What do the Japanese words in a card listing mean, such as 美品, 傷あり, 白かけ and 未開封?

Published November 2, 2026 · By the Cards from Japan editors

Summary

Most of these words describe wear or packaging: 傷あり (kizu ari) means "has scratches," 白かけ (shiro kake) is white edge or corner wear, 未開封 (mikaifū) means unopened, and 美品 (bihin) is the seller's own claim of fine condition, which Mercari asks sellers not to use. The official part of a listing is the condition level the seller picks from Mercari's or Yahoo! Auctions' six fixed options, and those levels compare only roughly with NM, LP, MP and HP. The photos decide what the words mean for one card.

The six condition levels on Mercari and Yahoo! Auctions

Both marketplaces make sellers choose one of six condition levels, with nearly the same names. The definitions below are from each site's help page. The last column lines up the wording with TCGplayer's condition terms; neither site publishes that comparison, and its own definitions are written for all products, not cards.

Japanese	Romaji	English	Marketplace definition (summary)	Closest TCGplayer wording
新品、未使用 (Mercari) / 未使用 (Yahoo!)	shinpin, mishiyō / mishiyō	New, unused	Never used; Yahoo! Auctions adds "unopened, or not long since purchase"	Near Mint expected, but factory flaws are possible
未使用に近い	mishiyō ni chikai	Like new	Used only a few times, with no scratches or dirt	Near Mint
目立った傷や汚れなし	medatta kizu ya yogore nashi	No noticeable scratches or dirt	Scratches or dirt you see only by looking closely	Near Mint to Lightly Played
やや傷や汚れあり	yaya kizu ya yogore ari	Some scratches or dirt	Wear that shows it is a used item	Lightly to Moderately Played
傷や汚れあり	kizu ya yogore ari	Scratches or dirt	Large scratches or dirt anyone can see	Moderately to Heavily Played
全体的に状態が悪い	zentaiteki ni jōtai ga warui	Poor overall	Mercari: noticeable scratches, dirt and damage across the item. Yahoo!: defects that affect use, junk items	Heavily Played or Damaged

Buyee's Mercari search shows the same six levels in English: New, Like new, Good, Fair, Poor and Overall poor condition. If you buy through a proxy service, that English label is a translation of the level above, not a new grade.

Mercari's A to D scale for single cards

Mercari also has a condition guide written for trading cards, though it says the feature is currently available only to some users. It applies to single cards, not boxes or packs. For a lot of several cards, the seller picks the level of the worst card in it.

Level	Japanese	English	Mercari's description
A	新品同等 (shinpin dōtō)	Like new	Almost no different from when new; very clean
B	きれいな状態 (kirei na jōtai)	Clean	Unobtrusive scratches or rub marks, good overall; small white chipping (白欠け) on corners or edges can still be B
C	目立つキズや汚れあり	Noticeable scratches or dirt	Noticeable scratches, dirt, dents or light creases
D	大きな損傷がある	Major damage	Tears, creases, water damage or other heavy deformation

Mercari says "新品同等" does not necessarily mean new or unused, and that these levels are different from a grading company's numeric grade. A card listed as A is not a promise of a PSA 10; what a 10 measures explains why.

Words sellers put in titles and descriptions

These words are not fixed options, so each seller uses them in their own way. Where a source defines a word, the table says so; otherwise the English is the word's ordinary meaning.

Japanese	Romaji	English	Closest TCGplayer wording, and what to check
美品	bihin	Fine condition, "beautiful item"	No fixed level; Mercari's listing rules ask sellers to avoid subjective words like 美品 and 状態良好 (good condition). Card Rush calls its S grade 美品 while noting minor scratches can be present
傷あり / キズあり	kizu ari	Has scratches	Lightly Played or worse; look for the close-up photo of the scratch
白かけ / 白欠け / 白カケ	shiro kake	White edge or corner wear	Mercari defines 白欠け as spots where the color has chipped and shows white. Small chipping can still be Mercari's B; TCGplayer counts whitening as Moderately Played when visible at a glance
初期傷	shoki kizu	Factory scratches	Marks present when the pack was opened; Japanese shops such as Dragon Star and Hareruya2 still count them as wear
スレ	sure	Scuffs, rubbing	Lightly Played or worse depending on amount
凹み / 折れ	hekomi / ore	Dent / crease	Moderately Played or worse; TCGplayer's Damaged covers creases that affect structure
プレイ用	purei-yō	For play	A used card sold for play, not for collecting; Torecolo sells all its commons and uncommons this way

Card shops add their own letter grades on top of these words. Japanese shop condition grades compares them with NM, LP, MP and HP.

Words about sealed and bulk products

Japanese	Romaji	English	What it tells you
未開封	mikaifū	Unopened	Mercari allows packs and boxes to be listed as packs or boxes only when unopened, and prohibits products made to look unopened
シュリンク付き	shurinku tsuki	With shrink wrap	The box still has its plastic film; whether a set's box is shrink-wrapped at the factory differs by product, so compare with the official product photos
バラ	bara	Loose	Sold individually: loose packs taken from a box, or loose single cards
まとめ売り	matome uri	Sold as a lot	Several items in one listing; on Mercari's A to D scale the lot takes the condition of its worst card
サーチパック	sāchi pakku	"Searched" pack	A wording Mercari tells sellers not to use, because it suggests what is or isn't inside a pack

Mercari also prohibits packs whose contents were swapped and random assortments whose contents are unclear. No marketplace or shop page we checked defines シュリンク付き, バラ or まとめ売り, so the English above is the plain meaning of the words. To judge a sealed box itself, see what makes a sealed product suspect and how a booster box differs from a pack or a case.

Checking a listing against the words

Read the condition level first; it is the one part of the listing the marketplace defines.
Look for close-up photos. Mercari asks sellers to photograph scratches, warping and corner white wear up close, so a listing that says 傷あり without a close-up is missing what the rules ask for.
Match the card itself, not just the name. Set codes and numbers are the reliable part; see identifying a Japanese Pokémon card or Yu-Gi-Oh! card numbers.
Remember the route. Buying through Mercari Japan from the U.S. means you cannot cancel once the purchase goes through, so ask questions before buying.

Sources

Details are as published on these pages on the date above and can change. Check the official page before you buy or submit.