wondering How Much Your Pokemon Cards Are Worth You May Need To Wait

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There has been a trading card accreditation bonanza that is leading to massive backlogs, hiring shortages, and big money as people seek to determine the worth of their Pokemon cards.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Ever find some long-forgotten item in your house and wondered if it’s maybe worth something, like hard-soled shoes and pants with a belt? Well, some people going through old boxes during the pandemic found Pokemon cards.

SIMON: Those are trading cards still in print for the Pokemon series of video games.

JASON KOEBLER: Pokemon is more popular than ever. Like, it was a big craze in the late ’90s and early 2000s. That continued. I mean, people are still really into Pokemon.

SIMON: Jason Koebler is the editor-in-chief of Motherboard. He collected Pokemon cards when he was a kid. And during the pandemic, he wondered how much those old cards may now be worth. So he sent them off to be evaluated like a vintage wine or baseball cards.

KOEBLER: That is when you take your cards, and you mail them to a company. And a professional looks at them essentially under, like, a jeweler’s magnifying glass and with special lights and stuff like that. And they grade the condition of it. So is it scratched? Is it bent? Is it warped in any way?

SIMON: But, apparently, a lot of other people had the same idea.

KOEBLER: And then I didn’t hear anything for a month and a half, like, no word that they had even received the order. And now it’s four months later. And I’ve heard nothing.

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Is Charizard Really Worth $200000

The recent buzz around the original Pokemon cards has a lot of people wondering if the Charizard card is really worth money. The most sought out Pokémon card by collectors is the first edition shadowless base set Charizard in PSA 10 Pristine Mint condition, which recently sold for a total sales price of over $200,000. There are around 50 of these cards in circulation.

But is the card really worth that much money? The price has greatly varied over time. The average sales price for the base set shadowless first edition PSA 10 Charizard card was $20,000 a couple years ago , but it sold for $40,000 in private auction 2019 , and more recently sold for a world record price of over $200,000 in 2020 .

There is one card that is considered one step above the first edition shadowless base set Charizard in PSA 10 Pristine Mint condition. The Crown Jewel version of this card is the Beckett Pristine 10, and according to Gary, who is one of the worlds biggest Pokemon Card collectors and holds the only two of thee cards available in the world, it was worth in the rage of $50.000 to $100,000. He said that back in 2017 on Pawn Stars , the value has greatly increased since then.

The market has definitely been seeing a rising pique in interest and different factors are currently influencing the market. Here are some of them:

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Pokmon Raichu Card #14/102

The card was originally printed to showcase the then-upcoming Jungle set. Though shrouded in mystery, most believe that a sheet of 121 cards was printed, and 100 of those were destroyed leaving just 21 in the wild. Many feel that the current number is closer to 11. Originally issued to Wizards of the Coast employees at the time, these rare Pokémon cards were not supposed to make it onto the collector market. We see how well that plan worked out.

Whats it worth? While a first edition of the general release Raichu card can fetch upwards of $800, the prerelease version of this card is so exceptionally rare that there are no recent sales to cite as examples of its value.

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How To Tell How Much Your Pokmon Cards Are Worth

Now that youve determined you have a rare Pokémon card, you should check if its still in reasonably good shape. Collectors are unlikely to spend their hard-earned money on Pokémon cards that look old or have tears.

Some online card-selling sites feature databases that list card prices and other relevant information. Some even have automated systems to find the exact card youre looking for.

When in doubt, search for specialized Pokémon trading forums. Thats the fastest way to ask your fellow sellers and collectors how much a card is worth.

Cost By Pokemon Card Type

There are several types of Pokemon cards and different Pokemon. While the Pokemon does have a factor in price, its the type of card that makes it valuable.

Were no Pokemon card expert, but here is how we filtered our extracted data:

To no surprise, at the bottom, you had common Pokemon cards that had the lowest average sold at $3.47.

The highest priced common Pokemon card was a “POKEMON CHARMANDER 50/82 TEAM ROCKET SQUIRTLE PIKACHU COMMON CARD NM/MINT LOT sold for $23.46

2nd lowest was uncommon Pokemon cards with an average cost of $15.86

At the top, we got Secret rare Pokemon cards with an average cost of $231.30.

The lowest secret rare Pokemon card was sold at $6.58 which was Pokemon Card Champions Path Drednaw V 069/073 Secret Rare Holo Full Art NM/M

The highest secret rare Pokemon card was sold at $1,120.92 which was PSA 10 Pokemon Champions Path Secret Rare Shiny Charizard V Card 79/73 079/073

Coming in 2nd and 3rd are shadowless / 1st edition Pokémon cards with an average of $135.05 and Pokémon legend cards with an average of $130.79

1st edition cards had both the lowest and highest item sold which was the 1st Ed English Venonat 63/64 Jungle Set Nintendo WOTC Card Pokemon 1999 sold at $0.01 and a 1st Edition Dark Charizard Holo Team Rocket Pokemon Card #4/82 – PSA 10 sold at $2,084.14

The highest Pokemon legend card was a 2004 EX Hidden Legends Kyogre ex GEM MINT PSA 10 Holo Card Ultra Rare for $782.03

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Video Of Me Looking Up How Much My Pokemon Cards Are Worth:

If you get too many results that include cards NOT like yours, use the checkboxes to pick the ones just like yours. Choosing a few comparable items by using the checkboxes gives you a much more accurate estimate of what your Pokemon card is worth.

What to do next:

Once youve gone through and searched for what your Pokemon cards are worth using mavin.io, you have several options:

If your Pokemon cards are worth a lot of money You could hold onto the cards and collect them, as most collectors do, and hope they appreciate in value over time. It may be a good investment to get them professionally graded by PSA, this will dramatically increase their value.

You could sell your Pokemon cards to a local card shop, knowing full well what theyre worth . Keep in mind dealers will buy them from you at wholesale prices they have to make a profit after all, and selling a large collection takes a considerable amount of time and resources so dont expect to get 100% of what youd get online.

Selling your Pokemon cards online will get you the highest prices, but it can be time consuming: taking pictures, writing descriptions, responding to customers, packing, shipping, returns its a lot of work. If you have the time and patience, selling them online is a great way to make money. Read our guide to selling on eBay.

Whether The Card Is A Promotional Item

Some Pokemon cards were not released as regular cards that you can find in Pokemon booster packs in shops. Instead, they were given away as promo cards, for example to Pokemon TCG tournament winners, or to people going to see a Pokemon movie in cinemas.

Some Pokemon promo cards are worth a lot of money, but many arent.

Often, promo cards are completely unique, which makes it easy to find their value. However, some promo Pokemon cards look the exact same to their non-promo version.

To see if you have a promo card, look for a big black star on the card next to the card number. This is why promo cards are often known as black star promos.

This Charizard card has a large black star in the corner, demonstrating that it’s a promo card.

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A Note On Pricing And Condition:

The examples throughout this text all utilize the Pokémon Charizard, who typically fetches the highest prices of any Pokémon from these early sets. Those looking to sell their collections should not expect Charizard-level pricing for other cards from these sets. While other Pokémon, like Blastoise and Venusaur, carry decent value, none approach the level of Charizard. ;

The pricing examples all note that the estimated retail pricing reflects a card in Near Mint condition. Finding cards from this era in Near Mint condition can be quite difficult. Pokémon cards are essentially pieces of a game, and many became treasured possessions of children who took them to school in their pockets to show off and trade. As a result, cards frequently show significant wear, which significantly affects their value. Unless exclusively stored in binders and played with in card sleeves , there are few Near Mint examples in circulation. In addition, cards that came from a household with heavy cigarette smoke, or that were stored in a damp attic or garage in the intervening years, can have a lowered value, even if the card physically appears otherwise Near Mint.

If you are considering selling your cards to a store, expect a much lower price than the retail price as stores would typically only pay between 30% and 60% of the retail value of an item.

Prepare To Be Disappointed With Your Grades

It is really difficult to get cards graded 9s or 10s. Especially on older cards. Cards need to be centered perfectly. The have to be cut perfectly. They cant have dings to the corners, or white edges, or surface scratches. There can be no roughness on the face or edges.; Look closely at the holofoil artwork for Any Scratches.; Turn the card over, and look for any whiteness around the blue edges.;;

Many older cards you might think are perfect seem to come back as 7s or 8s. 10s basically have to be protected from the get-go taken directly from a booster pack and highly protected immediately. Most people werent doing that 20 years ago. Ive sent in about 30 cards myself and maybe got two to three cards rated 10. And these were all cards that went right from boosters to binders .

You should understand that 7s and 8s and 9s are still really good scores though!; Those are Near Mint or better! Whether its comic books, coins or Pokemon Cards the higher the score, the better the selling price.

For reference here are actual average sales prices on 1st Edition Base Set Charizards on eBay March 2021

PSA 10 $311,800 Mar 2021BGS 9 $64,000 Feb 2021PSA 8 $25,000 Mar 2021PSA 7 $15,000 Mar 2021BGS 6 $14,500 Feb 2021PSA 5 $9,000 Mar 2021PSA 2 $4,000 Mar2021

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Condition: Did You Take Good Care Of Your Cards

The second important factor in a cards value is the condition. If you do happen to have a first-edition, holographic base-set Charizard, youre not guaranteed thousands of dollars. The selling price depends on how well the card has been taken care of.

If you have a card that you expect is worth more than $100, Pratte recommends getting it graded by Professional Sports Authenticator .;

Despite its name, the PSA grades all kinds of trading cards, including non-sports cards like Pokemon. PSAs 10-point grading scale is accepted as the industry standard, and the company also publishes price guides to help you determine a cards worth.;

According to its current valuations, first-edition cards in perfect condition are valued at a minimum of $40. Those arent rarer, holographic cards either. A first-edition holo in mint condition can rake in between $1,000 and $24,000.

So why Prattes $100 limit? Well, the number isnt a hard-and-fast rule, but the card-grading services offered by PSA will cost $20 or more per card, meaning a lower-value card doesnt always merit the cost to get it authenticated.

Its a process, says PSA spokesperson Terry Melia. But its something that could reap big rewards in the end.

In addition to grading the condition of the card, PSA ensures the card isnt a forgery by using high-powered lights and magnifying equipment to check for tampering.

There are a lot of forgeries and bogus merchandise out there, says Melia.

Especially so online.