Due to my recent frustration with English card quality, I’m thinking about turning my attention to collecting Japanese cards.
Instead of collecting complete sets, like I’ve been doing for English sets, I think I’m going to just go for the Ultra Rares and maybe holos of each new set.
What would be the best way to do this? Should I buy booster boxes when new sets come out, or should I be buying the cards separately.
Japanese cards are sooo expensive on eBay. Is there a different place you guys go to get your Japanese cards?
Thanks for any help!! =]
And if this isn’t the right place to post this…please let me know!
The overall quality of Japanese cards has always been way ahead of their English counterparts. Now I generally do not collect the newer sets (all of mine are long out of print) but when it comes to buying cards it’s all the same. Personally, I would buy a booster box, then sell the commons/uncommon and duplicate holo cards you don’t need and use the cash for the cards you want. Ebay is a bit tricky at times. Like you said the prices are high but eventually one will be listed for a decent price. It just requires patience. I would avoid buying singles from a set as it is a surefire way to overpay. At the same time, you have to outweigh if is is cheaper than buying multiple booster boxes/packs to get the card you are looking for. Honestly, I would just buy the whole complete sets…let someone else to the work and it is cheaper in the long run.
The quality of Japanese cards are definitely better. I am pretty sure they are better for collecting as less are printed than the English counter parts.
In most cases you won’t be finding any Japanese booster boxes or packs from E-Series to the end of the PCG series (EX sets). If you do they will be snatched up almost immediately or sold for extreme prices (Think $9/pack+ prices). They may pop up once every few months and then you will competing with almost all collectors. You can goto eBay for most of the new sets; they have decent prices.
As far as the ultra rares yes you can goto eBay for those, or cruise Yahoo Japan and use a middle man. You may be able to find some good deals there every once in a while too.
How much do Japanese 1st edition E-Series 1 sealed boxes go for nowadays? I may know someone who has a couple of boxes, and I’m not sure what the right price would be. Any help on that would be appeciated!
You can find them on yahoo japan for about 8400 JPY a piece. With fees and such it would probably end up in the $140 range, so Daria is accurate. On the other hand you can probably find the full set for the same price.
Thanks for the reply! My friend also happens to have a 1st edition base booster box that is still sealed (English). Any idea on what those may go for as well?
japanese cards are somewhat expensive but it also depends from which sets.the newer cards most of us get a box or more of them and try to complete it that way.With the new ex’s that just have been released the japanese versions some of them have died down in value than before.