The base set rare holo Charizard #4 from 1999 is one of the most sought-after trading cards of all time. In perfect condition, the beloved Pokémon card is currently worth a hefty $9,950. This card has made its rounds in the trading card marketplace, but now, Pokémon has hundreds of chase cards worth a pretty penny. Some collectors are willing to do whatever it takes to acquire them.
Although many adults remain invested in trading card games due to the love and nostalgia for the franchises, card scalpers, or resellers, have been clearing out Target shelves, preordering new sets in bulk and driving up the demand and prices of individual card packs, leaving big fans with empty pockets and hands.
Pokémon isn’t the only card game suffering empty shelves. Magic: The Gathering recently came out with a collaboration with Final Fantasy, another popular franchise. The prices of these recent fan-favorites are steep, with players having to pay $450 for just half a box of cards from the set. Final Fantasy sets from Target are priced relatively lower, with bundles and commander decks sitting around $100, but are consistently out of stock after release.
The MTG x Final Fantasy sets are sending the card game into situations similar to those of modern Pokémon sets. Neither franchise is doing much of anything to prevent scalping from happening. Due to the spike in popularity of chase cards across these tabletop games, these big brands are pumping out set after set. Pokémon has released three sets and MTG has released four sets this year, with more on the way from both franchises.
Some stores like Target have put limits in place to prevent resellers from walking away with the entire stock. The store has either stopped putting card sets on shelves, requiring buyers to speak with an employee up front to purchase, or has set a purchase limit to only a couple of packs per person, per day.
More stores should continue with this idea or even double down on stricter limits. Shoppers who frequent places like Walmart or GameStop have already begun urging the companies to do the same.
It has become a lost art to simply collect a favorite Pokémon or build a commander deck made out of dinosaurs to play against friends. Greedy resellers are not only driving up prices, they are killing what are originally children’s games and fun pastimes. Some videos on TikTok even show resellers pushing kids out of the way to clear out stocked shelves to make a quick profit. It’s jarring to see people become so violent over the games many adults grew up on.
Part of scalping packs and driving up their prices is because of weight. Resellers would weigh card packs due to rare foil cards typically weighing even just one ounce more than a typical pack. Now, scalpers are going as far as using X-ray technology to view packs before opening them. This defeats the fun gamble and mystery that is ripping open a cool new art card.
The internet needs to condemn trading card scalpers more for ruining the love of the game for many. It’s always exciting to pull the card everyone is after, but if scalpers continue their path of destruction in the aisles of Walmart and Target, there won’t be any exciting cards left for true fans to pull.
Abby Jenkins is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Abby about her column? Email her at aj205621@ohio.edu.
