Today I found out about the Vending Series cards. Some have pretty cool art works, I think.
I was wondering how rare these cards are? I don’t expect anyone to know how much cards exist precisely, but is it possible to give an estimate? Compared to promo cards or set cards for example?
This brings up an interesting topic: rarity vs. scarcity (market availability) vs. demand. Let’s start by comparing vending with other japanese exclusive artwork cards. One of the most popular (demand) Japanese promos is corocoro shining mew. There were at least a million copies printed (based on how many corocoro magazines were distributed). In PSA 10, expect to pay $2000 at today’s prices for one. Now vending series, which has around a million or very high six figures copies printed per card (based on masaki promo data we have (there are five figures of individual masaki cards out there)) has a lot less demand than shining mew. The most popular card in vending is Ooyama’s Pikachu, which can be purchased for $600 at today’s prices assuming one goes up for auction or something. So vending has millions and corocoro shining mew has millions, but there is low demand for vending. Another thing to note is that shining mew is the same difficulty to grade as some vending cards. Some vending cards have 25% PSA 10 to PSA 9 ratio just like shining mew.
Now let’s look at scarcity. On eBay, there are a LOT more corocoro shining mew available than ooyama’s pikachu. On yahoo Japan, there are a LOT more corocoro shining mew available and only 3 search results for ooyama’s pikachu. Vending series, as it stands right now, is very scarce considering the number of copies out there. It becomes even more scarce if we are looking at only the PSA 10 or PSA 9 cards available. Vending is VERY scarce compared with shining mew and they have similar print runs. However, the price is still low for vending cards in PSA 10 compared to the much more available shining mew PSA 10. Someone could easily buy out a large chunk of the market if these PSA 10 vending cards become available due to their low pop and PSA being backlogged which means no more vending card PSA 10’s for a while. They will just drip into the pop over years which will not really affect price.
Now let’s look at rarity. Look, if you want rarity you need to go for trophy cards. If all anyone wanted was rarity, no one would buy 1st edition base charizard or any other 1st edition WOTC holo. There are pokemon cards out there with only hundreds of copies, trophy cards with less than 100 copies, and some trophies with less than 10 copies each. Even 1st edition WOTC holos are not rare at all. They have print runs that range from five to six figures. Add that in with scarcity and it does not matter how many are out there, because only a small fraction of that will ever be available to buy. The same goes with vending. It does not matter if there are a million of each card out there, if people start to value unique Japanese art and these cards have increased demand and more scarcity, they could rival some 1st edition WOTC holos, both being in PSA 10.
That is an almost impossible question to answer, at least in the way you worded it. They are surely more ‘rare’ than English Base unlimited but probably more common than Japanese e series unlimited. More rare than Ancient Mew but sure as hell more common than the Mew ex PLAY promo.
A few things regarding rarity are safe to say:
-Asking prices for full unpeeled sheet sets went up sharply, that’s for sure. I guess you can still get them as LP-HP bulk from Japanese sellers fairly cheap, but NM and mint isn’t as easy anymore.
-There are only common and uncommon cards in this set. If you buy a whole sheet set (1-18) from one series, you’ll get two of each common and one of each uncommon.
-There is the more expensive (kinda ‘rare’) World Hobby Fair sheet #00 that has Pikachu, Mew and Mewtwo. Only Pikachu is distinguishable, because the others were reprintedas CD promos
exactly the same way
-There is a (kinda ‘rare’) ‘1st Edition’ run of Series 3 where the sheets show Bill. This is the version that contains ‘Bill’s PC’, the card you needed to to send in to get a Masaki promo card. The later print run does not show Bill and contains ‘Imakuni’s PC’ instead. All other cards are exactly the same, so they’re not advised to be peeled off.
It’s a fantastic set, probably my favorite. Even the peeling from the sheets alone was a great experience to me. Still not appropriately appreciated IMO.
It’s a mass produced Japanese set during the hay day. So, about as rare as Japanese Fossil and Jungle set. Not as many chase cards though so a interesting set in that the entire collection is what’s collected with very little spot collecting.
Thank you for reacting, that really helps putting these cards in perspective.
And besides of the rarity, it is indeed a fantastic set. I think I’ll try to pick up some cards in the near future.
Short answer, not rare
Not totally accurate. Not saying you’re wrong, but you’re also not correct. The indicators you’ve cited “PSA pop reports, eBay listings, etc” are actually more indicative of demand than supply for anything that isn’t a trophy card. Making speculations about the supply of the vending series in relation to an insanely popular card (like shining mew as you hinted) is just that: speculation. The reason vending cards haven’t hit the market is because they haven’t reached the same level of popularity as shining mew so there’s no incentive to sell / grade as of now.
PHP checks out 
Anyone have a scan of one of these? I’m tryinah to figure out if the Expansion pack cards on there have rarities.
My opinion:
Vending doesn’t have quite as much out there still sealed and accessible to the market as we have enjoyed through eBay the last 5+ years.
The value on an unpeeled set is insanely low right now. You can enjoy a totally unique opening experience for a few hundred bucks that yields you a ton of totally unique and exclusive artworks.
I highly recommend people interested in the set have fun while they still can. Buy a series 3 set or, if ~$1200 is in the budget, grab all of 1-3 and just make a night of peeling them. With a friend if you can. It’s a blast and a half and the cost per card is so low that it’s impossible to lose money. This won’t last forever and it’s exactly the kind of thing that people kick themselves for not doing earlier.
Can I mail you my Haunters and Machokes and you send back some Masaki cards? Will really add to the fun experience 
Vending sets were my favorite Japanese products in the early days. I loved the cards, as well as the vending sheet concept. As noted above there are rarer variations, both the “Bill back” 3rd series and the World Hobby Sheet #00.
And don’t forget that you have the five mail-in chase foils, all tremendous and finally getting some respect.
And don’t forget the Red & Green Gift Starter box is primarily the same artwork with a different luster. This product also contains some gorgeous and highly desirable Legendary Bird foils, and the Master Ball.
Any of the regular sheet sets can be had for a few hundred dollars. Once you have all three base sets you can move to the more expensive related items. By the time you have full sets of intact sheets, plus peeled sets of sheet, plus the variation 3rd set and the #00 promo sheet, plus two gift starter sets (one sealed and one unsealed) and all five mail-in holos, you will have spent many thousands of dollars.
You will have a beautiful set that is one of the few which was never reprinted in English (and maybe not in any other language, but I haven’t been paying attention).
For anyone who has peeled their own sets, is it common to have some long vertical lines on the backs of cards?
I recently bought a complete peeled vending set and some of the cards have these long lines, but otherwise are mint. I’m wondering if that might be from the process of dispensing the sheet from the vending machine. Not really upset about it for the price I paid, moreso just curious.
I tried to take a picture but they really don’t show up on camera well.
Some of my cards have that, too. I guess it’s either a production damage or a storage issue, where the sheets had too much wiggle room over the years.
Another thing I’d like to add: Mine at least had also significant centering issues. IMO they look best raw in a binder anyway, but if you want a graded set, don’t expect all 10s. Especially on the uncommons, where you only have one shot per set.
You may only have one shot at uncommons per set, but if you only need to upgrade one card you can search for it already slabbed. You could also look for that same unpeeled sheet, but I haven’t seen as many offerings where you can choose a single sheet. They show up but it takes luck on the timing.
So no one has a scan of a sheet?
I’m not quite sure if I understand your question correctly. The cards do have rarity symbols, but you wouldn’t be able to see them while they’re still attached to the sheet (they’re face-down). The sheets are numbered from #01 to #18 on the bottom right corner but don’t have rarity symbols themselves as far as I can tell. Anyway here are scans from peeled #01 sheets of series 1, 2 and 3.
@missingno I think I get it now! You mean the ‘Base’ set cards with the starter deck on there, right?
Interestingly on Series 1 and 2 they are indeed No Raritans and on Series 3 they do have a rarity symbol.
But it is soo tiny, I can hardly even see it with my own eyes. Also the Chansey coin that presumably comes along with the starter deck looks rather blueish with the No Raritans and silver with the regular rarity cards on Series 3. The booklet is different too.
Edit: also the Base (‘Expansion Pack’) booster on S1+2 is a short pack and on S3 it’s a long pack. Same goes for the Jungle booster.
Yes I was talking about the Expansion Pack advertising on the sheets. It’s strange how they excluded rarities for two series and not on the last one. I believe it was the same case on the back of the Expansion Pack starter decks and the posters iirc. Message me those scans please? I want to have that piece of evidence.
I am using the term ‘scarcity’ to mean how many of the card is seen on the market right now. Am I defining it incorrectly? I think you are taking ‘scarcity’ to mean the same as ‘supply’, which I am not doing. I am defining ‘supply’ as how much vending there is out there in total, even what is not currently on the market. I am not discussing how much ‘supply’ is out there in the section you quoted. I did a rough calculation of how much supply of vending there is in my other paragraph of the same post.