Best Pokemon binders for cards: Where to buy TCG binders, albums, and books

There are many ways to store your Pokemon cards, including in trading card binders, albums, and books, as well as in sleeves, top loaders, and slabs. Here, you can find the best Pokemon binders for sleeved and slabbed TCG cards, as well as where to buy TCG binders, albums, folios, and, books.

Pokemon cards have gradually increased in value and popularity since their inception in 1996. Since then, some collectors have made a small fortune reselling their old cards, but only when kept in good condition. This is why you need a good storage solution, such as a Pokemon TCG album or Pokemon binder for your cards.

Binders and storage boxes are two of the most popular ways to store cards. Whilst both have benefits, binders are unbeaten when it comes to being able to view and show off your Pokemon card collection, to visually sort through your cards, and to build, change, and store your decks.

Contents:

• Where to buy the Best Pokemon Binders
• How to store your Pokemon TCG cards
• Key points to consider before storing your Pokemon cards
• How to organize your Pokemon Cards

Where to buy the Best Pokemon Binders:

Find out where to buy the best Pokemon binders, including how much they cost, the amount of cards they hold, the construction, and, their pros and cons below.

Pokemon / Ultra Pro

The Ultra Pro Premiere Playset PRO-Binder Black Pokemon Album has side loading and stores 480 cards. This is the best overall binder, as it is great for personal collections, deck building, display, comfort, and storage. It holds 480 double-sleeved cards and includes inner pockets for Pokemon TCG tools like dice and other accessories. It also doesn’t suffer from spine bulge which can affect cheaper ringless binders.

Pokemon / VaultX

This Vault X Premium Exo-Tec® Zip Binder has 4 Pockets a page and 160 side-loading pockets. The binder comes in 6 different colors and is great for archival, deck building, transporting, and, trading.

Pokemon / Ultra Pro

The Elite Series: embossed leatherette Pikachu PRO-Binder is zip-enclosed and has 9 side loading slots, that hold 480 cards total. It is officially licensed by the Pokemon company.

Pokemon

Vault X Premium Exo-Tec Zip Binder has 9 side loading pockets for your Pokemon trading cards, that hold a total of 360 cards. In terms of transport and storage, it’s a good compromise with decent materials, and portability at 35 x 26 cm.

Xenoskin / Amazon

The Ultimate Guard Zipfolio 480 – 24 Pocket XenoSkin (Quadrow) Black is durable as it’s made using great materials. It’s a good size for storage and transport and features zipping sides and side loads of double-sleeved cards.

Pokemon

The Black Dragon Shield Codex has 24 side-loading pockets and holds a total of 576 cards. It is made with very high-quality materials and would look beautiful on any table. It is perfect for the collector who wants to display a lot of cards with high visibility. It doesn’t suffer from spine bulge, unlike less costly binders.

Pokemon / TopDeck

The TopDeck 200 TopLoader Binder is a 9-pocket card binder/album perfect for those who love their cards, as it is built for cards in top loaders. This creates extra protection from shock and reduces the risk of damage to your cards.

Pokemon / Fun Guys

This display case album by FunGuys holds 60 graded cards in standard-sized slabs, ie. from PSA, Beckett, and CGC. It’s a well-priced and well-made professional album for displaying high-value cards.

GemLoader / Pokemon

This Gem Loader Premium Graded Card Binder is on another level of quality altogether. Not only does it have highly aesthetic high-quality materials and a zipper, but it also has super safe and unique ‘click-in’ pages for your graded cards in slabs. Gem Loaders are based in and manufactured in the Netherlands and offer excellent customer service.

It’s important overall not to skimp on binders if you’re serious about collecting because as with anything, you get what you pay for.

We recommend ringless binders with zips, but the Dragon Codex binder uses elastic. As the materials are of high quality, your cards won’t be compressed, especially if you double-sleeve them. 

The same goes for the Ultra Pro Premiere, which lacks zips but has excellent materials, a great spine, and overall a fantastic multi-purpose binder. 

When it comes to Toploader binders we highly recommend the Pokemon card album by Top Deck. Even better is the Gem Loader which is the best for graded Pokemon TCG cards in standard-sized slabs. They are known to make high-quality binders, with unique and shock-resistant click-in sheets.

How to store your Pokemon TCG cards

Here are some important things to remember when storing your cards:

Humidity 

• Store your cards in a place with around 30-40% humidity. Under 25-30% humidity can cause cardboard to expand.
• Over 60% and the cards will expand and curl. High moisture can also attract insects and mold
• Consider an air quality meter like this Amazon Alexa air quality device.
• Some moisture is good, so avoid vacuum sealing your cards unless you ventilate them once a fortnight or so. 

Airflow

• Keep your cards in a well-ventilated area, or allow airflow into the room at least once a fortnight. Stale air can attract mold.

Temperature:

• Try to store your cards at around 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 Celsius).
• Cards can be stored under these temperatures so long as humidity consistently stays at around 30-40%.

Light:

• Light, especially direct and indirect sunlight will not only damage and discolor your Pokemon cards, but sunlight will also break down the plastics in your binder pages and sleeves. The products of the breakdown will rub into your card causing further damage and discoloration or worse. 

How to load your Pokemon TCG cards into binders

Use Penny Sleeves

• Keep a packet of penny sleeves while opening packs, and gently put your cards inside straight away to avoid accidents. Gloves aren’t necessary, but make sure you wash and dry your hands properly before handling Pokemon cards.

Consider Double Sleeving

• Fussy collectors can consider double-sleeving. You can place your card top-down into this KMC perfect fit before placing it into a penny sleeve bottom-up, and then putting it into your binder or top loader – these Top Loaders from Ultra Pro are recommended
• If you’re putting your card into a top loader, use a penny sleeve first. These penny sleeves by Ultra Pro are a good option
• If you’re going to double sleeve, go for a high-quality binder like the Ultra Pro or Dragon Shield mentioned below. Otherwise, the weight of the full binder will be too much for most binders spines, and the binder.

Finally, gently slot your cards into the binder from the side, and never store two cards in one slot.

How to organize your Pokemon cards:

Pokemon cards can be organized in many different ways and you could spend hours doing it.  To save time, many collectors do the following:

• Keep their cards categorized according to type. For example, a binder for Water types, another for electric types, and so on…
• Keep their basic energy cards organized according to type.
• Organize cards in collections – for example, radiant generation collection, staff collections, or individual Pokemon cards – a collection of Tyranitar’s or Togepi’s. 
• Organize your binders by decks – an Iron Valiant ex deck, a lost zone box deck. You can view some of the best and most popular deck archetypes in the metagame on limitlessTCG
• Trade binders. These can be used to keep your best possible cards. We recommend spending a little more here and getting a good binder, as it will protect your investment in the long term.
• Categories by evolutionary group – a page for Pichu, another for Pikachu, and another for Raichu. 
• Categorize your cards by series. If you’re a die-hard collector who doesn’t mind spending to collect every card in your favorite series, then this can save you a lot of hassle when trying to find a card. You could further organize this by collecting the cards in order. The number on the bottom left or right corner of your card tells you which one it is – for example, 19/68 would mean the card is the 19th card in a 68-card series.
• Categorize your cards by rarity. Have a look at our rarity chart to determine this, and always prioritize ultra-rare cards and above. Although rarity doesn’t always guarantee a higher price, it is typically a good indicator.
• Elite Trainer Boxes or ETBs for short. They come with a player and collectors’ guide which allows you to tick off the cards that you own, making collecting a lot easier. The ETB boxes also come with high-quality sleeves and dividers, making them great alternatives to binders. They will also fit two rows of top-loaded, vertically positioned cards.
• Consider keeping a spreadsheet of your Pokemon cards alongside useful information about their year of release, condition, number, and where you stored them.

Pokemon TCG Binder Do’s and Don’ts:

• Do use zipping binders, which compress the cards less and decrease the chances of your cards slipping out, and of your cards coming into contact with foreign objects and moisture
• Do Consider interleaving using acid-free protective paper, especially if you are going to archive your cards. Some binders include these, others don’t – you will find cheap glassine paper or similar on Amazon
• Do Keep your binders vertical on a shelf in a well-ventilated room without much humidity
• Do pack your albums and binders with interleaving sheets
• Do use binders that load from the sides
• Do: use D ring binders that won’t clamp your cards
• Do: Consider avoiding ring damage issues by investing in ringless binders with enough space between the binding and the pockets
• Do use high-quality plastics that are PVC and acid-free.

• Don’t use ‘O-Ring’ binders. The pages on the ends can move into the ring and get clamped down, add weight to the equation and you can deform your cards
• Don’t use binders that use cheap materials like thin plastics – not only can they damage the art on the cards, but there is a higher chance of the pages ripping, and the cards and seams pressing into them
• Don’t stack your binders
• Don’t use binders with pages that load from the top, and, if you do, be careful when transporting your cards so that they don’t fall out
• Don’t use binders with a band or elastic unless they are of very high quality, as this can put unnecessary pressure on the sides of your cards, which can lead to compression and damage.

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In the meantime, For even more tips to become the very best at the Pokemon TCG, be sure to check out our guides below:

Best Waifu Cards and Where to Buy Them | Most expensive and rarest Pokemon cards | Best Pokemon cards of all time | Best Rainbow Pokemon cards | Most expensive Charizard cards | How many Pokemon cards are there? | Are Golden Pokemon cards real? Golden cards explained | Most valuable Pokemon Energy cards you can add to your collection | Are Korean Pokemon TCG cards worth investing in? | What do the symbols mean on Pokemon cards? |