Pokémon TCG Pocket Trading Has Spurred a Strange Black Market for High Rarity Cards

The emergence of a black market for digital cards in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has caught the attention of players and collectors alike. Listings on eBay reveal that players are buying and selling these digital cards at prices ranging from $5 to $10 per card. This phenomenon is facilitated by the game's new trading mechanic, where sellers simply exchange friend codes with buyers and transfer the desired card.

For instance, a $5.99 listing for a Starmie ex card requires buyers to have 500 Trade Tokens, one Trade Stamina, and an "unwanted Pokémon ex" card to trade for the desired card. This method, while a clear violation of the game's terms of service against buying or selling virtual content, is intriguing because the seller technically loses nothing. The buyer trades an unwanted card for a desired one, maintaining the same rarity level, allowing the seller to continue the cycle of selling the same rarity card.

eBay is rife with listings for ex Pokémon and 1 Star alternate art cards, the rarest available for trade, alongside entire accounts boasting Pack Hourglasses and other rare cards. Although trading in Pokémon TCG Pocket stirred controversy upon its release, the online black market is not directly tied to these complaints. The game's trading system, which includes restrictions like Trade Tokens, has been criticized for its high costs and limitations, requiring players to discard five cards to trade one of the same rarity.

However, even without these restrictions, a black market likely would have emerged due to the mechanic's basic nature. Players can only trade with friends, leading to calls for a more community-friendly system where cards can be publicly listed for trade within the app. This would reduce reliance on external platforms like Reddit, Discord, and now eBay, to find needed cards.

Every Alternate Art 'Secret' Card in Pokémon TCG Pocket: Space Time Smackdown

52 Images

Creatures Inc., the developer behind Pokémon TCG Pocket, has explicitly warned against trading cards for real money, stating that violations could lead to warnings, account suspensions, or other actions. Ironically, the Trade Tokens mechanic, intended to prevent such exploitation, has failed to curb these activities and has instead fueled community backlash.

The developer is "actively investigating ways to improve" the trading feature, though specific plans remain undisclosed despite ongoing complaints. Many fans suspect that the trading system is designed to boost revenue for Pokémon TCG Pocket, which reportedly generated half a billion dollars in less than three months before trading was introduced. The inability to trade cards of 2 Star rarity or higher supports this theory, as it forces players to spend more money on packs to complete their collections. One player, for example, spent around $1,500 to complete the first set, with the third set arriving just last week.