After class ends, James Rickert spends some of his free-time buying, scoring and selling ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ trading cards. In just three months, he’s made $3,400.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, trading card sales have increased due to the popularity among players and card collectors.
James Rickert, a Kansas State University graduate student, played “Yu-Gi-Oh!’ on-and-off since high school. During his time playing, he amassed a collection of cards that he began selling to friends and anyone who asked. In 2023, he created an eBay account and made listings for his cards.
“I ask around to see if anyone wants to sell collections or bulk inventory to me at a discounted price,” Rickert said. “I’ll look through what they had and see what cards are valuable enough to re-sell.” Rickert earned over $3000 in 434 sales in the past three months.
Rickert said there are three types of buyers: players, collectors, and re-sellers. He said collectors are the highest-paying buyers. “Those people will go after more nostalgic-type things. When that comes to ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ that's like Blue Eyes or Dark Magician cards. Anything in that arena sells way better than those that aren’t.”
Rickert said the trading card market is very similar to the stock market. “Prices go up and prices go down depending on the useability of the card, how collectable it is, whether it gets reprinted as a new type of rarity, stuff like that. It’s about reading the market for the cards.”
Benjamin Carter, a full-time employee for Goblin Games, said selling trading cards is one of the store's primary sources of revenue. “There’s a lot more collectors than there used to be,” Carter said. “We have to limit how many people can buy and how much they can buy.”
Goblin Games only sells sealed packs of cards for most games like Pokémon, ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ and Lorcana. It sells individual Magic: The Gathering cards online.
“They’ll reprint an old card and the price will tank the old addition of the card,” Carter said. “There were Magic cards that were worth $80 at the beginning of this year, and then a new set came out in September and reprinted them, dropping the value to $20.” Carter said new cards can come out that pair with old cards, making the older cards more valuable. Carter said he makes about 60 card-based sales per week.
“I mostly got into collecting when all of my friends started playing together,” Johnny Busch – a ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ card collector – said. “I found myself enamored with the game. I liked how the different archetypes looked and played.”
Busch has been collecting cards since high school and played in local ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ tournaments. “Over the years, I simply kept what I had because of the memories attached to them, not for any particular monetary plan.” Busch said he still collects cards and isn’t interested in selling his collection.
“I don’t think I’ve bought a card since 2021,” Ethan Cornine – a “Yu-Gi-Oh!’ player – said. “Every few years, the format changes and overhauls the game. People that get invested in one format get absolutely shafted on the next one.”
Cornine said that the increased price in cards also stopped him from buying cards. “It’s becoming too expensive of a hobby,” Cornine said.
