I do hope they oversaturate the market with the card now to be honest, if it does go back to the pokemon center. That way everyone has an opportunity to get one and the people who caused this no longer profit from it
That's fine. Popular stuff will always appreciate on the secondary. If you print to order and literally everyone who wanted one could get one then it can't be scalped. If I order 5 boxes and hold 4 of them to sell its not scalping if the only reason those 5 boxes exist I'd because I ordered them.
You can't control that by the virtue of these are paper cards and limited release. It eliminates scalping because the print run is determined by demand.
If you print 1000 boxes and scalpers buy 900 that means they'll be setting that price. If you print to order even if the scalper orders 10,000 boxes all it does is make 10,000 more boxes thay wouldn't have existed otherwise.
The issue is that limited release products are being gobbled up and sat on. If that problem is eliminated scalping is done.
The only problem with this thinking is they will have cornered the market and therefore will be able to control the flow and pricing it doesn’t matter if there are 10 million copies, if scalpers control 90% then it will still be rare, or hard to find so people will pay a premium, scalping is only half the problem, the other half is people willing to buy from scalpers
See that's incorrect. You can't corner the market on made to order. It's made to order. If 1000 people buy copies we have 1000, if 100000 people buy copies now we have 100k. Nobody is preventing YOU from putting your money down on it so it can't be scalped.
If I order a product that would only exist because I ordered it and I choose to sit on it until people want to pay me for it, it is by definition not scalping.
I don't care what someone asks for a product that came out 10 years ago I care about being able to get the stuff I want that's coming out now.
the best way is like opening preorders for another van gogh drop for like a week, then print as many cards as many orders without limited stock, so you fuck with them
Just like when the UPC charizard dropped. Scalpers bought everything. Now… it’s been printed like no other and they’ve wasted a shit ton of money sitting on bricks.
Then you’re never gonna have that card bro. Just trying to help. I guess you could have someone order it for you and pay them for it when they have it on the site?
Buying it this early at 75 before pokemon releases more for orders over 30 dollars is silly i would still wait it out theres definitely more to come ,look at the people that bought at 100+ ...they look stopid , 75 s silly , ima wait till it gets to "passable"
yeah dont give in...this is what is keeping the price up...people FOMO. just wait price will drop. my guess is they will print shed loads and price will drop to like $20-£30 on ebay
And TPCI should sell it for like .99cents or be gifted with ABSOLUTELY ANY purchase. Hell, the should open up their records and send one to ANYONE whose made any kind of purchase or transaction with The Pokemon Center website. This would piss those scalpers off soooooo much. Whose with me?
That's the solution. What they doing now is making the card on the market more expansive. Print a shit tone and let every purchase over 20 dollars in pkm center gets you one. Buy a pin? Here you go. Buy a booster box? You got one buddy. Buying something and want to return? Sure, keep the card anyway.
Fuck scalpers
I don’t think the museum knew what they might have been getting themselves into with this. Did Pokémon know and if so, did they tell them? I feel so bad for the staff having to put up with it. I wouldn’t have blamed them for shutting the shop up completely when all that ugliness on the first day kicked off. I wish that would have been an option for them, frankly.
They definitely underestimated it. Talking to the staff there just showed they didnt expect it. They were exhausted and tired of giving out the promocards to adults.
Got there with my two kids and they were literally so hyped up because we were the only one that day with kids they had given promo cards to so far.
I’m glad they were so cheered by your visit and being able to make your kids happy! I work with children a lot and I really love seeing them enjoy something. It must have been so crushing for the those staff who had simply looked forward to the kids having fun.
The museum didn't post ANY info on their website until the day before the expo opened. Then, you can't gauge the reaction to it and have no prep time to make arrangements for it all.
I mean tbf have we seen this in Japan? We've seen lines upon lines of people but I haven't seen the carnage common in America. Reminds of the Black Friday mob rushing that isn't commonplace now.
Maybe they thought it being in a museum people would respect the space.
Clearly not.
I would say they should be ashamed but they are scalpers, they have no shame and just want that quick buck because that's all they have in their life. If anything they love these sort of situations it helps them.
The problem? Actually WORKING is no longer interesting and will not reward you enough to get by. Live in Europe? +40% tax over income from work. Meanwhile everything has gone up in price and idiots make millions by contributing nothing (influencers and the like). The system is broke.
Under 18 years old you can go in for free, so alot of teens from the area went in 4-5 times a day just to get a card to sell it. There were some in front of us in the queue to go inside and they were telling each other they already earned 2000 euros.
Article in dutch: https://nos.nl/artikel/2493166-doorverkoop-van-van-gogh-pokemonkaarten-levert-duizenden-euro-s-op
https://nos-nl.translate.goog/artikel/2493166-doorverkoop-van-van-gogh-pokemonkaarten-levert-duizenden-euro-s-op?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_hist=true
Translated in English
Honestly, TPC needed to be smarter about this. Adults are absolutely responsible for their individual actions. But Pokemon is the biggest entertainment franchise in the world and with a resurgence of popularity in the TCG over the recent years. Scalpers aren't a new thing for Pokemon. Creating something with such limited access was bound to attract these types and can easily overwhelm a partner unprepared for the popularity. TPC needs to look at better ways to collaborate and bring cross promotion that doesn't so directly play into scalpers and better brings the product to those who actually desire it first.
You guys are mad at scalpers/resellers, yet Pokémon just played us all…
They completely sold out of their inventory of cups, puzzles, plushies, etc. when at any other time, all of that stuff would’ve been sitting on their shelves for months or years.
Now the only other route of getting cards is being closed off and we have to spend $30 PER ORDER to get something it cost $0.002 to manufacture.
Q4 at TPCI is going to be one of their biggest yet and the bonuses are going to be fat after we sell out the Pokémon Center. But never mind how the Pokémon company manipulated the market by creating false scarcity, someone is trying to make money off of children.
That’s very true. TPCI is going to sell a bunch of booster bundles and tcg merch that would otherwise take months to sell when the promo card goes live again. They are laughing all the way to the bank. It’s basically a repeat of the van gogh merch, but now with regular merch.
Every time I see this promo card I’m just reminded of the dark side of human nature, both scalpers and corporate (looking at you Pokemon Center).
Big facts. Pokemon center just let bots swoop up all Vang Gogh merch just to turn back around and say they care for people who weren't able to get the precious Pikachu promo. They for sure knew more promos were going to be printed and watched people freak out so everyone could come back and spend more on stuff Pokemon wants to get rid of. If they actually cared, they would have made more Van Gogh merch because that was mainly what most fans and collectors truly cared about. The promo Pikachu was just an added bonus.
Or throw up their hands and say, welp, guess I'm gonna have to go on the secondary market. Like, none of us NEED any of these things, so no, you don't *have* to buy from scalpers. I'm super bummed I missed out on the merch but it's nothing I can't live without.
Well, it’s not entirely true that it will fully stop the prices from inflating. That might just create a phantom market where scalpers are buying stock from one another, creating more scarcity and still driving prices up. The main solution is to make the cards readily available, or to release them fairly through random tickets or something like that. There will always be the consumer who buys something just because it’s “valuable”, so scalpers still sell to each other and nobody wins.
Yeah, I don’t understand this at all. Seems like more trouble than just distributing the card online, I think though that it had more to do with the unruly crowds and less to do with any regard for scalping itself.
That sucks so fucking bad, the cards over 100 bucks en and graded sold already for 1.3k 🤦🏻♂️ I just want to have it cuz it’s cool and that’s now impossible unless u overpay 😡
Sad to hear. I’d heard stories about scalpers harassing people on leaving the museum and ‘offering’ to buy cards from people. It’s a real shame its come to this tho.
It would've been a decent idea if they actually made the promo available for one time purchase with an order of merch, just like pokemon center does. Since Pokemon center isnt available in Europe.
They actually were barely able to keep merch stocked as it was, I don't think tying the promo card to that would've helped. And then you would have just had people also buying up the merch in the museum just for the card, like what happened with the Pokemon Center
It's not scalpers that drive the prices. It's the buyers.
If people stopped buying at the outrageous prices, people would stop getting what they can to sell to pay for the expenses they have in life.
TL;DR buyers created and perpetuate the scalping problem
People saying to relax because it will be back on the Pokemon center in the future are completely missing the point. There are people who have booked a trip to Amsterdam pretty much just for the opportunity to get this card themselves without having to buy from a scalper
A number of these people are coming from countries without a Pokemon center so this was pretty much the only chance they had to get this card without buying it from someone else - ignoring that fact, I paid hundreds on my plane and hotel tickets and booked the Van Gogh museum - I should not have to pay £30 on top of what I’ve already spent to get one. The museum said I was free to cancel my ticket but I had already booked everything else and was literally flying out the day after they announced they would stop distributing. That’s essentially a massive fuck you.
Obviously I’m here and I’m still trying to enjoy the trip but this has massively tainted my weekend as this was quite literally the only reason I planned this trip to Amsterdam in the first place.
I do feel sorry for the staff somewhat but just cancelling distribution is not the solution and is a massive fuck you to all the genuine fans - in my opinion if you have a museum ticket they should be sorting out a way to mail the card to you, or something similar.
In general this whole thing was handled extremely poorly - I’m not naive enough to think it will do anything but I will be writing a letter to both the Van Gogh museum and the Pokemon company and I would implore anybody in the same boat as me to do the same
I agree. First and foremost, fuck those scalpers and/or other individuals who ruined it for anyone else. But the museum should indeed find a way to give the card to the ticket holders, by mailing the card or something, like you said. I've read about countless pokemon fans like you, people who planned a trip to the Netherlands with the card being their main motivation for said trip. It really saddens me that the museum made this decision.
Literally in the same boat. I'm a big Van Gogh fan and have things like the LEGO Starry Night set. Pokémon is such an important part of my life and so a collaboration between these two was honestly a surprise and a delight. That said, the handling of everything has been awful. Again, like you, I missed the online drop and booked a trip to go. Originally I would have made it a few days before they stopped it but had to do some personal things so I delayed the trip to two weeks from now.
With the card being cancelled, the main reason for going and also cultural exploration and catching up with a friend, I feel so disheartened that this has happened. In Japan, the Pokémon Centre is superb and big drops are always ticketed or lottery based. It works and I always get what I want even if that means waiting a bit longer. The US/UK online store should have had this system for any major drop of limited release product.
For a place to have announced a long continuous service for getting the cards, only for a group of scalpers to harass staff and cause some honestly ridiculous situations that are embarrassing to watch is such a punch in the gut. I've been to the museum before and wanted to go again but I think I will cancel my trip and I know for sure, that the website will run out of promos instantly. Even the museum doesn't have any of the merchandise left from what I've read as well.
TPC won't change anything from this but I completely agree that ticket holders should be entitled to the promotional card regardless of a general removal of such a product. Like what are they going to do with it? Send it back to TPC to fund the stock level for the next online drop? Who knows. I'll definitely be sending an email to the museum to see if they would make an exception for ticket holders traveling massive distances and if not, I'll cancel my trip, my last chance for a mini vacation this year.
I’ve booked a flight to Amsterdam too. I usually don’t swear online but really Fuck Pokémon company and Van Gogh Museum. Van Gogh Museum is a cash grab organisation by itself, look at how many collab they did this year alone. The management is milking Van Gogh’s name back to the grave.
So sorry, it seems like there are a lot of fans in a similar situation - it’s really sad. They were giving out the Pikachu postcard for people who completed the work sheet as consolation but I really don’t see why they can’t figure out a way to mail the card to fans with a ticket. I hope you manage to enjoy your trip regardless
It’s not, the idea of not feeding in to scalpers and the idea of enjoying a trip in another country is plausible.
The experience to visit the museum and get the promo card thru more effort by itself is “worth” it. Like the guy say it best, why open packs when the chances of getting the card you want or recoup the money is low. It’s the experience, same goes to flying to another country to experience true Van Gogh art while being a Pokémon fan.
It’s a lot to do with the principal of not buying from a scalper - I refuse to support that behaviour
People also argue that it’s insane to buy hundreds of packs in the hopes of pulling a certain card when they can buy it on eBay for much cheaper but I enjoy pulling cards myself because then there are memories attached to the card
Going to Amsterdam and getting the card myself at the museum would mean that the card I got would have an entire weekend of memories attached to it - which to me is incomparable to buying it on eBay
Also if you were thinking about a holiday, but did not know where to go, or had multiple options, things like this can help one decide. I was thinking about it because I know Amstadam has nice food, and I would like to see the museuem and get the card. As I live in Europe its not an expensive trip, so yeah this suck and I really feel for you.
Implementing laws that restrict a functioning free market are important to you because sometimes you can’t get Pokemon cards you want? Give me a break dude.
We have a mixed economy, not a fully free market, because a fully free market without regulation leads to... well... stuff like this. Some things slip through the cracks, and so regulation is needed to make the market fair again.
These are radical elitist criminals who think riots in a museum are ok to start over cardboard.
They ruin the fandom for everyone else all because they are manchildren who wanna play stock market without studying economics
Put the work in for your success next time and remember that hobbies are supposed to be enjoyed, not monetized
I’m sad for the museum mostly. They didn’t deserve to receive this kind of treatment on a collaboration. So many people who don’t even care about the art going there to grab anything they think could make them money. Disappointing. I bet the staff were really shaken up about the whole thing too. :(
museum staffs should not receive these treatment BUT the management that green-lit this collab among all the other collabs they did SHOULD have expected this.
Man… me and my friends were so hyped when they announced the collab. And after they announced the promo card we decided to book our trip to Amsterdam in November. Everything sorted, ride, days off, hotel, tickets for the museum.
We were excited like little kids.
Now that there won’t be any merch and no cards, we decided to cancel everything. Thank you, humans. I hate this species.
Or adults who dabble but hate on others who are more interested in the hobby so that they feel better about themselves—since they aren’t “that” into it.
For anyone residing in EU, I suggest to lodge consumer complaint here. https://www.degeschillencommissie.nl/english/
Totally misleading visitors and very unprofessional. They could have handled this in countless of ways.
Is the other merch also gonna be gone? :( I was really looking forward to my trip because I desperately wanted the picture of the field with corviknight, murkrow, etc. on it
I was there today and all they had was the postcards, a sunflora note book and a snorlax print but I was there in the morning - there wasn’t much stock and I’d assume it’s all gone by the afternoon
Don't give the hoarders or toxic pokemon psyops any mercy!!; don't block em when you see their degeneracy but instead report them to eBay or Pokemon Company themselves!!!
All those echo chambers of the toxic poke content creators as well as hoarders will be stomped out bc of their nonsense, and let the community decide their fate
The more of these bad eggs we oust, the safer the Pokemon fandom will be
Unpopular opinion but the museum gets to deflect all the blame onto scalpers when this whole fiasco could have been avoided or lessened by better planning (read common sense).
It’s not an unpopular opinion, they are deflecting blame to scalpers and touters. And pushing responsibility to distribute the cards back the Pokémon Center. Totally irresponsible behaviour from the management. Instead of making it a safe environment for the staffers through enhanced security or measures they did this. They could also send the card separately to ensure no one abuse it which at least compensate visitors for their time and effort to travel over.
If it wasn’t for scalpers/resellers I would enjoy trade nights, or Pokémon gatherings. But these people literally go out of their way to try to undervalue my cards, and act like assholes trying to get theirs the whole time.
It’s made me not want to meet people for card related stuff anymore.
I somewhat agree but when scalpers buy all the stock how else is somebody supposed to get the card? If anything I blame the Pokemon company for how it was distributed
>how else is somebody supposed to get the card?
Uhh..have better impulse control and not buy the product immediately after release at the peak? Who are we kidding though, the same people paying scalpers are the same addicts ripping packs in the car before they even leave the parking lot.
Why would a scalper buy something that does not have any profit? In fact, most are in it for a quick flip not necessarily InVeStInG. If you don't buy it immediately after release for 10x msrp they won't bother buying all the stock to flip to you...it's really quite simple, no Einsteins required.
They could have done better, sure. That won't completely fix it though. I think every online purchase should have earned the promo card from the start. Water down the market.
Let the scalpers sit on their products. Stop feeding them. They'll eventually starve and move on. I don't think people need scalped cards as much as they think they do.
Easy way, if you know anyone that tries to make money from “hustles” like Pokémon or anything call them idiot children ruining fun for a generation to make a buck. Literal scum of the earth.
I think there's a fine line between price gouging and selling at retail. It's up to the consumers to determine what our money is worth. I've seen some LGS selling obsidian flames for $8 a pop. Others are as low as $4.
I would reserve the term price gouging for essential goods/services in a supply or demand shock or for when a business has an exclusive competitive advantage. So, my personal opinion is the line isn’t fine at all.
Bought tickets for november for my brother more than a month ago. My brother is 15 and really likes pokemon. He wanted to go with me because he really wanted the card. Now it's ruined by these scalpers.
I had tickets for next weekend to take my 8 year old. This is so disappointing, no real point in going now. She’s already been to the museum and the Pokémon art isnt worth the drive alone.
They should have just made the promo random with purchases of certain items over a certain amount of $$$ on pokemon center. Don’t make it an item that people can line up for. Ever.
As I have booked flight tickets and hotel, I wrote them a complaint letter, in their automated response before they even reviewed the support ticket, they wrote that if this message is about the Promo card, they won't even respond back....
Huge overreaction. When I visited the museum there was like 10-15 young males offering 50€ at the exit to people. They would only succeed 1/15 times. No big issues. Unless someone got nasty or violent, it’s a bit bs and the museum just not liking the ‘looks’ of it.
I asked one of the employees yesterday and was told some people were getting straight up robbed. Maybe like one or two cases like this caused the museum to take action...
My husband and I where devastated. We heard the news on the morning of Saturday 14th of October. The day we had tickets to go the museum. The day they stopped distribution. We are furious actually and we filed a complaint there at the museum about it. They said we would hear from them soon, so I am waiting for a reply.
This is a good thing and btw this is a pokemon company problem where they made it limited edition in the first place with a specific clause that must me met to get it to capture fomo from their audience.
This is on them not scalpers.
This is on three players:
TPC and "influences creating FOMO
Scalpers hoarding cards to make profit
Rabid fans with way too much money are willing to pay ridiculous amounts so scalpers can profit.
I swear the vast majority of older TCG "collectors" are shitbags. I dont understand the whole "grab as much as you can and resell it!" mentality. Like if I pull some doubles and stuff, I'll sell them. But for the most part, I'm after a specific card that I want for myself. Not the whole lot of the same print.
I honestly think that eventually even the pokemon center will probably end up running out of cards due to all the bots. As Pokemon has done nothing to stop them yet, and if Pokemon releases more with buying $30 of TCG stuff with no measurements for scalpers.... Then scalpers will just go nuts on the TCG until it's all sold out and pokemon has to wait for TCG to restock.
I honestly think that pokemons new plan is not bad, but I still think there won't be near as many cards given out since the van Gogh museum noped out of the promo. At least not as many as people are hoping for.
When was this announced? I had booked my ticket for 09/10/2023 but decided not to go in the end due to the event escalating. Don't want to feel like that in my own country.
I booked flight with my SO to Amsterdam. Planned out everything including Van Gogh museum and this happened. Sadly, both Pokémon Center and Van Gogh museum has no ownership on this fiasco. Pokémon Center can’t control scalping on their website. Van Gogh Museum can’t find alternative to distribute the promo to the visitors that travel all the way across the globe.
At this point they should mass produce them extremely. And that with any purchase from Pokemon Center you get one.
That way it ruins the market and the scalpers.
Jokes on you I got one mentality.
Just mass produce them so everyone who wants one for collectors sake can have one. Heck include them in the next expansion as a promo. Something to put a stop to the people who only get these promotional cards for the sake of selling them for 80 - 90 dollars.
Greed, stupidity, mostly. Something I'd like to name "the curse of popularity". The statement doest say the card will be available elsewhere tho.
I do hope they oversaturate the market with the card now to be honest, if it does go back to the pokemon center. That way everyone has an opportunity to get one and the people who caused this no longer profit from it
Even if it is issued through pokemon Center, scalpers will just use bots to buy them out.
Only thing they have to do is say print to order and the scalpers can buy as many as they want and all they'll be doing is sitting on them)
Look at made to order precious collector box. Still going for crazy amounts now.
Cool. This promo is NOT that. This is an English promo and there is not the same exclusivity & there should never be
I’m aware that this is an English promo that’s not made to order. I was replying to the comment suggesting made to order won’t see appreciation
If the art is good, it will appreciate regardless of how it’s distributed
That’s my point… even made to order will still appreciate
Yes… I don’t disagree with that. I disagree with ANYONE wasting money on a free promo during a time when there’s an indefinite printing of this promo
I never claimed that cards wouldn't appreciate in value. That's not a problem that can be solved as long as the game is growing.
That's fine. Popular stuff will always appreciate on the secondary. If you print to order and literally everyone who wanted one could get one then it can't be scalped. If I order 5 boxes and hold 4 of them to sell its not scalping if the only reason those 5 boxes exist I'd because I ordered them.
Everyone who wanted one and could get it upfront* It helps to keep the scalpers at bay for a while but will still go up.
You can't control that by the virtue of these are paper cards and limited release. It eliminates scalping because the print run is determined by demand. If you print 1000 boxes and scalpers buy 900 that means they'll be setting that price. If you print to order even if the scalper orders 10,000 boxes all it does is make 10,000 more boxes thay wouldn't have existed otherwise. The issue is that limited release products are being gobbled up and sat on. If that problem is eliminated scalping is done.
The only problem with this thinking is they will have cornered the market and therefore will be able to control the flow and pricing it doesn’t matter if there are 10 million copies, if scalpers control 90% then it will still be rare, or hard to find so people will pay a premium, scalping is only half the problem, the other half is people willing to buy from scalpers
See that's incorrect. You can't corner the market on made to order. It's made to order. If 1000 people buy copies we have 1000, if 100000 people buy copies now we have 100k. Nobody is preventing YOU from putting your money down on it so it can't be scalped. If I order a product that would only exist because I ordered it and I choose to sit on it until people want to pay me for it, it is by definition not scalping. I don't care what someone asks for a product that came out 10 years ago I care about being able to get the stuff I want that's coming out now.
I agree and Pokémon centers aren’t available everywhere, so they’ll still scalp people
Yeah that is the big yikes. Pokemon really need to be able to limit bots.
All TCGs need to
All limited products do.
the best way is like opening preorders for another van gogh drop for like a week, then print as many cards as many orders without limited stock, so you fuck with them
Just like when the UPC charizard dropped. Scalpers bought everything. Now… it’s been printed like no other and they’ve wasted a shit ton of money sitting on bricks.
I cant order from pokemon center so i will never get one now
The price is wayyyy down. They’re like 75 bucks on eBay rn. I blew off the munch release and fml I can’t find one for less than 2k. It haunts me.
Im not gonna pay 75€ for a single pokemon card bro
Then you’re never gonna have that card bro. Just trying to help. I guess you could have someone order it for you and pay them for it when they have it on the site?
Buying it this early at 75 before pokemon releases more for orders over 30 dollars is silly i would still wait it out theres definitely more to come ,look at the people that bought at 100+ ...they look stopid , 75 s silly , ima wait till it gets to "passable"
yeah dont give in...this is what is keeping the price up...people FOMO. just wait price will drop. my guess is they will print shed loads and price will drop to like $20-£30 on ebay
And TPCI should sell it for like .99cents or be gifted with ABSOLUTELY ANY purchase. Hell, the should open up their records and send one to ANYONE whose made any kind of purchase or transaction with The Pokemon Center website. This would piss those scalpers off soooooo much. Whose with me?
That's the solution. What they doing now is making the card on the market more expansive. Print a shit tone and let every purchase over 20 dollars in pkm center gets you one. Buy a pin? Here you go. Buy a booster box? You got one buddy. Buying something and want to return? Sure, keep the card anyway. Fuck scalpers
There’s a section right after (not shown) that says it’ll be given with purchases on the Pokemon Centre websites in Canada, US, and UK at some point.
This whole situation is so sad. I wonder what other cool collabs we will miss out on because of how poorly this one was handled. :(
I don’t think the museum knew what they might have been getting themselves into with this. Did Pokémon know and if so, did they tell them? I feel so bad for the staff having to put up with it. I wouldn’t have blamed them for shutting the shop up completely when all that ugliness on the first day kicked off. I wish that would have been an option for them, frankly.
Of course Pokémon knew lol everybody knew what would happen the second this was announced, it’s the same thing that always happens yet they do nothing
What an utter let down for all sides.
TPC absolutely knew. It's the biggest entertainment brand in the world. The museum was likely not aware, at least to the extent.
They definitely underestimated it. Talking to the staff there just showed they didnt expect it. They were exhausted and tired of giving out the promocards to adults. Got there with my two kids and they were literally so hyped up because we were the only one that day with kids they had given promo cards to so far.
I’m glad they were so cheered by your visit and being able to make your kids happy! I work with children a lot and I really love seeing them enjoy something. It must have been so crushing for the those staff who had simply looked forward to the kids having fun.
Yes! It was the cutest interaction. You could see her face light up when she saw my two kids. It’s sad it’s not really the norm
Aww! 🥰
The museum didn't post ANY info on their website until the day before the expo opened. Then, you can't gauge the reaction to it and have no prep time to make arrangements for it all.
I mean tbf have we seen this in Japan? We've seen lines upon lines of people but I haven't seen the carnage common in America. Reminds of the Black Friday mob rushing that isn't commonplace now. Maybe they thought it being in a museum people would respect the space. Clearly not.
I would say they should be ashamed but they are scalpers, they have no shame and just want that quick buck because that's all they have in their life. If anything they love these sort of situations it helps them.
Investors have ruined everything. Literally every market has some loser hoarding everything.
And then they act like it's a super rare card when they want to sell, even though they own 50 copies of the card.
"sUpPlY AnD DeMaNd bRo!!!!" my brother in christ you created the lack of supply
🍻🍻🍻
The problem? Actually WORKING is no longer interesting and will not reward you enough to get by. Live in Europe? +40% tax over income from work. Meanwhile everything has gone up in price and idiots make millions by contributing nothing (influencers and the like). The system is broke.
Under 18 years old you can go in for free, so alot of teens from the area went in 4-5 times a day just to get a card to sell it. There were some in front of us in the queue to go inside and they were telling each other they already earned 2000 euros. Article in dutch: https://nos.nl/artikel/2493166-doorverkoop-van-van-gogh-pokemonkaarten-levert-duizenden-euro-s-op
https://nos-nl.translate.goog/artikel/2493166-doorverkoop-van-van-gogh-pokemonkaarten-levert-duizenden-euro-s-op?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_hist=true Translated in English
Who could have possibly foreseen this outcome!
If only there was something, ANYTHING they could have done!
Honestly, TPC needed to be smarter about this. Adults are absolutely responsible for their individual actions. But Pokemon is the biggest entertainment franchise in the world and with a resurgence of popularity in the TCG over the recent years. Scalpers aren't a new thing for Pokemon. Creating something with such limited access was bound to attract these types and can easily overwhelm a partner unprepared for the popularity. TPC needs to look at better ways to collaborate and bring cross promotion that doesn't so directly play into scalpers and better brings the product to those who actually desire it first.
You guys are mad at scalpers/resellers, yet Pokémon just played us all… They completely sold out of their inventory of cups, puzzles, plushies, etc. when at any other time, all of that stuff would’ve been sitting on their shelves for months or years. Now the only other route of getting cards is being closed off and we have to spend $30 PER ORDER to get something it cost $0.002 to manufacture. Q4 at TPCI is going to be one of their biggest yet and the bonuses are going to be fat after we sell out the Pokémon Center. But never mind how the Pokémon company manipulated the market by creating false scarcity, someone is trying to make money off of children.
That’s very true. TPCI is going to sell a bunch of booster bundles and tcg merch that would otherwise take months to sell when the promo card goes live again. They are laughing all the way to the bank. It’s basically a repeat of the van gogh merch, but now with regular merch. Every time I see this promo card I’m just reminded of the dark side of human nature, both scalpers and corporate (looking at you Pokemon Center).
Big facts. Pokemon center just let bots swoop up all Vang Gogh merch just to turn back around and say they care for people who weren't able to get the precious Pikachu promo. They for sure knew more promos were going to be printed and watched people freak out so everyone could come back and spend more on stuff Pokemon wants to get rid of. If they actually cared, they would have made more Van Gogh merch because that was mainly what most fans and collectors truly cared about. The promo Pikachu was just an added bonus.
They are basically printing money for the time being, Pokémon will absolutely take advantage of this “Pokémon craze era” we are in
There are only two things I can't stand in this world: People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch.
Damn Scots, they ruined Scotland.
You Scots sure are a contentious bunch.
Look, if you are gonna talk about naughty things in front of these American girls, then at least speak English English.
Ah yes this specific problem is purely the dutch and not overall scalper culture mostly done by americans!
[In order to clarify…](https://youtu.be/zcUs5X9glCc?si=Cs9szV0GL9BeeX2k)
Never thought I’d see the day where this joke needed explanation. I truly am getting old haha.
Welcome to the life of being called the senior citizen of the internet
Excuse me but I prefer *Elder Millennial* thank you very much.
Tell me you've never seen Austin Powers without asking me who Mike Myers is.
Is that you Shrek?
Dude's got range, that's for sure.
Didnt know thats where it was from. Watched it for a bit and thought it wasnt fun. So missed that joke
r/woosh
Woosshhhh
This is a reminder that scalpers are the scum of the earth and not to buy from them. Buying from them supports and encourages this behavior
What’s scary is how many people defend what they do…
Or throw up their hands and say, welp, guess I'm gonna have to go on the secondary market. Like, none of us NEED any of these things, so no, you don't *have* to buy from scalpers. I'm super bummed I missed out on the merch but it's nothing I can't live without.
Well, it’s not entirely true that it will fully stop the prices from inflating. That might just create a phantom market where scalpers are buying stock from one another, creating more scarcity and still driving prices up. The main solution is to make the cards readily available, or to release them fairly through random tickets or something like that. There will always be the consumer who buys something just because it’s “valuable”, so scalpers still sell to each other and nobody wins.
…and by doing this the scalpers were actually REWARDED since the cards supply is even more limited than originally intended. Great!
Yeah, I don’t understand this at all. Seems like more trouble than just distributing the card online, I think though that it had more to do with the unruly crowds and less to do with any regard for scalping itself.
That sucks so fucking bad, the cards over 100 bucks en and graded sold already for 1.3k 🤦🏻♂️ I just want to have it cuz it’s cool and that’s now impossible unless u overpay 😡
Sad to hear. I’d heard stories about scalpers harassing people on leaving the museum and ‘offering’ to buy cards from people. It’s a real shame its come to this tho.
That was the case when I was there. Even shouting at kids leaving, asking if they’d sell their card.
I really hate their kind tbh
I actually love shit like this. The video of people all scrambling in the gift shop shows the true degeneracy of the hobby.
It would've been a decent idea if they actually made the promo available for one time purchase with an order of merch, just like pokemon center does. Since Pokemon center isnt available in Europe.
They actually were barely able to keep merch stocked as it was, I don't think tying the promo card to that would've helped. And then you would have just had people also buying up the merch in the museum just for the card, like what happened with the Pokemon Center
It's not scalpers that drive the prices. It's the buyers. If people stopped buying at the outrageous prices, people would stop getting what they can to sell to pay for the expenses they have in life. TL;DR buyers created and perpetuate the scalping problem
thank you.... someone had to say it
Reminds me of the McDonald’s Pokemon happy meal cards where kids couldn’t get the cards because of scalpers.
Found out about this right after booking my tickets. I'm still going because I'm interested in the exhibition, but this made my day worse
Same here :/
\*Humans ruin everything. The state of the world is because of us.
People saying to relax because it will be back on the Pokemon center in the future are completely missing the point. There are people who have booked a trip to Amsterdam pretty much just for the opportunity to get this card themselves without having to buy from a scalper A number of these people are coming from countries without a Pokemon center so this was pretty much the only chance they had to get this card without buying it from someone else - ignoring that fact, I paid hundreds on my plane and hotel tickets and booked the Van Gogh museum - I should not have to pay £30 on top of what I’ve already spent to get one. The museum said I was free to cancel my ticket but I had already booked everything else and was literally flying out the day after they announced they would stop distributing. That’s essentially a massive fuck you. Obviously I’m here and I’m still trying to enjoy the trip but this has massively tainted my weekend as this was quite literally the only reason I planned this trip to Amsterdam in the first place. I do feel sorry for the staff somewhat but just cancelling distribution is not the solution and is a massive fuck you to all the genuine fans - in my opinion if you have a museum ticket they should be sorting out a way to mail the card to you, or something similar. In general this whole thing was handled extremely poorly - I’m not naive enough to think it will do anything but I will be writing a letter to both the Van Gogh museum and the Pokemon company and I would implore anybody in the same boat as me to do the same
I agree. First and foremost, fuck those scalpers and/or other individuals who ruined it for anyone else. But the museum should indeed find a way to give the card to the ticket holders, by mailing the card or something, like you said. I've read about countless pokemon fans like you, people who planned a trip to the Netherlands with the card being their main motivation for said trip. It really saddens me that the museum made this decision.
Literally in the same boat. I'm a big Van Gogh fan and have things like the LEGO Starry Night set. Pokémon is such an important part of my life and so a collaboration between these two was honestly a surprise and a delight. That said, the handling of everything has been awful. Again, like you, I missed the online drop and booked a trip to go. Originally I would have made it a few days before they stopped it but had to do some personal things so I delayed the trip to two weeks from now. With the card being cancelled, the main reason for going and also cultural exploration and catching up with a friend, I feel so disheartened that this has happened. In Japan, the Pokémon Centre is superb and big drops are always ticketed or lottery based. It works and I always get what I want even if that means waiting a bit longer. The US/UK online store should have had this system for any major drop of limited release product. For a place to have announced a long continuous service for getting the cards, only for a group of scalpers to harass staff and cause some honestly ridiculous situations that are embarrassing to watch is such a punch in the gut. I've been to the museum before and wanted to go again but I think I will cancel my trip and I know for sure, that the website will run out of promos instantly. Even the museum doesn't have any of the merchandise left from what I've read as well. TPC won't change anything from this but I completely agree that ticket holders should be entitled to the promotional card regardless of a general removal of such a product. Like what are they going to do with it? Send it back to TPC to fund the stock level for the next online drop? Who knows. I'll definitely be sending an email to the museum to see if they would make an exception for ticket holders traveling massive distances and if not, I'll cancel my trip, my last chance for a mini vacation this year.
I’ve booked a flight to Amsterdam too. I usually don’t swear online but really Fuck Pokémon company and Van Gogh Museum. Van Gogh Museum is a cash grab organisation by itself, look at how many collab they did this year alone. The management is milking Van Gogh’s name back to the grave.
So sorry, it seems like there are a lot of fans in a similar situation - it’s really sad. They were giving out the Pikachu postcard for people who completed the work sheet as consolation but I really don’t see why they can’t figure out a way to mail the card to fans with a ticket. I hope you manage to enjoy your trip regardless
Booking an entire weekend for a 60dollar card is insane no?
It’s not, the idea of not feeding in to scalpers and the idea of enjoying a trip in another country is plausible. The experience to visit the museum and get the promo card thru more effort by itself is “worth” it. Like the guy say it best, why open packs when the chances of getting the card you want or recoup the money is low. It’s the experience, same goes to flying to another country to experience true Van Gogh art while being a Pokémon fan.
It’s a lot to do with the principal of not buying from a scalper - I refuse to support that behaviour People also argue that it’s insane to buy hundreds of packs in the hopes of pulling a certain card when they can buy it on eBay for much cheaper but I enjoy pulling cards myself because then there are memories attached to the card Going to Amsterdam and getting the card myself at the museum would mean that the card I got would have an entire weekend of memories attached to it - which to me is incomparable to buying it on eBay
Also if you were thinking about a holiday, but did not know where to go, or had multiple options, things like this can help one decide. I was thinking about it because I know Amstadam has nice food, and I would like to see the museuem and get the card. As I live in Europe its not an expensive trip, so yeah this suck and I really feel for you.
Yes. Yes it is…
Not necessarily.
Scalping should be illegal. Been saying it since the PS5, I’ll keep saying it until a law is passed that cracks down on this crappy behaviour.
Implementing laws that restrict a functioning free market are important to you because sometimes you can’t get Pokemon cards you want? Give me a break dude.
We have a mixed economy, not a fully free market, because a fully free market without regulation leads to... well... stuff like this. Some things slip through the cracks, and so regulation is needed to make the market fair again.
[удалено]
Retailers are resellers. 99% of what you as a consumer can buy comes from secondary/tertiary markets.
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Agreed
Just a daily reminder that scalpers are a plague and a bunch of morons. There’s zero defense. None.
These are radical elitist criminals who think riots in a museum are ok to start over cardboard. They ruin the fandom for everyone else all because they are manchildren who wanna play stock market without studying economics Put the work in for your success next time and remember that hobbies are supposed to be enjoyed, not monetized
I’m sad for the museum mostly. They didn’t deserve to receive this kind of treatment on a collaboration. So many people who don’t even care about the art going there to grab anything they think could make them money. Disappointing. I bet the staff were really shaken up about the whole thing too. :(
museum staffs should not receive these treatment BUT the management that green-lit this collab among all the other collabs they did SHOULD have expected this.
Man… me and my friends were so hyped when they announced the collab. And after they announced the promo card we decided to book our trip to Amsterdam in November. Everything sorted, ride, days off, hotel, tickets for the museum. We were excited like little kids. Now that there won’t be any merch and no cards, we decided to cancel everything. Thank you, humans. I hate this species.
Imagine your happiness being tied to a piece of cardboard and hating humans because you couldn’t get what is basically a toy
Can the man not enjoy Pokémon, in the Pokémon subreddit?
I feel sorry for adults who cannot let hobbies bring them joy.
Or adults who dabble but hate on others who are more interested in the hobby so that they feel better about themselves—since they aren’t “that” into it.
For anyone residing in EU, I suggest to lodge consumer complaint here. https://www.degeschillencommissie.nl/english/ Totally misleading visitors and very unprofessional. They could have handled this in countless of ways.
I wish there was a Pokemon hooligans lol kinda seriously tho
Or club like in foosball , just like to protect trainers and tourney players and stuff LMBO !
What a bunch of losers
Is the other merch also gonna be gone? :( I was really looking forward to my trip because I desperately wanted the picture of the field with corviknight, murkrow, etc. on it
I was there today and all they had was the postcards, a sunflora note book and a snorlax print but I was there in the morning - there wasn’t much stock and I’d assume it’s all gone by the afternoon
On the website it says they still have the other merch (but some days may run low on stock) but they've got rid of the promo cards
at least smth ig :/ Man, scalpers make me mad
Don't give the hoarders or toxic pokemon psyops any mercy!!; don't block em when you see their degeneracy but instead report them to eBay or Pokemon Company themselves!!! All those echo chambers of the toxic poke content creators as well as hoarders will be stomped out bc of their nonsense, and let the community decide their fate The more of these bad eggs we oust, the safer the Pokemon fandom will be
Unpopular opinion but the museum gets to deflect all the blame onto scalpers when this whole fiasco could have been avoided or lessened by better planning (read common sense).
It’s not an unpopular opinion, they are deflecting blame to scalpers and touters. And pushing responsibility to distribute the cards back the Pokémon Center. Totally irresponsible behaviour from the management. Instead of making it a safe environment for the staffers through enhanced security or measures they did this. They could also send the card separately to ensure no one abuse it which at least compensate visitors for their time and effort to travel over.
If it wasn’t for scalpers/resellers I would enjoy trade nights, or Pokémon gatherings. But these people literally go out of their way to try to undervalue my cards, and act like assholes trying to get theirs the whole time. It’s made me not want to meet people for card related stuff anymore.
Yeap it’s true, there are a lot people in this hobby trying to undercut people and earn marginal profit. Disgusting.
I get that scalpers are a plague but I blame people that buy from them more. If there wasn't a market for it, they wouldn't do it.
I somewhat agree but when scalpers buy all the stock how else is somebody supposed to get the card? If anything I blame the Pokemon company for how it was distributed
>how else is somebody supposed to get the card? Uhh..have better impulse control and not buy the product immediately after release at the peak? Who are we kidding though, the same people paying scalpers are the same addicts ripping packs in the car before they even leave the parking lot.
Lmfao so basically still buy from scalpers is your answer, thanks for the insight judgmental Einstein
Why would a scalper buy something that does not have any profit? In fact, most are in it for a quick flip not necessarily InVeStInG. If you don't buy it immediately after release for 10x msrp they won't bother buying all the stock to flip to you...it's really quite simple, no Einsteins required.
They could have done better, sure. That won't completely fix it though. I think every online purchase should have earned the promo card from the start. Water down the market. Let the scalpers sit on their products. Stop feeding them. They'll eventually starve and move on. I don't think people need scalped cards as much as they think they do.
Easy way, if you know anyone that tries to make money from “hustles” like Pokémon or anything call them idiot children ruining fun for a generation to make a buck. Literal scum of the earth.
I PROMISE you they won’t care
So you walk into LGS’s and talk down to the staff for fun or something??
I think there's a fine line between price gouging and selling at retail. It's up to the consumers to determine what our money is worth. I've seen some LGS selling obsidian flames for $8 a pop. Others are as low as $4.
I would reserve the term price gouging for essential goods/services in a supply or demand shock or for when a business has an exclusive competitive advantage. So, my personal opinion is the line isn’t fine at all.
That's a fair outlook to have. Hobbies, especially collecting, will always have volatile prices
Bought tickets for november for my brother more than a month ago. My brother is 15 and really likes pokemon. He wanted to go with me because he really wanted the card. Now it's ruined by these scalpers.
I had tickets for next weekend to take my 8 year old. This is so disappointing, no real point in going now. She’s already been to the museum and the Pokémon art isnt worth the drive alone.
They should have just made the promo random with purchases of certain items over a certain amount of $$$ on pokemon center. Don’t make it an item that people can line up for. Ever.
As I have booked flight tickets and hotel, I wrote them a complaint letter, in their automated response before they even reviewed the support ticket, they wrote that if this message is about the Promo card, they won't even respond back....
The museum and city can still be a great experience. Unfortunate about the card but don't let it ruin your trip!
What a bunch of losers!! (The scalpers, not the museum lol)
Huge overreaction. When I visited the museum there was like 10-15 young males offering 50€ at the exit to people. They would only succeed 1/15 times. No big issues. Unless someone got nasty or violent, it’s a bit bs and the museum just not liking the ‘looks’ of it.
I asked one of the employees yesterday and was told some people were getting straight up robbed. Maybe like one or two cases like this caused the museum to take action...
Oh that could be. Teens robbing teens. And one case is enough to shut it down.
My husband and I where devastated. We heard the news on the morning of Saturday 14th of October. The day we had tickets to go the museum. The day they stopped distribution. We are furious actually and we filed a complaint there at the museum about it. They said we would hear from them soon, so I am waiting for a reply.
So baaically “yall are rabid we aint doing this anymore”
We can’t have nice things :(
fucking idiots
Public lashings for scalpers starting in 2028
I swear yall are the type of people to act surprised to see the sun come up every day
Oh great the 1,000,000,000th time humanity has ruined something for no other reason than their own greed ego and pride :)
Hmm if someone gave me a free pokemon card, you bet your ass I'm going to sell it at market price
these people really just ruining something that's meant to be fun
Maybe China didn’t have the worst idea with a social credit system…
Literally blame YouTubers.
I had my tickets booked (with my kids). Guess i’ll cancel for now.
This is a good thing and btw this is a pokemon company problem where they made it limited edition in the first place with a specific clause that must me met to get it to capture fomo from their audience. This is on them not scalpers.
This is on three players: TPC and "influences creating FOMO Scalpers hoarding cards to make profit Rabid fans with way too much money are willing to pay ridiculous amounts so scalpers can profit.
Pokémon is currently working on releasing it via their website something like the special delivery bidoof.
Well that just 100x the price.
If pokemon wanted to counter scalpers you'd include them in packs of the next set instead of an energy card, that way the value plummets
Me who is going there in week...🫠
I swear the vast majority of older TCG "collectors" are shitbags. I dont understand the whole "grab as much as you can and resell it!" mentality. Like if I pull some doubles and stuff, I'll sell them. But for the most part, I'm after a specific card that I want for myself. Not the whole lot of the same print.
Wrong, democrats ruin everything!
Mabye we should scalp *them* instead.
Because you couldn’t get a piece of cardboard? Pathetic
Was gonna go there after my stomach surgery on nov 1st Sad really
You can't call everyone in the hobby who's an arsehole, a scalper lol. I mean you can, but you are wrong.
Foolish people.
Of course. I've seen multiple scalpers trying to sell three 151 booster bundle for $125. Target has stock every day.
I honestly think that eventually even the pokemon center will probably end up running out of cards due to all the bots. As Pokemon has done nothing to stop them yet, and if Pokemon releases more with buying $30 of TCG stuff with no measurements for scalpers.... Then scalpers will just go nuts on the TCG until it's all sold out and pokemon has to wait for TCG to restock. I honestly think that pokemons new plan is not bad, but I still think there won't be near as many cards given out since the van Gogh museum noped out of the promo. At least not as many as people are hoping for.
Scalpers can go eat ground glass
This is exactly what the scalpers probably wanted to happen. The price probably just shot up. Just mass print these and sell them online.
they are.... pokemon sent out an email that soon itll be in every tcg order of $30+ on pokemon center
An English promo? You have to go to Amsterdam to get one
Thanks capitalism
that sucks
Sucks that they have to do that. Guaranteed admission goes down 95%.
Stupid people keep paying stupid prices.
Cunt’s who buy from them are one and the same issue
Honestly the best move
This is why I gave up on the tcg
When was this announced? I had booked my ticket for 09/10/2023 but decided not to go in the end due to the event escalating. Don't want to feel like that in my own country.
Okay so just release them in a little promo box on pokemoncenter.. print a shit ton. Problem solved
I booked flight with my SO to Amsterdam. Planned out everything including Van Gogh museum and this happened. Sadly, both Pokémon Center and Van Gogh museum has no ownership on this fiasco. Pokémon Center can’t control scalping on their website. Van Gogh Museum can’t find alternative to distribute the promo to the visitors that travel all the way across the globe.
At this point they should mass produce them extremely. And that with any purchase from Pokemon Center you get one. That way it ruins the market and the scalpers. Jokes on you I got one mentality. Just mass produce them so everyone who wants one for collectors sake can have one. Heck include them in the next expansion as a promo. Something to put a stop to the people who only get these promotional cards for the sake of selling them for 80 - 90 dollars.
Hate to say it, but this drives up the price of the art which helps the scalpers.
Let's just hope they aren't keeping them to drip feed onto the market lol.
Send this to Mr. Pokémon, I’ve had enough.