Aussie card game retailers are limiting product per customer to curb scalpers

Scalpers are driving the prices of Pokemon cards and Pokemon card game products up, leaving Aussie stores to limit products per customer. Phoebe Zamparo reports.

Pikachu, the iconic yellow friend of Ash Ketchum, is causing a bit of a stir among fans of the internationally renowned card game.

Released as a rare card among last November's Surging Spark set, Pikachu is now up for grabs once again among booster packs.

However, with short supply of the newly released trading card set, some Aussie brick-and-mortar stores are limiting how many products customers can buy to ensure everyone has a fair chance of opening the fuzzy yellow friend.

Mr Long, an employee at a store that stocks Pokémon cards, says the release of the Surging Spark set was when “the trading card game just blew up," seeing a massive increase in Pokémon-related sales. To keep customers coming back and to combat "scalpers," people who resell products at a higher price online, stores have been limiting how many booster packs and boxes customers can buy.

Pokémon, the card game, has players collect Pokémon creatures through opening booster packs, assembling a deck of creatures and other playable cards, and then battling each other.

The latest set features 252 obtainable cards, including several special edition cards, with ten cards per booster pack. Pikachu comes printed in different art styles and rarities, including a 'special illustration' which may appear in one in 957 booster packs, and a 'gold' edition, which may appear in one in 1127 booster packs.

Online, the rare Pikachus are selling for as high as $170 in mint condition, however sold for close to $800 when the set first came out.

Mr Long said another reason they're limiting how many packs customers can buy is to ensure customers that they'll always have a chance of opening a pack of the new set every time they revisit their local store.

Ms Doyle, a regional manager for the same franchise that Mr Long works for, said “It’s just bad business” to not have any limits on the Pokémon TCG with its current level of popularity. 

“One person could buy all six booster boxes… whereas if you sell them to six customers, that’s six people who will potentially return,” she said. 

“For smaller retailers, having limits in place helps bring in more customers and as a reputational thing is important.”

An 'Ultra Rare' Pikachu from the Surging Sparks set.

The limits on Pokémon card game merchandise are determined by a few factors. “It depends on the popularity of the product,” said Ms Doyle. Because scalping is a motivator, the more desirable a product is, the stricter the limit will be.

Another factor is how popular TCGs in general are for the specific store, as well as how much stock the individual store will receive. “We have a limit of four per person, which is lower than other stores because we’re very TCG heavy,” said Mr Long. The other stores in the franchise have a limit on individual packs set between five packs and an entire booster box (36 packs) per customer.

However, with having different limits between stores can lead to differing reactions among patrons. Ms Doyle said it's not uncommon for customers to compare store policies and complain to staff.

“You hear it a lot,” she said. 

While the Pokémon company themselves have said they’ll print more Pokémon cards “as quickly as possible and at maximum capacity” to keep up with the demands, local stores are facing the brunt of shortages and scalpers looking to make a buck.

“I think most of it is going to the US,” said Ms Doyle. “Australia’s market is relatively smaller, so I’m not sure if we’ve had much of an increase.”