{"id":7724,"date":"2026-09-26T12:09:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T12:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7724"},"modified":"2026-09-26T12:09:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T12:09:54","slug":"pokemon-30th-celebration-scalping-resellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7724","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon card scalpers have turned collecting into an online blood sport"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Earlier this month, Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>card content creator Natalie Roush posted a video to her YouTube and Instagram pages<\/a> that enraged the larger collection community. In the now-deleted video, Roush shows off two premium boxes of cards that had not yet been officially released, and implores viewers not to be mad. But they were; other creators claimed that cards Roush had purchased were stolen<\/a> from the manufacturer and mocked her for trying to sell them at exorbitant prices<\/a>. The Roush situation was a high-profile example of the way Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>card collecting culture has been upended by the influencer economy and people trying to profit off the hobby. Though Roush has been relatively quiet in the days since the blowup, Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>collectors have been up in arms over a different \u2014 but very much related \u2014 problem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When the Pok\u00e9mon Trading Card Game<\/em>\u2019s long-awaited 30th Celebration set<\/a> finally released last week, collectors across the country lined up outside of stores in hopes of getting their hands on some shiny pieces of cardboard. The anniversary set has unusually strong pull rates \u2014 the rate at which you\u2019re likely to find rare \u201cchase\u201d cards in a given set \u2014 giving more fans the cards they\u2019ve always dreamed of, and potentially upsetting the aftermarket Pok\u00e9-conomy. Some diehard Pok\u00e9-fans even camped out overnight because a resurgence in popularity has made the cards much more difficult to find and buy in person. But another group of Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>card hunters was able to secure the highly sought-after set without having to travel to physical retailers or navigate the online Pok\u00e9mon Center.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Those people \u2014 resellers who often use automated bots to buy dozens of boxes of cards as soon as they\u2019re available for preorder online \u2014 might not have had any intention of collecting the 30th Celebration set for themselves. But they have<\/em> been trying to offload their spoils at marked-up prices to fans who haven\u2019t had a chance to buy cards for themselves. Most retailers can\u2019t keep cards on shelves, but there are plenty of videos online of resellers showing off piles of product<\/a> they were able to obtain either by placing orders with bots or using inventory checking programs that alert them when brick-and-mortar stores receive stock. It\u2019s also easy to find footage of resellers getting into altercations<\/a> over cards, and in one recent instance, a 72-year-old man was arrested and charged with a first-degree misdemeanor<\/a> for tracking a Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>delivery worker\u2019s location with a device secretly planted in her car.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Though flipping trading cards is nothing new, the Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>reselling economy has gotten much bigger in recent years as people have taken note of how durable the franchise\u2019s popularity is. Many resellers like BotterBoyNova<\/a> started off with other kinds of valuable merchandise before realizing that Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>products can be sold for far beyond the manufacturer\u2019s suggested retail price, or MSRP. When I spoke with Nova recently, he told me that \u2014 like many millennials \u2014 he\u2019s been a Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>fan since the mid-\u201990s. Nova was originally a content creator whose videos were mostly focused on reselling sneakers, but seeing how easy it was to profit from reselling Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>products convinced him that he needed to get in on the action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cResellers in what\u2019s described as the \u2018Sneaker Twitter\u2019 space are tapped in with practically every category of collectible that can resell for a profit,\u201d Nova explained to me via Discord. \u201cIt\u2019s not a situation where I\u2019m singling out the Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> card market. It just so happens that it\u2019s highly profitable and difficult to purchase for MSRP, and those are the conditions that our community specializes in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rather than operating independently, Nova works with Polar Chefs \u2014 a \u201ccook group\u201d community that sells monthly subscriptions to a variety of reseller tools and services. Subscriptions range from $660 per year to $75 per month, and they come with access to Polar Chefs\u2019 private Discord server, restock alerts, and a selection of bots that can be used to buy cards. These bots make it easy for people to create multiple accounts on retailers\u2019 websites that are attached to virtual credit cards, while the buyer\u2019s IP address is spoofed with proxies. Technically, this kind of process isn\u2019t illegal<\/a> \u2014 at least not yet; Congress outlawed concert ticket-focused bots in 2016<\/a> and lawmakers have proposed doing the same for retail bots<\/a>. But it does violate most retailers\u2019 terms of service, which is why some resellers\u2019 orders are canceled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Retail bots aren\u2019t illegal, but they do violate most retailers\u2019 terms of service.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Using Polar Chefs\u2019 tools, Nova has been able to purchase massive amounts of Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>cards at MSRP from various retailers without being blocked by websites\u2019 anti-bot security measures. Nova described his process of securing cards with bots as being \u201calmost completely hands free,\u201d and explained that the real work doesn\u2019t begin until he has to sort and sell his inventory to a couple of bulk buyers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cDuring most weeks, I spend less than 3-5 hours a week on the reselling side of things (setting up bots, buying inventory, selling and fulfilling inventory),\u201d Nova said, noting that he\u2019s commonly asleep while pre-programmed bots make purchases for him. \u201cI wait for notifications to come in from Polar Chefs which inform me of releases, bot adjustments I need to make, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Though it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>reselling really exploded in the past few years, the rise of groups like Polar Chefs feels reflective of the way that the creator economy evolved during the covid-19 pandemic. Resellers like Nova are influencers whose videos are designed to sell people on the idea that they could also be making money by flipping cards at scale. And monetized cook groups are prime examples of how online hustle culture has become more focused on the sale of how-to guides and courses for practices that can be seen as morally suspect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"PASADENA,<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA \u2013 SEPTEMBER 16: Pok\u00e9mon card collectors wait in line outside a Best Buy store for a chance to purchase the new 30th Celebration set on September 16, 2026 in Pasadena, California.<\/figcaption>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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There\u2019s an argument to be made that the scarcity created by resellers is part of what has driven the popularity of platforms like Whatnot \u2014 an online marketplace where people can pay for things like sealed Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>products, which are then opened on livestreams by the seller before they\u2019re sent to the buyer. Many Whatnot streamers present themselves as entrepreneurs who are providing their audiences with a helpful service while also entertaining them. But the platform has been accused of operating more like an illegal gambling operation<\/a>, and there is an entire ecosystem of creators whose content documents Whatnot streamers scamming their customers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But with the 30th Celebration packs flooding the market with rare cards, the scammers could be out of luck. Over the past week, X and Reddit have been inundated with screenshots<\/a> from unnamed Discord servers where people claiming to be resellers appear to be melting down over not being able to sell their overpriced cards. One of the more widely circulated images features a person insisting that resellers are \u201cthe people that actually ensure [The Pok\u00e9mon Company] makes money,\u201d while complaining that \u201cthere\u2019s literally no value in these sets because everyone can pull the rare bullshit.\u201d In another, a reseller says they are filing a class action lawsuit against The Pok\u00e9mon Company \u201cfor independent vendors who suffered severe financial asset devaluation due to artificial market saturation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The absurdity of these posts suggests that they might have been written by people making fun of actual resellers, as does the fact that while searching Discord I found some posts that use the exact same wording. Those posters might have just been looking for attention, but the state of the larger reselling economy does seem to be having a negative impact on Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>cards\u2019 availability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Even though The Pok\u00e9mon Company is printing more cards than ever<\/a>, almost everything about the modern aftermarket economy has made it harder for ordinary people \u2014 especially children \u2014 to participate in the hobby. Nova told me that he thinks casual collectors who just want to pull cool cards for themselves are completely justified in feeling that resellers are making Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>less accessible. He also believes that collectors whose interest in the cards is \u201cincentivized by monetary gain\u201d are hypocrites for taking issue with resellers. Aside from actually playing <\/em>with them, the real fun of Pok\u00e9mon <\/em>cards is in the hunt and delight when you\u2019re able to find a pack that shocks you with its contents. It\u2019s an experience everyone\u2019s supposed to be able to enjoy, but it\u2019s being ruined by hustlers.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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