Sorry for any low quality images or audio in the video. Also you guys may ask after the video, "are you part of the problem?" I personally tend to be a collector first but I do like to do a little bit of investing in certain cards/products. Mainly by buying older cards or keeping a few items sealed for my display. The problematic investors are the ones going out on release day and buying out stores just to keep those items in their basements for years to come.
I remember when I was like ten and I used to go to target and see a bunch of Pokemon cards and wanting to buy some whenever I went. But now it’s impossible to find Pokemon cards that are not overpriced
My dad would buy cards for me and my brother every Valentines day since the late 90s. As our little present for the kids. He kept that Tradition up even until now. I still love pokemon, but obviously not as much I used to as a kid. And just to have that little box or booster pack, shows he still loves us. Last valentines day was the first year in 20 years he said, "there were no cards anywhere" I was so sad just because it was meaningful for him to keep on that tradition.
@@scottwalker3081well, that can be risky if he doesn't know what to look for. Back then and even now, people sell fake cards and other pokemon products. I even got scammed on eBay with a soul silver copy. When I saw the cartridge, I thought it was fake but I put it in. Everything was fine until I noticed my screen flickering after a while. My final sign that it was fake was when I tried to play the voltorb flip game and it crashed.
Scalping has just become an overall problem recently. Everything in popular technology and Entertainment seems to be getting scalped nowadays, it's insane. If Nintendo brings a new Switch model to the market it's no doubt going to get scalped like crazy as well.
Honestly, as a 12 year old I love collecting, trading and having school Pokémon tornies with my friends I can’t expand my collection or my decks right now because of scalpers
I'm a collector l really just love the cards art it ain't about the money for me just the memories I remember my bro and sis taking me out for my birthday and surprising me by taking me to a local card shop where they bought me a booster box and I ended up pulling one of the coolest looking dragon ball cards it's worth thousands but for me it's priceless and I'll never sell it literally one of the best birthday.
I could care less about the cards I just want them to go broke. That’s bad but it’s genuinely what I want for them. Poor children can’t even continue on with what they love because of this bullshitery.
@@Neotheaterr same. Scalpers of all types should go broke. The whole concept of scalping is abusing and exploiting the consumer for a quick buck. They are hurting everyone except the company and themselves.
The people that stock the pokemon cards at retail places tend to be friends with scalpers and often exchange numbers so they can let them know when they are stocking, which just infuriates me.
I was merchandiser. They are contracted not too bring people into the store without both Managers approval. It basically means any merchanderser who brings any person (nevermind people) who bring any unauthorized third parties into or compromise store stock without both Managers approval is bound for legal action,or immediate termination. I resigned because I was getting between 25-100 calls just to trying to get my schedule.
I know a stocker and she recently started. The last one was fired because he was notifying scalpers. I do collect cards (not sell its not my thing to sell) I do buy 2 of an item I don't have, 1 to have unopened for my collection room and 2nd one to open with my significant person since it's our pass time opening them and putting them away. We like seeing our collection grow and he understands the unopened boxes will be for my game room display only.
The value is what we, the consumers, put on these products. If we all just stop buying scalped prices they will go down because the scalpers will be losing money. Yes it’ll suck not being able to get product, but the problem will never be solved if people keep buying at these ridiculous prices
Trust me its hard where I live in a small town and the closest pokemon are either a single booster box at my local store or a 2 to 4 hr drive to a big city
@@OdysseyWafflez then don’t buy them. You can live without Pokémon cards. If you need to stop collecting them, then do that. Everyone seriously needs to stop buying from scalpers. They 100% have to pay for doing what they’re doing.
The target by my place has signs up saying that they’re only selling cards on fridays at 7am. I’m just trying to deck build so I can attend events again since the world is opening back up. 😓
I agree with you so much! I feel like as a community we need to force our influencers to do something about it or for us as a community to come together and fight back by boycotting the influencers and scalpers
It's going to be a wonderful day when the extra unemployment benefits dry out and these chumps have to go back to work at McDonald's and sell all their stuff for cheap.
There’s a card store near my apartment that limits people from buying the entire stock. Limit of 3 booster packs and 1 box. (A day) It gives everybody a chance to get them. As somebody who just started collecting, I wish I could buy more, but I’m more than happy to abide by their rules so EVERYONE can get a chance to collect.
I loved the Target I would visit that did this (despite it being an hour drive). They stopped after there was an "incident" on Shining Fates release day and employees were threatened/a fight broke out among customers :(
@UCWuaVmWvdHOBWYAOC45m1tw yeah I heard other stories where people threatened each other and I think they pulled a gun out for it. Stupid ass fuck that'd why target stopped selling pokemom and yugioh and even walmart stopped too for the safety of everybody
@@itsmesteve1081 It’s unbelievable. But honestly, I recently stopped buying Pokémon cards. I mostly blame RU-vidrs like LeonHart etc. I never have the chance of getting any cards anymore. It sucks because I was enjoying the hobby.
I think we overestimate how responsible the youtubers are. Most of them mentioned have been doing this for years now. I think the biggest part of it is the supply not being able to meet demand because of covid. If the pokemon company was able to print as much as they wanted, we wouldn't have nearly as big of a problem as we do now. Scalpers by theory wouldn't be a problem, and nobody would be looking at content creators in way we do now. I think back to the sun and moon days. People like Derium's Pokemon would have 1000 packs openings, and nobody would care because they could go to walmart, target, amazon, or wherever and get their $90 booster box, booster pack, etb, you name it. I don't see a world where a difference would be made if a content creator condemned scalping on one hand, but then hype up the product they're opening on the other. It's how they make their living, and I think in a normal world it's good to have the content creators there to hype up the hobby. There isn't one right answer obviously. I'm just a big believer in the low supply/high demand theory.
I loved how one RU-vidr said the scalping behavior was okay because they were making a profit and content to show others. They're now the main issue of who places are pulling their TCG stock from stores like Walmart and Target. They encouraged the bad behavior now.
Facts adrive, Logan Paul and famous RU-vidrs who’s doing this is afraid to say scalpers cause their basically doing the same thing but keeping all of the packs for them selves
Recently got back into collecting the cards to build up what I'd classify as my "Pokedex". Basically just trying to have 1 card of each pokemon in proper order, extras are fine to have but I want a full dex. Went to Walmart and had to find out the hard way about the scalper issue and was really upset to find this out, Pokemon section was entirely ransacked.
That’s what I was doing with the original 151. I just wanted one of each card for each Pokémon. Didn’t care what version it was. I’m missing a handful or two from the original set but now there’s like what 700-800 Pokémon. I’ve got some catching up to do! Lol
11:40 Truth, i remember being like 8 and pulling my first boosterpack. The cards where amazing and no one talked about price, we traded with cards. We didnt knew what would be inside bcuz there werent green or white cards, no ez internet youtube video to know whats coming. That feeling was the best. Sad to see pokemon turn this way slowly
Yeah. Those were the best days. Now all people care about anymore is making money off of this fun hobby and more. I miss when the cards were actually what they were meant to be in the beginning and that was about just trading and collecting. Now all people care about is making money from it. Its sickening. Scalpers are ruining this hobby for a lot of ppl
That's good but just so you know it's better to have those green/white code cards inside a pack now cause it stops people from finding out which pack had the holo or not and reselling the packs that didn't.
You were also 8 years old. Why would you be talking about the prices at 8 years old of a brand new game? Charizards were worth like 20 bucks in 2000 lol
@@theshinyguru951 scalpers ruined sports card hobby. Boxes that used to be say, $150 are now $500+ ....I stopped sports cards and moved to collecting full art pokemon cards
Once concerts and sporting events start up again, many of the scalpers will go away. It won't be pre covid level of finding, but it won't be a royal pain to find stuff at least.
I do wonder that. Greed is a really controlling thing for some people. They even know it's controlling them too. That's beyond weird to see. At some point you stop seeing that they're buying up all these things. They're like glorified hoarders at this point.
I am a kid myself and I’ve seen scalpers but I wish us kids had a bigger advantage than adults cause I just feel like kids are more nicer and more honest than adults.
These “poketubers” have us watch there stream and they gain income from views to just build there collection up even more! Basically free cards for them
I’m really happy more people are talking about this now! You went over more detail than with Bou on her video. Kudos! You’ve earned another sub and I look forward to watching your content!
Heya I am so glad that I found you this morning and what you have highlighted in your message is the truth, I started to collect with my daughter's in the eighties and started again when covid hit as a form of keeping my sanity when everyone else was loosening theirs. I have found it really hard finding packs the last two weeks, and I feel that stores could help by limiting the amount people can buy.
I think these stores should be putting limits on how many items people are buying. My two local card shops were only letting people buy one of each item so everyone can join in.
That's what ended up happening with Target and the amiibo cards. People who showed up could buy as many as they wanted. It's unfortunate we have to come up with ways to make sure FULL ass adults don't be greedy for 2 f$#@in seconds 🤦🏻♂️ I'm just amazed by how bad people can get
Went to Target yesterday to buy a binder and sleeves and saw a sign that said that people would need to sign up for a virtual wait list and there’s a one product limit. To add to that, if bots/scalpers are detected, their IP’s are banned. So slowly, stores are wising up and cracking down on scalpers. Also, my local card shop has a phone list for people to sign up for in case they’re interested in new products. Like Target, they enforce a strict 1 product per person limit.
I am a teen and i have recently gotten back into collecting. It sucks right now. The most pokemon i have gotten this year were two three packs, and two tins. Two years ago, I saw loads of pokemon boxes and cards. The last time i got some, there was a line of grown men waiting to get there grubby hands on the stock. I came back an hour later and every single shining fates etb was ransacked. I just hope the situaution gets better. It sucks right now, but the hype needs to die down
Bro. If I was your teacher in computer class, you’d get a triple A+ for structure and keeping to the point. And honestly, (I’d have to rewatch to be sure) but I’m sure that’s about as un biased as it can get! Good shit man I don’t know who you are but not only am I liking and subbing. But I hope to see more. Don’t be afraid tho to speak a little, more in some clips, but otherwise that was as professional as it can get. And beat soundtrack man!
I'm a RU-vidr, at first I opened products for profit turnaround so I could grow my channel. Now, after a disability ate my employment, making content is harder than it's ever been.
As a Pokemon collector/investor, I completely share your feelings about this evergrowing problem. I'm not going to lie and say I've never tried to sell some rare Pokemon cards (from my personal collection) for a profit. However, there's a huge difference between buying a few booster boxes and selfishly hoarding warehouses worth of booster boxes as we see some of these disgusting RU-vid celebrities doing. The worst part is that by watching, subscribing and supporting these people through memberships / superchats, we are encouraging this behavior. Kids and teens find it incredibly hard to buy/collect cards because of grown-ass men.
Solid video bro. I really dig it as I'm in the middle of this chaos. I find myself in these online groups just to see if I can snag an item or 2 at retail to avoid the scalper prices
Hey man I like your take on it. I feel everyone is attacking each other and everyone is saying THEY are taking the high road. It’s all confusing and while I have seen nearly every video because not only am I a fan currently but man the nostalgia growing up... I hope that everyone just stops one upping each other and go back to just enjoying the hobbie. You see a lot of the scalpers too now at the flea markets. It’s all annoying cause they have to just sell it back at retail cause everyone’s like you have 10-20 of that release come on... the scalpers end up hurting themselves in the long run.
Leonhart is probably the best face we could ask for to represent Pokemon. The dude has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity and hes having a major vintage store selling base set packs for $3.50 here soon. People are just dirtbags. This will happen with anything that has value.
retail stores need to limit how many products a customer can buy. This will give a good chance for other people to buy msrp products resulting in less consumption of scalped products out there. Then scalpers will realize everyone is getting products at the retail price then they will slow down for sure. TCG companies then will pump more cards into the store and making everyone happy except the scalpers.
I heard that some stores tried limiting, but the scalpers would then call the Company itself, which would then put the store in trouble for limiting the amount any one person can purchase.
But even if they did that the scalpers would just call in some help to come right behind. Like the guy was saying 8000 of them would demolish these stores just for cards. Its all really stupid just to make a few extra bucks and so they lazy tails don't have to get a real job. Pathetic if you ask me
I know this is from a year ago, but Target only allows 2 or 3 different pokemon products per customer now. This may be new as I just saw their sign for it the other day for the first time
Excellent video! Couldn't agree more. I just recently got back into collecting and didnt take long for me to realize the huge problem at hand. I have the hardest time getting product but continue to watch these youtubers rip through pack after pack as they say, "Pokemon is trying to keep up......" yea, right. Alot of times opening product weeks before the public can even acquire them. Dont they realize that the new generation is going to be turned off very quickly and the love for Pokemon that alot of us developed in the 90's wont happen for them. Once that doesnt happen, who are you going to sell you "new" 20 year old cards to down the road????
That opening music is beautiful, it reminds me of the neverending story. Being so excited for shinning fates and pumped to walk into my local store to see the new set only to continuously be disappointed with empty shelves or something I'm not interested in has been hard. Vivid voltage irritated me but shinning fates broke my heart, you have more luck finding gold in an abandoned mine than finding shinning fates at retail price.
I’m a part of that group and a lot of the people who comment on that discord don’t own bots and are always railing against them. That discord is honestly the only way I’ve been able to buy and order Pokémon cards online as a collector.
It’s not so much the people in deals, it’s really just the impact the group can have. Most people there are just casual guys trying to find products, but there are some bad people in there as well. If you’ve seen the server after a ping happens, you know what I mean by calling it a “shitshow”
@@etspokemoncards6724 you’re wrong about the tcgdeals discord. I don’t know anyone on there that uses bots and as far as I know it’s just a bunch of dudes who want to help each other find cards. We mostly just buy cards to open them...
@@AlluckyTV most of the mods are members of other groups. The ones I know for a fact are aang, ponga, and hangs when he was still there. Also go look in the selling page, most people in the group have good intentions, but if you take a look in the selling page you can see a lot of the scalping going on.
It's still sad that 3 years later, this is still relevant. I remember when this wasn't really talked about. I was looking for the recent set (forgot what it was at the time) and saw zero cards. I told everyone about it online and others said must have stopped selling them and no one knew why. Turns out it was scalpers. I also had the issue animal crossing as well with the sanrio collab. Also I'm kinda like a collector/ investor. But I'm using those rare cards to get a card i do like.
Theirs a new trend of good guys going around beating up scalpers standing in lines. I hope this trend continues and spreads. If I see a scalper it won’t be pretty.
Thanks for speaking about this. Really helpful to think about. Hoping we can start collecting normally again soon. I haven't been able to get any of the First Partner packs for my binder sadly... We'll see what happens going forward!!!
I can sense the frustration you have for the current pokemon situation. I definitely am too. The crazy demand for pokemon cards as of late combined with the pokemon company's inability to print to the current demand further compounded by COVID has created a recipe for disaster. Scalpers will continue to exist and make money off of whatever the hottest thing is. It sucks but thats how it is until they criminalize the bots and ways they go about it successfully. We just gotta be patient. The Pokemon Company is aware of the situation and have put out a statement that they will be printing current and future sets to max capacity soon. We just gotta be patient. In the meantime we all have to do our part to not pay those 200%+ price markups the scalpers want us to pay so they can eventually move on to something else.
I noticed the drop in Pokemon cards in my area recently. I typically buy a pack or few a week to build my collection and the dollar store, walgreens and walmart are all sold out. I used to be able to have a variety of what cards packets I want and now I got to scramble and look under the shelves to find maybe 1 or 2 packs they missed. I find it too coincidental for every store in my area to be sold out constantly and have a feeling there must be a scalper. Thanks for addressing this problem
my man dave addressing the scalper issue lol but in all seriousness, thank you for addressing the scalper bullshittery because at the moment i can only purchase localized card packs bc theyre taking over english sets like dafuq
As of the day I post this comment things seem to be getting back to normal. My Walmart has stocked a ton of Pokémon the past few weeks. Most etbs will be gone quickly but the fact that the supply has been picking up is a start. If every store can restock quickly then over time it’ll return to normal. At least a little.
THANK YOU for calling out the big Pokémon youtubers for not stepping up and playing into the hype. They clearly don’t care about the little guys in the Pokémon community. Mind you a lot of them sell the packs they open up on the channel at an inflated price. I’ve been collecting since 1999, and I’ve never seen it like this. I’m disgusted by the scalpers and honestly the only solution I see is to STOP BUYING CARDS from anywhere except a trail store and even then, I figure the best solution is a giant boycott. If EVERYONE stopped feeding into it then what.
Target has been doing this in Las Vegas and it cracks me up because there are so many of them that get in line that I shit you not, yesterday I was at target and the first guy was already in like with his lawn chair for when the distributor will restock WEDNESDAY MORNING 😂😂 they’r camping out 2 days lmao take the cards dumb ass scalper 😂
a lot of them already do... that guy in the front of the line, the one who has been there for 16hrs waiting, just calls every family member or relative when the stock arrives. They still get it all.
I think the Pokémon community should open trading conventions for all kids teenagers and adults (all ages) that allows people who don’t have great cards still either trade or play with Pokémon cards so maybe a young kid could get a card he wants and everyone can have fun this should happen in all countries
@CE0 of securing 150 ps5s scalpers make SOME of the the most greedy retailers look like they aren’t money pieces of garbage and that’s really saying much
You did a great job bro. At first it was like a lot of vids I've seen and then it really just got deep. Thank you for taking the time out of your day for us.
Awesome vid. Hate that big poketubers especially Leonhart don’t talk about this issue. There’s many factors of this problem but people also need to refuse to pay above retail to stop these scumbags.
One thing I wish to say about investors is that there is a way they can be investors and not be a big problem and it is something I learnt from a friend of mine who was a Magic the Gathering investor. That being said I am a collector first and foremost I just like trying to collect a set of a cards and then usually just sell off my duplicates for cheap on ebay. But what my friend would do is they would buy a booster box or two of magic the gathering after like a set or two had been released so there wasn't as much demand for it. And often times they would get a good deal on the booster box as well as stores wanted to get rid of product so it wasn't taking up space in their inventory. I remember one game store selling a Booster box of riders of tarkir for around $90 AUD when the average was $150 for booster boxes. So I feel that investors who just wait a couple of months before buying their sealed product are fine. But the ones who rush to buy it day one are problematic.
lmao this is gold to find out about coming from the pc building community and the sneaker community. I can already imagine a bunch of angry resellers getting made at kids who buy fake cards so they can actually use the cards for the purpose they were originally made for (just like sneakers). "ayo bruh dem card be FAKE! ya'll need to stop using fufu pieces of paper and get sum LEGIT pieces of paper"
Huge bubble just waiting to pop. Pokémon company ramping up production RIGHT as all the extra stimulus dries up which is what is allowing so many people to join the hobby/scalping. Don’t be shocked if there are crazy good deals come Christmas.
I’d say I was always a collector, even back when I was a kid I was always trying to get my favorite Pokémon cards. Now I feel I’m an investor, I’ll always try to find the cards that I think will increase in value over time. But ultimately I was able to enjoy Pokémon as a child and I’ll never take that away from anyone else by rushing to the store and buying everything... that’s extremely sad and not thinking in long term goals of investing
The truth is.. if people don't pay these outrageous prices (went to the local game store and they wanted 25 bucks per pack) then the scalpers won't do it. People need to just stop paying the crazy prices! JUST STOP! Its only a game, you can take a break from it to save it from destruction.
I was so fucking ready to buy 2 shining fate elite trainer boxes because I was getting back into collecting pokemon cards. But guess what it's always cleaned out or being sold more than the retail price.... so bullshit. I just want to collect and have fun with my siblings. But those selfish moles are just selling them the moment they obtain every box or keeping them locked somewhere for future profit. It's already making me give up on collecting the cards ;-;
You can get smaller and less new products online if your lucky, where I am there is a lot of places stacked with vivid for normal price (£3.99 a pack) and vivid has some good pulls so it’s something.
Not gonna lie. I bought into the evo hype to make money. But then once I had the product in my hands I couldn't keep anything sealed. Back to being a full blown collector 20 years after getting out.
Sadly and to be fair, there are a lot of people that don't realize they're buying from scalpers. TCGPlayer and similar sites feed into that problem because they put the "cheapest" option at the front when you click on a product. If you want to avoid them period you have to actively look for LGS owners that sell through them or have their own website they sell through.
My friend I am brand new to your channel but I've been playing Pokemon for years and thank you so much for putting this video out there it means a lot to do someone else feels the same way that I do keep doing what you doing your content is great thank you very much
My favorite thing about all this is the RU-vid that talk against this then open up the free packs they get straight from pokemon. Pokemon isn't saying anything about any of this and is probably loving it. So are the RU-vidrs. They still opening that stuff in your face, while you set at home and watch.
It takes some serious balls for a low tier youtuber to directly criticize the biggest pokemon TCG channels.. and I have HUGE respect for it. Good on you.
1. I don't think RU-vidrs speaking out against scalpers will fix anything. Scalpers don't care and will continue to do what they are doing anyway. 2. The only thing that can fix things, at least to a degree, is people need to stop paying ridiculous prices (almost always to scalpers) for these cards. At the end of the day, it is the players that are paying these prices and supporting a ridiculous economy that fosters scalpers. Collector's generally don't spend quite that much to collect, and investors are smart enough to know these scalper prices are the highest they will ever be for these cards, and won't last forever at those prices. Scalpers aren't going to buy from other scalpers at a scalper price. The only group left to be the culprit of supporting this insane economy is the players. Keep in mind, I DID say earlier that there may be a few collector's buying at these prices, but it would have to be a small fraction of the buying at scalper prices that players are doing.
Funny you didn’t even mention those people that post a picture with a caption that’s says “beat the scalpers “ with a cart full of cards They’re just as bad
What worse is that people from other card game MTG in particular are moving in on pokemon driving up prices that they did with MTG since wizards policy’s are hurting the the financial aspect of the game.
Now all I see is mtg cards in stores. No Matter what store I go to the Pokémon card section is almost always wiped out, but I did get lucky once I was @ Target and they were restocking Pokémon cards and I got my hands on some champion’s path
The only way this stops is if the collector and player communities collectively put their foot down and simply don't buy Pokemon for a month or two. To be honest, scalpers are only half the problem. Right now, I dare say FOMO collectors are doing just as much damage as the scalpers because I see posts on the Pokemon TCG sub-Reddit with collectors opening up literally hundreds of packs of Shining Fates, showing off a half dozen shiny Zards in the process. Every other post is yet another shiny Zards, so you know these guys have opened probably a dozen ETBs worth of packs. So either they are buying from the scalpers, or they are in line cleaning out the inventory right alongside them.
Your video is exactly how it is and finally we are starting to see a slow down (today is 12/6/21). However, this February it might go a little nuts again... we will see. The cards that will always deserve the hype are the vintage 1st edition cards especially the far more rare cards. 1st edition vintage rare cards (graded or not) prices have dropped by 1/4 to 1/2, and with people needing money for the holidays, or people need the cards for gifts -- it seems like the time is now before the hype picks up again (and it will).
Yes I know how supply and demand work. The problem itself won’t be fixed till the demand drops or supply catches up. What I meant by that statements is the leaders in the community need to start speaking out against scalpers, bots, Etc.
I went to Best Buy last week, and one of my old coworkers now works there and told me that there is a Shining Fates ETB, but they can't sell it because it was on preorder. But the guy keeps pushing it back because he can do that cause he's an elite member or something
This is exactly why I switched to Yugioh in late 2020-early 2021. If Yugioh gets scalped as bad as Pokemon did, I'm switching to MTG since nobody want those cards. With Yugioh, cards and sets are at least accessible.
Just dont pay secondary market prices, stick to msrp and soon enough the scalpers will be stuck with product they cant shift. Modern cards arnt worth what some people are now paying imo, fomo on a mass produced and currently in many instances poor quality trading card is crazy. You dont NEED u want, modern day problems smh 😂
There are some Walmart employees in NC that have made over $100,000 this past year... not including their Walmart paycheck. Just buying up all the product that "gets put out".
