How do you check what a Japanese card really sells for, and compare it with the English version?

Three kinds of number

A price is one of three things, and mixing them is the most common reason two sources disagree.

Which US sites compute which number is covered in where Pokémon card price sites get their prices; this guide adds the Japanese side.

Japanese cards on the US price sites

PriceCharting keeps Japanese cards in separate sets. Its Pokémon Cards category lists sets with a "Pokemon Japanese" prefix, such as Pokemon Japanese 25th Anniversary Collection, and its One Piece category has "One Piece Japanese" sets such as One Piece Japanese Romance Dawn. Both categories have a photo-search Language filter with English and Japanese options. Japanese One Piece sales data covers the One Piece side in more depth. PriceCharting's methodology page says prices come from sold listings on online marketplaces, including its own, that grades are read from listing titles and descriptions, and that shipping and other transaction costs are excluded. The page does not say how its currency selector (USD, JPY and others) converts prices, and it does not address Japanese cards.

TCGplayer says Japanese Pokémon products sit under a "Pokemon Japan" product line, with English card names, and that "Japanese and English Pokémon sets are not a 1:1 match." Mirror Holofoils are parallel foils "unique to Japanese-language sets." Its Japanese Pokémon FAQ says nothing about Market Price for these products, and a seller FAQ says Japanese sets are being added gradually. A card missing from the catalog may therefore be listed with photos under a title that states the language, and such listings have no catalog price history behind them.

PokemonPriceTracker's page names U.S. and European marketplaces, TCGplayer and CardMarket among them, as its sources, so it adds no sales from inside Japan.

Sold prices inside Japan

Mercari's own news site tells sellers to search the app and set the sales-status filter to 売り切れ (sold out), because the list then shows prices at which items actually sold. Mercari's article on setting a price describes the filter for sellers, but the same search works as a reference for a buyer. Condition varies by seller, so read each listing against the Japanese listing terms before you average anything; buying on Mercari from the U.S. covers the purchase itself.

SNKRDUNK's English help pages cover buying, listing rules and inspection, not price history. The how-to-buy page shows a "US $◯◯~ Buy NOW" button and says you can buy at the lowest asking price but cannot bid. SNKRDUNK's own magazine says it offers historical data and shows a price chart for a Pokémon box. Treat the lowest ask as an asking price, and use the chart only if it shows sales rather than listings; neither help page says which it is.

Shop prices: sell and buylist

Yuyu-tei's Pokémon sales page shows prices in yen with the suffix 円 and lets you filter by 傷無し (undamaged) or 傷有り (damaged). The page states no tax treatment. Its buylist page states that only Japanese-language cards are bought, and notes that a card not on the list is appraised at a separate linked price.

Card Rush publishes a Pokémon buylist stamped with the time of its last update (時点) and says it is updated as needed. It lists no grading criteria and no tax note.

Hareruya2's in-store buying page says each card is appraised individually, and that a price can be reduced for poor condition, current stock or a large number of the same card. It does not say how often the list changes. Its help page defines condition A as slight initial wear or whitening and B as scratches, rubbing or dirt, with A as the default when no condition is stated. How shop grades map to NM and LP explains the translation to US terms.

A buylist price is a floor in one sense only: it is what that shop pays, with its own condition standard. A shop's sell price for the same card is the ceiling in that shop.

Converting and matching

Convert every yen figure at one exchange rate and note which day's rate you used. As an arithmetic illustration only, not a quoted rate, ¥10,000 at ¥150 per dollar is $66.67 (10,000 ÷ 150). The shop pages above show yen without saying whether the 10% consumption tax is included, while US prices usually add sales tax at checkout, so a yen shelf price and a dollar price are not on the same basis until you check. Check these before comparing:

• Same set code and card number; the English printing may sit in a different set or lack the Japanese-only parallel.
• Same condition or grade; an ungraded shop card marked A is not a PSA 10, and PriceCharting separates PSA 10 and BGS 10.
• Same kind of number (sold, asking or buylist).
• Same shipping basis; PriceCharting excludes shipping, and a Japanese price excludes the trip home. Landed cost for Japanese cards adds duty and postage.