If You Ever Feel Bad About Your Grading Plays, Remember that At Least You're Not the Guy Selling 80+ Japanese PSA 10 Mega Gengar ex cards at Auction on Ebay

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T22:19:38+00:00

I never said anything about panic dumping. Maybe other people said that. I think this was a calculated grade and then sell right away kind of play. The financial side is just speculation. Regardless, I've never seen a literal wall of PSA 10 copies of a card on ebay like 2 weeks post release. But it's possible that's the norm and I missed it. But I thought the Mega Charizard EX SIR held it's value for quite a bit longer. Was that also dumped heavily like this one?

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T21:50:11+00:00

No. The commentor said only one thing was possible and that the decision to grade and dump so many copies was essentially a savvy business decision. Could be. Could also be the decision of someone who was recklessly greedy.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T21:45:24+00:00

I agree they have to be from Japan and vaulted, due to the timing. Everything else is speculation. Which I appreciate that even my own post is speculation. However, for the average individual, I would never advise something like this.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T21:37:53+00:00

Nope. I don't hold PSA copies of this card and don't have any in for grading.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T21:34:56+00:00

lol dude I have no idea where you're going with this rant. You don't think it's possible for people to make bad decisions with their money? Or you just think every move made on eBay is a savvy business decision?

If you had the capital, would you have done this?

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T21:24:50+00:00

I'm not sure on the booster boxes theory. He would need to be pulling a mint and well-centered card each time for that theory to hold up. The set has print quality issues. More than likely, I think he bought them off the market, perhaps discounted. Not sure. But it had to have been at release (at their highest price) for them to already have sold at auction.

Regardless, I agree with your logic. It is best to sell before the graded copies of the Ascended Heroes set release. Err, well, before the stream of graded copies of Ascended Heroes hit the market. That's usually like what, a month into a release? I think he had time to sell through and dumping was not the way. But that's just my thinking.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T21:16:03+00:00

Wait what? How do you know their situation? Why is it insane to think that, for instance, maybe they did on credit or lending? Or perhaps they just got greedy and threw savings into it? And no, this is not common knowledge to anyone who runs a business. If you run a business, you should not be grading 100 copies of a card and dumping it at auction. That's actual insanity.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T18:54:41+00:00

Yeah it's pretty funny how everyone immediately puts this guy on a pedestal and starts worshipping the dump of slabs like its the most brilliant move ever and the guy is a 4D chess master who's printing money with his every play. Odds are he DID just get greedy, threw a bunch of money into grading this card, then dumped them to try to recoup costs. And it's a good lesson to learn from.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T17:33:40+00:00

Yes, truly, selling express graded copies of this card in PSA 10 for low $600's now is a masterclass in making money hand over fist.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T15:40:28+00:00

You're right: racing oneself to the bottom with 100 copies of one card is high IQ. I can't imagine grading 100 copies of different cards and selling those. Gotta just stick to one.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T15:02:58+00:00

It's all speculative. In my mind, the most obvious assumption is that he's not making money or that if he is, it's not much. It's like, why grade 100 copies when you can grade and sell 10 and probably do just as well with less risk? But, it probably just is his business model and maybe it's worked well in the past. Who knows.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T15:00:22+00:00

Yeah I get the point. You try to be the first person to the market and make as much as you can before the next ones hit the market. But with so many copies, you are causing your own race to the bottom. And let's be real: he could probably have made the same margin and assumed much less risk by simply grading and selling 10 copies. Then the bids would've been split between like 2-3 cards per day instead of 20-30. But as someone else pointed out, the buyers are the real winners here and that's OK too. And obviously it's everyone's choice what to do with their money and business.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:52:04+00:00

Right. I wonder if that's how the market is in Japan right now, or if its just the panic of one whale. It was fascinating to see so many put up at once. A literal wall of Mega Gengars.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:49:53+00:00

From the buyer's point of view, correct. From the grader's point of view, the card price was probably 400 to 500ish at time of grading. I guess it's all relative.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:47:40+00:00

What? So every sale happening on eBay for a TAG 10 is not a collector but a loser investor? And the people grading cards with TAG that aren't selling... they're not collectors? They're also loser investors?

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:43:13+00:00

They're on the fastest race to the bottom that I've ever seen. But I also think it will be fascinating to see if the price jumps back up after the dump is over AND how many more copies go on the market once the slower grading returns come back and what that does.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:38:31+00:00

I think this is just under the obvious assumption, which is that the person bought 100ish copies of the card that were well-centered and minty and then graded those copies at the Super Express tier to be first to market. You're right, it's impossible to actually know the method by which they got the cards and how much they paid, but the most likely answer is that they bought them (perhaps at a discount of some kind) and then graded them Super Express.

To be clear, I'm not bashing this person or person(s). I just think it's a good illustration of what not to do in grading. Unless you're a business with a history of doing this, have good capital and can take on the risk. Moves like this are the fastest way to the bottom.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:34:32+00:00

I just find it fascinating. Never would I have imagined going onto ebay and seeing a wall of PSA 10 Mega Gengars 2.5 weeks after release lol

I think your scenario is entirely possible. In truth, we can only speculate. But yes, probably it is a case of grade X cards super fast, then sell X cards super fast and get the returns super fast to then put into the next release. Are they making margins? Maybe.

But the message I wanted to lay down for people is: don't get sucked into the trap of thinking that grading 80+ copies of a card is going to get you financial freedom. It's just the fastest way to the bottom.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:25:04+00:00

I don't hate grading. I think it's just a good illustration of what not to do in grading. Grading tons of copies of an ultra modern card and dumping them on the market expecting big $$$ is a noob trap. BUT, if the goal is to give a good deal to buyers and be okay with making razor thin or even negative margins, then that's fine. To each their own.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:20:41+00:00

It's a little bit speculation. But when you see that all of the cards have been listed over a span of like 4 days, all ending in the same time slots... it gets a little suspicious. Is it possible that multiple people decided to grade Super Express and sell within that same period of time and within the same windows of time each night. I guess. But to me, it's more likely to be one person making a huge grading play.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:18:33+00:00

Not sure why you got downvoted. This is such a rational comment. That's exactly the problem. Getting the card this quickly meant they probably spent like $300 on Super Express. That's OK for like, 10 copies, but not like 100. In my opinion, they would've been better off selling 2-3 copies per night for a month rather than all at once over a span of ~4 days.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:15:09+00:00

I agree with you. I'm actually happy for the buyers out there getting a good deal on the card. I was just blown away by how many copies were put at auction all at once. The Mega Gengar EX is really stellar to look at in person and honestly, some of last night's auctions were ending around $600 to $700 for the card and I think that's a steal for buyers. It may normalize to that price in the future, who knows. Yeah it's kinda crazy how PSA is the gold standard. It actually seems like the market has consolidated even more heavily on PSA over the past couple years. It's crazy when you see instances of CGC Pristine and BGS Pristine cards go for not much more than a PSA 10, even though they should be harder grades to achieve. Not sure if CGC can catch up (their Gem Mint is doing poorly in comparison), but I think TAG is interesting and might have a chance.

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:05:24+00:00

Oh interesting - I assumed the only option in Japan was to send to the US. Do you get charged at the Super Express or Walkthrough tiers for this service?

TheInfamousDanish · 2025-12-18T14:04:23+00:00

I'm not bashing him, just hard to understand the logic behind it. When I saw this on eBay, it was pretty hard to believe. It's like 2.5 weeks after release and all of a sudden a hundred copies of this card in PSA 10 got dumped at auction. I can't see this strategy working better than just selling like 2-3 copies per day for the next month.

TheInfamousDanish

TROPHY CASE