Price check and info on Japanese Base set booster box

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Hi guys,
I’m thinking about buying a Japanese base set booster box. Only one for sale on eBay.
I’m not that educated when it comes to these things so any information is helpful (price range, where to find, how to check if they are real, problem with fakes, those kind of things).
Thanks!

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Any help would be greatly appreciated :slight_smile:

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I guess not much interest in those boxes right now. If one pops up on eBay you should nab it. Or if you want one from an e4 member, state your generous offer. Maybe someone here will give one up;)

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Not much interest ,not much around, or maybe even both I guess…

Definitely planning on adding it to my want list but I’m not blindly putting down a number there.

Plus they seem to be sealed differently compared to English boxes, so what should I look at?
No logo’s on the seal if I’m correct?

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There are a few different versions of the Japanese Base Set booster box. The main two to look out for are the “For Sale in Japan Only” version and the blank bottom version without the above text. The blank bottom is more sought after as it is an earlier version of the booster box. The other version is the short pack booster box which is incredibly scarce and is the very first version released. It is slightly smaller than the regular versions with a few little design differences too.

Even the “For Sale in Japan Only” booster box is relatively scarce and seldom appears on the market.

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Great info.
Are those somewhat comparable to the “Green wing” English boxes, maybe a bigger chance for No rarity but definitely not guaranteed?
What is on the bottom of a regular box?
The only one on eBay I can find is this “For Sale in Japan Only” box:
www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Pokemon-1996-Base-Set-Booster-Box-Sealed-Original-Basic-Set-RARE/122906696594

Edit: There are currently 3 for sale on eBay ranging from $3950 to $4500, all seem to have different bottoms

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You would have to link the 3 on eBay as I can’t seem to find it on my upside down internet services here in Ausland. A sealed short pack booster box is arguably the scarcest sealed item in the hobby and with an approximate release period of around a year. NR had to best estimations a minimum release of 50ish days and probably not too long after that (again approximate). Base Set had very slow initial sales in Japan so those first 50ish or so days product may have been more restricted than later on when sales picked up later in the year etc.
So in essence you have to find the scarcest sealed item in the hobby and even if you manage this task the odds of NR are almost non existent. You can check this thread out it has some more early info on the early history of Pokemon TCG

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Not looking for the scarsest I can find directly. Just a nice looking 1996 base box will do, nothing special.
These are the ones for sale now:
1: www.ebay.com/itm/Pokemon-1996-Base-Booster-Box-JAPANESE-SEALED-ORIGINAL/233194060327?hash=item364b72fa27:g:~msAAOSwcB5cralw
2: www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Pokemon-1996-Base-Set-Booster-Box-Sealed-Original-Charizard-NO-NAME/113694450653?hash=item1a78b7a3dd:g:ywYAAOSw6P5brYvR
3: www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Pokemon-1996-Base-Set-Booster-Box-Sealed-Original-Basic-Set-RARE/122906696594?hash=item1c9dcf5b92:g:2cUAAOSw0lVa-dPT

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Personally I would look for the box in the best condition, the box version is not important unless you want to collect every version. The first 2 are the “no text” versions and are considered slightly earlier release. The only difference will be the “no text” versions will have a better chance of having 291¥ packs over 300¥ packs.

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Not in perfect condition but still looks good, does this seem legit?
www.ebay.com/itm/Pokemon-1996-Base-Booster-Box-JAPANESE-SEALED-ORIGINAL/233217682613?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140131123730%26meid%3D044cd770631f4091a61a0bf67dea9e07%26pid%3D100167%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D122906696594%26itm%3D233217682613&_trksid=p5411.c100167.m2940

Edit: Quite a lot of new listings all of the sudden, not just this one!

This one looks great for a great price:
www.ebay.com/itm/Pokemon-Japanese-Base-Set-Trading-Card-TCG-Booster-Box-1996-Charizard-60-Packs/163675749065?hash=item261bd5bac9:g:6lwAAOSwt2NczL6l

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Im after one of these boxes also. How can you tell if the plastic seal is original or not?

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Another question, I thought one out of every 2 packs contains a holo but a Dave and Adams listing states there are 20 holos in a box of 60 packs. Was the one in two packs holo only for the later sets?

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I regrettably sold my 2 boxes. I should have kept one. My sales from just over a year ago were both $2k. With the low availability, I think a fair price is about $3.5k

$4k seems steep today, but it will get there eventually.

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As for the plastic wrap, it is terrible for base boxes. I have one of the earlier boxes that lacks the “for sale in japan” text, and the plastic wrap is the worst on any sealed product I own. They left the sides open, which was on the early boxes.

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Not that many references, but this one did not even get a bid for $2800 :confused:
www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Pokemon-1996-Base-Set-Booster-Box-Sealed-Original-Basic-Set-RARE-/163673329670?nma=true&si=Zx%252FqWLb112%252FGjvXRa%252B4Ok64tkg8%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

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The guy put it up for auction again. 5 days to go.

www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Pokemon-1996-Base-Set-Booster-Box-Sealed-Original-Basic-Set-RARE/163681952272?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20190212142712%26meid%3D17ada88b46424592a873852ce412eaff%26pid%3D100037%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D163673329670%26itm%3D163681952272&_trksid=p2047675.c100037.m2107

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Seems like a good price for a nice box.

If all goes well I will receive my own box next week :grin:!

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So yours beeing one of the older variants, it is possible to conaint the NR or not?
And is it possible to get out packs through the sides of your/a box (tempting to check one pack…)?

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I would take into account the fact that many such boxes may be available just simply not on ebay. I would guess the % of japanese that use ebay regularly to sell is still small though it has been rising. You could check yahoo jp and other middleman websites but they are of course more difficult to navigate.

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Soooooo quickly after setting up this post I went looking for a box. Found a nice one on eBay but the seller did not have that much feedback. Got in to contact with him through IG and he quickly started talking about doing the deal not through eBay. I did not really have trouble with that as long as I could pay with G&S. He was fine with that, even video called me a couple of times to show me the box and how he was packing it.
He shipped it at the beginning of May and still hasn’t arrived! Called customs (according to the track and trace it was there), they told me they don’t hold packages so either USPS or PostNL (Dutch shipping company) has it. Called PostNL, they told me the package did not have an address on it! And no return address as well…
At that point I was kind of afraid this was some kind of scam so I opened a case with PayPal. The seller immediately escaladed it to a claim, gave the track and trace and the case was decided in his favour!
I was kind of amazed, my package was in limbo and PayPal sided with the seller… Called PostNL again to check if they could give me proof that the package had no address, this time (a different employee) told me I could add an address to the tracking number with a link she gave me. I filled in the list, added all my information, and three days later the package started moving again!
I was so afraid the package would be empty, would have a brick in it or something different. But I’m pleased to say I now finally have my Japanese base set box!

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