Store Your Cards In Self Storage
Central Self Storage is the perfect place to store your Pokémon cards and other collectibles. With a climate-controlled storage unit, your cards will stay protected from extreme temperatures and humidity. Well help you pick out a self storage unit in Boise, ID thats ideal for storing your cards and keeping them unblemished for years. Contact us today!
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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.
First Edition Shadowless Holographic Charizard #4
A very valuable version of a classic fan-favourite
Sold for $369,000 in December 2020
Shiny Charizard has been one of the Pokémon card games most popular cards since it first released in 1999, so theres no surprise that 20-plus years later, it remains one of the most sought-after cards for collectors and fans alike.
While a number of first-edition cards from the Pokémon TCGs early days are worth some money – assuming theyre still in good nick – due to their limited availability and age, this specific version of the holographic Charizard absolutely stands out as one of the rarest and most valuable Pokémon cards ever released.
A PSA 10 Base Set 1st Edition Charizard just sold at auction with an ending bid of $183,812.00 via . Including the 20% buyer’s premium, the total transaction value exceeds $220k. As of now, this is the highest known sale of the card.
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Look At Sold Listings For The Same Pokemon Card
On the left-hand side of the eBay search result, or in the filters tab, you can choose to view only sold listings.
The reason to do this is sellers will often list cards for more than theyre really worth, resulting in listings going on for months with no one buying the card. But if you view only sold listings, you can instantly see what people are actually willing to pay for the card.
If your card is in worse than near mint condition, you will need to look through these sold listings for cards in matching condition. Typically, sellers dont put their card condition in the title, so it can be difficult to use the search function to find matching cards.
Building Your Own Deck
What if you want to build own customized deck? While some people like the ease and convenience of pre-constructed decks, countless others prefer a more personal touch.
This Reddit Wiki is a great resource for building a beginner deck. It offers specific recommendations on the cards that should form the core of your deck, and outlines how you can develop a strong theme .
Part of building a good deck means finding balance among players. For an enjoyable game, two opposing beginner decks should be relatively well balanced and evenly matched. One should not have the clear upper hand all the time. This is something to think about if you tend to play against the same opponents regularly.
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Summer Battle Road Mew Victory Orb Trophy
- Release Date: 1999
- Grading: PSA Gem Mint 10
- Pokemon card value at auction: $60,000
The second tournament Trophy Pokemon card on the list, the Mew Victory Orb Trophy was given out during the 1998 Summer Battle Road competition. Spanning nine regions across Japan, only the top three Trainers in each bracket scored the rare Pokemon card.
According to PSA, only 16 of them have been given the coveted Gem Mint 10 score. One of these pristine collectibles popped up at a PWCC auction in December 2020 and ended with 51 bids for a final price of $60,000. It even came with the original plaque handed out at the finals.
As we dive deeper into this list, prepare to see more of these trophy Pokemon cards dominating the top spot. Since they were awarded at tournaments, they are intricately more scarce population-wise, and thus more valuable.
Video Of Me Looking Up Pokemon Cards Values:
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 your Pokemon cards value.
What to do next:
Once youve searched mavin.io and figured out the value of your Pokemon cards, you have several options:
If your Pokemon cards are valuable 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 their value . But remember, dealers purchase collections at wholesale prices. They need 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 best price, 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.
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Selling Pokemon Cards: Expert Tips And Takeaways
- Look for rarity indicators such as the type of Pokemon, set symbol and shadow box and, of course, the holographic reflection.
- Pratte recommends getting your cards authenticated and graded if you know theyre worth at least $100 eachand especially if you plan to see them. For cards of lesser value, the cost of getting it graded could exceed the potential selling price of the card.
- Dont fret if you dont have ultra-rare cards. Even some of the lesser-known cards in the base set are worth about $20 each as long as theyre in good condition.
- Be prepared to haggle. Getting them graded can definitely help prove your cards are legitimate, but youll still need to back up their worth with quotes from other buyers, PSAs price guide and other sources when negotiating to get the best deal.
See What The Card Has Sold For Before
The value of Pokemon cards spans a vast range: from a few bucks to hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are Full Art EX and GX Pokemon cards worth anywhere up to $100, Base Set cards worth thousands, and the numbers only get more ludicrous from there.
All that being said, it can be hard to know where to start when trying to find the value of a Pokemon card. The best way to find out how much a card is worth is to check how much it has sold for in the past.
The year is 2011.You’ve battled long hours on the Battle Subway on your way to visit Ns Castle for your showdown against Team Plasma.Whatever happens, you’re unfazed because you just pulled a full art Mewtwo-EX card from the #PokemonTCG.
Pokémon
This is real evidence of the amount of money people are willing to spend on the card, and therefore it can give someone an accurate estimate of their card’s value. One of the best sites to use to find this information is Ebay.
Simply type in the name of the card and any additional attributes that stand out about it. Now, you can see all the current listings of that particular card, along with how much money people are asking for them and usually what a few have actually sold for.
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Blastoise Wizards Of The Coast Presentation Galaxy Star Holo
- Release Date: 1998
- Grading: CGG 8.5
- Pokemon card value at auction: $360,000
The Pokemon Trading Card Game community was stunned when this insanely rare Pokemon card was discovered by the public for the first time in 2021. Originally commissioned by Wizards of the Coast in 1998, the Blastoise Presentation card was supposed to give stores an idea of what the TCG line would look like in its final print run.
While there are varying reports about its history, its currently believed that only two are known to have ever existed, with only one currently accounted for. Its essentially is one of the earliest known Pokemon cards to exist, at least for the North American release. It was so early that one of the copies had a Magic: The Gathering backside to it, while the other is simply blank.
The historical Nintendo artifact went up for sale at Heritage Auctions in January 2021, and sold for a whopping $360,000, making it the third most expensive collectible just an inch behind the Base Set Charizard. Given that only two of these exist, it could one day take the top spot as the most valuable Pokemon card of all time. If nothing else it may be the rarest Pokemon card in the world.
How Much Is A Complete Set Of Pokemon Cards Worth
If youre holding a complete set of Pokemon cards , then you definitely have an asset collectors will be interested in.
For some, gotta catch em all literally means owning every card, from every set ever produced!
Now the actual value of your complete set will be determined by its age, condition and set popularity.
But whats interesting is that even newer full sets can be worth quite a lot of money. Sometimes as much as the older ones!
This is because, the regular introduction of reverse holographic cards, and secret rares, means full/master sets can contain over 300 cards.
The cost of pulling all of these cards naturally could cost £1000s in booster boxes. So for some, buying a full set outright simply works out cheaper.
Ultimately though, whether your complete set is old or new, is absolutely has value, and most likely, a market of interested buyers.
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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.
Look For Exceptionally Rare Cards
Even if your collection isn’t in the best condition, you might still have a hidden gem, that collectors will take significant interest in. Naturally, your Base Set 2 Mr. Mimes and Jungle Kangaskhans will not be worth the toil of finding an interested buyer if they aren’t in impeccable condition, but this isn’t the case for all cards.
Below, I’ve included a quick list of things to look out for when determining which of your cards are most likely to return value.
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Are Any Of Your Old Pokemon Cards Worth Anything
Like many Millennials in their 30s, I had a binder full of Pokemon cards that my family and I held onto for years. Upon hearing the news that some of them might be worth a 401, I immediately called up my mom.
Mom do you have any idea where my old Pokemon cards are??
Sadly, she didnt. Our shared conclusion is that we likely donated them to a kid down the street years ago, along with my old airsoft stuff.
This deflating revelation immediately made me feel like the guy who paid 10,000 bitcoins for pizza.
However, if youre also fretting over the location of your old Pokemon card collection, I actually have some good news for you:
Black Star Ishihara Signed Gx Promo Card
A card featuring the Pokémon Company’s President himself.
Sold for $247,230 in April 2021
The most recent card to make headlines for pure value, this card sold for nearly a quarter of a million dollars at auction on April 26th 2021. You can find the full details at our story here, but this card depicts Pokémon Company founder and current president Tsunekazu Ishihara, and was given to the company staff as a celebration of the man’s 60th birthday in 2017.
That makes the card rare, but this specific version is even rarer, as Ishihara actually signed this near-mint card to boost its price even further. The “2017 P.M. SM Black Star #TPCi01 Tsunekazu Ishihara Signed Pokémon GX Promo Card”, to use its full title, is a testament to the raw power apparently held by the Pokémon president. The ability “Red Chanchanko” is in reference to the red vest traditionally worn on 60th birthdays in Japan, and prevents the effect of any attack, ability or trainer card against Ishihara. Meanwhile, its GX move “60 Congratulations”, tells you to flip 60 coins, and take a present for each one. A truly legendary card.
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Are Your Pokmon Cards Centered
Usually, the artwork of the Pokémon on your card is centered right inside the borders of the card.
Pokémon cards pulled straight from a booster pack will look like they have their artwork perfectly centered, but its actually not that uncommon for the art of a Pokémon card to be slightly misaligned.
Sometimes these cards are classified as Misprints and there are Pokémon card collectors that are willing to pay for cards with printing errors from the factory.
However, if you are looking to get your Pokémon cards professionally graded and valued, then artwork being off-centered will deduct points from the final evaluation score of your cards decreasing its general market value.
Off-centered printings can also occur on the back art of a card as well as the front. The Poke Ball art and logo that are present on the back of the card can also sometimes sit too far left or right of the cards center.
So its best to double-check these factors if you do happen to find a card that you might think is worth some cash!
How Much Are The Original Pokemon Cards Worth
When we discuss the original, first generation of Pokemon cards, for the sake of this article were going to specifically be talking about cards from 1999-2000.
These sets include:
These are the sets that many collectors grew up with.
It was their first introduction to Pokemon cards, and therefore they hold great nostalgic value.
Because of this, these are often the cards that people getting back into the hobby want to start collecting first. As you can imagine, this drives prices up.
The most popular entry point for new collectors is the original Base Set.
These were the cards flooding school playgrounds in 99, and these are the ones people want to own again.
Dont get me wrong, if you can get 1st Edition or Shadowless variants of these cards, theyre worth A LOT more!
But with 1st Edition Base Set booster boxes selling for north of £250k, they are quite unobtainable for most people at this point.
However! This further enhances the demand/value of the original Base set cards, as people snap them up, fearing the price will also continue to rise.
Its almost a vicious, yet brilliant cycle all at the same time
As an investment piece, old Pokemon cards show great growth potential for the future. But for the keen newbie simply trying to rebuild their old sets, its going to requite a fair amount of capital to get going.
Like with any pokemon card valuations, specific prices are entirely dependent on the four key factors we mentioned earlier .
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Not All Cards Are Worth Something
Its worth noting that your average Pokémon collection wont make you rich. Most cards in recent sets arent worth more than $1, and even the rare ones often arent worth more than $10. However, there still is value in the older cards the ones that have been sitting around in self storage for years. Base set cards can be surprisingly valuable, and if youre lucky enough to have a first edition holographic card, you could be set up for a pretty penny.
If youre looking to maximize your return, use sites like pokemonprices.com or eBay to do research, checking each individual card of uncommon rarity or higher. Blindly selling your collection without doing the legwork on Pokémon card value could end up selling yourself short and giving a collector a great deal.