About us

Introduction

Welcome to Total Cards! Let me introduce myself... My name is Adrian, I am the founder of Total Cards / Card Team.

I have always collected Pokemon cards from the initial release in 1999 and even had the mind blowing experience as a youngster of pulling a Charizard which I still have to this very day!

I never really stopped collecting and always held onto my cards and growing up I have always had a guilty pleasure of buying all things Pokemon, way before the resurgance of Pokemon being popular again...

While collecting during the late 2000's, I was unemployed and soon found collecting Pokemon cards on a budget wasn't easy, without a job and soon needed extra money to pay for newer cards. I decided to start selling some of my spares back in 2011 just to make a little cash to buy new releases such as 'Black & White' Base set.

Early 2000's

After some time, I started selling some of my cards on ebay and noticed the growing demand for my cards was something I was not prepared for. I didn't even have an ebay store name and simply sold some cards to make a little money. Whilst selling cards on ebay, I was actively looking for a job to help me buy new packs, that was all it ever was. At the same time, I noticed that there was a lack of passion for the Pokemon TCG and attention to detail when selling cards.

It was clear that this was missing from the UK at the time, and some of the companies that sold Pokemon cards simply didn't share the same passion for Pokemon as I was applying to my ebay listings. There was no go-to store online that focused solely on Pokemon and the stores that did sell Pokemon didn't have the other items I was interested in as a collector.

I continued to buy from various stores online, which proved to be very tedious and over the course of a couple of years I noticed increasing prices and very limited availability for various products as nobody in the UK would stock some of the Pokemon TCG products I needed for my sealed collection. I had no choice but to purchase these from outside the UK which would cost me even more for my hobby. It was at this point I had to change these circumstances. I guessed others would have been in the same situation as myself and needed to take action.

Early 2010's

This is when I made the decision of making my ebay slightly more official from which I would be able to combine my personal hobby of buying and selling cards. By now my ebay account had gained some traction and and was consuming most of my free time during the day and evening. I had a single goal of helping improve the availability and standard of buying Pokemon cards in the UK as this was becoming more of an inconvenience when buying cards than a hobby.

As my eBay store reached new heights, I used my previous career skills of Web Design and Digital Marketing to move my store away from eBay as it wasn't for me and never offered the right platform to help my business and it cost more than I was happy to pay them to simply sell my cards. I took the time to build a website and launched 'Card Team' with all my cards listed including some of the more rare and hard to find products that I was unable to source over the years. Card Team was also founded on the poor shopping experience and lack of passion for the cards and the game that I had received from other online stores.

The website grew to great strengths and it became my full time job in 2013, however due to unfortunate circumstances and many late nights trying my best to save the business, I had to close Card Team in 2015. I was greatly disappointed that I was not able to get things off the ground and unfortunately had to close the website. I didn't want to give up the love that was my first ever business, I needed to continue doing what I loved best and selling cards was more than a passion, it felt like a purpose in my life, and I didn't see any other way but to make another go of things. This time with an even greater determination to make things work with Total Cards, my ethos and motivations remained exactly the same as the Pokemon TCG meant even more to me as it had become my entire life for the last few years.

Late 2010's

From the early days of 2010 I've spent 10/15 hours each waking day on putting everything I have into making this a success, Total Cards soon found success's when I had to get assistance from my partner Victoria and my Mam when deliveries would arrive for a Pokemon release. As the deliveries became larger by the month, so did the amount of stock I had to store.

Over the next few years the site expanded so much that I had to move the business out of my spare rooms at home and move to a much larger purposeful business premises. During this same time Victoria then quit her job to join me full time given that she had dedicated most of her free time on an evening after her normal 9-5 job and would then assist with other duties as Total Cards was now growing past something I could manage on my own. I also expanded our stock by taking on new and existing Trading Card Games to sit alongside our increasing amount of Pokemon products.

Early 2020's

Fast-forward 11 years and Total Cards is now at the forefront of stocking the cheapest Pokemon products online and also many other TCG's, Card Games, Board Games, Miniatures, Comics, Role-Playing Games, Merchandise, Collectables, Funko Figures and so much more, providing the very best service and becoming one of the only places to purchase all your geeky supplies. The store continues to grow and we still keep the high standards of service and offer the lowest prices, as I set out to provide back in 2011, as this after all was our ultimate goal.

As we move forward we now have invested in a brand new Gaming Centre which is located at our HQ here in Newton Aycliffe, stocked with all the Pokemon products you could only dream of, and daily events hosting clubs for every single game we sell. This is now the ultimate place to play, trade and hang out with other like minded geeks who love the games as much as we do.

Total Cards is constantly growing and evolving, becoming very popular and reputable with over 14,000k reviews on Trustpilot, a 10,000k SQ ft Warehouse in the North East of the UK and a growing team of dedicated and passionate staff who have helped shape this business into the driving force that it is today! We continue to change the TCG industry in the UK by offering the most competitive prices ever and so much more to TCG communities all over the UK!

This is only the beginning for us and the past 6 years are only just the beginning for us as we continue to expand from the team of 20 that we are today and constantly growing and evolving into the UK's largest and dedicated hobby shop for all things geeky and nerdy!

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