I was so excited about the new Pokemon TCG set. I loved the Team Rocket cards as a kid, and now I’m a real grown-up with disposable income, I wanted to rip some packs and score some of Team Rocket’s Pokemon. However, it wasn’t to be.

The launch of Destined Rivals was an unmitigated disaster. I, along with millions of others, joined virtual queues on the Pokemon Centre website in order to scoop up an Elite Trainer Box to add to our collections.

Destined Rivals is the international version of the Japanese set The Glory of Team Rocket.

Unfortunately, I was booted from the queue on two occasions, with an ETB already in my basket. Watching that number drop from eight digits to none on two occasions was disheartening, but not as disheartening and seeing the very box I had in my basket posted on eBay moments later for an extortionate price.

Scalpers Are Ruining The Pokemon Hobby

There is currently an Elite Trainer Box, which retails for £55, on sale for £1,000 on eBay. Looking at sold listings, you find that these boxes have been bought for over six times their worth.

I’m under no illusion that the £1,000 ETB will sell, but people are readily handing over £300 for a product worth a sixth of that price. I can’t blame them, though. Buying off eBay is the only way most people can get their hands on new Pokemon cards these days. Shops sell out instantly, online sales constantly mess up, so what’s left to do? If you’ve got the cash, why not turn to eBay?

It’s the scalpers who are the problem. They bot their way to the front of the online queues, sharpening their virtual elbows to boot genuine fans out of the way. Once they’ve got their hands on a coveted pre-order, they slap it on eBay with an exorbitant price tag. They get to dictate how much we pay, they exploit genuine fans, and they make a ton of money. There’s no worse collector in any hobby.

Will Pokemon Do Anything About Scalpers?

I doubt Pokemon will do anything about this. The company is still selling boxes. It doesn’t care who buys them, or that real players have to shell out extortionate fees in order to enjoy their hobby.

There are easy fixes to Pokemon’s scalping problem. The Pokemon Company could require an account to purchase its products. It could cross-reference that account with other purchases, checking the name, address, payment card, etc. so that scalpers can’t make multiple accounts in order to get around purchase limits.

We don’t know exactly what Pokemon’s anti-bot systems are, but they clearly don’t work. Otherwise scalpers wouldn’t so consistently get their hands on products when real fans don’t. And there’s no real way that we can combat the problem.

Close

Pokemon could print on demand. It could crash the second-hand market with no detriment to its profits. But us, the players? We’re powerless. It’s all well and good saying, “don’t buy from scalpers”, but then we still don’t have the cards we want. It’s frustrating.

I don’t have a good answer to this. Really, I wanted to vent about yet another Pokemon TCG set ruined by scalpers. There was some part of me that hoped I would write my way into an epiphany of how to beat the scalpers, but it was only ever a pipedream. Trying to casually enjoy this hobby sucks. It’s practically impossible to get your hands on a few packs to enjoy, and too many are interested in the hobby as an investment.

So do me a favour. If you managed to get your hands on a Destined Rivals ETB, crack it open. Tear into those packs. Enjoy your pulls, whether you get your favourite secret rare or a cool card you hadn’t noticed in the previews. Whatever you do, don’t keep it sealed because it might rise in value. Don’t stick it on eBay to make a few quid. Enjoy this hobby the way it was always intended: by opening packs, pulling cards, and embracing that childlike glee.

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Almost $2,000 for something that, as far as I'm aware, hasn't even been sold yet.

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