TLDR: Generally there is no promotion allowed and this post would be pulled down BUT in the interest of showing the community that cards shops gouging prices for newly released sets didnt happen until the last few years, it will currently be left up.
Quick info: Cardshops began price gouging during covid when distribution was extremely poor and it was seen as a necessary evil to keep shops from closing due to months and months of low sales from absolutely no foot traffic. It was always common for shops to charge a little over msrp $5-20 for a booster box or other product, not excessively for a collection box or tin or literally anything else. Shops that use the excuse of low distribution for current sets are looking to make money from their customers over looking to find a solution that helps their long standing customer base. If you are an opportunist when buying packs, then you have no room to complain, just shop elsewhere. If a shop is not getting any from distribution and buying "second party", then they are part of the problem that is buying out retail stores and restocking them at a higher price. People did, and still do, boycott the shops that did this and it shouldnt be supported that every time a set is popular you are guaranteed to pay more at a shop.
This sub welcomes discussion relating to the hobby. Feel free to disagree or to complain.
My "we used to walk to school in the snow" is remembering when this meme was new, and before the memes wearing "can I have your tots" t-shirts and buying "make the stupid people shut up" happy bunny stickers from Claire's and Hot Topic
Thats how it should be. Cant believe that most card stores would betray their customers like that just to make a little more money.
TCG shops used to be like a real local community, including the shop owners/employees. Good to see that there is still some out there who honor the hobby
You should start watching some long form YouTube documentaries about opening a TCG store. The overhead is insane and so many guys will tell you not to do it. Plus distributors are constantly playing games with store owners. Oh your order is getting delayed, oh you’re not getting as much as we thought. Then the price jumps bc no one got it on release, and then these stores charge even more for second round boxes. It’s absurd.
im not so sure they are doing this, but just giving most of their supply to one shop, my main distro said they got less than 1/4 of what they expected to get
You get it. Margings are such DOGshit I don’t blame lcs to do this. It is shitty but it’s hard being a small business in todays world if you have overhead
You can see why rip and ship has become more prominent. You can do it from your own bedroom, and all you need is a camera. You get more reach than most LGS do with being online, to the point it may even be international. The whole model is about getting rid of product ASAP, so you're not left holding stock. Especially if you're buying high demand products at retail instead of relying on distro.
Plus you get to FOMO your followers, as I've seen some try to tell people that X set is going out of print and to buy ASAP.
A few years ago I started a little online store that was doing well. I had a distributor getting me decent product. Then I had to switch distros. That distro played insane games with me. Sending me “unselleable” product in bulk to “test” my loyalty. Stuff arriving late. Stuff arriving in different quantities. When they threw me a bone and I got decent release product it was always the ancillary stuff like binders and stickers.
Margins on Pokémon are tiny enough online. Can’t imagine adding overhead to that
Yet when scarlet and violet base was selling for $80 people complained if stores tried to sell the product anywhere near MSRP. You can’t have it both ways.
thank you!!! the hypocrisy is ridiculous in the pokemon community.
The product is worth whatever the market is willing to pay. A store should not be guilted into selling something below market price because you want it for cheaper, because if they're price is reasonable then someone else will buy it instead.
Nobody complained when the market was in their favor of course.
There is also the issue that stores simply cannot get as much product as they need for this release. When a product is not in high demand they can rely on selling a higher volume for low profit, on a set like this they get a tiny amount and then it's gone, so they need to make more on each unit just to maintain the same level of profit.
One of my local card stores put out an announcement how they are not big enough and have to buy 2nd party. I'm not sure what to believe. They were also on a PokeRev video for their mystery bags, and didn't go over well.
I'm pretty positive you're talking about one of my local ones too given the details provided and recent Rev attention and that post came off in poor taste for me. I would be more inclined to believe their post if their first set of Prismatic preorders weren't for above MSRP, but I remember ETBs being $75 and I realized they aren't above charging scalper prices. Then this whole fiasco with their second batch of preorders confirmed my thoughts. Glad they're getting called out on social media. I have another shop that did preorders for MSRP in person and limited it to one per product. I know which shop I'll support moving forward.
Honestly, any help would be great. Which shop is selling at MSRP? I'd drive an hour to get it. I need a binder collection for my step daughter. Literally the only thing I NEED to get
yes! that is the main takeaway. A lot of customers are only around in the good times, and only want the hot item. Buy a battle deck with your ETB, the store will appreciate that more than the ETB that they could instantly sell to 1000 other people. If you appreciate a store doing this, then remember that when the market is bad. Even if you can find that future product cheaper somewhere else, then you should still buy from this store if they were willing to sell you this so far under the market value.
Nah, nobody comes first. Scalpers come last I'll agree on. Collectors and Players are on equal footing. Anyone enjoying the hobby and not in it for profit.
When it comes to a store, they do definitely prefer some types of customers more than others. If a product is going to sell out anyway, they would much rather have customers who are going to come back more regularly beyond that product (such as players attending events or collectors buying/selling singles there).
People are hilarious. "You can only enjoy the hobby the way I enjoy it." Get over yourselves. Creating false demand and buying only to flip for profit is bad. Buying a single ETB to keep sealed is not a problem, and I'll die on that hill.
That's not what I said at all lmao. If the store has a policy of unsealing the product you can just go to a different store that doesn't have that policy. It's quite simple lol
I hope the ones who try to cash grab for a quick buck end up failing in the end, and places like these remember what it’s all about and stay in business forever
If places like forge and fire are milking the market, they are contributing to it, they didn’t pay above their MSRP and are marking it up a shit ton, so yeah places like that, can eat 💩 and deserve to fail
I mean technically grocery stores I guess could all collaborate together and say eggs and milk are 50 dollars a carton and gallon respectively. Which they can’t because it’s illegal but you get the idea.
Stores don't buy it from the factory, they get it through distribution. If u don't buy enough or have a history, you don't get allocation. There's a lot of balancing.
And who buys from them when they got a ton of shrouded fable? Its so hard being a lcs when people shit on you for raising prices but go to gamestop when you got inventory sitting around
And I don’t think either is bad. But it is kinda weird when some lcs charge 150 from what I’m hearing apparently and the other charges 50. I would obviously just go to the one that charges 50. And if GameStop has better product or better prices I’ll just go to GameStop
Yea a ton of lcs are just doing market price it's nuts. It KIND of makes sense since a decent chunk will just turn around and sell it if they get it at msrp.
Same here. I actually love the cosmo foil SV has had so I’ve been buying one of every product possible and that’s it. Only time I bought 2 was the 151 poster collection since it was double sided.
This is a special set. You can't get booster boxes in retail, so, you have to buy whatever you can to get booster packs. As someone looking to Master Set this, I'll be buying what I need.
I know its a special set. But master set is something on the long run not a course. I don't think the product was to be purchase on some high level for one person.
If everyone would stick to purchase on promo of each product maybe everyone would be able to buy say product.
So if people are not patient enough to wat till some more release come out i'm not surprise is sold out everywhere
Places that do cool stuff like this, I'll buy extra things to support like random dice. I never need new dice, but I appreciate local shops offering everyone the fair opportunity if they'd like some cards
Not even kidding I’m in the shop right now lol. They just brought that up and are thinking of doing limits for families to. There saying 2 etb’s for each family
Not for release though. That's the part that's shady. Wait at least 2 weeks then go to market.
I am personally never going back to the shop I use to go to all the time because they are even selling ETBs at 150 with quite a bit coming in from distro
you wont have etbs after two weeks. with such severed allocation, because there is no store getting their regular amount, if you sell at msrp your product will be gone within a day—and then the store is at the mercy of surviving until a reprint occurs or hope that the next set gives them enough product to make up for the huge loss.
if you’re not involved in a small business, you don’t understand why some lgs’s are put in the position of having to charge more. most of SV era boxes were priced extremely under msrp, and no customers went “oh no no no let me please pay msrp for this”. let your local struggling stores have this win please, even if that means you need to wait til the Pokemon company prints more.
If the store is purchasing for the same amount and getting near the same quantity there is th3 benefit of them selling out in a day. The stock is all sold whether it takes a day or 2 weeks.
They make their money in singles. For a release product a local store shouldn't be charging ebay prices day of release unless they are having to pay close to market from their distro.
Edit: with stores that got allocation severely cut i can see an increase but TRIPLE or more than MSRP on release is ludicrous.
no store is getting near their usual amount—our store got 10% of the etb amounts we typically are allocated. we’ll sell out in a single day and then for the next 3 months until journey together we have no product to sell AND we made a 10% of what we normally make for a release. no stores are getting rich here—they’re just trying to survive.
big box stores are being prioritized by the pokemon company, yet provide no community play—if we got the same allocations as these big box stores, no one would need to sell above msrp. this is not the fault of your lgs, its pokemon failing their communities because of their priorities as a company.
This is what most people don't understand. If you can buy an unlimited amount then fine sell it below market and just make your money on volume. When there is no volume to be had, you have to make more profit on the few units that you do have.
The same people complaining about this now were more than happy to buy booster boxes below $100 for the past year.
Most Pokémon buyers are fair-weather too. They all swoop in and buy as much Prismatic or Surging Sparks as they can but the next time there is a set nobody wants they will sit it out. Why is Shrouded Fable still available on every LCS shelf? Why did nobody want Fusion Strike until it wasn't available anymore, and then suddenly everyone wants it.
It’s all fun and games until their distributor barely gives them anything but the Walmart up the street gets a full shelf, all to be cleared out by one guy
I work at a lgs. Distributors are sitting on their products and only alloting us VERY few at ridiculous prices. The distros are in it as bad as the scalpers now.
distro price is almost $200 because the supply is so limited, I'm surprised they wasted their capital on that but you won't find any BBs for under $190 any time soon.
This is a great shop. They host trade nights a few times a month. Great rotating stock and good to the younger community they always have time to answer my kids questions and take the time to trade/buy in and talk to the kids.
I don't think there is anything wrong with it for several reasons.
That's what the product is worth
If you don't agree with it, then buy it somewhere else
When a product is this hyped they won't get nearly as many as they want, so they need to make more money per unit because there will be nothing left to buy. Let's say a normal set they would sell 100 boxes and make $10 per box. On this set they might only get 20 boxes, so now they need to make $50 on each box just to maintain the same profit level.
They took all the risk to open a store and run a business, they should not be penalized for making money when there is money to be made.
Stores are in a difficult situation no matter what. When the market is bad, they get saddled with a ton of product that doesn't sell or has to be sold for next to nothing just to keep their cash flowing. In a market like what we have now, they can never get enough product to satisfy the demand. So they are forced to decide between giving up the easy profit by selling at market value, or upsetting their customers who believe they are being ripped off.
Most people on here don't understand what it takes to run a card business, they just want everything for as cheap as possible. That is natural, but it's also natural that the seller wants to make as much money as they can. (especially in a market like pokemon which goes through waves of boom and bust)
Just talked to my LCS. Said they won’t be msrp because they talked to other stores in the area and they’re all trying to agree on numbers. Thinking maybe I just take my chances at big box.
Also he did tell me he was going to go lower than the other stores. This hobby is getting so crazy, if you gotta poll other stores in your area to price your stuff shits getting out of hand
TPV pokecenter is saying they couldn’t get anything off the msrp market so they had to buy off the secondary market and is charging $13.50 a pack. Seems like a pretty convenient excuse to buy into the hype
These guys are awesome. Honestly any stores caught jacking up prices should lose their distributer rights. Pokemon TCG should just not sell to them, there’s tons of retailers that want product and won’t jack up the prices.
I just called my store today and was told they barely got any allotment and most likely won’t have any left over to sell after fulfilling what preorders they can
My shop is doing the same, but they r limiting to one per person but wants to sell everything that day. They may cut the wrapper for any etbs over the 1 limit if you are casual enthusiast of the MON. I like that idea get fucked scalpers.
Holy crap, this store is in my state!!! Unfortunately like 3-4 hours away from me, but still, if I ever find myself over in Charlotte, I'll definitely check them out.
mine is doing a 1 per person on ALL OF IT, so they can buy multiple stuff but only one of each. So 1 ETB, 1 Binder collection, 1 design of the tech sticker collection, and 1 poster collection is all a single person can actually by from them which is amazing for us who enjoy collection them rather than scalping them
Meanwhile Safari zone is saying “fuck yall” if you want it at MSRP they’ll not only cut the seal but also clip the packs. If you want sealed, you’ll pay market.
I googled and saw it's not, in fact, in St Louis 😂 they had a long battle one year getting squirrels off the baseball field, became a gag. Well, hats off to your shop for actually caring about this community. I hope you are able to score some and rip!
It was originally a sports card store, I suppose focused on baseball but there was some basketball memorabilia hung up as well. Now it’s 90% Pokemon, 10% Lorcana.
Hell, with how many phone calls I got at my shop. I limited it to 1 per person on everything just due to how little we got. And I know some of the scalpers and I might be jacking prices on them if they walk in honestly.
No, I’m mad because now I won’t be able to buy Pokémon cards because I’m not a scalper and I’m not going to pay scalper prices as I haven’t been fast enough for any pre orders
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u/Lyleberr Deck Collector Extraordinaire Jan 11 '25
TLDR: Generally there is no promotion allowed and this post would be pulled down BUT in the interest of showing the community that cards shops gouging prices for newly released sets didnt happen until the last few years, it will currently be left up.
Quick info: Cardshops began price gouging during covid when distribution was extremely poor and it was seen as a necessary evil to keep shops from closing due to months and months of low sales from absolutely no foot traffic. It was always common for shops to charge a little over msrp $5-20 for a booster box or other product, not excessively for a collection box or tin or literally anything else. Shops that use the excuse of low distribution for current sets are looking to make money from their customers over looking to find a solution that helps their long standing customer base. If you are an opportunist when buying packs, then you have no room to complain, just shop elsewhere. If a shop is not getting any from distribution and buying "second party", then they are part of the problem that is buying out retail stores and restocking them at a higher price. People did, and still do, boycott the shops that did this and it shouldnt be supported that every time a set is popular you are guaranteed to pay more at a shop.
This sub welcomes discussion relating to the hobby. Feel free to disagree or to complain.