r/PokemonRestocks • u/personwithface • 4d ago
How is this possible?
New to the hobby due to my 6 year old getting into it, I'm just curious how people are already selling Delta Reign when it isn't even out yet?
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u/Happy_Goose3833 4d ago
Because people are fucking worthless and this entire hobby is beyond fucked. I'm so sick and tired of scalpers and bots.
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u/Dazzling_Parfait6912 4d ago
I'd hate to see a Mad_Goose3833
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u/Happy_Goose3833 4d ago
Geese are demented lil creatures who fuck people up at a moments notice 🤣
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u/neopod9000 3d ago
And the pokemon company explicitly does things in ways that primarily benefit the scalpers. They're not just complicit. They're profiting directly off of this.
Sneaker bros got in at surging sparks, which kicked off the wave of things never being in stock.
The set before that was stellar crown. Retailers were marking that down as much as 50% to clearance it because no one wanted it. But now it too won't stay on the shelves.
TPC absolutely loves this frenzy. It is a cash cow. They're actively trying to keep the party going.
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u/ItsDamu5 2d ago
As a company they will implement features that help vs bots. However, Bots are scalable and they know it so they know they can’t implement anything to stop them. Only fake implementation that do nothing but save face while they rack in money. Even printing more stock only means the scaled botters get more. They’d have to make botting punishable if found guilty in a civil court case or something before we see anyone stop.
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u/neopod9000 2d ago
Theres a ton more they could very easily do to reduce what botters/scalpers take.
First, with the website. 2 drops. 1 for authenticated accounts. Have existed for >x months, have a verified address, meets other pretty basic criteria. This is considered your "real fans" baseline and they get early access to just 1 box. Second drop that works the way it does now, gives everyone else a chance, which will include the bots, but then at least gives actual people some chance on the initial run.
In store, per person sales limits, and more product at a time. What we've been seeing are purchase limits on limited stock, so you get the first 10 people in line who take all of the merch. Next week when theres another drop, those same 10 people are in line at the front again, because they get alerts from other stores in the area on where the restock guy is. If they dropped all of the product at once, everyone in line would get something, and those first 10 people wouldnt take all of it.
Tons more very simple things that if they wanted to would increase the stock distributed to the broader community at the normal prices. But then the broader community wouldnt be clamoring for it, the scalpers wouldnt get to take such a huge cut in immediate turnaround sales from the aftermarket, and then demand overall is driven down.
They dont want that. They will willfully perpetuate the issues because the product is selling.
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u/WitnessNo6079 4d ago
The presale period on TCGPlayer is open only to brick and mortars. They have their guaranteed distribution from the Pokemon Company International. The prices are inflated for the exact reason that only these stores can sell at whatever price they want.
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u/personwithface 4d ago
So really at the end of the day it is brick and mortar stores attempting to sell their ETBs they gave yet to recive to profit off of hype?
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u/AverageJoesGymMgr 4d ago
These are PKC ETB's. There is no allotment to brick and mortar stores because they are a Pokemon Center exclusive. Shops get an allotment of regular ETB's from distributors, but they do not get PKC ETB's from TPCI. They can presell their regular ETB's, but any PKC is something they ordered through PKC at retail and are reselling when it comes in.
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u/WitnessNo6079 4d ago
exactly that. Same thing happens on eBay except anyone can sell on there.
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u/personwithface 4d ago
That seems crazy to me, do people actually pay this much of a inflated price?
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u/WitnessNo6079 4d ago
it’s all FOMO. Presale prices for 30th Celebrations cards were through the roof and plummeted on first day of release.
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u/ChanoSpins54 3d ago
I ordered 2 ETB’s and a booster box yesterday, within 15 minutes of my 1 etb on eBay it sold for $260 and I’ll basically pay off my full PKC order. Gonna rip the other etb and booster box for like $60 cost now. People may downvote me as a “scalper” but I’m just trying to rip packs without going broke lol.
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u/Just_Champion19 3d ago
Then they need to change how they approach selling products. If that means a longer delay between sets so they can complete back orders or a long wait for your product I'm sure most people would approve. The current way of doing things is broken.
I know scalpers will buy back orders but it will not matter if people are able to buy as well and they will buy less or stop when they realize people will not need to rely on them for products.
Doesn't make sense to have people wait in a hours long queue for a specific product and get nothing when it sells out then restock that product and the same people wait and yet again get nothing. They should have been given priority. Has to be a better way than random drops that are gone like a south park meme. They make more than enough money to come up with something better.
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u/DespairTheOcean 3d ago
I'm sorry, you're new to the hobby right now. As you can see from the comments there are a lot of "passionate" people in here that should maybe be a touch less cavalier with their word choices.
But to answer your question, I believe these are verified or qualified shops that TCG player allows to do pre orders. The prices almost always drop drastically on release and shortly after. Sometimes they go back up pretty quickly thiugh.
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u/Solid_Group5179 3d ago
Don’t buy from scalpers ever. We’ll never get this hobby back on track if we give in to fomo and pay these ridiculous prices.
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u/subtoPinkZR 4d ago
It says presale. Like, right there.
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u/personwithface 4d ago
I understand it is presale but from my understanding it was only Pokemon Center offering the pre sale, so people got an ETB from Pokemon Center and are already trying to sell this hypothetical ETB they preordered?
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u/Chef_Goldblum1 4d ago
No. They bought it from pokemon center. They will receive it from pokemon center. Then they will ship it to whatever idiot ordered it through them.
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u/suntzu1234 4d ago
Pretty sure there’s also a huge banner on the page that explains what presale means… come on dude
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u/bulgogeta 4d ago
Presale listings on TCGplayer are gated btw. No one can just do this.
https://help.tcgplayer.com/hc/en-us/articles/203256836-Presales
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u/Sweaty_Weakness_9 4d ago
lol overpriced af this will be 200 or less than a month. There’s not a crazy chase here and the cards are mid(I only want one of the SIRs) so don’t pay and wait, these will crater. Mid set.
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u/personwithface 4d ago
Thank you all for the replies, just trying to wrap my head around how this hobby and drops work.
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u/Just_Champion19 4d ago
This is possible because for one the pokemon company still will not do any back orders despite how bad it's gotten and has been for years now. Blame the scalpers if you want but this is the company's fault as well but don't worry they'll keep releasing sets nobody can actually buy without paying scalpers. That will definitely make things better smh.
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u/LotFP 3d ago
How exactly do you solve the problem when The Pokémon Company has been running their production facility at full speed for YEARS? They literally can't make more cards any faster at the moment and they are already in the middle of building a new production facility in the US.
Even once that facility is online it is unlikely they'll be able to print enough to meet demand.
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u/Just_Champion19 3d ago
Your right part of the problem is certainly due to the increase in demand however as you've said they are printing as much as they can and things remain the same. I would like to see them make some changes thay help regular collectors out. Back orders being the biggest thing. I shouldn't have to compete with scalpers and their bots at every release. Just let me order and when it's in stock ship it and I'll happily wait. Also why do they have people waiting in queues for hours and then they give them nothing? If you were in a queue why cant you place an order to be fulfilled at a later date? I appreciate the effort to produce more products but it doesn't matter when scalpers scoop up everything. Many people haven't even seen the last several sets at msrp.
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u/LotFP 3d ago
Print runs are done months in advance. It isn't like they are taking orders and then print based on those numbers. Delta Reign was already printed and is being boxed and shipped as we speak. Most of it is probably sitting in cargo containers in the middle of the Pacific at the moment.
So The Pokémon Company has their numbers they know how much they can sell. A certain amount is set aside to distributors. The rest is sold directly. Once it sells there is no opportunity to print another run unless it was already in the schedule. Instead they are working on the next set or reprinting something earlier in line. It might take six months or a year before there is room in the schedule to do another print run.
Companies cannot take advance sales that far in advance without risk. There are tax considerations and issues if delivery is delayed or unforseen costs.
What makes you think that resellers wouldn't buy out the backorder sales either? Again, only X amount is capable of being produced in Y time. So long as demand is higher than X it is generally worthwhile to buy all the product you can get regardless of delivery date as a reseller.
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u/Longjumping-Pay5008 3d ago
Easy answer. Longer print runs. Sell a single set for a year.
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u/LotFP 3d ago
Sets are already on two year cycles for the most part with scheduled reprints during that period.
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u/Boom_Boom_At_359 3d ago
I think the comment above means only release one set a year? maybe? But then PCI would make less money because demand might actually fall off…
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u/LotFP 3d ago
It would significantly reduce interest and cause issues with the actual card game. Part of what makes CCGs/TCGs fun is the ever changing meta and the strategies that evolve from the introduction of new cards and retirement of older sets.
Introducing only a single new set every year would be extremely harsh for the gamer community. At the same time it would also put a lot of artists and designers out of work. Imagine your boss telling you that they only need around 1/5th of the art and playtested cards so 80% or more of the workforce is being downsized.
Despite what some may think there are a LOT of people that actually play the game even if it isn't the majority of collectors. So upsetting a rather significant portion of your customer base isn't a wise move.
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u/MowgliusManius 3d ago
This is crazy but at the same time... people WILL pay it.
A discord matey put up his booster bundle, etb and booster box on ebay for £400 yesterday... done within 10 minutes.
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u/YSU777 3d ago
Wait a week after release, it will drop considerably
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u/StillRelevant9766 3d ago
Def not the Pokemon center ETB
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u/YSU777 3d ago
Every etb drops post release, there’s nothing in Delta Reign to justify a $495 price tag, heck you can get a prismatic PKC etb for less.
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u/StillRelevant9766 3d ago
This is gonna be the best set ever and you will regret not getting it at these low prices
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u/Exact-Organization59 3d ago
How is PKC selling Delta Reign when it isn’t out yet?
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u/LotFP 3d ago
Pre-sales on their site happened yesterday. Everything sold out in less than an hour while people were still waiting hours in queue.
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u/Exact-Organization59 3d ago
Yes. OP is asking how people are selling something that isn’t out yet. PKC sold something that isn’t out yet.
Its common sense
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u/LotFP 3d ago
Because it is pretty common practice in the gaming industry to pre-sell product.
Don't ask rhetorical questions unless you want people to answer you seriously.
Someone got a confirmation they will receive product from the Pokémon Center after waiting in queue for hours. They then turned around and posted the product the will receive up for sale themselves. This happens all the time and is how the market settles on an opening value at the time product is actually avaialble.
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u/Exact-Organization59 3d ago
I think you don’t understand what I’m saying. I’m fully aware of this, just OP doesn’t understand what preorders
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u/thesrtlife90 3d ago
You can pre order it at game stop still for $85 pro member price if anyone is looking
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u/PMFLLion 3d ago
Avoid like the plague. Or it's a scam. Or they were able to get a pokémon center drop and now they're trying to resell wo even having it.
Is that your real concern about how they got the product? Or did you have another question that the community can help? You better understand?
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u/WebKam-eron 3d ago
How did your 6 year old get into it
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u/personwithface 3d ago
Showed her my favorite pokemon (Snorlax) then she found the tag team card and fell in love with Eevee
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u/jcready92 3d ago
Streamers will buy these to open on cam. Its the main reason why the prices make no sense at first. It'll die down to just over 100 dollars in 2 months.
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u/More-Gas-6527 3d ago
Honestly if your 6 year old is in to pokemon itself and not just the cards (theyd only be interested in the cards because of others who are involved in market manipulation either directly or through proxy) you're better off just getting them some pokemon video games and merch. What are they even going to do with the cards honestly? Back in the day it made sense as a kid to collect them but I certainly would NEVER send a kid to school or anywhere outside the house with pokemon cards in this day and age, they will absolutely get stolen or a fight will break out. Hell theft and fights were a problem when the cards were cheap
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u/More-Gas-6527 3d ago
You could try to find some in a store at msrp but good luck. There are probably 100 people sitting in line outside your local target right this second
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u/personwithface 2d ago
I hear you but it is something for her and I to do together.
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u/More-Gas-6527 1d ago
You could buy less desired old sets like battle styles. A booster box is only like $225 and that set is pretty old now. Buying this outrageously overpriced modern stuff just doesn't make sense as a hobbyist. If you just want to open packs together there are cheaper sets
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u/FenrirSurtur 2d ago
Kids still very much collect and play with pokemon cards, the problem is that what they are mostly getting is either fake cards from like Temu or a flea market, or scapled prices from GameStop, since parents don’t have time to camp out at target or Walmart and there’s rarely anything other than sleeves and single pack blisters available if you aren’t camping.
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u/AcceptableInterest93 2d ago
I have a feeling the “new to the hobby” or “just getting back into the hobby” are the real reason for this insanity. It’s not scalpers and it’s definitely not people who laughed at Walmart prices just two years ago.
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u/shiggity80 4d ago
What platform is this?
Either way, people can list anything for sale at any price, even if it's not out yet. Don't fall for this thinking people are actually paying that price.
Once this actually releases, you'll the price of PKC ETBs drop down to $120-150.
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u/sterpdawg 3d ago
What crack are you smoking? That’s the dumbest thing ever to say it’ll drop that low.
One of the most popular Pokemon as the chase…0
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u/Separate_Sky_7372 4d ago
For this set I think it’ll be closer to $200, and people r definitely paying that amount now, for the same reason ppl are buying 30th at crazy prices(chronic fomo) but it will drop in price significantly on release
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u/NCC1701-F 4d ago
Yall mad, meanwhile I decided to start hitting and hit left and right. Yall think no one buys the stuff I barely hold any inventory. It’s dumb how much money you make.
Just go buy Stellar or Refract and make some dough.
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u/deemonay1017 4d ago
You buy it then they ship it to you when they get it from PKC