Collecting First Edition Base Set Pokemon cards

[UndefinedViewer]

I'm thinking of starting to collect Pokemon cards and thought a good place to start is with the Base Set of Pokemon cards. But I'm not sure what method I should follow. I could buy the whole collection but that usually is around $150-200 on eBay. And that seems like it could take some of the enjoyment out of it if I just buy them all at once. Then instead I thought I could buy the packs of cards but unopened packs of Base Set cards seem pretty rare and expensive. As another alternative, I know there are sellers on ebay that sell random lots of 10-50 cards of any series you're looking for (Base Set being one of them) which I thought could be a good option but I thought that that could result in me getting lots of duplicates over time and I'm not sure if this would be a recommended method by many people. Lastly I thought I could just individually buy the cards but this seem like it could be a tedious process and I am also unsure about what constitutes a "complete" Base Set collection of Pokemon cards. I am just looking to collect as a hobby and not to resell and make a profit. So I don't necessarily expect to collect some of the more expensive cards like Error cards and shadowless cards. Any advice or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[donavannj]

Your best bet is probably to buy individually. Sealed boosters have become rare enough that they're a collector's item unto themselves at this point rather than just being the vessel the cards come in.

 

[Kuekuatsheu.]

I'd agree with donavannj, buy them individually. Buying the unopened boosters can be, and in most cases is, very costly and why ruin such a valuable collector's piece? I've found quite a lot of base set cards through random bundles on eBay and another place to pick them up is at local car boots, but the only problem with the car boots is that the season is pretty much over now until next year.