US customs ruins Pokemon Yellow Special Edition worth $5k, collector claims
A collector claims to have had a disastrous run-in with US customs, as an image shows a graded Pokemon Yellow Special Pikachu Edition worth ~$10k in a shredded box outside of its broken acrylic case.
Being a collector of vintage video games is an expensive hobby. Not everyone is lucky enough to stroll to a yard sale and walk away with a bin full of underpriced Nintendo 64 games. And as collecting becomes more popular, the demand for classic games increases, and prices skyrocket.
Luckily, the internet allows for collecting with ease… as long as you’ve got the money. And thanks to trusted sites like Heritage Auctions, eBay, and WhatNot, buyers have secure options that protect them from potential scams. But once the package is in transit, the fate of the collector’s item is in the postal service’s hands.
Bidders wait with bated breath, hoping their items are packaged safely and arrive in the condition they were shipped. But that’s not always the case, and one Pokemon collector faced great disappointment after US customs got ahold of their graded Yellow Special Edition Game Boy game.
Pokemon Yellow Special Edition ruined by US customs
The initial tweet reporting the incident was made by Stephen Kick (@pripyatbeast), who claimed their friend had purchased a 9.2 Wata graded copy sealed copy of Pokemon Yellow Special Pikachu edition for the original Game Boy.
Accompanying the tweet was a photo of the destroyed box and Wata acrylic casing, along with claims that US customs had “Broke the acrylic case, Ripped and discarded the seal, and SLICED the front of the box off.”
According to recent sales on Price Charting, a Wata 9.2 sealed copy of Pokemon Yellow is worth around $5k. But in its current state, the cartridge is worth around $50, and the box is likely worthless.
Kick isn’t sure why the box and casing were destroyed and hasn’t provided an update since the initial post.
