This guide is for buyers purchasing sealed Pokémon product by the case or the pallet — retail buyers stocking several doors, vending and prize operators, and export buyers building mixed loads. If you are buying one or two sealed boxes, most of what follows will not apply to you, and a single-box retailer will serve you better than a distributor will.

Know exactly which format you are buying

More money is lost on Pokémon orders through format confusion than through price. Several products share almost the same name and sit at very different price points, and a product title alone often does not make the difference clear.

Working from smallest to largest, the hierarchy is:

Booster pack — the smallest sealed unit, a handful of cards.
Booster bundle — a small multi-pack. Retail impulse price point.
Elite Trainer Box (ETB) — packs plus accessories such as sleeves, dice and a storage box. Higher shelf price than a bundle, and a different buyer.
Booster box — a full box of packs. The standard unit for a serious hobby buyer.
Case — multiple booster boxes in the manufacturer’s shipping carton, unopened.

Case counts are not constant. How many boxes are in a case, and how many packs are in a box, varies between sets and between product lines. Never assume the count from a previous order carries over to a new set. Ask for the count in writing against the specific set you are ordering, and check it against the invoice before the shipment leaves.

What “sealed” has to mean when it arrives

If you are reselling sealed product, the condition of the outer packaging is part of the goods. A case that has been opened to pull boxes, then taped shut, is no longer a sealed case — and any buyer downstream will treat it that way.

What to check on arrival:

The manufacturer’s shipping carton is intact and factory-taped, not re-taped.
Individual boxes inside carry their original shrink wrap, undisturbed.
Set name and product format on the carton match the invoice line exactly.

Photograph the pallet before it is broken down. If there is a discrepancy, that photograph is the difference between a credit and an argument.

Why there is no fixed list price

Sealed Pokémon does not price like the rest of a wholesale catalogue. Allocation is finite, sets go out of print, and the secondary market moves the floor under everything. A case price quoted three weeks ago is a historical fact, not an offer.

Two practical consequences for a buyer:

Confirm the price at the point of ordering, not from a saved quote or a screenshot of a category page.
Decide your sell-through price first. Working backwards from what you can actually realise is the only way to know whether a case works. Working forwards from the case price is how buyers end up holding stock they cannot move.

Landed cost is the number that matters

Case price is not what the stock costs you. Landed cost per unit is, and it is what decides whether a line is profitable.

Work it out like this, for every line, before you commit:

Case price divided by the number of sellable units in the case.
Plus inbound freight, allocated per unit — sealed product is dense and heavier than its size suggests.
Plus any prep, labelling or overboxing if the stock is going into a marketplace warehouse.
Plus the marketplace referral fee, if that is your channel.

A case that looks cheap at the top of the calculation frequently is not cheap at the bottom of it. Run the arithmetic once, on paper, and it will tell you more than any price comparison.

Plush, figures and prize merchandise

Trading cards are only part of the licensed range. Plush, figures and small accessories move in volume through a different set of buyers — vending and claw machine operators, prize and redemption sites, fairground and arcade operators, and gift retailers adding a licensed range.

The buying logic is different from cards. For prize and vending use, size and hanging weight matter more than set or rarity, and consistency across a reorder matters more than either. If you are filling machines, tell us the machine type and the prize tier you are buying to — that determines the right size band, and it is a more useful starting point than a product name.

When you should not buy by the case

Being straight about this saves everyone time. Case buying is the wrong route if:

You want a specific card. Sealed product is a probability, not a purchase order.
You need deep allocation of one set. That is a dedicated trading card distributor’s job, not a general distributor’s.
Your shelf turnover cannot clear a case within a season. Sealed product is not perishable, but capital tied up in slow stock is a real cost.

How ordering works here

Every line on the site carries a minimum order quantity, shown in the quantity field on the product page along with the resulting order value, so the real commitment is visible before you add anything to the cart. Pricing is confirmed on your quote for the case count you order. Orders are issued with a commercial invoice itemised by product and quantity — the document marketplaces ask for during category ungating and invoice review.

Orders ship from Doral, Florida and Sanborn, New York. If you are buying to a monthly schedule rather than placing a single order, say so with your first enquiry: repeat volume is quoted against run rate, not against one purchase order.

You can see current sealed Pokémon and licensed merchandise on the wholesale Pokémon category page, or request a quote with the set, format and quantity you need.

Ordering from American General Distributors: we supply retailers and resellers only. Every order carries a $5,000 minimum order value, which can be mixed across products. Send us your product list for a quote.

Buying Pokemon by the Sealed Case: Formats, Case Counts and Landed Cost