Allocation Woes in Pokemon & MTG: How Scalpers are Hurting Local Game Shops

Both the Pokemon Trading Card Game, and Magic: The Gathering have experienced surges in popularity in recent years. Unfortunately, this boom has been accompanied by scalpers manipulating supply to their advantage. In the Pokemon TCG scene, resellers have been swarming new sets, leaving players empty-handed as products fly off shelves to be resold at massive markups. An example of one of these price differences is the Final Fantasy Collector Booster that retails at around £430, and are currently being listed on ebay for over £900.

How Allocation Works

Allocations are the method distributors use to decide how much product each store receives. Shops submit pre-order requests, but when demand is high, distributors reduce orders. Ideally, this ensures everyone gets something. In practice, bad actors manipulate the system by posing as stores, bulk ordering, or cutting deals to capture supply. As a result genuine local game stores then receive far less than they need to serve their communities.

Pokemon Allocation Struggles

The Pokemon TCG has been at the center of scalping controversies. Unscrupulous resellers have registered as “stores” just to secure allocations, then flip sealed products online at inflated prices. One UK shop reported its pre-order was cut so heavily it could not even run events. Players unable to buy locally are forced onto resale platforms where boxes and tins are often listed at double or triple retail.

Scalping has grown so aggressive that big-box retailers have stepped back from Pokemon sales, and some UK chains were even accused of gouging by charging inflated shipping fees. In 2025, sets like Prismatic Evolutions and Destined Rivals sold out almost immediately, not because of normal demand but because scalpers bought cases to resell at markup. The results: players and long-term fans were left empty-handed while profiteers cashed in.

Local Shop’s Perspective: The Gamers Lodge

“At our store, we can clearly see the effects of this. You expect substantially more product when allocations come through, but even some of the larger retailers in the space have had to cancel pre-orders, which puts them in a tough spot and leaves customers frustrated.” — The Gamers Lodge

Experiences like this are repeated across the UK and beyond. When stores cannot get enough stock, communities suffer. Events are harder to run, new players are discouraged, and long-term fans lose trust in the system. 

The reliance on distributors to distribute limited products means small shops often get cut back when supply is tight when demand (scalper activity) is at its highest. For a local business built around a gaming community, nothing is more gut-wrenching than having to tell loyal players that “we didn’t get enough product.” It undermines event attendance, strains customer trust, and forces stores to either turn people away or charge higher prices than they’d like just to obtain stock on the secondary market. Local trading card shops are the backbone of the hobby, and when they get hurt the whole ecosystem (from casual play to competitive tournaments) hurts as well. 

If Local game stores have no stock, local players might stop going to play, this discourages new players as well since they won’t have a community to play with (let alone the stock). This stops the eco-system in its tracks with old players leaving the hobby due to the investment they have to make to get new cards, and no new players entering it will send it on a slow decline.

Magic’s Final Fantasy Frenzy

MTG’s Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy set highlighted how fragile allocation can be. Collector Boosters priced at around £430 retail sold out extremely quickly and are now being listed on eBay for upwards of £900. The scarcity was worsened by speculators who treat sealed MTG boxes as investment assets. Similar problems surfaced with the Lord of the Rings Universes Beyond release, where Collector Boxes doubled in price on the secondary market within a year. For players, the effect is the same: limited access, inflated prices, and frustration with a system that rewards resellers more than communities.

Local Stores Fight Back

Some local shops are striking back with creative policies. In the UK, one store priced a Pokemon bundle at £25 if opened on-site but £45 if kept sealed. This discouraged scalpers, since resale value depends on the product remaining sealed. In Japan similar “open at checkout” rules are common and effective.

MTG retailers have also adopted tactics like honoring pre-order prices only if the product is opened in-store. These strategies remove the profit incentive for scalpers while keeping the products accessible to real players.

Global Implications

This is not just a UK issue. In the United States, Pokemon sales were once halted at Target due to scalper-driven rushes. Across Europe, demand routinely outstrips allocations. Online, pre-orders for high-demand sets vanish instantly and reappear at inflated prices. Without changes, profiteers will continue to dominate, while shops that build communities are pushed aside.

Towards Fair Play

There are solutions. Distributors and publishers can implement stricter verifications to ensure allocations go to genuine brick-and-mortar stores. Priority should be given to tournament-hosting venues that foster organised play. Publishers can also monitor and penalise stores caught diverting product to resale platforms.

Local shops are already experimenting with anti-scalping measures, but industry-wide reform is 

necessary. The health of these games depends on access. When Pokemon boosters or MTG boxes are only affordable through scalpers, the long-term future of the hobby is at risk. Protecting allocations is about more than product, it’s about preserving the communities that make these games thrive.

Conclusion

Scalpers and bad actors are eating into allocations and hurting local game stores both in Pokemon and Magic. Unless distributors and publishers act, profiteers will keep winning at the expense of players. Local stores like The Gamers Lodge show why it matters: without them, communities lose the heart of the hobby. Ensuring fair allocation is the only way to protect both the games and the players who love them.