Card Secret — Local services in Tokyo

After my experience with this store and the manager, I would advise anyone visiting tokyo for pokemon to AVOID Card Secret. They Scamed me out of ~1k USD and operate in bad faith.

TLDR: They operate in bad faith with card pricing. They hid damage on a $1000 card and intentionally priced it as non-damaged, which was 3x the actual value. I inspected the card but did not remove a "sticky note tab" on the penny sleve for "removing it from the top loader." I assumed in good faith it was priced based on their evaluation & nothing would be hidden under it (because why would I think this). When I discovered the damage (initials written on card) directly under the sticky note, I returned for a refund. They admitted to knowing about the damage and overpricing the card but refused a refund saying that's on you.

Please do not make the mistake I made. Do not deal or purchase from this store

Full Review:

I found out about the store from a few youtubers who had visited and endorsed the quality of the collection and the staff at card secret. Due to this, I made it one of my #1 stores to visit while in tokyo.

While visiting the store, i found one of my grail cards. The shining charizard from Neo Destiny in English. The card was on display and priced accordingly with TCG standards as "lightly played" (currently around 150k yen or ~1k usd) The card was in a penny sleve & and toploader with a silver of a stickynote attached to back of the penny sleve to "make it easier to remove from the top loader"(this is very important). It is worth noting here that there were only a couple of cards like this. The majority of the others are either just in penny sleeves or in penny & toploader with no sticky note.

Upon review of the card I removed it from the toploader but not the penny sleve to check the condition (cards of this value I do not like to remove the penny to prevent any additonal markings from handling or possible accidents). From inspection, the card matched the description & pricing to be in LP condition. It's worth noting here that I did not remove the sticky note that was positioned right on the pokeball, but I did lift the unstuck part to confirm no scratches or issues behind it.

After discussing possible grading values with the staff, I decided to make the purchase.

Once I got back to the hotel, I removed the card from the toploader and moved it to a fresh penny sleeve. It was here that I discovered perfectly hidden under the sticky part of the sticky note a D.R. faintly written and indented directly on the back of the card.

For anyone that doesn't know. Any kind of writing on a card disqualifies it from play and marks it as either DAMAGED or ALTERED (if it's a desirable signature). I feel like I don't need to say it, but this is a well established store, so it would be incredible if they are unaware of how writing on cards affects the value.

I returned to the shop the following day to discuss this with them. The manager (i believe his name is Andrew) was not there, but one of the employees discussed with me and appeared to agree that this card was clearly miss priced due to the damage but could not authorize a refund without manager approval. They reached out to Andrew, who denied the refund saying "the store was aware of the damage but priced it as LP anyway, and it's on the customer to fully check the card and confirm. The sale is final, and they will take any reprocussions on chin. " Essentially, they knew it was a damaged card, still price it at lightly played and hid the damage, hoping a sale would be made with the damage going un-noticed.

This confirms that this shop deals in bad faith. They knowingly priced the card well above its value and proceeded to cover the exact spot of the damage with the sticky note tab. When called out, they admitted to and and...

The amount of cards available is very impressive without a doubt. I actually don’t think I’ve been to a store in Tokyo with nearly the same amount of cards. I especially liked the fact that they were arranged by generations as well. That said, as someone who has literally spent thousands of dollars on cards during my trip in Japan (primarily looking for very expensive rare Japanese cards to add to my collection), I didn’t buy a single card during my visit. The reason being that this store has the highest prices for cards I’ve seen in Tokyo as well (and probably all of Japan other than maybe one store in Osaka). I mainly came to the shop based on an article I read about “best places to buy Pokemon cards in Tokyo!”, touting this shop as being much cheaper than the ones in Akihabara. Maybe that was the case at some point in the past, but definitely not now. I had purchased near mint cards that were offered at this store for MUCH cheaper at some of the “big name” stores in Akihabara just the day prior. Just as an example, they were selling an exclusive Corocoro card for thousands over the asking price in the US. I went to a nearby TCG shop afterwards, and found the same card (still sealed and mint condition) for a couple hundred under the US asking price. One other thing too is that this definitely seems to be a hotspot for a certain “type” of tourists, which is completely fine, but it definitely created a very nasty BO smell in the shop that made my time there a little unpleasant (that I could smell through my mask…). Not necessarily the shop’s problem, but unfortunately part of my experience there. With all that said, this shop definitely has a very impressive collection, but most of the prices are laughably high (which I actually did do when I saw some of the labels). If all you care about is finding that one card, regardless of the price, this shop is for you. Otherwise I recommend simply going to multiple shops in Tokyo until you find that same card at a much more reasonable price (which you will do). No comment regarding the staff as my only short interaction was asking them if they had the Japanese Giratina lost origins card for sale, which they didn’t have at the time (only a...

Tokyo is a city that thrives on contrast, neon drenched futurism and ancient tradition coexisting in perfect chaos. And somewhere in that labyrinth of nostalgia and consumerism, tucked between the overpriced, scalper infested trenches of Akihabara and Nakano Broadway, exists Card Secret, a true sanctuary for those who still remember the thrill of ripping open a Base Set booster pack like it was a golden ticket.

This isn’t your run of the mill tourist trap where glass cases hold hostages of slabbed Charizards with an extortionate price tag. No, Card Secret is different. The guy running the show knows his trade, and unlike most shops in Tokyo that cater to the clueless or desperate, he prices his stock fairly. You want rare Pokémon cards? Vintage Pokémon cards? He’s got them. But more importantly, they’re not marked up to insult your intelligence.

I’ve combed through plenty of shops in Tokyo hunting down the ghosts of my childhood, sealed boosters, e-reader sets, a clean Gold Star lineup that doesn’t require selling a kidney. Here, you can actually find affordable vintage Pokémon cards without the usual gouging that’s become the norm. The collection is impressively well curated whether you’re after Japanese exclusives, old-school promos, modern sets or the kind of rare Pokémon cards that make grown collectors weep, this place delivers.

Card Secret is a rare find in Tokyo a store where nostalgia and fair pricing still mean something. If you’re after vintage Pokémon cards without the usual Tokyo tax, this is where...