Pokemon cards

It wasn't too long ago that I saw a guy in the shop, maybe in his mid to late teens try to haggle with a co-worker from being a couple of pennies short of being able to afford the Koraidon Slashing Legends Tin with the words "i'm hoping that i can get some money for some friends" and i had to wonder if it was a form of abstract gambling to hope that you'll win big with 4 packs of Pokemon cards and sell them onto another shop that imports, exports and grades cards not too far from our own.

We get a lot of people asking for Pokemon, i'd haggle about 45% of them are people that are buying to sell on mint in box or they're playing the game of hoping to win big. And we sell out quick! there are dud sets and people seem to hate the larger tins people have only gravitated to buying more and more no matter what it is. 

I think more people are buying magic the gathering to actually play, or at least to have and to hold with the recent final fantasy set.

One of my coworkers who prolifically buys cards, easily peer pressured by the rush of release day and will say he's pawning off his belongings just to buy a few more packs will intensely talk about how much the best card he pulled is worth and yet frequently has to talk about how he doesn't in fact sell them.

I think he's selling them, at least some of them. Call me a cynic.
You can spend that much money on trading cards in order to complete a particular collection but keeping the third, fourth, fifth copy of a card you don't truly need is another thing.

I still find myself getting a little, downhearted about it all?
I found myself growing flatter and flatter as i try to gush about Yoshitaka Amano's art and i'm met with how much it's going for on ebay. 
Maybe it's because it's a side hustle that's crept into a hobby, seemingly easy money on several fronts, hoping that you'll make your money back in the "investment" somehow.
The temptation of buying ETBs and selling them on is ever present when you're the first one to handle them and against company policy and I consciously decide that the risk isn't worth the reward.