9 votes

Pokemon card graders face unprecedented shortages in grading services as prices rise

3 comments

  1. [2]
    Akir
    Link
    Honestly, I kind of hate everything about this. I've always hated grading services, because they take stock out of circulation to make life just ever so much harder and more expensive for...

    Honestly, I kind of hate everything about this.

    I've always hated grading services, because they take stock out of circulation to make life just ever so much harder and more expensive for collectors. Plus they make bank doing services that are so incredibly easy that it's something of a joke.

    I've also hated the publishers of these card games, Pokemon or otherwise, because their entire business model is artificial scarcity to ensure that people buy as many packs as they can get away with.

    Now I'm starting to hate the entire collector's market. I get paying jacked up prices for collectable goods, and I don't have a problem with it, especially when it's something without inherent value like cardboard. What I hate is how much the collectors market has bought into the grading scam. Because, naturally, it works out perfectly; even though the person who had the item graded paid an obscene price to get the item graded, they are rewarded with the greater resale value of that item.

    And that's the crux of my distaste; I hate that collectors are actually taking the bait and paying much more for items just because they come in a plastic case with a letter in it. The idiots who spend real money on this just encourage more people to get their collectables graded, and that just helps make even the ungraded versions of the items more expensive and drys up the availability of the item, making it harder for other collectors.

    I know that this is just how markets work, but it just feels so incredibly fake and manufactured.


    The article states that the collectable market is exploding right now, but I don't think it does justice to the scale. Where I live, there is a major collectors market. Two years ago, they were in an industrial building and were only open two days a week. This year, they moved into what used to be a Sam's Club (in a more accessible, commercial zone where more people can get to them,) expanded to three days a week, and even though we're in the middle of a pandemic their giant-sized parking lot is brimming with people shopping there.

    8 votes
    1. streblo
      Link Parent
      Not only that — it totally destroys the usability of the object. If I had any real power 9 I think I would enjoy sleeving them up for an occasional kitchen table game or at they very least enjoy...

      Not only that — it totally destroys the usability of the object. If I had any real power 9 I think I would enjoy sleeving them up for an occasional kitchen table game or at they very least enjoy the feel of them in my hands. Hard to do that when they’re encased in a plastic tomb and sentenced to collect dust for the rest of their lives.

      3 votes
  2. Bullmaestro
    Link
    Pokémon cards were a massive fad while I was in primary school. Then they were forgotten about a year later. It's not schools banning it that curbed its popularity, but rather that people got...

    Pokémon cards were a massive fad while I was in primary school. Then they were forgotten about a year later. It's not schools banning it that curbed its popularity, but rather that people got bored of it, and then eventually of Pokémon in general soon after.

    To children they were mainly for collection. I honestly never met anybody who actually played the Pokémon Trading Card Game until I joined the anime society at university. Even the anime/cosplay group I used to hang out with after graduation mainly played Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic The Gathering.

    Surprising that people still play physical trading card games especially due to the popularity of Runeterra, Hearthstone, GWENT and other digital TCGs. Even MTG made the digital switch not too long after...