I recently bought a box of Japanese Star Birth brand new, sealed, shrink wrapped for just over $100 USD. Should I keep this sealed? I have a feeling my money would be better spent holding it sealed. But I do have a major impulse to open it lol. I would love to pull that 103 FA Charizard but I realize the chances of that are ridiculously small and I would essentially be treating it like an expensive lottery ticket. Are there enough other valuable cards to recoup some of my money back if I don’t pull anything I like? Are there any Japanese boxes right now that are decent value for opening?
i would not open it with the intent to get any gains other than the experience. you’ll most likely pull a $3 full art.
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If it’s about money, the answer is always to keep it sealed. If you want to open it for the fun of it, go ahead. If you consider it an investment, don’t.
The ROI for opening a booster box will always be terrible, otherwise there wouldn’t be sealed boxes. The only exception being hyped Japanese sets you get at MSRP through lotteries. Holiday sets fare a bit better – you’ll recoup maybe 50% on average (e.g. VSTAR Universe).
It’s not worth it unless you’re very lucky. I usually open one box at MSRP to appreciate the art, but that’s it.
Even if you’re very lucky and get the Charizard, it’s not exactly a huge gain compared to the sealed product.
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Thanks for keeping my feet on the ground lol. I’ll try to keep it sealed haha.
A month shy of 7 years between posts. That has to be some kind of record!
Haha yep I got way into Pokemon card collecting back in 2013-14 when my childhood nostalgia came back with a fury lol. I sold off part of my collection awhile after I think due to feeling like I had spent too much money at the time on pokemon cards. Now I wish I hadn’t sold any lol. Been getting back into it. Glad I held onto some of my favorite cards from the old days.
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Open it and enjoy it.
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If you’re looking to have some fun, I would open it. You can always buy another box and keep it sealed.
Alternatively, you could buy a VStar Universe box to open. 
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Better open it now, unless you bought it directly from pokemon center in Japan. The worst is to keep it sealed for 20 years and then open to find a box of napkins! It has happened before and it will happen again.
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Seller seemed trustworthy and box doesn’t look like it was tampered with. Shrink wrap looks normal and box shows no signs of being opened but ya never know right?
Yeah I am tempted to get a box of Vstar universe to open. less packs for the same price but seems like maybe a little better hit rate?
Nobody will buy from resellers/websites they don’t trust. But sometimes in life, it is the person/thing you trusted most that lets you down!
On the other hand, juice is delicious!
via https://old.reddit.com/r/PokemonTCG/comments/14jw7rm/vstar_universe_juice_reseal_scam_on/
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Well I opened it! It was fun! First Japanese booster box I’ve ever opened. I think I got some decent hits what do you think?
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The one bummer is my two Vstar cards (Charizard and Arceus) both had scratches running vertically on the back of the card right out of the pack! Manufacturing defect 
Fortunately the SR and HR were both pristine
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I would recommend buying from a large seller on eBay. Even better, buy from a legitimate card store.
Make sure to double check that the seller has sold these booster boxes before and that reviews indicate good transactions. The mass transaction history should show as a number like this:
It’s worth paying an extra few bucks to buy from a trusted seller.
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The fun is in the opening. The way it should be. 