Pokémon is a longtime classic in both anime and trading card culture. While Pokémon was originally targeted toward a younger demographic, focus has shifted toward older individuals entering the market to exploit “scalping” for profit in recent months. While scalping has prompted immense controversy in the trading world, someone usually benefits from participating in the end.
Pokémon scalping marks a new epidemic of card exploitation, with deeper motives driving the activity. Sophomore Noah Farr is an active Pokémon scalper who commits an immense amount of time to the practice.
“Essentially what you do is you wait in line at a big retail store like Walmart or Target until they let you in to purchase the cards,” Farr said. “Each time I go, I spend around $1,000 buying out all the stock they let me buy, and I take that and then I sell it at a higher price because there’s not enough stock left for other people to purchase.”
While purchasing products in bulk is fairly simple, Farr shares that offloading the product can be difficult at times. He finds that selling the products individually online is too slow, so he searches for places that will buy everything he brings in.
“Usually to resell the sealed products I buy, I go to the Ninja Expo that’s attached to the Carlsbad Mall, or I’ll find a card show to go to,” Farr said. “Selling at the Ninja Expo is easiest because of this vendor named Nam who always does deals with me. His full name is actually Nami, as in a reference to the One Piece anime and manga.”
All of the reselling taking place within the Pokémon community has drawn attention to the fact that a majority of Pokémon collecting and trading takes place amongst adults. Farr explains that although Pokémon is meant for young children, he understands why adults might be interested in the pastime.
“Brian Farr, my dad, doesn’t care about the hobby,” Farr said. “He told me that opening packs isn’t worth it and that I should be selling and to treat it like a business. He needs to see profit to keep funding me and my future Pokémon endeavors.”
Sophomore Aiden Dougherty shares his experiences within the Pokémon community, specifically his scalping adventures. Rather than collecting the cards, he feels that there is a way to gain major profit from reselling the cards.
“I mean to get the most out of reselling, you have to target Pokémon sets that will raise in price rapidly,” Dougherty said. “One set, for example, is ascended heroes, it’s been up since release and I’ll buy an elite trainer box for $60 and sell it for upwards of $130.”
Amidst an increasingly competitive job market, sophomore Miles Noda has found immense success in the Pokémon resale market. Without scalping, Noda fears that he would have to be employed to maintain a steady income.
“It’s definitely a good way to make some money right now, the economy is kind of tough and all right now,” Noda said. “Without scalping, I would definitely have to find a job to continue paying for my piano and pickleball lessons.”
With all the controversy surrounding scalping, many seek out a quick and simple fix. Farr explains how scalping could be put to an end, finally diffusing the controversy within the Pokémon collecting world.
“The simplest solution would be for the Pokémon company to take over their own product and distribute it themselves, instead of selling it or putting it out to a third party retail service,” Farr said. “If Pokémon can prevent who controls all the product, supply and demand can be lowered effectively reducing card prices.”
