Pokemon Company Announces Price Increases for Pokemon TCG in Japan

Water Pokémon Master

Water Pokémon Master

I like Pokemon more than you! :p
Webmaster
Elite Member
Advanced Member
Member
The Pokemon Company has announced that due to rising material and distribution costs, they will be increasing the MSRP of Pokemon TCG products in Japan. This is in an effort to maintain product quality.
The price increases will go into effect for the Scarlet & Violet series, which releases after January. Prices for Sword & Shield products will remain the same.
The prices will increase by roughly 5 to 10%, with some products going up as much as 25%. We use completely different printing facilities and distribution centers than Japan, so it’s unlikely the international TCG will see the same increases.



Japanese Product
Prices up until the SWSH series
New prices for the Scarlet & Violet series


Booster Pack
165 yen
180 yen


Preconstructed Deck
1,711 yen
1,800 yen


Deck Sleeves
792 yen
889 yen


Deck Sleeves
913 yen
990 yen


Deck...
Click to expand...

Continue reading...
 
Last edited:
"We use completely different printing facilities and distribution centers than Japan, so it’s unlikely the international TCG will see the same increases."

It's only a matter of time, but we will see an increase nonetheless.
 
stuff like this just highlights how much more affordable and better value the japanese tcg is locally compared to the international product. even at the new price of 180y per 5 card pack that works out to around $2.50 USD for 2 packs - already cheaper for the same amount of cards - and the JP packs have a holo minimum in about 1 in every 2 packs. for a little more than the cost of one sealed US booster you could buy 3 japanese ones and hit 3 full art or better guaranteed, with about 12 Vs and 6 VSTAR/VMAX on top where an english box would be lucky to have half of that. not to mention that print quality and consistency still manages to be much better, japan's minimum wage is the exact same as the US, so while buying japanese cards currently is probably not as great value because of shipping, the japanese market proves we can get the same if not better content without the level of markup international buyers are subject to
 
Love how the TCG is more profitable than ever the last few years and in Japan you aren't even guaranteed a holo in a pack but the poor underpaid TCG team just needs to make more money.
 
If only the international company cared as much about quality. They are still producing cards that are not the same quality that they were in sets passed. The cards are thinner, missing that glossy shine to it and have those awful edges due to the lower quality paper. I had a number of V cards that were cut badly and I complained about them and they said I could send them to them and maybe they would send me the same card as a replacement. If not they would (if I wanted to) get another card that is similar to replace it. They would send me a booster pack to cover the shipping cost. If I choose not to get the replacement card (because they ran out or didn't have any) they'd send it back. But they told me they don't even know when they would be doing any of the replacements as things are shut down. Why the heck are things shut down? They make oodles of money and can't afford to hire people to work?
 
Prices may be going up in Japan, but anyone who uses the US Dollar is still coming out ahead. $1 = 115 JPY in March. Now, $1 = 147 JPY. That's an almost a 22% increase in purchasing power.
 
Booster pack prices have been the same for awhile. Even back in '99 packs were usually about 3 bucks or 4 at some retail prices. As a kid buying packs in '06-'09 I distinctly remember stores still selling for around the 3-4 mark. They've been $3.99 for the longest time and have just recently seen price raises in stores like Target (although I don't think that's from Pokemon raising MSRP).

Yes, corporations bad, but spending five seconds to think about historical prices in Japan and English products show this isn't really a huge deal. If they do several jumps in a year or two? Then there's room to complain, but for now it's not a big deal
 
Yombo said:
If only the international company cared as much about quality. They are still producing cards that are not the same quality that they were in sets passed. The cards are thinner, missing that glossy shine to it and have those awful edges due to the lower quality paper. I had a number of V cards that were cut badly and I complained about them and they said I could send them to them and maybe they would send me the same card as a replacement. If not they would (if I wanted to) get another card that is similar to replace it. They would send me a booster pack to cover the shipping cost. If I choose not to get the replacement card (because they ran out or didn't have any) they'd send it back. But they told me they don't even know when they would be doing any of the replacements as things are shut down. Why the heck are things shut down? They make oodles of money and can't afford to hire people to work?
Click to expand...
TPCI has been more than reasonable with me in the few email correspondences I’ve had with them over the years. Things definitely take longer than they should for a company of its size but I would suggest the people you’re corresponding with will do what they can to compensate you for any inconvenience if you don’t poke them too much.
 
I think this will significantly turn off a lot of Pokémon fans, Packs are too much money as they are to not pull anything in most every pack you get, and the 2020 Pokémon Bubble has popped. Big stores like Target are struggling to sale any Pokémon products and they want to raise prices hahahaha
I will definitely be taking a step back
 
PartTimeTCGCollector said:
"We use completely different printing facilities and distribution centers than Japan, so it’s unlikely the international TCG will see the same increases."

It's only a matter of time, but we will see an increase nonetheless.
Click to expand...
It has already been announced that prices are increasing here in the states as well....sorry bud
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top