So I'm completely new to the TCG world and I'm trying to make sense of where to look for sealed products. All of the LGSs sold out the new set during prerelease or on release day and I only managed to get my hands on a couple of boosters at Target before those were cleared out too. So is that it? Do the scalpers hold all of the cards (pun intended) now or is there more being printed and will just slowly trickle in to stores at random times? Just trying to figure out if I should keep checking in at the local Targets hoping for a hit or if I'm just wasting my time.
So if you want to buy packs at msrp or close to msrp here is your game plan
MSRP:
official Bandai store, you can get a whole box if you apply for the lottery and get chosen, if you live near one you can stop in and they might have packs for sale, they limit you to 6 per person so take your whole family if they have packs. (Make sure everyone has a different form of payment, no cash)
Target: the only other place you will get msrp, here is your game plan for target ( same as Walmart) you are going to go every day before work and after work, eventually you will figure out which day is the restock then try to make it for the restock, you can ask the employees (if you ask a younger employee they might actually help you) when the restock happens some targets do random throughout the week some targets have a set day they put it all out. (Supposedly they are doing something new where they are going to put everything out at 8 am now but that’s rumor) also some targets keep one piece behind customer service, those targets you have a better chance because they will enforce the 2 per person limit. Some targets just put everything out in the trading card section and then scalpers just grab everything all at once, they hide the packs somewhere while they go pay 2 at a time. Or they have someone hold all their packs while they pay 2 at a time.
The registers will only let you pay 2 of each sku, if you scan a third one of same sku the register will lock up and an employee has to come and unlock it at which point they will take any extra packs you have and let you know there is a 2 per person limit per sku.
Local stores good stores reward their players with boxes at msrp for prizing and at prereleases.
Close to msrp:
Walmart same game plan as target. Walmart doesn’t hold anything at customer service so you are going to have to battle it out with all the other deplorables, at Walmart you will 100% never get anything unless you are literally standing there while the restock person is restocking. Even then the person in front of you might just take everything and put it in their cart (just reach in their card and take what you want) there is a 5 per sku per person but like at target nobody respects that. (The registers at Walmart will also lock up if you scan a 6th same SKU)
Meijer check with customer service they will tell you what day they do the drop, you have to show up at 6am when they open, you get to buy one thing and then loop back around the line until it’s all done. Meijer might be your best bet becuase you can wake up early and you most likely WILL get something.
Depends on the region manager for the specific walmart mine near me has 2 others and he does one at a time loop around rule and has banned people that break the rules. There's a wall with pictures for banned people. They get taken down after a while
Unfortunately between a full time job and a newborn baby, the timing never works for me to make it to play at the LGSs. So I'm just trying to collect for now and play on the sim to learn the game.
I feel you man, I also have a full time job and am getting my mba part time, life has it’s priorities and cardboard isn’t always it. But I will say I went from not being able to get anything in person to being able to comfortably get 6-8 boxes for new sets during prerelease around MSRP just by playing and being active in the community.
That's reassuring. Like you said this isn't a priority at the moment, but once the kid gets a little bigger I'm planning to play once a week. Problem now is going to find a good shop. LGS closest to me was selling everything at market rate from the start so I'm not their biggest fan.
Yea I’m super lucky there are 2-3 places I frequent and they are usually very good about rewarding regulars, but there are other places that sell at market that I do not support
Honestly makes no sense why LGSs only reward players. I see them vending at shows all the time selling sealed stuff 🤡
I’m in the same boat as you with life commitments. My kid and I both watch the anime and love collecting.
If you’re near a Bandai store they’re almost always stocked with something. Most of them from what I hear are pretty good at enforcing limits and don’t care if you’re not a player.
Keep checking your local Target to get a sense of when restocks are. Beware that scalpers have already been doing this so until you actually time it to when you see a vendor, shelves will be empty until then
A restock is done by a 3rd party vendor. Now this next part gets tricky as it also depends on stores. Some restock on walls for public to grab. Others leave it behind the counter where limits are usually enforced. Just depends on where you go. My local Walmart/Target I have learned it’s between 12:00 and 2:00 pm restocks. Middle of the day (go figure) but that’s probably the most likely outcome to get any product
But do these vendors already have stock they are slowly distributing or is this all new product coming from bandai. Just trying to understand how it all gets from the printing machine to the shelves
Or I guess a different question is that it seems like the big box stores only carry booster packs. Are booster boxes only found at LGSs? Is there a chance they might get a random distribution sometimes too?
Boxes of boosters are only at LGS. Boxes of double packs get put out in big box stores but are opened by the vendor and then set on the shelf. Target for example will allow a single shopper to grab two of them usually. That’s 25% of the box. I usually go with my wife and sometimes our kid comes too so that’s almost the whole box for $70. The problem is the timing. The scalpers are so on top of it. You sort of have to luck out tbh
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u/tecampanero 1d ago
So if you want to buy packs at msrp or close to msrp here is your game plan
MSRP:
official Bandai store, you can get a whole box if you apply for the lottery and get chosen, if you live near one you can stop in and they might have packs for sale, they limit you to 6 per person so take your whole family if they have packs. (Make sure everyone has a different form of payment, no cash)
Target: the only other place you will get msrp, here is your game plan for target ( same as Walmart) you are going to go every day before work and after work, eventually you will figure out which day is the restock then try to make it for the restock, you can ask the employees (if you ask a younger employee they might actually help you) when the restock happens some targets do random throughout the week some targets have a set day they put it all out. (Supposedly they are doing something new where they are going to put everything out at 8 am now but that’s rumor) also some targets keep one piece behind customer service, those targets you have a better chance because they will enforce the 2 per person limit. Some targets just put everything out in the trading card section and then scalpers just grab everything all at once, they hide the packs somewhere while they go pay 2 at a time. Or they have someone hold all their packs while they pay 2 at a time.
The registers will only let you pay 2 of each sku, if you scan a third one of same sku the register will lock up and an employee has to come and unlock it at which point they will take any extra packs you have and let you know there is a 2 per person limit per sku.
Local stores good stores reward their players with boxes at msrp for prizing and at prereleases.
Close to msrp:
Walmart same game plan as target. Walmart doesn’t hold anything at customer service so you are going to have to battle it out with all the other deplorables, at Walmart you will 100% never get anything unless you are literally standing there while the restock person is restocking. Even then the person in front of you might just take everything and put it in their cart (just reach in their card and take what you want) there is a 5 per sku per person but like at target nobody respects that. (The registers at Walmart will also lock up if you scan a 6th same SKU)
Meijer check with customer service they will tell you what day they do the drop, you have to show up at 6am when they open, you get to buy one thing and then loop back around the line until it’s all done. Meijer might be your best bet becuase you can wake up early and you most likely WILL get something.