Some update: a 1st ed japanese goldstar mew sold privately for 120k$
Privately sold my 1st PSA 10 GS Ray for $30k a few months ago. Guess I should’ve held. 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/388495270153
If anyone is looking for an unl L2 Kingdra reverse there’s one up on ebay.
Some japanese tcg drama for all my fellow messy ones out there.
PSA Japan put out a statement urging people to stop including cash bribes in their submissions:
Meanwhile a card shop in Akihabara was allegedly running a buyback ponzi scheme had to close their store after their employees were physically assaulted:
I’m not sure if anyone is interested in the Japanese modern sealed market. It does look though that SNKRDunk/Mercari.jp prices have been going up on the following: i used SNKRDunk just from me being lazy and it being nice and easy.
Pokemon 151 Booster box:
SNKRDunk:$430+fees Pokemon Card Game Scarlet & Violet Enhanced Expansion Pack "pokemon card 151" Box | SNKRDUNK
US Market: $310
Vstar Universe Booster box:
SNKRDunk: $200+fees Pokemon Card Game Sword & Shield High Class Pack VSTAR Universe Box | SNKRDUNK
US Market: $185
Lost Abyss Booster box:
SNKRDunk: $465+fees Pokémon Card Game Sword & Shield Expansion Pack Lost Abyss Box | SNKRDUNK
US Market: $275
Eevee Heroes Booster box:
SNKRDunk: $1120+fees Pokémon Card Game Sword & Shield Enhanced Expansion Pack Eevee Heroes Box | SNKRDUNK
US Market: $800+
How would that work in practice im curious
The price differences are quite crazy given that the “cheapest options” are usually in Japan.
It is now flipped due to how much has been siphoned from Japan to the US. Now the cheapest option is over here and I am getting more and more Japanese buyers buying up my “low priced” cards.
Just had all my Pikachu Full art cards bought up from VMAX Climax due to the price in Japan being $500+ and I had mine listed at $289
That’s why it is always a good rule of thumb to buy multiples of a good copy in chase of this exact scenario.
Now I raised my price and when it sells I have capitalized on that increased capital realization.
I also feel like this change happened very quickly. I guess thats just how Pokemon is now…moving at lightning speeds. I can remember Pokemon 151 Japanese boxes being at $150-200 not that long ago.
In terms of the US being the cheapest option, I agree. It’s a weird shift…but during the release I remember how many rip and shippers/US LGS were selling the Japanese booster box. Crazy amounts left Japan to go to the US.
Somewhat offtopic but is it just me or are japanese ebay sellers way bigger hassle than anyone else on average? You negotiate, settle on a price and then they just decide last minute to not sell you the card, or just endless delays or not in stock despite listed as BIN and the communication is just tiresome
I am surprised, isnt the stereotype order, flawless service and “customer is king” like with germans? German sellers tend to live up to it in comparison
You have to understand… A lot of these Japanese sellers don’t actually have the card in hand…
Seems weird, but if you go on Buyee, you will see the same picture of the card you want on both sites. That is because they add their “cut” into the price and they will buy the card in Japan and ship it to you. Very little risk on them and they get a cut. Win win…
This is very VERY common on big cards and is all over eBay.
Now even if they do have the card in hand, they have lots of options that we here in the US do not have for Japanese graded cards.
There is ALWAYS a floor when it comes to Japanese cards because of all the buy back programs in Japan.
Yes if it is a PSA 8 set card in Japan, no store will buy that. But for the majority of the desirable cards especially in PSA 10, They don’t need to accept your offer and instead sell it for 10% less of their price on eBay at a store down the street for CASH.
This adds to the typical Japanese seller on eBay getting back to you with the:
“Please buy the card cheaper from someone else 
”
I’m not trying to say that Japanese sellers are not capable of creating hassle because they certainly are, but I would wager a lot of money that a much higher percentage of ebay accounts selling from Japan are non-Japanese compared with the percentage of non-Germans selling from Germany. (I’m included in this - although I would like to think I don’t cause any hassle!)
A lot of actual Japanese sellers in Japan are not interested in selling abroad and stick to Mercari - as mentioned in the post above there are plenty of drop-shippers trying to get a cut for no-risk middle manning
From what I saw on twitter, they just didn’t have the funds to actually pay for the cards they were buying and instead using funds from after they resold the cards.
Anecdotal, but I was able to buy a few modern chase cards on US eBay and resold them to card shops in Japan for more than I paid in the states. If you can get the latest buy lists from card stores in Japan (some pay more than others for the same card) there is definitely arbitrage opportunity.
considering that most hide the certs of all the cards they are selling and the fact that theres no auth gaurentee i wouldnt even bother 
There was a small cluster of fan club magikarp sales recently this month:
From the Pokecolor app:
From Alt:
And from ebay today:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/389856602464 & https://www.ebay.com/itm/287265005257
(… Maybe whoever lost the BGS 9 auction decided to pay up for the PSA 8!)
As a side note, not 100% sure but the BGS 9 bottom right looked a little suspect to me…
Are you suspecting it’s the Neo one? If so it’s better to check embossed vs non-embossed. The set ones (magikarp and gyarados in particular) use similar holo style as shining mew.
Oh, it’s the fan club version for sure, just looks like it could be trimmed to me. Curious what others think though.