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Recent issues

Three excerpts so you can see what lands in your inbox before you commit.

Week of 2026-05-25

Charizard ex 151 just dropped — what the market is telling us

A near-mint Charizard ex 151/165 cleared at $32 this week — first time it's broken below $40 since the set's release. Three signals worth watching: (1) Pokémon Center restocks are catching up faster than they did with Obsidian Flames; (2) graded comps are holding steady, so this is supply-side, not demand-side; (3) reverse-holo variants are tracking 12% above non-holo, which is the widest spread we've seen on a modern ex card.

Week of 2026-05-18

Reverse-holo Scarlet & Violet — the quiet 30% gap

Across the four base SV sets, reverse-holo variants are trading at an average 32% premium over their non-holo siblings. That's wider than reverse-holo premiums in Sword & Shield (typical 12-18%) and wider than the historic 10-15% you'd see in vintage. Two hypotheses worth testing: (a) collector demand is shifting toward aesthetic-rare variants now that ungraded vintage is so spendy, (b) print runs on reverse-holo were cut tighter this generation than the official disclosures suggest.

Week of 2026-05-11

Why eBay's 'lowest price' is a trap (and what we do instead)

If you've ever clicked the cheapest 'Charizard NEAR MINT' on eBay and gotten a sleeve, you've met the keyword-stuffing problem. Sellers list accessories with the card's name in the title to ride the search. Foil's curation rejects price outliers (anything below 30% of the credible median), keyword-stuffed titles (lot, bulk, proxy, etc.), and damaged-condition signals — and then takes the cheapest credible survivor. Same logic runs on every per-card page; alerts use the same filter.

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