Hi everyone,

I'm writing this because I'm honestly devastated, and I don't really know what else to do at this point. I'm hoping someone in this community might have some advice, or perhaps help me get this story heard.

I've been collecting Pokémon cards for around 30 years. Back in 2021, I sold most of my vintage collection, but there were two cards I just couldn't bring myself to part with: my 1st Edition Neo Revelation holographic Noctali (Umbreon) and my 2005 Pikachu Comic-Con Ditto promo. I kept them, along with a few other less valuable cards that were dear to me, because I simply couldn't imagine letting these two go.

They were more than just valuable collectibles. They were pieces of my childhood and memories of decades of collecting. Even when I decided to sell most of my collection, these were the cards I knew I wanted to keep.

Unfortunately, those two cards are now lost after a shipment handled by UPS.

The parcel was sent from Portugal to France. It was supposed to be delivered directly to the recipient's home with an adult signature. Instead, UPS marked it as delivered to an Access Point in a neighbouring town. When the recipient went there, neither he nor the shop could find the parcel. The signature recorded by UPS was essentially just a line.

After investigating, UPS officially classified the parcel as lost and opened a claim.

The two cards inside were:

• Noctali (Umbreon) — Neo Revelation, 1st Edition holographic, valued at €2,000.
• Ditto — 2005 Pikachu Comic-Con promotional card #63/113, valued at €950.

These weren't random cards I'd bought to flip for a profit. They were two of my favourite cards in my collection, and I deliberately held on to them when I sold most of my vintage collection five years ago. Losing them this way, after all these years, is genuinely heartbreaking.

What makes the whole situation even worse is that the person who bought the cards is not just some random buyer. He's the same person who originally bought most of my vintage collection back in 2021, and we've maintained a good relationship over the years. I trusted him with cards that meant a lot to me, and I wanted this transaction to go smoothly. Instead, I've had to refund my buyer for a parcel he never received, while I'm left without the money, without my two beloved cards, and with no idea whether they'll ever be recovered or have been permanently lost or destroyed.

On top of that, I'm stuck in what feels like an endless cycle of emails and correspondence with UPS, trying to get my claim properly heard and obtain fair compensation. It's exhausting to have to keep fighting for a resolution after the company has already acknowledged that the parcel is lost.

I'm not trying to make assumptions about what happened to the cards after they disappeared, but the way this shipment was handled and the difficulty of getting a fair resolution have been incredibly frustrating.

I'm hoping the Pokémon community might be able to help me with a few things:

1. Has anyone here dealt with UPS losing valuable Pokémon cards?

Were you able to get a fair resolution? Is there anything specific I should be doing, or any escalation route that actually worked for you? I'd especially appreciate advice from anyone who has successfully challenged UPS's compensation decision.

2. What would you do in my position?

I'm already pursuing the formal claim, but I'd really appreciate any advice from people who have been through something similar. Are there any consumer protection organisations, formal complaints procedures, or other routes I should consider in Portugal or France?

3. How could I get this story in front of Pokémon TCG creators or influencers?

I'm thinking of well-known collectors, YouTubers, or content creators who might be willing to share the story and raise awareness. I have no idea how best to approach them, and I would be grateful for any recommendations, contacts, or advice on reaching out.

I don't expect anyone to solve my problem for me, but perhaps someone with a platform could help make this story visible and encourage UPS to take the situation seriously.

4. Can we raise awareness about shipping valuable cards?

I want other collectors to be aware of what happened so they can take precautions when shipping cards they care about. We spend years building our collections, and some of these cards have sentimental value that goes far beyond their market price. I don't want someone else to go through the same experience without knowing the risks.

If this can help even one person avoid a similar experience, at least something positive might come from it.

I'm not asking anyone to harass UPS employees or to make assumptions about what happened to my parcel. I just want answers, a fair resolution, and hopefully some way to get this story heard.

Right now, I feel like I've lost three things: the money I've had to refund to my buyer, two cards that I held on to for decades because they meant so much to me, and an incredible amount of time and energy trying to get a company to take responsibility for a parcel it has declared lost.

If anyone has advice, has experienced something similar, or knows a creator who might be willing to help amplify this, I'd genuinely appreciate it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. This community is built around a shared love of these cards, and right now I could really use some help from fellow collectors.

NB: The parcel was insured, but UPS is now disputing the compensation amount and refusing to reimburse me up to the insured value, which is adding another layer of frustration to an already devastating situation.

I got a little desperate so don’t judge me. I basically traded 4 packs for 18 packs so that’s a win to me. I only paid MSRP for the Evolving Skies anyways.

I opened these up with my cousin and man we were not disappointed, the pulls are insane and as a Pikachu collector I love how every pack has a Pikachu in it.

I haven’t had this much fun pulling packs since Sword and Shield (I stopped collecting after S&S). I ruined the hobby for myself by always looking up the value for the cards in advance, and hoping for the expensive card rather than the card I liked. This time around I’m not checking prices for the cards until I collect at least 80% of the cards.

25th anniversary was the only set I’ve ever mastered and now I actually want to master this set as well. It was so worth the 5-year wait.

I don’t know every card in the set yet so I’m surprised as I go. I’ll eventually look at the book when I open an ETB. I don’t even know what my Chase card is but I think I may have pulled it with this.

This trade was so worth it in my book, idc what anyone says.

I recently pulled three Charizards from the Pokémon 30th Anniversary set and noticed something interesting about the middle card.
The two outer cards have a bright, glittery gold holographic border, while the middle card has a noticeably darker, smoother gold border with much less sparkle.
Has anyone else noticed this variation? Is this normal printing variation, or could it potentially be a holofoil error?
Curious to hear what everyone thinks!

So upset right now and I just need to vent. I went to a card show here local to me that they have every Wednesday night -

At the end of the show I visited one last vendor before leaving, but when I left I realized I had left my personal binder at the booth. I went back, picked up my binder from the vendor, but after checking the pages (it wasnt very full) I realized that one of the most expensive cards in the whole binder was missing.

I confronted the vendor about either taking the card or accidentally selling it, but he didn't own up to anything. So either the vendor took this card, or someone else stole from my binder during the show. There was one other guy that asked to see my collection while I was waiting to buy a card. It could have been him as well.

$350 card, gone, just like that. This hobby brings out the absolute worst scum of the earth, and I am sick of it. Im tired of people stealing from me, and trying to scam me.

Unfortunately no, there were no cameras in this room, I checked with security already.

Edit: wow you people are wild. Yes it is my fault for leaving my binder. No I did not do it on purpose, stop acting like I did. No, it is not my fault for being stolen from, regardless of the circumstances. Yes, people steal sht all the time, doesn't make it ok. Yes, people stole from this binder before, but no I did not know it was worth anything at the time so I had no reason to be careful. Also shitty for a friend to steal from you, still not my fault.

I was shooooookk!! I was casually opening and ofc it’s always when I’m too lazy to film myself ripping some packs (it was late at night) I freaking saw this and froze 🤣 my bf was so confused cuz I just gasped and didn’t say anything for like a minute.

His response: “what!?”

Me: 😶‍🌫️….

Him: “did you finally get night time pika?!”

lol then I showed him and he was like 😱
willldddd

#rgbmew

TLDR: Preordered lots of 30th Pokemon at GameStop, put 50% of scalper prices down, product arrived early at GameStop, they called my old out of service phone number because their system can’t be updated with new ones. They sold my preorder.

This is my PSA…though I’m sure I’m the only one just figuring it out. So I, like many long time fans (Silver was my first game), am super excited for the 30th. I, like many other people, am busy, busy enough that I can’t be camping out at 3AM in Target hoping for the chance to get product.

So while I saw GameStop had pre-orders left, at insane pricing, I was willing (foolishly) to pay for it considering that was the price for convenience. I pay more but I’m guaranteed to get 1 of each type of product (which is all I want) and can pick up without having to battle scalpers, wait in line etc. So I pre-order one of everything with GameStop and paid 50% down and I even signed up for the paid membership because I would earn the cost of it back as I was purchasing so much.

I had a membership previously and it turned out it had my old phone number that’s no longer in service. I asked should I update it and the Manager said “even if I update it our system will revert it back”. So I finished my purchase inquired about the dates, had my receipt, being happy that I’ll at least get what I pre-ordered (that is how pre-orders work…) right? WRONG!!

I was told that the 2nd wave of ETB’s for 30th dropped October 16th. Today is the 15th. I swung by today for something else and noticed they had Wave 2 on the remaining 30th products they have. So I go to purchase what I browsed for, after waiting in line forever and I asked if Wave 2 ETB’s came in and the manager who sold me the products said they did. I excitedly asked to pickup my preorder. Manager says I can’t. I’m like What do you mean can’t?? They said all Wave 2 preorder customers had been contacted and have picked them up.

What do you mean? I was never contacted! They say they call the phone number on file…which was the out of service phone number. The manager then told me that even if the product arrives early, preorder customers have 48 hours to pick it up before it gets sold and THEY would get in trouble if they don’t.

I was like how am I supposed to pickup product I’ve paid and preordered with the wrong number in the system?? I mentioned that I asked when signing up for the membership if I should update the number and the Manager was like the system would have reverted back to the original number…

So I’m in a Catch-22, I preordered and PAID money down, can’t be contacted because their system apparently doesn’t remember when something is edited. They’ll sell product the second it arrives so I can’t even pick it up on the date THEY told be to return by. So what happens if I never stopped in on a chance and asked? Do they keep my money WITHOUT providing the good or service that was paid for?? Apparently that is the case.

There’s also another name for this. FRAUD. The wrongful deception with the intent for financial gain. I preordered product, put money down, expecting that the product would be held, they sold it anyway, and if I didn’t follow up I would be none the wiser.

If the scalper prices weren’t bad enough be warned just because you put money down and preorder something at GameStop doesn’t mean you’ll actually receive the product. Obviously I canceled all my pending pre-orders with them.

Newb here , just wondering something. My LCS did a 30th “restock” today… going in to see all products are priced at market value $70 for booster bundle, $25 knockout etc. I was pretty disappointed bc I thought a restock meant was being sold at retail , getting their product from a vendor I’m assuming. Anyone can get on eBay or marketplace to buy these items at this price .. just wondered if this was normal. Pretty excited to see more drop but disappointed at the prices and not sure if this was across the board . Thanks everybody

why???? Why with me??? i dont understand

hi guys, just received this card from ebay. i’m not too fussed cus i only paid £2 but i still would like it to be clean. what’s the best way to clean it without damaging or ruining the cards

Just got my first Pokémon card pack from an arcade place and got this bad boy! Could be rly crap, but it looks super cool and I’m taking good care of it lol. I’m like just learning the actual card game rules, so I gotta get a full deck, but lmk where I can see like card specific stuff. Also any other tips about anything else would be appreciated!

Have been itching to get into Pokémon card collecting for about 3 years now but decided it wasn't worth it because I've only watched Indigo, Orange, and Johto. When 151 was released I loved the art but still no dice in jumping in. Finally after all the prices went up I'm jumping in to Grandmaster Set 151. These are the first cards that were delivered with 95 more on the way. Rest will be purchased from my local stores and events.

So my apartment neighbor is currently moving out, and the entire time I have lived next to him I’ve seen him throw out perfectly fine TVs, coffee tables, etc. He’s a cool dude so I figured I’d ask him if there was anything he’s throwing out I could take a look at. He showed me some furniture but then picked up two binders and seemed like he was about to toss them. I asked if I could take a look, he said yes, so I took them back to my apartment just now. I went through the first binder, and these are the biggest cards out of that binder. I haven't gone through the second binder yet. It's pretty crazy to me that people would just throw this out, but I guess one man's trash is another man's treasure. I don’t want to spam photos of cards, so I’ll attach photos of some of the type of cards I found in the first binder. Some of these seem to have been kept in fantastic shape, and when I scanned some with PSA I realized he just gave me thousands of dollars of cards even if a majority come back 8s with some 9s. The Black & White Lugia EX looks pristine, at least just based off the corners/edges/surface/back. I highly doubt this is a gem candidate, but my lord if it somehow is, this may be the biggest come up in my life.

Yes I did put it in a penny sleeve and then a plastic card protector as soon as I pulled it but I took it out to take better pics :) love this artwork so much!

Found some of the poster boxes today at DG. Ripped them with the wife and kid after dinner and my wife pulled this on her first pack. In two packs she’s opened she’s managed this and a Gengar. I think wife luck is real.

Hey gang,

Besides the four Futuristic Rares introduced in 30th and the many Trainer Cards over the years. Does anyone recall any others times we have had Pokémon cards that have had Energy symbols in the card art?

I am making a list of Water Energy Cameos (and turning it into a broader Energy Cameo Database). I will share when its closer to being completed.

Watch out, Mega Kangashkan Ex, there's an old kid in the block!
(I suspect not even this way a whole deck of Base Set Pokémon would be competitive due to weak or non-existent powers, heh)

I bought 3 boxes, got my friends' chase, my chase (my favorite eeveelution, leafeon) AND the secret rare of my chase. i feel SO lucky even though i didnt really get any big hitters from packs.

was playing with my keychain staring at the glitter when i realized it was a marijuana leaf 😭 how did that get past the censors LMAO

product: Simplified Chinese Terastal Gathering Quicksand Keychain Collection

Ever seen anything like this

Peak was ~$85 a booster box. That was fun.

I ordered 2x 30th anniversary etb from them and they flagged my order for FRAUD?? Now they’re asking for pictures of my id and a 4 digit code in my banking history, why tf should I have to do this nonsense, then I check the cancellation policy and they only give store credit? But if they’re fking worried about fraud, wouldn’t giving me store credit result in the same fking problem? Shit makes no sense.

anyone else have to deal with this nonsense from them?

I've just received my booster box from Cardmarket and was happy to open it until... I came across my first booster, hard to open okay...

Second booster, even harder to open wtf. It can't be? Checking the cards... one of them is badly scratched on the back. Holy hell this is a booster box of tampered boosters.

I'm not even angry, I'm just sad. I'm not crying but damn if I were a kid I would be drowning in tears.

The seller has 99 positive comments and more than 200 sales. I opened a ticket and wrote him a message asking where he got it.

I don't think I'm gonna see my money I have literally 0 review on my account of a few years.

This hobby is toxic. I've been hardly buying 30th products, so then there is the scalper price, so I thought I would go back to my main collection of 151 but then this happened...