In 2020, a Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) collector who goes by the name ThePokeMart started selling vintage Pokémon products. He initially expected a small price markup from when he bought them, but found his packs were now worth hundreds. His vintage Pokémon collection was largely forgotten in his storeroom until one day he decided to check the value online. He then realised he had been sitting on a gold mine.

 

He initially expected to recoup his costs, but learned he could potentially earn hundreds of dollars, with a single vintage pack being valued at “$300, $500 or $800 at their height”.

 

His biggest sale were 200 potential Shadowless Blister packs, which he sold for $8000 per pack. 

 

“Recently, I sold all of them for one for $8,000 each. So you can do the math.” That’s a total value of $1.6 million.

 

However, despite the money he has made from selling, and though Pokémon cards are now being considered an alternative form of investment, like fine art, he does not consider Pokémon cards a sustainable, long-term investment. 

 

“I think what will happen to Pokémon is that maybe after two or three decades, the value will drop back to pennies. Because nobody will spend a fortune on something you can make for 10 cents,” he says.

 

ThePokeMart has since sold off 95 per cent of his collection.

 

He believes that modern sets, or sets printed after 2003, have little value, as they are “too heavily printed”. This is because vintage English sets were printed by a company known as Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) until 2003, when printing rights were transferred to The Pokémon Company, who has printed the cards ever since. As cards printed by WOTC are not reprinted exactly as the original cards, with the copyright logo being different, original WOTC printed Pokémon cards are rare and sought after, giving the vintage packs their high value.

 

The sentiment is shared by Ms Rei Yeo, 25, a collector who also operates a TikTok page to share her passion for the Pokémon TCG. 

 

“To be very honest, the hobby is not ideal for investments for the average collector,” she says. 

 

She added that unopened products were too expensive for the average collector to buy in bulk to sell off in the future and make a profit. 

 

“Products and even valuable single cards are very expensive to purchase. Unless you have the capability to, it’s not that accessible to purchase a large quantity of sealed products, to hold them for years and ‘flip’ them in the long run.”

 

Ms Yeo compares investing in Pokémon cards to investing in stocks, with prices of cards “constantly fluctuating”, and that while she has unpacked rare, valuable cards from Pokémon packs, she would sell them before their prices spike as she is, “not patient enough to hold them for years and wait for their value to spike again”.

This sentiment is shared by Mr Zac, 31, a Pokémon TCG enthusiast who runs an Instagram page sharing his passion for the Pokémon TCG. He started collecting when he was 9. Although the artwork was what drew him as a collector, he started to invest in these cards.