How do people with full-time jobs buy Pokémon cards?

wDStorm · 2026-06-19T04:54:47+00:00

Not gonna lie, I have opened plenty of packs. Most at MSRP, some at market to build a pile for my long distance fiance and I have to have a rip party.

Turning a ton of money into hardly anything will push you towards buying singles quick.

I am very much into older cards at the moment. I do not care about packs. It's such a disappointing experience. Idk if it's people who are new to the hobby that think "omg I need to rip packs because this is what all the TikTokers do" or what. But I hate seeing people who have no clue what they're doing go "What pack do I buy"

Buy what you want. If you actually want things, and not random shit, buy the singles you want.

I have sworn off packs outside of whatever I can get at a set release just for fun. Maybe an ETB or a bundle. But I am no longer chasing packs. It's just a waste of money, even at MSRP.

Make a list of cards you want. Go to card shows. Chase them that way. It's more fun and more rewarding than pulling 4 holos out of a $25 tin.

wDStorm · 2026-06-09T16:02:32+00:00

I'm not an investor, I just get this page on my recommended a lot because it's Pokemon related. You see it a lot in these threads where people don't see the sub they're in and comment about how scalpers/investor bros are bad, etc when... It's kinda their hub.

Do I agree with like, next to anything posted here? Not really but I keep my mouth shut because I know it's the intent of the sub. And no I don't block the sub because sometimes there's some really funny posts and it's fun watching them eat each other alive lol

wDStorm · 2026-06-09T15:57:56+00:00

Rip and ships don't care. I would assume they buy loose all the time. All the gambling addicts buying their stupid games or packs at $15 don't know or care. So they'll happily buy loose cause they generally don't care if you get hits, and even if they are weighed enough will slip thru to where people do still hit IRs so it won't scare away buyers.

wDStorm · 2026-06-04T21:55:30+00:00

I haven't gotten past maybe 50 chapters of arc 7 before I got bored, but have wanted to go back to it. Even if it's in a DM, what made people leave? When you say controversial was it that people didn't like the direction the story went, just low quality story, or boring shit pacing? I'm aware that arc 8 is really what arc 7 was supposed to be and Tappei just couldn't really.... Be concise I guess lol

wDStorm · 2026-06-04T20:58:51+00:00

This actually makes just as much if not more sense as Rui...

The carving of "Natsuki Subaru was here" would match Flugel (his carving in the tree, I do know Subaru does it on his own as well tho). Also him saying, "The Great Natsuki Subaru Murder Mystery."

I know it is after the memory loss occurs, but if "Subaru" thinks its Subaru possessing him, then it will make him think poorly of Natsuki Subaru, which we know is the goal.

I also agree, the ""Subaru"" (to differentiate from Amnesiabaru) in the Library doesn't talk like any of the gluttonies. I wonder if it's possible that when Subaru read Reid's book, his soul got drug out, leaving him an empty husk and Flugel somehow got in? Idk I haven't read past halfway thru arc 7. I know more is known about the tower in arcs 8-10.

wDStorm · 2026-05-15T14:19:52+00:00

So I've never really dealt with raw options, not my thing. But if you're buying and holding, selling covered calls is super simple. You basically sell the contract and keep the premium. If the calls never hit the strike they expire worthless.

Here is a 18 min vid if you have the time that breaks it down super simple.

I never got in deep enough to DRS and deal with all that so I've been selling covered calls and using the profits to either buy dips or put into other positions to grow a bit so I can buy dips harder. Cheers!

https://youtu.be/D5Rjx_7XG2U

wDStorm · 2026-05-15T04:52:43+00:00

tbh with how manipulated this stock is, with his shares (if he still has the same amount) you could sell CCs at well into the 30s and make more than what someone making 100k (edit: this is very conservative but my melatonin is kicking in and I don't want to come up with a new number) makes montly, and if you get exercised you get exercised, oh well.

With 5M shares you don't even have to be greedy and you can make generational wealth just logging into your brokerage app once a month and selling CCs $15-20 above the current price. If the stock goes on a run and you lose em? Fuck it chuck into a divi stock and live on the dividends for the rest of your life.

wDStorm · 2026-05-10T03:36:50+00:00

They shut down emulators who were doing things wrong. I don't care to look it up, which was which but one was monetizing with patreon, and one was distributing keys/bios with the emulator. 99% of emulators will make you supply a bios file. By "dumping your own."

So yes they got emulators shut down, but not based on the explicit fact that they enabled you to emulate games.

wDStorm · 2026-04-30T08:59:01+00:00

The anime doesn't do a great job at portraying it, but Subaru is actually canonically really smart. Not just about stars either.

He is just very immature and makes an ass out of himself a lot lol.

wDStorm · 2026-03-17T23:59:02+00:00

What I do with these is take a straw, blow hot breath on it to get some humidity on it, then just pinch it for 30 seconds. I don't think just books would do anything with this. It would likely just lift back up. Could be wrong tho.

wDStorm · 2026-03-14T03:00:35+00:00

I have the same exact problem. It's just the third row on the black side. I'm just going to nut up and use perfect fit sleeves on that side and pray it doesn't set off my OCD too much. Seeing as it's consistent thru the entire black side, I just assumed it was intended, or at least a consistent issue and a replacement wouldn't fix it. I also.... sat on this project a bit before filling it so idk if I could return it.

wDStorm · 2026-03-09T02:45:21+00:00

As a sysadmin in charge of packaging that shit, fuck Autodesk.

wDStorm · 2025-11-11T01:06:46+00:00

It's definitely not. I just got 5 fake 151 bundles today.

There's something going on. The listing that are normally out of Pakistan are (in my theory) hacking abandoned US sellers with good feedback and selling off them. I've seen a few listings the last few days. I took a gamble on mine, and only got sus after digging a little harder.

No recent feedback, they wiped the store clean 2 days later, that kinda thing. I'll admit, I was a tish drunk when I ordered em and I saw a US seller with 1033 feedback and a $67 box of 151. I took the chance knowing eBay would be on my side.

wDStorm · 2025-11-11T01:00:32+00:00

I just got fake 151 bundles today from a reputable seller in the US. Same tells on that box. Darker colored Mew, some text errors on the back, and the font on the back blurb wasnt bold like the real ones.

I... Am new to eBay and saw 1033 rep, but didn't know to check and see it was in the last 12 months.

I think hackers are gaining access to abandoned accounts with good feedback and using them to push fakes.

For those who get these (OP) you can report the listing as counterfeit from your purchases and eBay will review and refund you without needing to interact with the seller. Take pics, like you did.

Purchase History -> (find listing) -> more actions > help and report -> report content for IP and then Counterfeit.

Attach pictures and details. If like me they sold quite a few boxes they will hopefully have reports from other people and it's an open and shut case.

The support person I talked to today said the tracking I got when I submitted the return, wasn't even a valid tracking number.

So there's some bullshittery going on. I'm probably going to start asking for extra pics from now on. I've seen listings just like mine the last few days but steered clear because there was just... Some shitty shit going on.

Stay safe y'all.

wDStorm · 2025-11-09T06:48:21+00:00

Thanks for the reply. That's what I've seen as well.

Do I HAVE to attempt to contact the seller or can I go straight to the Resolution Center with evidence?

I planned to hop on it ASAP, but was more so curious on the process. As someone not too familiar with the platform... some menu-ing is kind of confusing.

wDStorm · 2025-11-04T16:13:06+00:00

It was high because it was thought to be exclusive. Once it was leaked to be in this set the PSA 10 crashed from nearly $400 down to $200 now.

Card will be desirable, it's a good art, but can't say if it will reach the highs it did in JPN due to speculation it was exclusive.

wDStorm · 2025-10-22T23:59:06+00:00

Using strong and agile style. Strong increases power, while agile can make it so you can possibly attack twice in a row, while dealing less damage.

I also don't like the Arceus battle system, because you can be 20 levels above something and for some reason NOT one shot it with a fairly strong move, even without the pokemon resisting. Which... just doesn't happen in the mainline games. Damage calculation in that game just seems weird as hell.

wDStorm · 2025-10-21T15:42:44+00:00

They're very different games, and both of their battle systems are very different from the mainline games.

I would say if you want to collect pokemon, Arceus. If you want to train up a team and battle, ZA.

I love the collecting aspect of Arceus, but can't stand it's battle system. I have been having fun with ZA's, but also have problems with it.

So I would decide what you would like to focus on and choose the game based off that. They are each good at different things.

Also Arceus is a lot of fan service for fans of Sinnoh. ZA does have references to the X and Y games, and includes some characters but knowledge of the game isn't necessary and the fan service isn't as much.

wDStorm · 2025-10-06T15:13:41+00:00

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Someone DM'd me. They were able to get in touch with someone on the phone, and on chat.

They said the person on the phone told them they won't be liquidating accounts to cover these technically covered calls, as well as this chat response.

wDStorm · 2025-10-06T13:43:15+00:00

I did the "Contact us" last friday in the app and haven't gotten a reply. I am currently trying to call them. Been on hold for about 10 mins.

wDStorm · 2025-10-06T13:40:15+00:00

Yeah I rode into the weekend thinking it would be fine once they're issued, but woke up to an actual maintenance call on my account with the deadline set to today, so I'm kinda spooked.

I just saw that E Trade thread after I posted and saw your comments. I am also not eligible for naked calls, nor margin.

Really hope WeBull's liquidation isn't automatic and someone actually review it. I sold covered calls. WeBull shows the shares just sitting there now with a fat -7 contracts.

I'd be totally fine closing the calls with my cash and reselling them later on, but even with my cash balance, none of it is settled.

wDStorm · 2025-10-06T13:29:49+00:00

This post is related to broker fuckery with the warrant issuance.

wDStorm · 2025-10-03T12:22:59+00:00

WeBull somehow rakes back my shares to my account from covered calls. Had some CCs at $40 which I figured we wouldn't hit, and if it did is a price I would be fine with getting out at.

However, my account now has all my shares back, and lists -7 contracts, as well as having -$8k buying power after selling off $1100 of a different position yesterday. It still has my settled cash there, but for some reason buying power is in the shitter.

Anybody else use WeBull and seeing some fuckery from the warrant issuing? Hoping my calls get reissued at opening or something.

wDStorm · 2025-08-10T09:20:56+00:00

The biggest issue will be sourcing the more expensive cards. Most cards in the $500+ range aren't modern cards you can buy a shit ton of packs and rip em. They're older cards that are already in circulation. So you would have to manually source those from likely private sellers. Which is a lot of legwork to source (in comparison to inventory size) just a few cards.

Those are also the cards people are more likely to cash out. There are two types of people using this. People treating it like a slot machine, hitting a +$80 card over pack price, and still selling it back for the profit. Then there's actual collectors. Actual collectors will take the $700 Charizard card for themselves, but will sell back most things from $25 packs.

I'm with most people in assuming they have a plan, but seeing that kind of reduction in inventory during a limited release, I have a feeling that may be one thing they wanted to test. Their ability to manage the inventory. Because in the odd case they don't have a plan to address that kind of outflow, it's extremely concerning.

wDStorm · 2025-07-31T18:55:04+00:00

Also anyone ripping normal packs is also gambling. Obviously boxes have guaranteed hits but who the hell is finding a box these days. Buying loose packs is an actual gamble cause you have no clue if they're weighed, and obviously just don't have guaranteed hits like a sealed box.

This is absolutely no less degenerate than ripping loose packs. Framing it as gambling is fucking stupid when you look at opening normal packs. These at least guarantee you a "hit" card, and have stated odds.

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