To combat online scalpers, The Pokemon Company and Nintendo will start sellingPokemontrading cardsthrough an online lottery so that fans can purchase the cards safely. Doing so should also reduce the number of scalpers that are able to get their hands on the product.
Scalping, or the act of buying something in bulk and then reselling it for extremely marked-up prices, has been an increasing issue in the last couple of years, and especially recently with the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. But scalpers go after anything that could be considered a highly demanded, limited-time item, andPokemontrading cards have been attracting scalpers non-stop, such as with theMcDonald’s 25th AnniversaryPokemoncard packs. Target also now refuses to sellPokemoncards after scalpers started camping outside the store.
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This month, pre-orders for thePokemon Trading Card Gameexpansion packsChilling ReignandEevee Heroessold out in seconds, and most of them were seemingly due to bots rather than real fans. One major issue regarding scalpers is that not all are camping outside of department stores. Instead, they use bots on online storefronts to purchase the products for them automatically. This process is precisely what makesobtaining PS5s so difficult, and scalpers turn around and sell them for hundreds of dollars more.
The Japanese company released a statement onthe demand forPokemoncards, promising to increase production in a rough translation: “We will give top priority to delivering the desired products to our customers, continue to strengthen our production system, and promote the reproduction and shipment of missing products.”
A second statement followed the first, which outlined The Pokemon Company’s plan to use an online lottery system to sell cards in the future rather than selling them at Pokemon Centers and Pokemon Stores: “We will not sell the following target products at Pokemon Center / Pokemon Store, but will sell them by lottery at Pokemon Center Online.” It’s unclear what this means for American retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy, but Target announced that it wouldno longer carryPokemontrading cardsas of May 14.
While thePokemoncards usually come in booster packs priced at about $4, theChilling ReignandEevee Heroespacks are being sold for over double the price online, and boxes with 36 packs are going for as much as $140 on eBay.
Pokemontrading cards have been more well-received in recent years than TPC ever anticipated, it explains in the statement. The trading card game went from a hobby to a demanding market, and somePokemoncards are worth enough to buy a house with. News thatPokemontrading cardswill be more exclusive is bittersweet; it’s unfortunate that scalpers have caused such issues for both consumers and retailers, but hopefully, this new method will finally be able to combat the growing issue.
