I consider myself an incredibly patient person. Saying that, though, there are things that make me feel incredibly angry. It could be that a Monster Energy Drink and a gallon of gas are similar in price. It could be the singular YouTube comment I once saw that said the NES was the worst Nintendo console because it “didn’t do anything new”. However, nothing in the world fills me with more unbridled rage than Pokemon card scalpers.
Allow me to set the scene: It’s 2014, and six year old me is a few months into Kindergarten, unaware that I had officially sold my soul to the American education system for the next twelve years. One day, one of my classmates gave me a Pokemon card. It was unlike anything I have ever seen before. It was creative, colorful, and shiny. It also sparked my interest because of my fascination with animals. Eleven years later, and I still have that very first card, among many more.
It’s not hard to see why I became interested in Pokemon. The concept of having several pets with any abilities you could possibly imagine appeals to a lot of people, kids and adults alike. And for about 25 years, there were very few problems with that whatsoever, but of course, eventually something had to come along and put the entire world into a global pandemic.
COVID-19 has left a large, discolored mark on society. For several months, people were stuck inside their homes, receiving stimulus checks and not having much to spend them on. So naturally, Pokemon cards experienced an immense surge in popularity. Pairing also with several influencers getting into the hobby and getting rare cards that sell for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars, suddenly Pokemon TCG had become a brand new form of gambling.
It would be extremely hypocritical to say I disapprove of this, because this was how I got back into Pokemon several months ago. I bought one pack and got an 80 dollar card, and as someone already possessing about 2000 cards, suddenly I’m living on oil land, with the only thing standing between me and instant profit is me.
Again, I don’t disapprove of buying Pokemon cards for financial gain. I often find it more effective to build up a few expensive cards and then sell them together rather than individually. Both children and adults also do what I do, and nine times out of ten, I’ll sell to someone looking to collect or a local business. But if history has proven anything, it is that money brings out the worst in people.
Anyone who has taken a business class knows about the concept of supply and demand. They rely on each other, and one cannot exist without the other. With Pokemon cards specifically, there is a high demand for them, so the supply would also naturally be about equal. This is where the Pokemon scalper strikes.
The Pokemon scalper can best be defined as an individual who does not have any sort of appreciation for the hobby, but will consistently buy as much as they can, oftentimes clearing out inventory just hours, sometimes minutes, after being restocked. The scalper then resells all of their unopened product on the secondary market, such as eBay or Facebook Marketplace, for between two to four times the value of what they bought it for.
Some stores have to already sell them at higher prices to try and keep them in stock for as long as possible, so this makes it all the more damning. This forces the common customer into a position with no solution: you buy from the scalpers, or you don’t get Pokemon cards. Even though the stores are making profit, it drives away customers, harming them in the long run.
One may think to try the Pokemon website to get anything. This is also often where they are the cheapest. Sounds too good to be true? Bots have been set up by scalpers to buy out inventory just seconds after being restocked, giving you absolutely nothing of a chance to buy any.
The group this hurts the most is of course the children. As someone who was obsessed with Pokemon during my elementary school years, I can empathize with them. At no point during that period of my life do I ever remember walking into a Target and seeing an empty wall of metal hooks. There is nothing worse than taking the starstruck, joyful feeling I felt when seeing the shiny packaging or the multicolored cardboard boxes away from someone who still holds genuine innocence and wonder, someone who has not been degraded by politics, war, or other societal problems.
Speaking of childlike attributes, let’s talk about what happens when scalpers meet other scalpers. There are several videos from the inside of a Walmart or Costco of hordes of adult men ravenously grabbing as many boxes as they can the second the jack is removed from the pallet. I cannot properly explain how enraged it makes me to see groups of people that are allowed to vote running as fast as they can, shoving other people out of the way, and grabbing from other people to get as many Pokemon cards as possible. A lot of stores have to put buy limits on them or keep them in glass cases, or in the worst case, behind the counter, alongside the cigarettes. If that doesn’t prove a point, I don’t know what does.
Is this the world we live in? Where the eight year olds know the social standards better than the people 20 years older than them? With all the current events that make the world more and more depressing, it is genuinely sad to be forced out of a hobby that could provide some solace.
I would love to say that there is a clear solution to this, but anything done to combat scalpers would also harm people with genuine interest in the hobby. Maybe people will eventually realize that there is more to life than money. Probably not, but still.
The best piece of advice I can offer is to not tolerate or support these people. Do not give them more money. Tell people not to give them more money. The less that is given, the less motivation for them is earned. Try to watch where your money goes. Let it go to people who collect, play casually or competitively, or to children who are just starting out who don’t have all of the same opportunities as other collectors. Most importantly, do not become one of these people. No amount of money will ever change the reputation you will have.
