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The Pokémon Company has made changes to its distribution plans for the Van Gogh Pikachu card in order to prevent scalping. They have reduced the number of cards given to local stores and will primarily distribute them to larger chain stores in Amsterdam.
Changes to Distribution Plans to Combat Scalpers
The Pokémon Company has made changes to its plans to bring back the infamous Van Gogh Pikachu card in order to combat scalpers who are looking to sell it at inflated prices. The company has canceled its initial plan to distribute the card to local hobby stores due to instances of ‘pre-scalping’ that were observed online. Some sellers were allegedly making questionable deals with card shop owners to secure a card for themselves.
( Credit to: Ign )
In an effort to minimize scalping, The Pokémon Company has reduced the number of cards given to local stores by 90%, from 100 to just 10. Reports have surfaced of scalpers claiming to have arranged deals to obtain as many as 100 cards from these stores. Some store owners even admitted to planning to give the cards away to locals or trade them directly. The cards are already being listed online for prices as high as €100 each.
To address the issue, The Pokémon Company will primarily distribute the cards to larger chain stores in Amsterdam. These stores will be under stricter obligations to give away the cards as intended, and they may have less knowledge of the cards’ value compared to specialized stores. Customers will need to spend €29.99 to obtain the Pikachu card, but it remains to be seen whether this will completely deter scalpers.
Previous Chaos and Scalping Incidents
The previous attempt by The Pokémon Company to distribute the card also ended in chaos. They gave it away to attendees of a Pokémon exhibit at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. However, scalpers swarmed the museum store and sold the free giveaway cards online for exorbitant prices.
During the initial distribution at the Van Gogh Museum, the card had to be pulled altogether due to the chaos it caused. Multiple employees reportedly lost their jobs as a result of the situation.
Pokémon Card Scalping and Illegal Activities
The popularity of Pokémon cards continues to attract illegal activities. Tokyo police reported a surge in trading card thefts in the latter half of 2022, and a gaming store in Minnesota experienced a theft of approximately $250,000 worth of Pokémon merchandise in February 2022. In Tokyo, a man was arrested for attempting to steal valuable Pokémon cards in a heist. In March, a man in Georgia misused government funds intended for COVID-19 relief to purchase a rare, shiny Charizard card.
The Pokémon card market remains highly sought-after, leading to these unfortunate incidents. The Pokémon Company is taking steps to address scalping, but it remains a challenge to completely eliminate this issue.
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