By: Elianna Tsigler
The popular trading card game Pokémon celebrated the 30th anniversary of its Trading Card Game (TCG) on Sep. 16. A big milestone brought together fans from all over the world, of all ages. But what happens when those fans aren’t allowed to participate? This is the reality for many current fans, and it’s known as the age of scalping.
A scalper is someone who stalks a product and rushes to buy it instantly, whether online or in person. They focus on high-demand items, such as concert tickets, limited-edition items, and, in this case, Pokémon merchandise. After acquiring these products at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP), they resell them for often more than five times the MSRP.
But what exactly is the market, and who manipulates it? The market price is what many second-hand vendors sell their products for, and what many people are forced to pay if they want to participate in the hobby, since all MSRP products are sold out. However, scalpers manipulate this price. Since they buy up all the product and no one else can, they can control how much it sells for.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this issue was not nearly as prevalent as it is now. The revival of Pokémon started around this time period as well. Since many people were stuck at home with nothing to do, they rummaged through old things and eventually stumbled onto Pokémon, hitting a wave of nostalgia.
However, because people couldn’t leave their houses, everyone turned to buying products online. As predicted, this led to products selling out with no real way to get them anymore, unless you bought them from an indirect seller. People saw the new wave of nostalgia as a way to profit, and they most definitely did.
Let’s take a look at Scarlet and Violet (SV) 151 poster collection. For the products, MSRP is $14.99; meanwhile, on other credible websites such as TCGplayer and Price Charting, it currently goes for around $86.
It was released a mere 3 years ago, on Sept. 22, 2023. The reason for this massive inflation is quite simple; since the set included the Pokémon nearly everyone grew up with, many older fans returned to the hobby.
The same is true even for sets released just last year. With another SV set, Prismatic Evolutions, prices have surged tremendously, although they have been lowering in recent months. To keep the comparison similar, the MSRP price of a Prismatic Evolutions poster collection is also $14.99, but its market price is around $40.
This is a tremendous jump compared to 151. It’s mainly because the “chases”—the most sought-after/rarest cards you can get from this set—are so expensive.
The community’s disapproval stems from the fact that the chases aren’t as expensive or as pursued. Everything is categorized by what makes a profit and what doesn’t.
Additionally, even though the market price is already inflated, many sellers raise it even more, often going nearly $20-30 above.
More often than not, especially on the day of a new set drop, people will line up outside of stores and camp out overnight, then fight to acquire the new product. When asked about the 30th anniversary craze, a Best Buy employee shared his perspective on the night.
“It was crazy; people were here all night, and we sold out in nearly 15 minutes after opening.”
The question is: if this behavior isn’t new, why wasn’t there already a limit?
This issue doesn’t apply only to stores; it also applies to Pokémon TCG vending machines. Despite the sign that says no loitering, people will camp out and form lines to grab any products they can. Many track the machines’ restock timers and make sure to clear out whenever that time hits. Since people loiter but don’t stay around for the full time required for the restock, many fights ensue as to who was actually there first; oftentimes bordering on becoming physical.
Scalpers have even gone so far as to complain online and claim that they are “losing out on profit” because the large supply of 30th anniversary products has prevented them from hoarding it.
With Pokémon’s clear popularity, two card shows were hosted very recently on the Brooklyn College campus. Both were incredibly successful, and I even attended the first one and can attest to the friendly environment; but the overall problem still persists.
Many sealed products were still priced at market and above, even from the modern era, which consists of SV and ME.
So what exactly can be done to combat this, especially in our own community?
Since our campus has TCG card shows, the least we can do is advocate for the products sold to be limited to MSRP for modern sets.
Understandably, vintage products will increase in price, but items still in print should be restricted in this way.
Within the overall community, stores that sell products for MSRP, like Sam’s Club and some Target locations, limit customers to one item per person. Despite some workarounds, this is still a strong start to solving the problem.
However, at the end of the day, this is a hobby, which we lose sight of too easily in this community. At what point does value become subjective as opposed to monetary? When is enough, enough?