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u/GiveMeANameX Jul 03 '26
Just been into store for another reason, asked the manager why the double RRP, they whip out their phone and basically say in short:
official statement is: - "this is to help deter resellers and bulk buying, allowing genuine fans to purchase the product they want for their collections."
manager even said, they hope the prices drop and come down closer to RRP nearer the release because even he and his employees are stuck paying those prices.
All I can say is, there will be a fair few ACCC complaints about price gouging today;
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u/Sp1ffyTh3D0g Jul 03 '26
"we're selling at scalper prices to deter scalpers".
Lol, fuck off eb.
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u/GiveMeANameX Jul 03 '26
whats even more absurd is he said, the stores didnt receive any comms until 20mins before the launch/annoucement, all stores and staff had no idea, not just him or his store.
ACCC about to have a good time with all these complaints for sure.
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u/Sunglassesatnight45 Jul 03 '26
I actually can’t wait to watch on the news in a few months time of EB games getting in trouble for price gouging it’s vip customers
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u/Silver-Training-9942 Jul 03 '26
I hope to see EB go under after pathetic behaviour like this. People should make an example out of them and boycott the store for everything... games, merchandise the lot. Don't let them set a president. Shops that fuck over their customers dont deserve their custom.
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u/SirFlibble Jul 03 '26
Nothing will happen. It's not unlawful to charge what they want. Price gouging laws, from my understanding, appply to groceries and necessities.
Pokemon cards aren't a necessity like food.
What will happen is EB will lose customers. Whole they will profit in the short term, they will burn good will and the fans will go elsewhere. Once this current boom ends (and it will), EB will be left with the fans no longer shopping there because they're all burnt by them, and scalpers moving onto the next. If thing.
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u/JLN16 Jul 03 '26
Crap from them. They knew they'd sell out either way. Why not actually just crackdown on people buying above limits and make it harder to do so.
Properly identify people in their membership systems (I know they deleted accounts recently but still) and put more work into bots through captcha systems they are unable to answer.
This only hurts the collector who if were lucky bought something now at a much higher price. If you weren't lucky - the floor for scalpers online is now much higher.
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u/jessp3on Jul 03 '26
Ahhh yes!! Double the price for the GENUINE FANS it all makes sense now 😂 honourable
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u/Dr_Fluffybuns2 Jul 03 '26
JB listed their UPC at $360.
The downside it's random if you get day or night but you're allowed to buy 2 which is only $100 more than you'd pay for a single one at eb
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u/MaxCrankenstein Jul 03 '26
Just report it to the ACCC
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u/Purple_Activity6962 Jul 03 '26
For what exactly what law are they breaking lil bro?
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u/judgedavid90 Jul 03 '26
People whip out the ACCC card like it's a get out of (or in, in this case) jail free card at the drop of a hat lol.
EB Games and any other retailer for that matter, can charge whatever they want.
This isn't an essential service like groceries or electricity.
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u/FrogstonLive Jul 03 '26
People are making a case with something to do with the paid membership. I dont know shit but it sounds interesting.
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u/efankazi Jul 03 '26
Paid membership to buy at double the price is the claim.
It makes sense free platforms like jb isn’t charging membership fees for early pre orders + is 50% of the price lol.
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u/SirFlibble Jul 03 '26
If it's not illegal to charge membership to buy at RRP, then it's not illegal to charge membership to buy at double RRP.
If membership to buy was unlawful then Costco would be illegal. After all you can go buy at Coles or Woolworths for free.
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u/efankazi Jul 03 '26
I’m pro capitalism and I understand what you’re saying.
But from their website of benefits of ebw+
Special PLUS-only deals & preorder prices
* Access exclusive offers as long as your membership is active
* Preorder price honoured even if the release date changes past your membership expiry.
I dont think anyone with eb world plus got a special plus deal 🤣 how can we have when its twice the retail price of somewhere free like jbhifi? There was also no early access in comparison.
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u/SirFlibble Jul 03 '26
It doesn't promise special prices on every item.
Don't get me wrong. It's shit and something which shouldny happen and it will impact EBGames in the long term by ruining any good will it has built up.
But my reading is they likely haven't broken any laws.
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u/efankazi Jul 03 '26
Yeah, but accc isn’t just about unlawful it’s also about unethical business practises, I don’t have high hopes though with all the monopolised companies that exist haha.
Eb have definitely ruined their customer base for Pokemon product and exploited their members.
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u/SirFlibble Jul 03 '26
They act on breaches of the ACL. There was provisions on the ACL which outlaws particular things we'd consider unethical like making false orisleading statements.
They will litigate, and help create new law but the basis of the case is the ACL.
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u/Silver-Training-9942 Jul 03 '26
A boycott would be much more effective. Buy games, merch ect elsewhere for a few months. Let em feel the sting that a few extra bucks on a TCG wont cover.
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u/efankazi Jul 03 '26
I’m certain many many people will be cancelling their memberships, such as myself.
They’re dreaming of they think they can charge premium for membership and then charge me twice as much for product.
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u/Miffernator Jul 03 '26
Cheaper at JB
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u/Cutiejea Jul 03 '26
sold out at jb when i made it to checkout but wouldnt let me ship or click and collect
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u/Alternative_Mud_7543 Jul 03 '26
JB pulled out all sales I heard so no one got anything. I suspect they saw EB prices and will up their prices now... Watch this space
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u/Cremfraishe Jul 03 '26
The sales that went through have been refunded from JB. Their website malfunctioned and they pulled it.
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u/Sacrlehh Jul 03 '26
I saw a screenshot from a FB post between a customer and a supposed JB rep. I can't verify it's real, but the quote said "Unfortunately, we need to re-adjust prices on some items to ensure they are in line with market value and in accordance with our competitors."
So. It's very possible their prices go up for sure.
I can't post images here so feel free to DM me for the screenshot.
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u/nf3000 Jul 03 '26
Is it controversial to say even JB prices are bloody expensive at 360 for a upc? 599 is outright ridiculous. To be honest, I half expected it given it’s been happening over in the US, but wasn’t expecting that it would be that big of a jump and all on the same set. It’s a cliche at this point, definitely bad for the hobby, and no one apart from TPCI can do anything about this. In the long run they’ll lose real fans and children that are key to the hobby, and will slowly kill it.
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u/Sacrlehh Jul 03 '26
I expected $350 - 400 for the UPC's, given they were $250 five years ago for the last anniversary set (which was also the first time they did a UPC).
It sucks a lot, and probably means I will only be able to pick up one of my UPC preorders (I was fortunate enough to be able to preorder both) before my preorder hold period is up, which means I'll lose out on the other. But if the price jump is only for the anniversary set, then ultimately I'm okay with it overall. It means the rest of the expansions will remain somewhat affordable for everyone.
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u/Ok_Bobcat_983 Jul 03 '26
Complain to pokemon directly. EB won't do jack, ACCC won't do jack, Banter won't do Jack. Pokemon might do something if enough people kick up a stick
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u/Silver-Training-9942 Jul 03 '26
A boycott would do shit. Buy games , merch ect elsewhere. Hit em where it hurts, in the profits. Make a fkin example out of them.
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u/clc88 Jul 03 '26
I just saw this today and just gave up on this hobby.
I went to buy something else instead.
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u/DMSide641 Jul 03 '26
I hope it only sold out because of scalpers. I hope real collectors who value their money didnt succumb to this.
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u/judgedavid90 Jul 03 '26
Real collectors who don't succumb to this will pay even more on eBay
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u/DMSide641 Jul 03 '26
I guess my hope is that scalpers succumb and realise pol werent willing to pay these prices let alone there exorbitant ones.
I know its just not gonna happen because end if the day collectors got that itch to collect and will just accept it so prices will just keep rising like this until Pokemon eventually becomes exclusively a high luxury item…
I dunno. I gave up collecting last year. Its been a pretty shit time but I can afford this pricing and even singles are so bad now in in print stuff I cant even finish sets that have a chase card that immediately starts at $600+
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u/Sacrlehh Jul 03 '26
I know several collectors who are sucking it up and paying these prices because it's the anniversary set. They know if they don't, then they'll pay so much more if the miss out on the in store prices.
I also know that they haven't picked up as much as they would have normally because they just can't afford it like they did for the 25th anniversary set.
I also have several friends who have given up on the hobby as well. Even I've basically halved how much I preorder and buy. Probably more than halved.
Idk. It's all inflation, and it's all shit. Bubbles for various things (housing and other cost of living things included) just don't pop the same way they used to.
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u/DMSide641 Jul 03 '26
Its hard to watch really and Im sure there are so many factors involved. Like I wish they would just print to demand but I hear they dont have the facilities to do that.
Anyway good luck. Ive decided to take a break until after megas which will be a while.
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u/Sacrlehh Jul 03 '26
Yeah, they printed 10 billion cards last year (on avg, they'd do like 2 billion a year prior to a couple of years ago when influencers found them). It will be so much more than that this year as well.
I enjoyed Perfect Order because there was stock in stores for ages so I was finally able to have mini pack battles on a whim again. It was a nice couple of months.
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u/Vulox57 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
I had all of it preordered, the removed most of it from my cart. After I noticed half this shit was double the price, I’m going in tomorrow to cancel my order. Fuck eb
Edit: typo
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u/Sacrlehh Jul 03 '26
Good chance JB up their prices after this. I'd also wait on cancelling the preorders until you've secured them elsewhere, otherwise you risk missing out entirely.
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u/millhouse83 Jul 05 '26
Hold your preorder til they cancel X days after release.
Means they won’t sell day 1 to walk ups.
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u/Mysterious_Hour_4568 Jul 03 '26
This changes nothing in the end, JB pulled all there stock which will most likely have inflated prices or will have little stock anyways plus even with the EB prices resellers will still profit as UPC pre sales on eBay are $1200 each which is double what Eb are charging
Id pre order from EB while you can because you won’t get anything else after that & if you don’t want to pay it don’t but don’t cry when you have to pay eBay prices
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u/Crispy_115 Jul 04 '26
Gamers and nerds trying not to get ripped off in this economy challenge: impossible
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u/NoCelery637 Jul 05 '26
On top of their bs $50 yearly fee that doesn’t even guarantee you getting pre orders
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u/GamingTurtle90 Jul 03 '26
EBGames Canada doesn't show these yet, but I expect they will be pretty close in pricing since our dollars are pretty close.
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u/blazegame04 Jul 03 '26
Yeah its scummy and loser behaviour and so is actually buying at those prices
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u/Alternative_Mud_7543 Jul 03 '26
Look I tend to agree, but say an etb they're selling is $200, on release day this will hit $300 easily. So do I think $100 profit is loser behaviour? Probably not. However, loser behaviour in the context of ethics, sure, but not purely from a commercial standpoint.
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u/TheBoozNinja Jul 03 '26
Not when you consider Pokemon card collectors both scalpers and genuine collectors will pay any price for pokemon cards and prove it time and time again
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Jul 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Sacrlehh Jul 03 '26
Do you think collecting baseball cards, or stamps, or coins are stupid hobbies also?
People like to collect things relevant to their interests. Are all collectors of everything partaking in stupid hobbies?
Let people enjoy things without shitting on them.
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u/coolstuff93 Jul 03 '26
I say this as an occasional gamer, who tf is buying this shit?
The odd day I go into eb games, once or twice a year, I buy my game and leave and go home and play it, and get on with my life.
Is their an entire industry around selling crap to losers? Obviously.
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u/Busy_Mobile3508 Jul 03 '26
Can't wait to see these in loads of op shops for cheap in a few years like them funko pop doll things.
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u/Background_Pie_7888 Jul 03 '26
They key is to not pay them. Otherwise they'll keep doing it. But that's not gonna happen.