[BornFreeCE]

Serious question.

Why would anyone pay for sealed anymore?

I've been collecting statues for years. That's my thing.
Sealed is meaningless. In fact it's usually an opportunity to be ripped off. If it's sealed and I'm paying an after market price I have no idea if all the contents are in tact (e.g. physical collectibles like figures, statues, prop replicas).

The seller also has no idea, or if clever enough can just con you.
But since the seller listed it as sealed they no longer have any obligations for the state of the contents.

If I'm buying after market I also ask for pictures of everything, including contents.

I think sealed makes sense of see through boxes like Star Wars figures....but opaque boxes? Not so sure about that.

But I come from the world of statue collecting so maybe I'm totally off base here.

Regardless, if the seller is bullsh1tting about it being sealed or not don't deal with them. If they are already sounding shifty, walk away. That seler already lost my trust.
I had a similar situation with TLOU Post Pandemic Edition. I really, REALLY want it. But, when I asked for pictures, the seller sent me pictures of his own version, then said he couldn't take pictures because it was sealed....but it was listed as unsealed and used (the game anyway).
I just felt uncomfortable and moved on.