SAN JOSE, CALIF.—As Pokemon card prices skyrocket, the hobby becomes more extinct for collectors; as a Pokemon enthusiast, it’s very frustrating to enjoy this hobby with the prevalent presence of scalpers and the increase in pricing.

In the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) community, scalpers are people who buy popular items in bulk and sell them for a much higher price. By quickly purchasing these items online or in nearby local stores as soon as they are available, it causes shortages, making it much harder for fans to find and afford them. They drive prices up to more than double the original, leaving many collectors frustrated and unable to find at reasonable prices. To protect this hobby, it’s important we find ways to stop scalpers and keep prices fair.

“Ever since the hype in the beginning of 2025 started growing, scalpers have made it basically impossible for collectors like me to enjoy the hobby without paying 100% of what the original cost was,” Vincent Luu, a freshman at Silver Creek said. 

Luu also describes the impact this change in the hobby has had on him saying, “I used to enjoy collecting, but now everywhere I go the Pokemon section is all cleared out. I think stores that sell pokemon cards should have stricter limits on purchases so that more people have chances to buy them.”

I totally agree with Luu’s points and have even had these issues as well. Everytime I go to any local stores like Target or Big 5, I see that the shelves are empty. Even asking employees if they have any Pokemon cards in stock, I’m always met with the response that they’re all gone, usually taken by someone who bought out a whole cart. It’s frustrating, and this can be resolved in little time. 

Retail stores can make simple posters in front of the Pokemon section informing people the limit for Pokemon products. It can be a limit of one or three. It should just be making a difference in the scalpers who buy out the whole stock. This solution is fast yet simple, and it’s one thats already happening. I see very few stores having signs that have a limit of one or two purchases to customers searching for Pokemon, and we should be making this more common. We can’t just keep waiting for the hype to die down. It might never happen.