Jul 10, 2026
Todd thought he’d found a shortcut to easy money. Instead, he found himself roughly US$15,000 (C$21,300) in debt, with a stack of Pokémon cards he couldn’t sell and a friend’s advice he probably should have questioned sooner.
In a recent episode of The Ramsey Show, Todd called in to tell Dave Ramsey and co-host Jade Warshaw about his “Pikachu problem.” He admitted he got “screwed over” after listening to a friend and racking up debt trying to flip Pokémon cards for a profit. When Ramsey pressed him for an exact number, Todd couldn’t say. He estimated his credit card debt at somewhere between US$10,000 and US$15,000 (C$14,200 to C$21,300) — a wide enough range that Ramsey immediately zeroed in on the real problem.
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It turned out Todd had never actually sold a single card for a profit. “I kind of just winged it because I saw other success stories,” he admitted. When Warshaw asked what was driving him, Todd pointed to a vague sense of hustle, while also admitting he had been bouncing between jobs.
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Ramsey’s response was blunt: get a full-time job, pick up a second one if needed, pay off the debt as fast as possible, and call in favours from the friends who talked him into selling the cards he’s stuck holding.
Todd’s story is extreme, but the instinct behind it isn’t rare. Whether it’s Pokémon cards, sneakers or trading cards of any kind, the pitch is the same: buy low, flip high and let a hobby fund your future. For most people who try it, the reality looks a lot more like Todd’s stack of unsold cards than a highlight-reel resale story.
Why Pokémon cards look like an investment
It’s not hard to see why Todd got swept up. Pokémon’s 30th anniversary in 2026 has fuelled a wave of nostalgia-driven demand, and some of the rarest cards have posted eye-catching returns. According to CNBC, citing data from Card Ladder — a trading card pricing platform — gains during the pandemic boom and a second surge in 2025 far outpaced the S&P 500’s long-term average annual return of 10% to 12%. At the extreme end, a rare Pikachu Illustrator card owned by influencer Logan Paul sold for more than US$16 million (C$22.7 million) in February 2026, setting a record for the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction.
Spending on non-sports trading cards, including Pokémon, jumped 350% between 2020 and 2025, according to market research firm Circana. But that boom has a flip side: prices are unpredictable and heavily driven by hype cycles. These cards lack the decades of steady track record that make something like the S&P 500 a fundamentally safer bet.
For rare, top-trading cards chased by serious collectors, the math can work. For someone acting on a friend’s tip with no experience buying or selling cards, it’s a gamble — funded, in Todd’s case, by credit card debt that keeps building whether or not the cards ever sell.
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The tax wrinkle Canadians should know about
Here’s something that matters for any Canadian thinking about flipping collectibles. If you sell a coin, stamp or other collectible at a profit, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) generally treats it as listed personal property (LPP), a category that covers personal items that can go up in value over time.
However, trading cards like Pokémon cards sit in a grayer zone — CRA hasn't issued specific guidance on them, and depending on the facts they may be treated as LPP, as ordinary personal-use property (which has weaker loss treatment), or, if the activity looks businesslike, as business income.
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For items that do qualify as LPP, both the cost of an item and its sale price are treated as at least C$1,000, even if the actual numbers are lower — so small, casual sales are generally not taxable. If both amounts are $1,000 or less, you don't have a gain or loss and don't need to report the sale at all. But once a sale clears that threshold, any profit above it is a taxable capital gain that you must report.
Watch out for the "set" rule: if you sell pieces of a collection separately — say, splitting a card lot into several sales — CRA can treat the whole group as a single item, so you can't use the $1,000 floor multiple times to shrink your reported gain. This only applies when the pieces are sold to the same buyer or to related persons. If you sell individual pieces to unrelated buyers, each sale can still use its own $1,000 floor.
Losses on these items can only be used to offset profits from other collectibles, not gains from stocks or other investments. These LPP losses aren't just for the current year, though — they can be carried back 3 years or forward 7 years and applied against LPP gains in those years. And the rule only runs one direction: while ordinary capital losses (e.g., from stocks) can be used to reduce an LPP gain, an LPP loss can never be used to reduce a gain on stocks or other investments.
And if buying and reselling starts to look less like a hobby and more like a business — regular purchases and systematic reselling with the clear goal of making a profit — the CRA can treat that income as business income rather than a capital gain, which means it’s taxed at a higher rate. In other words, a “guaranteed flip” isn’t guaranteed, and the profit that is there isn’t automatically yours to keep in full.
Lessons for Canadians thinking about a collectible side hustle
Todd’s story is a reminder — not a reason to swear off collecting altogether. Here are a few practical takeaways, whether you’re eyeing Pokémon cards or anything else marketed as a can’t-miss flip:
Know your numbers before you start
Ramsey’s first instruction to Todd — figure out exactly what you owe — applies before taking on any debt for a side hustle, not just after it goes wrong. If you can’t say precisely what a purchase is costing you in interest, you’re not ready to make it.
Treat collectibles as a hobby first, an investment second
Buy what you’d be happy to keep even if it never sells. The rare, museum-grade cards that post huge returns are a different market than the common cards most casual flippers are buying.
Never use debt to fund a speculative purchase
Interest accrues whether or not the asset sells, and whether or not the market keeps climbing. A card, coin or collectible sitting unsold isn’t generating income to offset that cost.
Understand the tax rules before you sell
If a sale could clear the C$1,000 threshold, keep records of what you paid and when, since the CRA may ask for that documentation later.
Get help early if debt is already piling up
Non-profit credit counselling is free, confidential and accredited across Canada through Credit Counselling Canada, a national network of not-for-profit agencies that can help build a realistic budget and repayment plan — without the fees or pressure of some for-profit “debt relief” companies.
-With files from Melanie Huddart
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Eric Esposito is a freelance contributor on MoneyWise who loves making financial topics accessible and understandable to readers. In addition to MoneyWise, Eric’s work can be found in publications such as WallStreetZen and CoinDesk.
