Best place to purchase a large amount of small binders?

General
1

Hello everyone! Pokesoap here! As some of you may know, I’m a collector aiming to collect every English main series set. Currently have 26.5 complete (0.5 is Unseen Forces, only have the main set. Still need to finish Unowns) Only 45.5 more sets to go! Soon to be 46.5! Yikes!

Currently my sets are being stored in large 3" and 4" D-Ring binders, and sadly those binders are starting to show their wear. Like, having to tape back on covers wear. Hey, I’ve had some of these things for 10 years. Maybe, just MAYBE it’s time for an upgrade. Don’t worry about the cards right now! In the 10 years I’ve had the binders, I’ve never had any cards damaged due to binders. (Knocks on wood). Cards are all safe and happy, but I want them to be safer and happier!

So E4, I have a few questions as what would be the best/most cost effective upgrade for my sets!

This is what I’ll be storing in these binders: (one binder per set)

-Complete Unlimited/Regular Print Sets
-Complete 1st Edition/Reverse Print Sets
-Variant Cards for those sets (Theme deck versions/weird variants/errors/other fun expensive stuff)

Here’s my shopping list.

-73 small D-ring binders to store my sets. I want D-ring 'cause I’m in NO place to buy a large amount of $20 ultra pro binders. 20 x 73 is 1460. $1460? Yeah. No thanks. Also, while I like the presentation of Ultra pro, I like the flexibility of D-ring and having control over pages.
I do plan on using one Ultra Pro for subset stuff. Storing a POP set in its own binder? No thanks.

Side question: Should I purchase a large amount of 1/2" binders or 1" binders? Will 1/2" binders put too much stress on larger sets like Skyridge and Aquapolis? I want all of my binder sizes to be even, so it’s one or the other.

-A large amount of Ultra Pro pages. This isn’t too much of a problem, but if anyone has a resource to get them cheeper than retail, let me know. I really, really need to upgrade my pages.

-A new bookcase, 'cause that amount of binders isn’t gonna fit on what I have now. I’ll probably figure this one out on my own :blush:

So far the best deal I’ve found this 1" binder for $2.89 each. (I’ll keep digging!)

www.zumaoffice.com/Products/Economy-1-Inch-D-Ring-View-Binder–White__UNV20742.aspx

My budget is between $1-$3.50 per binder. I don’t want to go over that price. I don’t want this to put too big of a hole in my wallet.

Just a note: I’ll probably be placing this order either in segments or in a few months once I get my summer job back up and running.

I’d love to hear any thoughts/ideas you may have concerning this upgrade! Thank you so much for reading! Have a lovely day!

-Pokesoap aka Madison S.

2

Posted a link but the price was per binder, I thought it was per carton of binders.

It would be $10 per… you seem to have found a pretty good deal.

3

Have you tried a local retail store that can sell you in bulk? I think Walmart/Target has it for cheap.

4

Thanks for taking the time to look! I really appreciate it! I’ll have to look more into buying binders by the carton/case. Not sure if they come in cases of 6s 12s or 24s, but if I can find a good case price, I’d for sure go that route.

5

Great idea! I’ll have to call my Walmart and see how many they have in stock. I’ve seen 1/2" binders in the $2ish range at my local Walmart, but was a bit concerned about stock (which I shouldn’t really be) and transportation.

6

May be flimsier than you want… but demonstrates that you can get as low as $1 each… Wal mart prob has something decent for $2-$3 each. Shipping will be killer so online probably isn’t the way to go. Staples, Wal Mart, Target, Dollar tree, etc. will be your friends.

www.dollartree.com/Brightly-Colored-Flexible-Poly-3-Ring-Binders-1-/p342004/index.pro?cm_mmc=Product+Feeds-_-Google-_-n%2Fa-_-188660&gclid=CjwKEAjwh9PGBRCfso2n3ODgvUcSJAAhpW5o0V3xNVLgVgh5Sqm_fB5JtvX1BEtcqJZ0VlP74zY6ARoCY13w_wcB

7

I don’t know of any local businesses in the US (which I assume you are located) but I managed to find a local business in the Netherlands that makes custom sturdy binders with label slots on both the spine, front and back by simply googling for 3 ring binders. Their price was €2,60 per binder at an order of 100 binders. I doubt it’d be of much help but I can link you the site. I don’t think they ship outside of NL/BE but you could contact them if that’s worth the trouble.

However, having ordered binders from there I can give you a bit of information on binder sizes I’d recommend. I bought 3 ring D ring binders that have a fill width of 20 mm (0.78") for documents/pages which I find is more than enough for any set besides continuous things (like the Japanese unnumbered promos). I only collect Japanese sets now and those sets are usually smaller than a full English master set but I have some near complete English sets in there as well that I haven’t bothered getting the Japanese sets for yet. Even with a complete set + reverses of something like breakthrough (which is the largest english set I currently have) I still have roughly 0,40" of room left in the binder so I probably could’ve gone with 1/2" binders (or in the case of this store, 0.62" binders are the thinnest they make). With the English e-series it could become a tight fit though.

8

Thank you so much for the link, but I don’t think I want to get THAT flimsy. I feel like the cards are at risk of damage if I put them in something like that. I wish the other binders were priced that low! The website I found has a pretty sweet free shipping deal on orders over $75. I’ll be buying in large chunks, so that offer seems pretty nice.

I’ll definitely be checking out big box stores. I know my local Walmart has good prices on binders (In the $2.00ish range) Not sure about my local Target, I’ll have to go give them a look!

9

Yep! I’m in the US! That sounds like a sweet website, but I think an order of that size would be a nightmare to ship to the US. Would probably cost the same, or even more, to ship the binders than the binders themselves.

Thank you so much for the info with the sets! Glad to hear that about Breakthrough! Larger sets like that was what I was worrying about. I want to find a good size that supports both larger and smaller, and I feel 1/2" does so the best. I have a 1/2" I use for my Blaziken collection that I can test with my E-Series and see if they fit. (I don’t know why I only thought about this until now) If they don’t , I’ll grab 1" binders for those sets, as they completely deserve it!

10

There’s a few factors you have to look at when deciding on the binder size. I currently use a mix of 1/2" and 1" binders. I collect master sets and use Ultra Pro Premium pages and double sleeve (older) reverse holo cards and holos. This bumps up the thickness in the binder considerably. For example, Expedition, Aquapolis and Skyridge fit perfectly into a 1" binder when laid out like this. Sun and Moon (which I haven’t double sleeved reverses for) does fit into a 1/2" binder barely.

As far as where to buy and what to buy I’d recommend the Avery binders. You can decide which version you like and do a few searches online for places that sell the style you want (item#) and hopefully save a few bucks. I originally bought most of mine from Target but that was a while ago. www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Products/Binders

11

I’d suggest, don’t scrimp on supplies. Whether sleeves, boxes, binders or whatever. Get the best. You’ll enjoy your collection more.
There’s a reason some things are more expensive. Your collection is worth it;)

3 Likes
12

Noticing this myself as well. I used to get the cheaper supplies to save money but it ends up costing more if the supplies don’t store your cards well. I used some ultra pro silver pages for some sets cause I wanted to save 2 euros over the platinum pages (lol) and those pages ended up warping some of the cards. All cards are now back to normal state now after sitting in platinum pages but that was a bit of an eye-opener lol

13

Good job. You’re doing it right:)

14

Thank you for this info! This has pushed me back towards 1" binders, as I will be upgrading my pages to Ultra Pro Platinum. After looking at a 1/2" I have now for my Blaziken collection (red Avery), I don’t see Expedition, Skyridge or Aquapolis fitting comfortably.

Avery is what seems to be working well for me. Easy to find, D ring, and fit in my price range.

1 Like
15

I guess I can admit I’ve scrimping before, but I really want to get away from it. This upgrade will make my collection feel a lot better in my mind, even if its just a large amount new Avery binders and Ultra Pro Platinum pages.
I dismissed Ultra Pro binders in my opening post, but in truth, if I could readily afford 73 Ultra Pro binders, that would be my choice. I think I’ll start picking these up at a gradual pace to store my “money sets” in.
I do really want to give my collection the best protection, just college student on a budget + large storage upgrade has not mixed well for me. I want to go with Avery now because in my mind it will be a worthwhile step up, and then buy Ultra Pros gradually.
Thank you for the advice! I appreciate it!

16

Great point! Yeah, kinda regretting buying a large amount of the cheep Walmart + Target pages. They were cheep to me at the time, and I wasn’t thinking as seriously about cards as I am now. Looking at what time has done to those pages versus the sets in Ultra Pro Platinum (The 2nd gen E-Series Sets), I can say that the Platinum pages worked so much better. Thank you for the advice!

17

@pokesoap Sure thing, I grabbed a couple photos of my binders to give you a better idea.

This is Sun and Moon master set. Full set + reverses, single sided with EX and regular holo cards double sleeved:
I think the set fits well in a 1/2" but this is the largest set I have in a 1/2", anything more or double sleeving reverses would require a 1" in my opinion.

This is Skyridge, it’s single sided and double sleeved all holos and reverses in a 1" binder. It fits perfect:

3 Likes
18

Thank you so much for these photos! I really appreciate it! Definitely getting 1"s for the E-Series, and after seeing how Sun and Moon fits in a 1/2", I’m probably going to go with 1" for that set. Some sets will definitely fit comfortably in 1" binders, but do you feel sets like Fossil + Jungle will have too much wiggle room?

1 Like
19

I think 1" is too big for most sets to be honest. Mainly because I prefer the binders to be a full as possible so the pages stay rigid and upright (not flexing in a loose binder).

Fossil is certainly a small set, but I keep 1st edition and unlimited edition in the same binder so after that it fits well in a 1/2". I do think 1" would be way too big for a set like Fossil or Jungle unless you put both into a single binder.

Micro sets I could see being a problem but you can keep multiples of those in a single binder. Stuff like McD and BK promos, Southern Islands, PoP series etc.

20

Cool. I’ll do the math on each set and decide which binder I want to place it in. I’ve thought about it, and eventually want all of my sets in Ultra Pros (a very gradual process), but having everything in its own binder will make me really happy. I’m currently using an ultra pro to store all of my POP and subsets, and I like how that looks and feels.

Thank you for all your help!

1 Like