Hi all. I was looking for a price check and any information regarding recent sales of sealed Japanese VS series boxes. Information on ebay is limited at the moment and it seems only one has sold in the last 2 months on there. Does anybody have any information regarding this sealed product?
I don’t know about boxes but individual packs have been selling for as high as 26,000 JPY (~$246) recently: page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g434561125. I feel like they’re more valuable in Japan right now than they are elsewhere - there’s a sealed box up on eBay now with a BIN for probably half the amount it could sell for in Japan.
Hi pokecosmos,
There are three different VS booster box variants that make up the Japanese VS set. Each one demanding a different price. I would agree that there is not a lot of sales data to go off, however from my experience this has always been the case. Very little VS sealed product goes up for sale and little is sold.
Historically, I have found that VS booster boxes have demanded a large premium as they have been consider a scarcer Japanese booster box. However recently I have found their scarcity in relation to other Japanese booster boxes to have fallen. Regardless, I think the last sold prices for the grass/lightning VS booster box at around $3500 USD to be a fair one as it reflected the prices of grass/lightning VS booster packs that have sold around $310 (there are 10 booster packs per box).
In regard to the other two boxes, I would say the Psychic/Fighting Vs booster box is rarer and therefore more expensive then the grass/lightning Vs booster box. And that the Fire/water Vs booster box is the rarest and most expensive of the three. To comment on a price of the other two Vs booster boxes would be a large guesstimate.
I think the Vs set is a very nice set to collect, lovely art work.
I hope this made sense.
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The last VS box I know sold a few weeks ago for 2000$ on IG, it was a Grass vs Lightning. Totodile already gave a great run down on specific details that I´d only add to that these boxes are pretty hard to move from my experience. Not too many people interested in them compared to other sealed (japanese) product for whatever reason. In my opinion one of the greatest japanese sets.
May be useful to add that the fire/water box is much more expensive as these contain Lance’s Charizard and Karen’ Umbreon, the two most expensive/popular cards in the set. The grass/lighting box is cheaper because all the holos will be one of the 4 metal types that most will consider less desirable. This is also one of my favorite sets, and in my experience sealed boosters/boxes were always a lot more expensive than the cards inside. Although I have not payed attention to whether the single VS cards have seen an uptick recently like most other cards.
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Thanks all for the replies! I’ve ended up buying a sealed Grass Lightning booster box, I guessed this was the most common due to the contents (metal like @scarecrowman88, said), but I think I definitely paid a little more than this IG sale went for. I haven’t been paying attention to the individual card price either, but just seems to be little of it available and little of it is sold.
I agree with this, seems to be little interest in it overall and I can imagine it’s hard to shift, but it is so surprising considering how fantastic a set it is imo.
@jrugenious212, thanks for the help and info! I would have no idea what to guess for the prices of the other two, never seen one for sale on any Western sites.
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@scarecrowman88 , @pokecosmos, In regards to Vs Series singles going up. I’ve been regularly selling them on the PKMNtcgtrades subreddit. I’ve seen the majority of cards experience price increases. However, recently, they’ve been leveling off. Some of the more popular cards are still rising like Lance’s cards and the power pokemon, Jolteon, flareon, houndoom, raichu, etc. Lance’s Ampharos is an example that used to sell for like 12-15$, I’ve recently seen $20 for it. The price rises weren’t intense though, they’ve been slow and subtle as the set becomes more well known. Most of the mid tier cards have seen the most significant rises if you ask me. I think it can be attributed to those less popular cards finally being purchased to complete sets. I rarely, if ever, sell any cards, popular or not, for less than 4 dollars each in NM condition.
At least that’s my opinion on it. My price checking is usually cursory until I settle on a price with the buyer, so I don’t remember in depth data or keep spreadsheets on it. Only my own sales data.
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Thanks for your insight @pigeonsyndicate! I can see the theory of people purchasing cards to complete sets as holding some water. What do you think the future of this set looks like in the West? Will it remain niche here while increasing in popularity in Japan?
Karen’s umbreon in pretty decent condition(has a dent on the back right corner) just auctioned for around $250 shipped. The holos are getting up there now
@pokecosmos, In regards to the west vs east discussion, the individual cards can be picked up quite cheap over here in Japan still. I regularly purchase small lots of these cards for well under western market values. I can even find foils similarly priced. Sometimes they’re NM/Mint condition, but tend to be what most people would consider LP or so. No creases, but light edge wear and scratching. That being said, I am not currently casting that large of a net. I only search Mercari as Yahoo auctions is more challenging to score deep deals.
I feel that in the West, Japanese exclusive cards will always have at least some intrinsic value due to exclusivity alone. For example, several people have been requesting cards by specific artists to complete their collections. Yuka Morii has been the most common recently. The nice thing about this set is that every leader has a single artist exclusively do one trainer’s team’s artwork. So each individual trainer is a microcosm for each artist and would be a nice collection piece on it’s own. To top it off, adding a little to historical significance, the set was also the first appearance of E-series cards in general. This set has something to offer almost anyone, and I think it’s an absolute banger of a set. For these reasons’s I’d say it’s one that is likely to continue climbing. But I’m not sure of the reasons for it’s popularity in Japan, so I can’t speak to Western demand eclipsing Eastern demand in the future.
My only complaint is that I wish they had more foils haha! I love my shiny cardboard!