I used to collect / play Pokemon back in the day (Started at base set) but since then have sold everything I owned (regrets). I’ve recently taken a liking to Japanese art, but specifically I want to start collecting Japanese promos. My questions are as follows:
Are collecting promos pretty much limited to buying singles? Are there other ways to get them? (Aside from being in Japan)
Do you have tips on where to buy these and what to look for? I am familiar with purchasing cards from amiami, tcgrepublic, and eBay at the moment.
Do you guys normally look for graded cards only, especially if buying off eBay? Or are things like unopened promos / user rated cards worth looking into?
Anyone that currently collects specific Japanese cards, do you have any strategies on how to collect them? Is it just scouring eBay until you find the card you want?
When buying on eBay, is last sold items a good indicator of the cards current value? Or do you guys have other resources you could share?
Lastly, for specific cards you want out of new Japanese sets (Chonky Rainbow Pikachu from S4 Astonishing Volt Tackle for example) is it wiser to just wait for it to pop up online to snag it? Or just buy a bunch of boxes and try to get it yourself. (I do love the thrill, but not sure if worth the investment)
Any other insight is welcome. Can’t wait to start growing the collection once again! Thanks for reading.
Normally, some promos come in sets and sometimes you’ll find people selling them as such. Bundles can also contain multiple promos.
Japanese market sites are good - Yahoo auctions Japan & Mercari + a middle man service like Buyee. Bulbapedia has Japanese names you can copy, paste into the search bars. This thread is also a great resource.
Buy what you like, there’s no one right approach.
Japanese promos are a pretty broad category, nearly 25 years of them released for a million different reasons. Just keep an eye out for cards you like the look of and go from there. You’ll see a tonne of different ones posted on E4.
yep, you can also use things like pokemon price on the top bar of this page.
Exactly that, opening packs is fun, but always better value to buy singles unless you have lottery luck.
the only advice i feel to give after dizzy’s one is to avoid PSA if you’re not in a rush.
old back promos are 99% of the time easy to find, there are simply a lot of copies out there, but most of them are either worn or badly peeled.
the average exc-PL condition in addition to PSA new policy which is very hard on old back glossy promos due to their raised edges (from peeling it, you can’t avoid it) makes the psa 9-10 cost 30-100x the price of a raw card.
if you have time look on mercari and yahoo and find yourself the condition that pleases you the most and you’ll find yourself spending way less than for a psa.
good luck with you project, japanese promos is simply the best set for me
Thank you for the insight guys. This was very helpful.
Do you guys have suggestions on how to start? I look at all the cards online and I feel overwhelmed with the amount of cards that are for sale. I have a few pokemon I really enjoy so I could probably start there. Are there any do’s and dont’s before I start buying Japanese promo cards?
I would mention that if you go for the vending series sets, buy in lots or unpeeled sheets. One thing I noticed when trying to complete vending 3 is that it was actually cheaper overall to buy unpeeled sheets than singles.
Google translate and buyee. I can’t give specific recommendations I think its best if you figure out what is out there and then out of that content what you like the most.
I have bought so many cards on Mercari and Yahoo Auction JP through Buyee. Sometimes you can find some of the best japanese cards out there! and the service is pretty spot-on!
Yahoo JP, Mercari JP, Rakuten, Rakuma, Surugaya (quality is usually a mystery) are the main I use. You will probably find a lot of the time good quality photos aren’t shown so its sometimes a gamble on the actual quality of the card but its the price you pay for getting better deals/more choice with specific cards. Goodluck!!
What are your experiences regarding EU import fees and custom fees? I guess buyee always declares full value and you have to pay the fees when you get the item?
Hi! Italian but I live in Qatar. Customs fees here are much much lower than in the EU but I still have to pay them.
Anyway, yes. Value is decalred in full so you have to take that into account unfortunately
I usually select the DHL shipping options once the cards reach the Buyee warehouse and I pay them directly on the DHL website once customs are cleared which is way easier that through the local postal service where the cards are held for ages before they are delivered and I pay customs upon delivery.
Can anyone explain what “Seller Rating Restriction” is on Buyee? It restricts who can bid, but doesn’t say what the restrictions are. I couldn’t find anything online. I have never purchased anything on Buyee, would that prevent me from bidding on these?
And if the seller says the do not support overseas shipping, but you are using a proxy-site like Buyee, will they still honor the purchase?
@pokewow, I don’t know but my guess is that it maybe applies to to the sellers feedback rather than you. If it’s low/negative potentially buyee don’t allow purchase to protect themselves from scams & problematic sellers. Who knows tho
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