Received this sealed Poncho Pikachu Charizard box. In the attached image, the boxes are both facing the same direction. So if you were to see the top of the boxes, they are both facing the same way. The two ends of the boxes are reversed from one both to the other box. The seal looks to be similar. I mostly want some peace of mind that the new box I received hasn’t been tampered with. I can’t find another image where the inner box (not the sleeve, but the box that slides inside the sleeve) is reversed.
Has anyone seen/heard of this happening with any of the Japanese special boxes?
Better pictures that help illustrate my concern. The shrink wrap appears to be very similar. I just couldn’t find any other pictures or videos where the inner box was reversed. All other pictures online have the same end image on the same side of the sealed box.
Hmm. I unfortunately don’t have too much knowledge on sealed boxes. Though I’m sure a lot of other members are. @reinasierpe collects a lot of these types of boxes.
From my experience these JP promo boxes are always packed the same way.
The wrapping looks fine to me though. Have you already opened the boxes and seen if the promo cards were inside?
I have not opened it. I haven’t decided if I wanted to open it. I have an offer from the seller to return the box. I was trying to avoid the hassle of shipping it back internationally. It felt like if I opened it and the cards were not in the greatest condition, there isn’t really a way to know if it was the result of a reseal or not.
I did receive other poncho boxes (other Charizard, Rayquaza) with the purchase that appear fine.
This is consistent with all of the others I’ve seen. If holding the box upright with the front of the box facing you, the face-only Pikachu end is on the right. The full-body Pikachu would be on the left. The box I received has full-body on the right and the face-only on the left.
It was suggested to me that the seller received 3 sets of Rayquaza/Charizard X/Charizard Y that were all like this. One was apparently opened by someone (saw a thank you IG post) but no pictures of the sealed box to verify. It’s tricky because the seal on the box looks to match and is consistent with other boxes and the Rayquaza and Charizard X boxes that came in the same package look fine. There aren’t too many pictures or listings to use for comparison. I combed Bing and Google image search and watched any available opening videos, but now I’ve run out of ideas.
Personally, I think you have two choices that would give you a peace of mind:
Do a return.
Do a live/recorded opening to see if you got bamboozled with proof.
Reason I’m thinking that even if someone shows that they had one box that is similar to yours in the wrong orientation, I think you’ll feel uneasy with it for the years to come, and if you decide to not open it and sell it in the future, you won’t be able to sell with confidence that it has not been tampered with…and you won’t be able to tell if a future buyer who complained that their box was tampered with is due to them trying to pull one over you, or if your box was tampered to begin with.
I greatly appreciate your two cents! Very valid points you make. I’ve started the return process. Waiting on the seller to take official action in PayPal so that is documented before I ship.
