Japanese, Korean and Chinese card comps
Most pricing tools stop at English, or price a Japanese card from its English sibling. COMPED treats every region as its own market and lets you search all four at once.
Updated
Prepared with AI assistance. Source links distinguish marketplace and grading guidance from COMPED’s own pricing method.
Can I search regional cards using English names?
Yes. Use the English card name, select the region and confirm the catalogue’s set and collector number.
- English, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese printings in a single unified search.
- Latin-alphabet names match regional cards, so you can type 'Umbreon' and find the Korean printing.
- Korean and Chinese cards inherit artwork from their Japanese parent where no separate scan exists.
- Regional sale evidence leads where available; limited-evidence quotes may use a labelled Japanese baseline, not an English price.
How COMPED builds a number
- UK sold data first. Completed eBay UK sales in GBP are the primary evidence. If a card is thinly traded, the search widens to global sold data rather than falling back to a guess.
- Exact printing only. Set, number, language, finish and edition must match — 1st Edition, Shadowless, 4th print and Unlimited are priced as separate cards, as are reverse holos and regional printings.
- Outliers scrubbed. Digby drops damaged copies, lots, proxies, mislabelled graded sales and single freak results before the weighted comp is calculated.
- Condition-anchored. Vintage raw cards are anchored to realistic played grades rather than pretending every copy is Near Mint; modern cards anchor to NM.
- Community-verified. Vendors and collectors confirm prices in the Price Trainer, and that consensus nudges the headline comp on cards where sales are sparse.
- Uncertainty is shown, not hidden. When there is not enough comparable evidence, COMPED says so and shows a range with the sale count behind it.
Why can matching artwork have different regional prices?
A Japanese chase card and its English counterpart frequently trade at very different prices, and Korean or Chinese versions of the same art can sit far below both. That gap is a genuine opportunity for collectors who like the art more than the language — and a trap for anyone valuing a regional card from an English number.
COMPED will also show you how a regional printing compares against its English and Japanese counterparts, so the difference is visible rather than assumed.
What must match in a regional sold listing?
- Confirm the set symbol and number for the region — numbering rarely matches the English release.
- Watch for region-exclusive promos and box toppers that have no English equivalent at all.
- Check the language explicitly in sold listings; mixed-language results are the most common source of a bad regional comp.
- Factor in international postage if you are buying from outside the UK.
How should I use a regional estimate?
A regional estimate is a fallback, not proof of a sale in that language. Check whether the quote is supported by direct regional transactions or a Japanese reference. The underlying set and printing must still match. Do not substitute an English version because a collector number happens to be reused.
Where direct evidence is limited, COMPED’s default reference is 55% of the Japanese price for Chinese cards and 80% for Korean cards. The 30th Celebration M6a and MF exception uses 90% for both Chinese and Korean versions. These are pricing baselines, not fixed market promises; real comparable regional evidence should guide the decision.
Condition remains separate from the language adjustment. A played Korean copy and a Near Mint Japanese copy need more than a currency conversion to become comparable. Inspect the same surfaces, corners and finish that you would check on an English card. If the catalogue cannot confirm the printing or the evidence is thin, do not treat the headline as a guaranteed buy-in price.
International delivery can also change what a purchase costs. Record postage and any applicable additional charges separately from the card value. For a UK sale, ask whether the comparison describes a local transaction or an overseas reference. That distinction explains the evidence without pretending every regional card has an active UK market.
Keep reading
Common questions
- Can I price Japanese Pokémon cards in GBP?
- Yes. Japanese printings are comped from sold data and shown in GBP, so you can compare them directly against the English card.
- Are Korean and Chinese cards supported?
- Yes. Korean and Simplified Chinese printings are in the catalogue, including artwork inherited from their Japanese parent cards where no separate scan exists.
- Can I search all regions at once?
- Yes. A single search covers English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese printings together, and Latin-alphabet Pokémon names match the regional cards.
- Why are regional cards often cheaper?
- Smaller collector bases and different print runs. That gap is real, and it is why some regional chase cards are the best value in the hobby — but it also means the English comp is never a substitute for the regional one.
- Why can some regional cards not be priced?
- Sold data for Korean and Chinese printings can be genuinely absent on UK and global marketplaces. COMPED reports those as unpriced instead of substituting the Japanese or English comp, which would overstate them.
- Why are regional vintage cards the sparsest of all?
- Small original print runs plus small collector bases means very few completed sales. Expect ranges and low sale counts on older Japanese, Korean and Chinese cards.
- Do regional slabs use the English graded price?
- No. Graded regional cards are comped from graded sales of that regional printing, because the grading market for them is separate and usually much thinner.
Which sources explain sales and condition?
TCGplayer’s Market Price explanation describes recent completed transactions on its marketplace. Those sales describe that marketplace, not a guaranteed UK selling price. Use the same printing and condition before comparing a marketplace reference with a GBP comp.
PSA’s official grading standards describe the condition requirements for PSA grades. A raw card is not automatically a PSA 10, and prices from different grades are not interchangeable. These standards explain condition; they do not establish the value of a particular card.
For raw singles, TCGplayer’s condition overview distinguishes Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played and Damaged. Check surfaces, edges and corners rather than relying on a seller’s headline.