4 years ago if you told me I'd be involved with Pokémon cards in my 30's - I'd probably be skeptical, and you might have gotten a laugh or two out of me.
But during the 2019 Thanksgiving break, I rediscovered a handful of my childhood Pokémon cards, leading me into the largest rabbit hole I've ever dug in my relatively short life.
My Childhood
My childhood (late 90's - early 2000's) involved lots of sports, outdoor activities, video games (especially the N64, which is the ONLY console I'll play to this day) - and of course - trading cards. My brother & I primarily stuck to Baseball cards, but before the age of 12, we were knee-deep in Pokémon.
Whether we were playing our Gameboy SP's up in the neighbor's fort or arguing over a card trade - Pokémon was usually squeezed between most activities during our weekends amongst my brother & our friends. And then, like most kids, we grew out of it.
It was no longer "cool" to collect Pokémon cards OR play the games.
We lost most of our card collection to a flood, and the only other cards that survived were "donated" to my Mother's 2nd grade classroom. Our Gameboy games sat in drawers while we were off in high school & college - the only item from our childhood that saw any use was our N64 when we periodically brought it out for "beeriokart" during holiday breaks when everyone was home.
Fast-forward 25 years to 2019 Thanksgiving break..
A noticeably worn out Base Set Charizard, Neo Destiny Shining Steelix & other "shiny" cardboard laid in an old iPhone 5 box. Sharpied across the front were the words "DONT THROW OUT". I stumbled upon the old iPhone box & rediscovered these old cards and I thought - "Wow, these bring back memories!".
Like most, I also thought - "hmm.. I wonder if these are worth anything"?
Mercari
Mercari advertised like crazy during 2019. I remembered all those commercials about how easy it was to sell your stuff. I had recently purchased my first house & was looking for ways to generate additional income since I was extremely illiquid.
After I created my account, I started my Mercari journey by listing the Neo Destiny Shining Steelix. I'm not even sure how I came up with a price - I had no idea what I was doing. I picked an arbitrary price of $30, thinking "that's probably reasonable - but I doubt anyone will express interest".
Oh boy, was I wrong.
Within minutes I remember the Steelix had sold, and I was flooded with messages of eager buyers asking if I had anything else I hadn't listed. Immediately I removed everything from Mercari, cancelled the order, and started doing some research. I was blown away by the interest and wanted to understand what was going on.
I came to the conclusion there was a market for Pokémon cards - people were actually buying these! I couldn't believe the volume of sales on eBay, Mercari and ... "TCG Player"? What was TCG Player? It was all very new to me.
I decided to hold off on selling any of my cards.. but a part of me thought it might be worth exploring opportunities buying collections & re-selling them. I started looking on Mercari and Craigslist and eventually stumbled upon a collection of ~300 cards for $60.
I haggled with the guy and eventually talked him down to $40. It was extremely difficult for me to spend $40 on something that felt like a complete gamble. For all I knew, I wouldn't be getting that money back.. until I got my hands on those cards.
I was instantly hooked.
Not only did I rediscover old cards - I was also exposed to some of the EX-era stuff, which looked really cool to me since I had never seen them before. What hooked me though was the fact I approximately 10x'd my money on that first purchase. The collection ended up containing a (very) damaged Shining Charizard from Neo Destiny, which sold for ~$80.
After that I started buying collections with a little more confidence. I began re-selling on Mercari - keeping the items & cards I really enjoyed. Everything was going great - it was just easy.
COVID, Hype & FOMO
Like anything in life - if profits require little-to-no effort, it's only a matter of time until others discover what you're doing & flood the scene.
After all, I wasn't adding any value. I was simply buying cards in bulk for a discounted price & selling off the contents for more than I paid. It was an extremely inefficient Pokémon TCG market and what I was doing required very little knowledge to make money.
Enter COVID & Logan Paul... once COVID hit, the process became difficult.
There were no more easy plays (or "tendies") and it just wasn't fun anymore. You had to be the first one to a new listing or someone beat you. Everyone with an interest in Pokémon began doing what I was already doing. People had more time on their hands because of the COVID shutdown and more people started to realize they could generate money "thrifting" with all these apps & free time at their fingertips.
And if COVID wasn't enough, Logan Paul solidified Pokémon on the mainstream map. If you google Logan Paul, you'll find a handful of events with his name attached - all of which were "net positives" for the Pokémon brand. Pokémon was officially no longer a secret, and it was near-impossible to find anything below market price.
But I still really enjoyed this hobby. I didn't want it to end.
I quickly learned that Hype & FOMO were real. If you're doing what the masses are doing, you're going to get burned. Of course I'm talking from an investing perspective - not collecting. You should always collect what you love in a responsible way!
At this point I was being careful about what I was buying - making sure my purchases were either (1) things I really enjoyed or (2) at a price far enough under market value where it was too good to pass up.
The Hobby Today
We're several years after the Logan Paul event & the market is certainly more optimized than pre-Logan Paul. You don't have the scalpers like you did before, but everyone is aware and always looking for the next Evolving Skies.
Pokémon is bigger than ever, arguably more popular than when I was a kid. Today's generation of kids (even today in January 2024) are making the same memories of opening packs & pulling their favorite cards. Pokémon International's 2022/2023 sale's data reports they "...sold 9.7 billion Pokémon cards, for a lifetime total of over 52.9 billion cards".1
This past year Pokémon produced & sold over 18% of their lifetime sales!
The hobby is strong & healthy today even though you can't find the easy "wins" that existed during the Logan Paul era. I believe in the Pokémon I.P. which is why I kept moving forward & created "Flower City Cards"!
The creation of Flower City Cards
At end of 2023 I had an Instagram, eBay and Mercari page and things were good. However, I had a desire to do more - I had experiences I thought I could share with others, and I wanted to create a community that would stick. In the past, Instagram groups were the only place I found any kind sense of community - and most of those ended up dissolving.
Fast-forward to today, we have a Discord community formed. The group brings varying perspectives from different backgrounds, promoting engaging discussion about various TCG's. If you're analytical & love talking collectibles, I highly recommend you check us out on Discord!
The group also discusses the latest plays in our Wholesale Program. The Wholesale Program provides access to distributor pricing without requiring a full commitment (no minimum buy amount required). The Instagram Post below provides a 2023 summary for how our Wholesale Program performed!
Flower City Cards is only 6 months old - but we're ready for growth! We're excited to see where things go as we move forward with Pokémon & other TCG's like Magic the Gathering, Yugioh, Weiss and others. We believe in the hobby and one day hope we can share it with our own kids!
We plan to continue evolving & growing into the future. We are grateful for all the relationships we've formed over these last 4+ years in this hobby and look forward to all the new relationships formed over the next 4! We look forward to providing you useful content over the years to come - you can expect to see content relating to:
Investing & Market Analysis
Collecting
Wholesale Plays
Updates on the "10x Booster Pack Investment"...
...& much more!!!
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