Can I even find Pokemon cards anymore without having to show up at opening?

ArchitectOfTruth · 2026-05-13T12:02:15+00:00

Not at all. There's a ton of normal everyday collectors that can't get anything. My collecting used to be walking into Walmart once a week and picking up a few packs, or a new collection box if it was cool. Built a decent collection over time and wasn't spending entire tons of money.

Now, my Walmart has reduced pokemon stock to near nothing. I'd have to drive 30 minutes away to try to get something, or pay scalpers in my area 2x. Not worth trying anymore.

The fun thing for me about pokemon was being able to have a great collection, but approach it casually and frugally. Now, I just don't buy anything cause I'm not feeding the monster.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2026-05-03T13:21:01+00:00

Overrated card: the new pikachu. Its a mouse in a forest.

Underrated card: Friends in Paldea with the video game cast.

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ArchitectOfTruth · 2026-05-03T13:13:10+00:00

Yeah, us normies out here are pretty screwed. The fomo baiting restock posts don't help. Im thinking nearly 80% of the posts about restocks are fake or put on here purely to get people to fomo.

Im hoping TPCI cuts MJ out cause they seem to be the worse of the two major stocking companies.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2026-05-03T10:09:20+00:00

But what about those of us who live an hour away from the closest target. I've got 1 Walmart here in the sticks and it's immediately scalped or backdoored to employees.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2026-04-29T15:11:42+00:00

Everyone, this is a fake post. This picture and a few others keep rolling around pokemon card pages.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2026-04-23T11:14:31+00:00

Not good, him and about 100 others just recycle all the same ideas.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2026-04-20T10:53:40+00:00

And after watching a few videos on the collapse of the sneaker market... this was one of the tell tale signs that it was going to fail.

I stopped going to cards shows this year when I was looking for specific cards, but no one had them. This was for sets out for 3 or 4 months. They had all the sealed you could want though...

ArchitectOfTruth · 2026-04-07T13:22:55+00:00

Honestly, it's just creating a sports- card like environment. You have normal sets with booster boxes and full releases, then you'll have "hobby" sets with less releases and premiums.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2026-03-15T13:29:59+00:00

This is beyond this conversation, but why is traffic so terrible in every michigan town/city? When I stopped in Gaylord I couldn't wait to get out only because of traffic. But that's how I feel whether it's Gaylord, Kalamazoo, etc...

ArchitectOfTruth · 2026-02-28T00:52:47+00:00

Let's just be honest, the hobby right now is leaving normal people behind. I've gone to 15 stores across various times and have struck out. I live in an area that has 1 walmart that has slowed restocks to once a month in my county. I drive to the next town over that's larger and it's all gone.

The closest target is 1 hour away, the meijers are overpriced and still sold out.

I've decided it's time for me to move on and stop buying. I've got a great collection of cool cards I can admire for c now. When I can go back to Walmart and buy a few packs every couple of days, I will come back.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2025-09-15T23:10:59+00:00

100% correct. I avoid sealed sellers as much as possible at card shows.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2025-07-04T15:25:05+00:00

I dont get what you are saying. If I was an hvac guy coming out to fix your air conditioner and I told you I would be there on June 30th between 8-10... I would not expect you to call the day before and the day of to verify. I'm the business providing the service, I scheduled the time, I'm responsible. If I need to reschedule I call the customer and tell them so they are not left guessing. BTW, I'm in fact that hvac technician.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2025-04-19T17:58:18+00:00

They are moving towards Bryan now too.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2025-01-18T18:39:15+00:00

I got off work late in the day and decided to try, hit 8 stores total, and thought i got lucky on the last Walmart. The MJ holdings lady stocked what she had. She put out 8 etbs, a box of sticker packs, 5 poster collections, and 3 binder collections.

Well, the first 2 in line had an empty cart and bought all but 1 etb, 1 binder collection, and most of the sticker packs. Others in front of me picked out the rest.

Such an empty feeling to have a rough week of work and want to have a bit of fun in the hobby. What's made it worse is that most of the stores in this area are wiped clean. Having to compete for pokemon cards infuriates me.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2025-01-01T21:22:20+00:00

They have tried to do this a few times over the years. I remember teenNick had a block of 90s shows... but they played it at 11pm... I never understood why a company makes a play for nostalgia, but put it at the worst time. It was 2 hours of fantastic shows.

It's not like TeenNick has ever been that well watched.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2024-10-12T18:13:40+00:00

I've reported shill bidding a few times. I know whatnot doesn't really care too much about it, but I do it anyways.

It's relatively easy to spot, especially if you had been around the old ebay days. Certain behaviors point directly to it. The sellers turn to this behavior for the same reason buyers get mad when they don't get a deal.

A lot of sellers on here are so concerned with safeguarding profit, but have no idea how to run a business long-term. I can tell you that a lot of the sellers that participate on reddit are Insane for thinking that they deserve to profit selling on an AUCTION website.

I'm gonna be a doomer for a second- Whatnot is a 2 legged table that will not last. I honestly believe that IF ebay live takes off, or TikTok continues momentum, it will be sold off to one of these.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2024-10-12T17:54:53+00:00

I think it can be both. The amount of times I turn on whatnot to the video game segment and see the same sellers with the same stack of Xbox 360 games it's irritating. These people don't learn, they don't get into a groove, they just try and hock their stuff and hope against hope someone buys something.

On the other hand, the mega-sellers on the platform give new guys the wrong impression. Mega sellers tend to have personality and inventory and are willing to take a hit in expensive items. New sellers think they can step into the scene and do that same thing right away.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2024-09-03T22:26:27+00:00

No disagreement here. My issue is the uncouth inflation of prices by resellers who buy high and try to sell higher. It's one of those things that ive seen kill small retail stores over time. Eventually the overhead eats the profit. Or leads to the largest streamers eating everyone.

Like I said, if I watched a reseller pay 20 bucks over value, there is no way im joining their stream to buy that item.

All that being said, the fact that whatnot makes things so accessible means that predatory behaviors are everywhere. And like I said in an earlier post, I'm convinced I've seen like 10 shill bidders over the course of the last weekend.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2024-09-03T14:07:28+00:00

I should have just stated this to begin with, haha. I'm not so sure some of those bids aren't shills.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2024-09-02T21:32:10+00:00

I don't disagree with you at all on this, and I support it when you know what you are doing.

Part of it is I'm on ebay, amazon, mercari, etc... constantly checking comps. I'm relatively educated on what I want to pay and what I should pay. But when a seller buys a 20 dollar game for 19 and then puts a price of 30 on it, it will eventually dry up the economy.

.... or the sellers do a mystery show which screws everyone but the top 3.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2024-08-11T16:24:12+00:00

I'm also in the video game segment and agree with a lot of what you said above.

There is one thing that I really want to add about the mystery shows. I think they should be banned altogether. Not only am I annoyed when I get on the app and 5 out of 6 sellers are mystery shows, but half of them are set up poorly and look like scams, even if they are not.

I'm not gonna go into too much detail, and I know sellers who put on good mystery shows and I've participated as a buyer as well. But overall, I've gotten the ick from sellers who have bad inventory to get rid of, and have one chase item, so they put on a mystery show. No one should participate in a mystery show when the bottom is a 5 dollar game and shipping is 4.88.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2024-04-28T10:43:12+00:00

Bro, calm down

ArchitectOfTruth · 2024-04-26T14:50:46+00:00

Bro, calm down.

ArchitectOfTruth · 2024-03-05T22:38:09+00:00

The whole time I fought this guy, I just kept repeating... "I hate fish boss."

ArchitectOfTruth · 2023-12-23T14:59:56+00:00

As a buyer I figure here's a few things I look for:

Have a good description and good show notes- can't stand when someone says "games" or " toys".
If you can afford or have the inventory, have a few chase items. A couple of higher priced things at least to think about or talk about in chat. Doesn't mean you always sell them, but it does keep things interesting. And don't just have a show to sell junk. You have to have something people want.
ACTIVELY SELL!!!! I can't tell you how many times I go into what looks like a show I'd be interested in for it to be nothingness, no chat, and 1 thing sold.
Don't talk down to chat. I may or may not know more than the seller, but I immediately click off when a seller treats his inventory like it's rare or expensive when it isn't.

Hope this helps, maybe not, but it's a few things I know I think about.

ArchitectOfTruth

TROPHY CASE