Phonecards work like any other collectible in one respect: There is a market, and the price fluctuates depending on supply and demand. On the other hand, the phonecard market is quite different. Many of the issues are limited runs. Additionally, the collector base for phonecards is pretty small right now, a lot of buying and selling takes place between dealers. This is a normal activity for collectibles, after all, this is done extensively for coins and sportscards. However, both of the other hobbies have strong collector bases, something that phonecards can not yet claim.
There are currently two arguments circulating concerning the current state of the market. I favor one of them, but I want to present both. The first looks at the current trend negatively. People buy phonecards, they feel (and sometimes are told) that phonecards are a great investment. Look at the $1600 National Convention Card (that incidentally can be had at a fraction of the price) Buying phonecards at sportscard shows, that is the talk I personally hear from dealers who are not too knowledgeable. All of a sudden, prices start to drop, and the collector feels burned. After all, if you purchased a Monsters of the Gridiron card for $40 expecting it to reach $100, wouldn't you feel upset if you saw someone offer the card in quantity for $5? If you purchased a box of Classic Assets for $95 (Which I did) aren't you going to be mad that someone now is selling them for $45?
The second argument looks at the trend more favorably. Collecting phonecards is like any other collectible. When you purchase a collectible, you should realize that the value of the items gets determined by market forces. The card may go up, the card may go down. For those of you who do not know, this is the view that I tend to favor. Any collectibles market needs correction every now and then. This happened in the early 1990's with the sportscard market. Printing sportscards became synonymous with printing money. Same thing with phonecards. Print a phonecard for $5, have it sell for $40? This does not make a lot of sense to me. Too much of an emphasis has been placed on collecting high priced specialty cards, not enough emphasis on purchasing lower priced (face value) cards and actually using them! I feel that this correction is vital for phonecards to succeed as a hobby.
I know that some of you may feel that this is a contradiction in terms, but there is not much growth potential if all we do is collect speculator collectors, print small runs of cards and have the prices climb to unreachable heights for the common collector. I hope that prices continue to fall, speculators are scared away, and people begin to collect cards because they like the card. I don't advocate ignoring the potential profit in a card. I've purchased cards because I feel that they may go up in value at some time. I am also advocating purchasing a card because you actually like it, and would continue to like it even if the market price drops below what you paid for the card. If you like the card and are happy with it, you can not go wrong. Before you purchase another high priced card, ask yourself if you are collecting the card because you like it, or strictly because it seems like it is a good investment.