Back in the day, it was pretty easy to walk into anything from a Walmart to a Rite Aid and score a pack of Pokémon cards. It’s a big part of how Pokémon TCG became ingrained as a part of childhood for now three decades, building up the fanbase and creating lifelong devotees. In the past ten years, give or take, that has changed as scalpers have ruined collecting both in the West and abroad. Predatory resellers hover outside of retailers like vultures perched on cacti waiting for the doors to open so they can walk in and snatch up entire shipments of Pokémon goods to resell for double, triple, and sometimes more. Worse, retailers are all too eager to dump these wares and couldn’t care less about fairly divvying up the goods to consumers.
It’s a heck of a problem, one that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company International are doubtlessly aware of, but little has been done to curb the problem. Well, that is until now, when The Pokémon Company International revealed in Japan that it will be taking a more proactive effort to curb these resellers. An identity verification system is going to be put in place to curtail scalping, with a tentative start in August of this year. A government ID will be needed to make a purchase, alone with the consumer’s Player’s Club ID. Those purchasing Pokémon goods via the Pokémon website or lottery will be impacted.
It’s a step in the right direction, but it ignores the West entirely. And the biggest issue here in the US is scalpers camped out in front of stores waiting for the doors to open an pounce on the merchandise. So, while this is definitely a sorely needed move by the Pokémon Company International, something needs to be worked out here, as well, and sooner, rather than later.
Source: Pokémon-card.com