By RJG
Hi there I am here to try and help you to start and get on your way to building your collection of Pokemon cards. First and foremost try to have a goal in mind there are many ways to collect Pokemon cards you can collect sets which is picking out a certain set that you like such as Pokemon Black & White, Base set, Fossil, Team Rocket, ETC and trying to collect every card in that set. There are collecting certain type or monster Pokemon meaning only collecting cards of a certain type such as water types, fire types, and many other or collecting a certain favorite Pokemon such as many out there like to collect Pikachu’s. There is also collecting only holographic cards where only the picture parts is shiny and sparkly, or even reverse holographic cards where everything BUT the picture is holographic. There are many different ways to start your collection. Second know which language you would like to your cards in English, Japanese, German, etc this will be a hug factor when it comes to money wise seeing that Japanese being the most expensive, English being average price wise, and every other language being cheaper due to low demand for them.
I personally collect Japanese cards due to many reasons but when I first started off I started collecting English cards for which I suggest a beginner to start off collecting and then when you know more about the rarity, price, high demand of cards you can grow over to Japanese. Lastly is to get out there and buy a couple of booster packs you can go to your local cards shop such as a comic book store, Target, Wal-Mart, and even online. I prefer as a starter to buy them at Target or Wal-Mart seeing that you can never be to sure about being sold a fake card at your card shop or online. Once you have grown a pretty good collection and want to get rid of some cards you don’t want for some that you do you can try and find some friends how also collect and trade with them or you can go online and join Pokemon TCG trading forums such as Pokebeach.com or Pokegym.net they are both respected trading forums that I highly recommend.
Trading forums are a great way to grow your trading skills, yes I admit when I first traded on a forum I didn’t really know much all I wanted were to collect holographic cards and at time there were trades where people ripped me off. None the less it’s a great experience for every card collector and player you get to meet people from across the world and even some right in your local city that you never thought were there. Some suggestions for trading on line, always ask about the other traders condition of cards there are many people out there that will trade you ill condition cards and when you bring this up all they got to say is “well you never asked about condition” if this ever happens to you bring it up with your trading forum moderator because in every forum it states that if your card is not in mint condition you must say so. Second always do a price check before accepting a trading for example if someone asks you to trade your Gengar prime for their Blissy prime do a price check before accepting because they will be trying to rip you off seeing that Gengar is worth $25 and Blissy at about $2 (current prices). I prefer to price check at trollandtoad.com or even EBay. Lastly always get or print out the PM’s (private messages) sent between you and the other trader because if a problem occurs where you sent out your cards but you lost contact with other trader and will not respond to your messages bring it up with the forums moderator and they will ask you for the messages you guys wrote to each other
Tags: Card Collecting