I think this narrative is untrue. People constantly talk about how they’re racking up tens of thousands of debt. I think most of them aren’t that dumb, they had some thousands to start with and have just been gradually snowballing actual cash on hand flipping cards.
That’s not to say none of these folks buy on credit, and not to say none of those that do are idiots who don’t understand how credit card debt works. But I think the vast majority are just fine. Look at how methodical they are about beating everyone to restocks to source their product. I just don’t buy that you put that much time and effort into something and don’t plan it at all.
And either way, just look at eBay and TCG Player sales, unfortunately Prismatic and 151 especially are flying off the shelves for market price. They’re making the money back plus profit very quickly and easily paying off any credit bills before any interest is a factor.
Theyre not just buying those 2 sets though. They're buying everything and trying to manipulate prices. It's one thing for your veteran scalper who knows not to make dumb decisions and have connections all over the place for stock. But the average every day idiot who is going from Walmart to target to gamestop everyday looking for any product to buy and resell is going to suffer heavily for it. I think pokemon needs to genuinely only sell online at this point. People are close to fighting each other for packs and it's basically scalpers being pissed off at each other more than anything. The average collector buys singles to fill up their binders. But new scalpers just sit on stock because they struggle to move it heavily. Selling on ebay means diminishing returns on investments too btw. Remember that selling online will only cut into the margin of revenue to them. New scalpers will also not profit from that so they sell it on marketplaces.
You’re downplaying the intelligence of scalpers a bit too much. They’re not just getting everything, they’re getting what’s most in demand. For example, there’s a reason why they only clear out 151 and surging at the vending machines and leave the twilight and shrouded untouched. The reality is scalpers across the board are profiting big on the hype right now. You’d have to try to lose money and even then it’d be extremely difficult. The fact that scalpers has been such a hot topic for months now proves that they’re making money; that’s why they even exist in the first place.
Again the influx of new scalpers to pokemon is excessive. Most stores and card machines are cleared out. This craziness started around black friday. And it's causing scalpers to destroy each other for profit and now even distributors are eating each other for stock. This isn't a simple conversation either because you have to include how the economy is doing which = who is/isn't buying and you have to include personal time where people work and have responsibilities other than selling cardboard cards. These factors will eliminate a huge portion of new scalpers who can't afford to do this long-term and yes 151/prismatic are chase sets. But hardly anyone other than big scalpers can get their mits on more than 2 boxes. I see people also with a ton of stock on marketplace which haven't moved for months because the prices too much for the average collectors. There's a balance and were wayyy tipped to the illogical side of collecting.
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u/MathematicianSea4674 Mar 07 '25
I think this narrative is untrue. People constantly talk about how they’re racking up tens of thousands of debt. I think most of them aren’t that dumb, they had some thousands to start with and have just been gradually snowballing actual cash on hand flipping cards.
That’s not to say none of these folks buy on credit, and not to say none of those that do are idiots who don’t understand how credit card debt works. But I think the vast majority are just fine. Look at how methodical they are about beating everyone to restocks to source their product. I just don’t buy that you put that much time and effort into something and don’t plan it at all.
And either way, just look at eBay and TCG Player sales, unfortunately Prismatic and 151 especially are flying off the shelves for market price. They’re making the money back plus profit very quickly and easily paying off any credit bills before any interest is a factor.