The Echo-nomist

Covid crisis, housing crisis, humanitarian crisis, economic crisis, climate crisis, hunger crisis and so on. But have you ever heard about Pokémon card crisis? While being stuck at home for over a year, people tried to get creative to keep themselves busy and entertained. This included finding new hobbies and going down memory lanes. Along with the nostalgia, people also bought back old trends. One of them being Pokémon…

Millennials took out their Pokémon collectibles from years ago only to found out they’re worth thousands of dollars now! Yep.

This was a huge craze in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and a very intense topic of discussion among kids. Kids were seen trading in hallways, streets and cards were found in cereal boxes, Happy Meals, etc. They collected these cards and traded them for better/different ones. There were also recurring tournaments at local card, comic shops. In fact, in 1999, there was a national tournament sponsored by Nintendo.

How big of a market is it?

The prices are INSANE. Vintage cards have skyrocketed. A box of sealed Pokémon cards from the late 90’s or early 2000’s (retailed at $100) would fetch as much $30,000 or even $50,000 today. A Pokémon card was auctioned for $250,000 (Rs 1.86 crore)! A Charizard that would be sold at $300,000 today, was priced at $16,000 in 2019.

Celebrities and influencers have been doing their job with, Shawn Mendes, Logic, Steve Aoki, Logan Paul and manyyy YouTuber’s getting involved. Last year, Logic bought a firsrt edition Charizard for nearly $226,000 (about Rs 1.7 crore) on Pokémon cards because as a child he could barely afford them. Logan Paul spent $2 million on 6 trunks full of Pokémon cards.

What’s the point?

These cards are sold mainly on eBay, either for a fixed price or they’re auctioned. People buy these with the intent of reselling them and making a profit. Something like NFT’s. People are buying new cards, to hold them as an asset, in anticipation of selling them at a huge profit 10-15 years down the lane. How will this work out for them? No idea. We’re gonna have to wait for sometime to see how it pans out several years down the road.

The grading system

This is no joke to people. There are serious grading companies, whose analysis is valued by the collectors. Their job is to authenticate and determine the condition and originality of cards, comic books, sports memorabilia etc. After examining it closely, they rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being “poor” and 10 being “gem mint.” Obviously, 10 has more value in the market and is sold at a higher price, whereas 1 is considered a common card. If a card has been graded 8, 9 or 10, it can easily fetch between a few hundred to a few thousand US dollars. Grading includes assessing the card for scratches, bends, ceases, pen marks, printing errors etc. It’s graded under a special light, with magnifying glasses and other special tools. Kind of like forensics. It’s no joke.

This has led to a lot of pressure building up on grading companies, as well as long queues. One such company is PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator). There was such a sudden rush of cards; it was overwhelming and PSA had to halt grading services in April. They have a 10 month wait list, and plan to resume in July. BGS’s (Beckett Grading Services) published wait times are 9+ months and 144 working days for CGC (Certified Guarantee Company). Auction sales on eBay for Pokémon cards in the US shot up 574% between 2019 and 2020.

Things also got violent..

There has been a HUGE demand for cards, with a lot of people trying to get their hands on them in physical stores. One employee at a Target in upstate New York told MarketWatch that one morning in April people camped outside the store as early as 6:30 a.m. even though there were strong winds and it was raining. Target has had to stop people from camping out. This isn’t even that crazy. In Wisconsin, 4 people were arrested for physically fighting with some guy because of cards, while in queue! The man produced a gun to threaten the 4 people who assaulted him. We’re talking about 5 adults, aged 23-35 years. Which is why, Target banned sale of cards in its offline stores, now they’re only available for sale online.

In Japan, a man broke into a card trading shop at the break of dawn by climbing down a rope he tied to the roof of a six-story building. He stole cards worth $9,000 including 80 Pokémon and Yugioh! cards. He mentioned that he was in the rock climbing club in school and hence wasn’t afraid of heights.

Labour Crisis??

Grading companies are complaining of shortage of labour. The current workers have to work over time to try to meet demand. Vice explained that CGC is offering $2,500 as joining bonus to anyone willing to help the company in assessing the value of these cards. Pokémon is also actively working on printing more cards, which are facing a shortage due to “very high demand.”

This seems like a vintage 90’s Ponzi scheme. How long can people earn money from this? Or maybe I’m wrong. There could be collectors out there willing to pay top dollars for them, at any point in time. It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right… (Thanks Green Day!)