ポケモン – Pokemon. This literally will have thousands of listings for anything and everything pokemon related. Plushies, cards, stationary, stickers, household items, the list goes on. Throughout this guide, we will be exploring many wonderful “niche” pokemon collecting markets.
Pokemon Card Search Terms
ポケモンカード – Pokemon Card. This term will bring up listings for pokemon cards Since it is such a generic term, use the below terms to help refine your search.
ポケモンカード (SET NAME) – A list of set names can be found on bulbapedia. Just search for the English name, and a translation for the Japanese set name will be there.
neo – Neo era cards
VS – VS Series cards
WEB – WEB Series cards
e – e Series cards
PCG - PCG era cards
ADV – ADV era cards
DP – DP era cards
DPt – DPt era cards
Lv. X – Level X cards
LEGEND – LEGEND cards
ex – ex cards
EX – EX cards
BW – BW era cards
XY – XY era cards
ポケモンカード (POKEMON) – Similar to the above, just search on bulbapedia, grab the name of the pokemon and insert it.
ポケモンカード (LANGUAGE) – Sometimes Yahoo Japan will have cards from other languages.
英語 – English
韓国語 – Korean
中国語 – Chinese
ポケカ – Pokemon Card (Short Form). This will help streamline the process if wanting to look at general lots for cards.
ポケモンカードプロモ – Pokemon Card Promo. Trying to find that exclusive promo only released at the Pokemon Center? Looking for that elusive promo from the 90s? This search term is all encompassing for promos.
ポケモンカード大量 – Pokemon Card Large Lot. This search term will pull up large lots. Perfect for looking for items to group buy, lots to potentially have gems or a whole lot of junk! A gambler’s dream and nightmare all in one!
ポケモンカード進化セット– Pokemon Card Evolution Set. If you are a fan of collecting just general lines of pokemon, instead of searching for singles, this will be a perfect search term. You also occasionally can find playsets of cards with this term.
ポケモンカードセット- Pokemon Card Set. A generic search time for finding sets of cards. These are usually playsets (4) cards. Great to pick up spares or proxies.
ポケモンカードBOX – Pokemon Box. If you are looking for deckboxes, gift boxes or booster boxes, this term may bring up one of your wants.
ポケモンカードデッキ – Pokemon Card Deck. This search term will find things like deck sleeves, deckboxes, sealed decks. Interesting term and sometimes small finds can be made.
ポケモンカードパック – Pokemon Card Pack. Generally it will give lots for packs, but occasionally booster boxes are found through this term as well.
ポケモンカード(デッキ)シールド – Pokemon Card (Deck) Shield. This is a term for deck sleeves or just regular sleeves.
ポケモン スター – Pokemon Star. Term for Pokemon Gold Star cards. Caution: This will also bring up a bunch of Starmie listings too!
コロコロ - CoroCoro. Used for those coveted CoroCoro promos.
ひかる/光る – Shining. Term used for Shining Pokemon cards. Make sure to add the term for Pokemon.
色ちがい/色違い - Alternative Colour. Term used for newer era shining Pokemon cards. Make sure to add the term for Pokemon.
キラ – Holographic. Used for those sparkly holos.
ジャンボ – Jumbo. Used for jumbo pokemon cards. Everyone’s favourite! How do you store them though… A collector’s paradox.
(激)レア – (Ultra) Rare. A catch-all phrase for ultra rares and rares. Make sure to have Pokemon Card term added to the search bar.
ポケモンカード (Pokemon Card) SR/UR/EX. This will bring up all listings of full arts/ultra rares (Japanese rarity) and general EX cards! Useful as a blanket search term. If you’re looking for full arts/UR/EX from a specific set, add the set block plus number to the end. For example, if I wanted to search for new full arts from Red Flash & Blue Impact, I would search ポケモンカードXY8 SR.
ポケモントロフィー - Pokemon Trophy. This generally will pull up the physical trophies that pokemon card events has.
ポケモン大会 - Pokemon Tournament. This will pull up any WORLDS merchandise, trophy cards, and other swag from Pokemon events. Super awesome to potentially find those hidden gems.
I have found that Treasure Japan is the easiest site to use, logistically. But since I don’t do so much purchasing from Y!J I haven’t done a real comparison of the services and defer to other, more experienced collectors on which site actually offers the cheapest fees.
they mark the package for its full value. They do allow for you to select a non-commercial invoice, but I don’t know what that means for import duties.