I’m 29 and started getting into Pokemon cards earlier this year.
Since I’ve learnt about the hype and monetary value associated with them, I’ve gone into it as an investor/scalper.
Ask me anything.
[AMA] I Scalp and Invest in Pokemon Cards
idonteven on 27/08/2025 - 20:48
closed Comments
How many hours do you have to put in to make $8k? Are there any risks?
@idonteven: Fair enough, was curious as to how worthwhile it is. Tax free spending money while doing something you were going to do anyway is pretty good.
@idonteven: The sheer audacity to say you don't need the money, but to then admit that you scalp and overcharge on resale (in one example purchasing $200 of inventory and flipping it for $450, a 125% mark-up). Lol, Lmao even.
@GachaGamer: "hey guys, I'm just wasting hours of my life extorting people for the lulz, I swear I don't need the money!"
You haven't made anything if you haven't sold anything fyi
But I have sold stuff.
I used to do this. Then I grew up, my time became worth something, and I realised it wasn't worth being such an unlikeable toss for the sake of a few grand.
When do you think you'll realise the ship has sailed and any real money to be made has already been made?
I don’t think the ship has sailed. It’s busier than ever.
I have no idea about Pokemon cards, but in typical crazes/bubbles/etc they are most active just prior to collapse.
why would they be most active prior to collapse? that doesn't make much sense.
@idonteven: Hype, FOMO, irrational exuberance, unsustainable exponential growth, no real intrinsic value, fake supply scarcity.
Pick one, many or all.
@idonteven: Because in any investments people who know, buy bottoms and sell tops not the other way around
Where is the profit in buying tops and selling at the bottom?
Pokemon cards are an exception and it keeps going up forever?
can agree with this, was at collectorfest the other week, the cards area esp pokemon were extremely busy, sneakers has died out
Sorry to hear.
Thank you.
- What's your biggest W's and biggest L's?
- How much have you invested and whats the current value?
- Where are you getting stock and how are you getting notified of drops?
Which discord channels are best for such notifications?
Give PokeNotify a try
I'm part of a community discord that has notifications that filter out the false pings (due to loading up out of stock) and filters out the above market prices (mainly ones way beyond the RRP pricing) saving more false pings.
I’ve invested about 24k, current value via the Collectr app is about 33k
Wait… so you're down $24k and just have a bunch of cards you may never be able to sell?
🍿
Haven’t had any L’s
Every successful trader (L)earns a lesson or two
This shit be pathetic. Ruining it for the kids. Get life.
Pancakes or waffles?
¿Por qué no los dos?
Church?
Very original. Where do you get that from?
Screams creative
Bagels.
No love for donuts? pity…
Have you considered vintage baseball cards?
you sound like someone i work with
A boss?
They sound like they'd be a real estate agent on the side
If you were stuck on a desert island what 5 albums would you take
- Dark side of the moon
- Green Day
- Dance with vampires
- Here we go again
- Red
Nice I’d take 5 copies of the Shrek 2 Motion Picture Soundtrack
Ah, I see you're a man of culture as well.
Are you over 40 years old?
So how many fake cards have you bought?
None.
Is your hair green too?
No black.
so, white?
Do you understand that when you do an AMA you have to answer questions, otherwise it’s just a weird brag
Yeah man just close the thread lol
Good for you. A side hustle is a great way to use spare time to make some extra cash and get ahead. Even better if it's something you enjoy.
Ahhh, Pokémon cards are just the “Beanie Babies” craze all over again. A lot of people are going to get left holding the bag when this whole Ponzi scheme goes arse up. Not many things I enjoy more than watching scalpers doing their arse on items they have to basically give away because they can’t sell them into either a disinterested or a saturated market.
My questions are, what lotion is your favourite to keep your neck beard oiled and do you think trilby/fedora hats are ever going to go out of fashion?
Have you ever scalped any other items, like PS5, Switch consoles, Labubu dolls, other cards?
I’m south Asian so I can’t grow much hair.
South Asians are known to be hairy.
FTR, there were Beanie Babies and then there was Skansen Beanie Kids.
SBK were a huge trade and collect profit generator. The absolute perfect storm at the time.
Then, for no apparent reason, they changed their business model in about 2012, the bottom fell out of the market and many punters dropped tens of thousands of dollars almost over night.
Fortunately for us, the Muppet kinder inadvertently offloaded all of theirs at the end of 2010. Sheer luck. The kinder just wanted the money in those to put towards something else.
Still got the initial Pokémon cards though, including 1996 Japanese ones and 1999 USA first editions.
Got a whole bunch of Phantom Cards too.
Also got two entire sets of Phantom Commic Books starting June 1958. One set been read, other set mint condition.
Got a bunch of Batman Comics, Marvin the Martian and Bugs Bunny comics too.
pris long term investment?
Yes definitely. It’s the only set which has all eeveelutions as an SIR. Go all in on it.
Evolving skies doesnt exist for scalpers i guess
Evolving Skies doesn't have all eeveelutions as SIR or equivalent.
Were you flipping sneakers before this?
Do you live in a major city? Stock seems impossible to findNup, never been a sneakerhead.
Whats your best tips?
Watch YouTube videos and learn about Pokemon investing.
Which youtube and where else to learn
Pokeoz, Phillips collectibles, tcgpastor, nostalganomics
That’s so sad…my condolences…
What’s this AMA doing for you? why do you want people to ask you about your ‘choice’ in ways?…..validation?
My son hates you FYI.
Just don't let him get into Cards Against Humanity. :|
Are you buying and selling those box sets or individual cards
Mainly box sets.
Are you queuing up at costco every release
Yes, I managed to loop 4 times and went to several costcos during the drop two weeks ago.
During "WFH"?
Rat
What's your top selling product or set that made the most profit
Anything 151.
Why are people paying significantly more than retail? Who are they typically? You tubers?
YouTubers, rip n shippers, completing master set, other scalpers or investors, influencers, people with disposable income, etc. lots of reasons why people would be paying significantly over RRP.
Do they find your ads or do you contact them offering stock?
both.
lots of reasons why people would be paying significantly over RRP.
There's only one, really: scalpers bought up all the stock so they couldn't buy at retail.
It's not as if they want to buy at inflated prices from you, and not from a normal online or local retailer for RRP, is it.
(This is your fault, of course, but the real blame is on the suppliers who don't ship enough stock to make scalping impractical, and retailers who don't take anti-scalping measures - like limiting how many packs per buyer).
What markets will you get into after this? Scalping baby formula? Kicking puppies? I've heard you can make a lot of profit by grabbing lollies straight out of kids' hands
I used to scalp cars during covid. Next will be whatever trend follows that I’m interested in.
Fella has inside knowledge of drops but doesn't make a post on ozbargain to let us know where the goods are, instead makes a post bragging about his scalping exploits. Okie dokie
It’s not a bargain. It’s all retail pricing. Also the drops sell out within seconds or minutes. There’s no point for it to be posted on OzBargain.
Wouldn't be the first time people haven't shared deals they've found.
How much have you invested and from that how much profit have you made?