Pokemon 151 UPC - Another Charizard UPC situation?
Last year we had the craze around the Charizard UPC. Pre-orders were going for €150, €200, €250 or even more. Then it came out, and Pokemon showed it had taken a different approach than with the Celebrations UPC. They printed, and printed, and printed.... and printed. Quickly the price dropped to €100 on cardmarket, which in my understanding is way below MSRP. Today (almost a year after release) it's still available for €100 😂 Now back to the Mew Pokemon 151 UPC. I see a similar scenario playing out. It's already being sold below MSRP (for €120) on Cardmarket and it JUST released. I mean the demand for 151 is insane, the product is amazing, but still... below MSRP within a couple days after release. I wouldn't be surprised if it dropped below €100 very soon. What can we learn from this? The Pokémon Company International has stepped up their game in adding more supply to deal with the insane demand. This is a good thing, now we can all get product more easily and enjoy the amazing cards they are releasing currently. This is also the role modern products play in the eco system of Pokemon. They are supposed to be readily available, get people engaged and into the hobby. The lesson Investing wise, is for me that it's not as simple as buying a UPC on pre-order and waiting for the value to go to the moon. The balance of supply and demand in English modern Pokemon has shifted from insane demand and low supply, to insane demand and insane amounts of supply 😅 All in all I do like developments like this. This is when the real collectors/investors that love Pokemon get to thinking and shift their approach/strategies and when the easy scalpers drop off cause theres no more easy money to be made.