Price Trends: Pokémon Cards Climbing in Price - 11/20/2024
By Peter Day •
We want you to have the best information available when you price cards on the TCGplayer Marketplace. So to help you get the most from your inventory, we’ve put together a downloadable CSV report of Pokémon cards that have dramatically increased in Market Price in the past 30 days.
(Note: This report only considers Near Mint copies of cards with at least five sales between October 19 and November 17, 2024.)
Here are ten highlights from that report. First, we have the five cards that gained the most value in the past 30 days after starting with a Market Price of $20 or less.
Top 5 Price Increases—PKMN Cards $20 or Less
#5 Bulbasaur - 001/165 (Best Buy Exclusive)
- Set: Miscellaneous Cards & Products
- Increase: +$13.16
- Current Market Price: $26.60
This promo Bulbasaur was given to customers who bought Scarlet & Violet—151 products from Best Buy near the set’s release. Why it’s doubled in price this month is a bit of a mystery. Since the start of the year, Bulbasaur has been planted firmly between $9 and $12, and even a massive buyout on July 19 (when the average number of copies per buyer rose to 25.8) couldn’t uproot it. Then around October 5th, a much smaller buyout caused Bulbasaur’s price to angle upward, and it hasn’t leveled off since. There simply aren’t any Near Mint listings available for less than $20 anymore.
As we’re about to see, Bulbasaur isn’t the only promo card that spiked this month.
#4 Eevee - 133/165 (Pokemon Together)
- Set: Miscellaneous Cards & Products
- Increase: +$13.56
- Current Market Price: $31.27
During November and December 2023, The Pokémon Company International held eight one-day Poké Post pop-up experiences across Europe. Fans could go to the post office and send an Eevee or Pikachu promo card with a “Pokémon Together” stamp to a friend while getting one for themselves, all free of charge.
Sales of this obscure promo have been slow, with less than 100 copies sold in the past three months, but the persistent demand has bit by bit eaten away at the available supply. This month it finally reached a breaking point, and the gradual ascent became vertical. At time of writing, there are no listings for this card under $40.
#3 Noctowl - 141 (Pokemon Center Exclusive)
- Set: Scarlet & Violet Promo Cards
- Increase: +$13.62
- Current Market Price: $33.42
This Noctowl came in the Pokémon Center-exclusive version of the Stellar Crown Elite Trainer Box. Its current price looks nutty, considering that the non-exclusive version is less than $2, and these ETBs are still available from the Pokémon Center for $59.99 with free shipping. There haven’t been any ridiculous buyouts either—the biggest sales day for this Noctowl was on October 6, when the average number of copies per buyer rose to 5.5, and Noctowl’s price remained stable in spite of it for another two weeks.
#2 Mimikyu - 075 (Pokemon Center Exclusive)
- Set: Scarlet & Violet Promo Cards
- Increase: +$16.44
- Current Market Price: $30.39
This Mimikyu came in the Pokémon Center-exclusive version of the Paldean Fates Elite Trainer Box. It spent all of 2024 under $10, until early September, when it shot up seemingly out of nowhere. Speculators bought into that spike on September 26, when the average copies per buyer jumped to 12.3. Another month and a few smaller buyouts later, Mimikyu doubled in price in the first two weeks of November.
#1 Pikachu - 025/165 (Pokemon Together)
- Set: Miscellaneous Cards & Products
- Increase: +$24.44
- Current Market Price: $43.66
Like the Pokémon Together Eevee, this Pikachu was free to give or receive last year, but it’s much harder to acquire now. Its ascent has been even more precipitous than Eevee’s: at time of writing, the lowest listing for this card is over $70.
Next, these are the five cards that gained the most value in the past 30 days after starting with a Market Price over $20.
Top 5 Price Increases—PKMN Cards Over $20
#5 Mew ex
- Set: Prize Pack Series Cards
- Increase: +$58.06
- Current Market Price: $113.11
Before now, all the most valuable Price Pack Series cards have come from earlier packs that showcased Sword & Shield cards. Those cards were released in the midst of the pandemic-era Pokémon TCG collecting boom, before that boom translated into record tournament attendance and easier access to the Prize Packs players earned from them.
Mew ex bucks that trend, being the first Scarlet & Violet Series Prize Pack card over $100. The low number of sales overall make it fiendishly hard to tell whether this spike is being driven by players, collectors, or speculators.
#4 Gengar VMAX (Alternate Art Secret)
- Set: Fusion Strike
- Increase: +$67.68
- Current Market Price: $389.65
Gengar VMAX is rising again, though it’s still below the all-time high of over $400 it reached back in May. This rise appears to be organic. Gengar is sneakily the second-most popular Pokémon in the franchise (by some metrics), so the return of spooky season and the abysmal pull rates of Fusion Strike have been enough to push Gigantamax Gengar into 4th place among the most expensive cards of the Sword & Shield Series.
- Set: Paldean Fates
- Increase: +$79.62
- Current Market Price: $192.09
Speculators have been targeting Mew ex for months—there have been dozens of days since May when the number of copies per buyer rose to between 2 and 5. To me, this behavior reads less like speculators were attempting to force an immediate price spike, and more like they were hedging for when Paldean Fates eventually became harder to find. Certainly these sales did little to affect Mew ex’s price in the short term, as it floated around the mid-$80s all summer.
Then in October, all that attention and the approaching 1-year anniversary of Paldean Fates finally caught up with Mew ex, and it more than doubled in price in just two weeks. A similar spike has hit the other two major chase cards from the set (Charizard and Gardevoir), though less popular cards like Iono and Pikachu appear unaffected.
#2 Rayquaza VMAX (Alternate Art Secret)
- Set: Evolving Skies
- Increase: +$91.27
- Current Market Price: $505.25
Like Gengar, Rayquaza is experiencing an organic-looking spike that has yet to push the card over its all-time high ($550 in June). The second-most valuable card in the Sword & Shield Series isn’t getting any easier to find over time.
#1 Umbreon VMAX (Alternate Art Secret)
- Set: Evolving Skies
- Increase: +$355.37
- Current Market Price: $1,376.88
Umbreon VMAX on the other hand is more expensive than it’s ever been. The top card of the Sword & Shield Series has cleared the $1k threshold it broke briefly in May, and is threatening to pass $1400. Enough of the most recent purchasers have picked up multiple copies each that I can’t confidently say this spike is organic, but with a card as famous as “Moonbreon,” the sky-high prices create their own demand.
By selling these cards online, you can reach a broad audience of customers who are willing to pay what these cards are truly worth. Download the November 2024 Price Trends Report to review every Pokémon card that went up in value this month. Then list those cards on TCGplayer so your inventory can do more for your business.
Download the Pokémon Price Trends Report
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