Pokemon card collectors are taking extreme measures to stop scalpers

Brent Koepp
Pokemon Ash Ketchum next to Pokemon Card shelf Target

A Trainer has sparked debate online by showing off how they hide Pokemon Trading Card Game products in stores. Nintendo fans are now going to great lengths to stop Pokemon card scalpers.

Have you ever gone to your local retailer because the store’s inventory shows they have Pokemon TCG items in stock, only to discover they are nowhere to be found? A viral Twitter post has now explained why this could be happening.

One Nintendo collector made waves on social media after explaining how they have been hiding inventory to foil Pokemon card scalpers. According to other fans, the Trainer is not alone as the community has used the tactic to fight back against greedy sellers.

Empty store shelves Pokemon TCG
Are your local store’s shelves sold out of Pokemon Cards? The TCG items might be hidden somewhere else in the store.

Viral Pokemon Card tweet shows how fans are stopping scalpers

In an August 24 tweet, a Pokemon TCG collector went viral on the social media platform after demonstrating how they have been stopping Pokemon card scalpers from scooping up products at their local Target store.

The user posted an image that showed they had stashed a handful of Elite Trainer Boxes hidden under the store shelves. Incredibly, the fan admitted that they had done this all the way back in the Fall of 2020.

“Tapping into the rainy day stash I hid last Fall,” the user captioned their tweet. They lifted the metal bottom of the shelf to hoard the products in a place where resellers could not find them.

Pokemon Cards being hidden in Target
The sneaky Pokemon Card fan has been hiding TCG products under store shelves for months at a time.

Other fans reacting to the tactic were initially critical, such as one user who replied, “How is this different from scalping / hoarding product?”

The sneaky Pokemon card fan responded that he was actually sharing the stash with other local collectors by telling them where to find them in the store.

“Because I’m sharing it with people in my city, you think I have the paper for all of this?” they explained. The collector admitted that they use this strategy at multiple stores across their city.

Pokemon TCG hidden in Target
The Pokemon card user hid a bunch of TCG products.

While it’s up for debate as to the morality of this tactic, shockingly there were other Nintendo collectors who admitted to doing the same thing. According to users, the TCG scalper issue had become such a massive problem that they resorted to hiding items in their store to stop sellers from buying them and flipping them on eBay for three times the price.

If you ever go to your local retail outlet and find that the inventory tracker isn’t correct, there might be a chance that there is a treasure trove of Pokemon Trading Card Game products simply stashed away. If nothing else, this is an example of how desperate fans have become to buy items that used to be readily available.

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About The Author

Brent is a former writer at Dexerto based in the United States, who covered topics such as Pokemon, Gaming, and online Entertainment.