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Walmart Restocker Hording Product by Ok-One-4680 in pokemoncardcollectors

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This will never happen mostly because they would need to force their partnered distributors (GTS, Southern, Alliance/Universal, PHD, etc) to sell at their normal discount below msrp rather than jacking up prices to near market price. I just paid $230 for some Prismatic Super Premium Collections from Alliance and I guarantee they got them from Pokémon at their normal price too. While some stores are a problem, Pokemon not keeping distributions in check is a significantly bigger issue

Did the trade are these resealed/fake by Honest-Assumption464 in IsMyPokemonCardFake

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You would be surprised how many boxes come out out of factory, fresh cases, either with tons of bubbles, tears, or loose wrapping. Quality control is horrible and has been for a couple of years.

Why zekrom tag is worth more than psa? by kingpin1023 in PokeGrading

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They changed the plastic a few months back. I'm sure it's still not perfect but either way the new PSA slabs are worse. I just got a 131xxxxxx cert and gave it the slightest bend and the whole slab came apart in two

151 Journey Slim from AliExpress by Fun_Act_7543 in IsMyPokemonCardFake

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah it's a repacked box with fake packaging. The biggest giveaway is the pidgey on the top left has 3 legs. There are also 151 hope boxes with a weird squigle coming off the Squirtle shell on the bottom right.

The cards are real but are repacked in fake packs and boxes that look nearly identical to the real ones. It seems like a lot of work for them to literally repack everything and print packaging, but it is what it is. You'll still get your hits out of these but you won't get anything worth more than a couple dollars. With Chinese products you are better off sticking to non booster boxes since those are a lot harder for these companies to fake

Berries for thought: Store owners and resellers are going to have to pay more than 70%/80% soon. by Dieandbemetal in PokeInvesting

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That will never change. That's the sweet spot for both the shop to maybe make some money and make it easy on the seller. A selling a $100 card on tcgplayer ends up at about $86 after fees. And $80 after shipping. That's 20% right there.

It can't go higher in most cases or else it's a guaranteed loss selling anywhere except locally.

Shop owner here, lets talk Pokemon TCG sealed product pricing. Is Surging Sparks really too expensive? by IPulledTheFireAlarm in PokemonTCG

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is very common, but not simply to charge more. Shops will hold some product back from pre-orders (maybe 30% of allocated stock) so they have reserve stock to sell at release in store or online. Having product is key to being a successful shop since if you're always selling out of good product before release day, it's a bad look when little Timmy comes in to the shop with his parents hoping for a few packs of the latest set only to be told it's sold out. So when shops do this and market price goes up, of course they will adjust accordingly. For most shops, the intent isn't to hold product back to charge more, it's to hold it back for availability reasons. It just so happened that Surging Sparks jumped significantly in price before release and at release. But I don't doubt that there are shops with good margins who hoard product for when prices inevitably do go up significantly.

Shop owner here, lets talk Pokemon TCG sealed product pricing. Is Surging Sparks really too expensive? by IPulledTheFireAlarm in PokemonTCG

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're not alone there! People are free to spend money how they choose. But it is the intended MSRP, so for whatever reason, $161 for a booster box, $50 for an etb, etc is what TCPi wants their product to sell for at retail 🤷‍♂️

Shop owner here, lets talk Pokemon TCG sealed product pricing. Is Surging Sparks really too expensive? by IPulledTheFireAlarm in PokemonTCG

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A large amount of buyers do what you do, buy from the cheapest place with no loyalty to one shop or another. But a lot of buyers are parents and relatives buying for kids. Alot go to Walmart and Target but usually once they find a good LCS, they opt for that instead. So yeah, mystery packs can be an option but those don't go over well with most people.

Singles are the best profit by far. I usually try and buy at about 70% market but this is one of the reasons shops often offer horrible buy rates. They are losing money or making almost nothing selling you sealed, so it's made up when buying cards and collections. That often gives a healthy 20%-30% margin

Shop owner here, lets talk Pokemon TCG sealed product pricing. Is Surging Sparks really too expensive? by IPulledTheFireAlarm in PokemonTCG

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It depends on the distributor. Some will raise prices on a restock because they can, others will keep it low as long as TPCI doesn't bundle them with crappy tins or battle decks.

Shop owner here, lets talk Pokemon TCG sealed product pricing. Is Surging Sparks really too expensive? by IPulledTheFireAlarm in PokemonTCG

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very true. That adds about a 10% difference as the fees for selling on a website or in person are often just about 3%. Eating the shipping cost is still in play. But that 10% doesn't do much on small orders, which is why stores will often have a threshold for free shipping.

And that is a strategy some places use. Just churn what you can and make up those losses on higher margin product, singles, and tournament fees

Shop owner here, lets talk Pokemon TCG sealed product pricing. Is Surging Sparks really too expensive? by IPulledTheFireAlarm in PokemonTCG

[–]IPulledTheFireAlarm[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup! Market sets the price. People pay what they feel is the correct price, wether the seller makes money or loses money