While the COVID-19 pandemic of last year has greatly affected the production of a lot of products, especially when it comes to video games and gaming memorabilia, it has also greatly changed how some individuals purchase such items. This has led rise to an unfortunate trend of scalping for the third-party market, from graphics cards, to the latest next-gen consoles, and now most recently, trading cards, with Pokemon cards being some of the most affected.
The Pokemon TCG has skyrocketed in both popularity and value recently, with many fans, online personalities, celebrities, and more discovering the value which some cards can hold. While older trading cards are certainly more likely to bring in the big bucks, fans still flock to stores for the latest Pokemon TCG expansions. However, one Pokemon Center store in Japan has now taken some clever countermeasures to combat scalping.
As the latest Pokemon TCG expansions Silver Lance and Black Geist (known as Chilling Reign overseas) released in Japan, one of Tokyo's Pokemon Center stores asked fans to line up at a certain time, when tickets for scheduled shopping times would be distributed for fans to come back to the store for the Pokemon cards. However, as scalpers lined up before the specified time, leaving more honest fans far behind them, staff at the Pokemon Center began to distribute tickets from the back of the line.
While many fans thought they had been beaten out by sneaky scalpers who jumped the gun, they were excited to learn that they would be receiving their shopping time slots first in an unexpected twist. Reportedly, the store had even announced that "individuals who line up before the designated time may not be admitted in the order they lined up."
Needless to say, the staff at this Pokemon Center store decided to reward the honesty of fans who obeyed the request of lining up at a specified time. Although this doesn't seem to be a tactic that has been utilized in other Pokemon Center stores or Pokemon TCG retailers, it certainly teaches a lesson to the less considerate who think they may be above the rules.
Some retailers overseas such as Target have taken anti-scalper measures, such as selling Pokemon cards only as soon as the store opens on early Friday mornings. However, this method still operates on a first-come, first-served basis, where fans will have to line up outside and then file into the store to purchase cards at the customer service desk, though it's worth noting that the amount that customers can purchase is regulated by staff and certain rules.
Nonetheless, trading cards have proven to be an incredibly lucrative market in recent months. And as Pokemon cards continue to remain popular and sell for insane prices at auctions, it will certainly be interesting to see how other retailers attempt to combat scalping to keep an even playing field.
Pokemon TCG's Sword and Shield: Chilling Reign expansion will release June 18, 2021.
Source: Hachima Kiko