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Fans of the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) have aired their frustrations after pre-orders of the upcoming Scarlet & Violet Destined Rivals set sold out extremely quickly.
Bots and scalpers have been abusing the official Pokémon Center’s online pre-order and purchasing queue system for some time now, and demand over the latest sets have demonstrated that once again.
Pre-orders for the new Elite Trainer Box (£54.99), 10-card packs (£3.99), Booster Bundles of six packs (£23.94) and Booster Display Box of 36 packs (£143.64) all sold out on Monday.
Some Destined Rivals sets are being listed for 4x or 6x their original RRP value. For example, some Elite Trainer Boxes are already being listed on Ebay for £200 to £300.
The new Destined Rivals set releases in retailers worldwide starting 30 May 2025, featuring 83 new cards tagged as Team Rocket’s, 17 Pokémon ex, including 10 Trainer’s Pokémon ex, 23 illustration rare Pokémon , 11 special illustration rare Pokémon, and six hyper rare gold-etched cards.
For many though, they won’t be able to collect these cards normally, due to the scalpers’ ridiculously hiked prices and stock availability problems.
Ironically, the new set is focused heavily on Pokémon villains Team Rocket, perhaps a perfect match for the villainous scalpers, who buy sought-after items at RRP and resell them at higher prices. It also features popular characters in the game franchise including Cynthia.
The situation is reminiscent of the League of Legends Worlds 2024 London final ticket issues, as bots and scalpers prevented many genuine fans from being able to attend the UK’s biggest esports event last year.
The news comes half a year after Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket launched on mobile devices, with digital-only sets including the new Shining Revelry set.
The news also comes a few weeks after the 2025 London Pokémon EUIC winners were announced, including Brit Oliver Cahill in the TCG Junior category.
For a family-friendly hobby that many children will be interested in, it’s a sad state of affairs when scalpers hoard the cards and prevent genuine fans from getting their hands on them. On that note, let’s have a look at the UK TCG retailers, what fans are saying, and what The Pokémon Company International has said.
Which UK retailers stock Pokémon TCG cards and packs? Lists, advice and more
Reddit user Hare_vs_Tortoise shared this advice: “The following are most of the options for buying in the UK overall. Obviously shop around for the best prices plus what you want and check references with any sellers on the marketplace sites.
“Chaos Cards and Magic Madhouse are the main online stores then there’s Pokemon Centre UK, Total Cards, Big Orbit Cards, Cardmarket, Pokemon TCG buy/sell/trade UK on Facebook, on top of Ebay, GAME, Smyths Toys, Waterstones, WHSmiths, Argos and the major supermarkets.
“For LGS, I know of The Brotherhood Games in London, basement of Oasis in Birmingham and 8bit Planet in Bristol. There will be more obviously.”
There’s also Collector’s Cardhouse, run by UK content creator PokiChloe, and local toy shops can also stock cards.
Of course, bear in mind when purchasing from third parties on the likes of Ebay, as fake cards can be prevalent. Take care when making purchases.
Some sites like Amazon limit order quantities, and ask customers to send invite requests, which must be first accepted by Amazon before allowing an item to be ordered (while supplies last).
Bulldog Esports founder Newts also shared some advice with us, saying: “Buying sealed packs is crazy. You can either get lucky with pre-orders from stores or you have to go in person on the day of release.
“Also, there is an app called Rare Candy that can easily scan your cards and it keeps a log of them for you, so you can track your oldest or most valuable. Also, if you ever think of grading, the Centering app is useful to get an idea of what the Centering is like on a card, as it’s easy to see any whitening or damage, but the Centering is a bit harder without this app.”
‘As a casual collector and player, I’ve been completely priced out of the hobby’ – fans and experts comment on Pokémon TCG availability issues and Destined Rivals set
Popular content creator Leonhart published a video a couple of months ago, titled ‘Why You Can’t Collect Pokemon Cards Anymore’, which captured the situation well.
As mentioned, this is not just a problem with the new set, it’s been ongoing in recent years, but just seems to be getting worse with newer sets like Journey Together and Prismatic Evolutions.
In the US, Pokémon cards are of course popular, with the likes of Target and Walmart stocking them. Some videos have shown people fighting over card boxes in US retailers, with the situation getting out of hand.
One of Leonhart’s viewers, EricLeblanc1990, said: “As a casual collector and TCG player, I’ve been completely priced out of the hobby. As much as I could, I just won’t spend double or triple over MSRP. People come to the stores and fight with each other for boxes, then resell the product for wild prices. And that’s if I can even find it. I’ve given up completely on the hobby. It’s way too discouraging.”
Julia Santee said:
“Another set that I will never see on shelves and only online for 3x retail [price]. I wanted to play and collect the actual card game instead of being stuck on digital clients, but the headache of getting my hands on cards has made me reconsider.”
Fiestafire5781 added: “PSA: if you are buying from scalpers, you are equal to blame as scalpers. This includes content creators, this includes you and me.”
Hockeyplaya2029 added: “I’m upset to see streamers not taking responsibility as well. They hold a lot of responsibility in hyping sets and keeping scalpers in business for the sake of content.”
Spenser Miles Payne said: “With the release of Journey Together, I’d like to encourage everyone not to contribute to the rising problems in the hobby. Realizing that there are factors of supply/demand that are Pokémon’s responsibility, we can still do better.
“Double MSRP on release is ridiculous, and I encourage everyone not to buy/sell at these prices to the best of your ability. For whatever that’s worth to anybody – otherwise good luck out there for all of your finds/pulls.”
Joe Merrick, webmaster of Pokémon online database Serebii.net, commented:
JamJam56 also responded to my tweet about the scalper issues, saying: “This has been the hardest time to buy new sets by far. Drops are infrequent and normally get destroyed by bots and scalpers, best bet is to follow @PokemonStockUK and pray you’re lucky. Hope your able to get some packs, this set looks stunning.”
The Pokémon Company International issues statement on Destined Rivals/TCG stock woes
Esports News UK reached out to The Pokémon Company International on Monday, who sent this statement to us: “We’re aware that some fans are experiencing difficulties purchasing certain Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) products due to very high demand impacting availability. We understand this inconvenience can be disappointing for fans, and we are actively working to print more of the impacted Pokémon TCG products as quickly as possible and at maximum capacity to acknowledge this. Reprinted products are expected to be available at participating retailers as soon as possible.
“For new Pokémon TCG expansions launching in the future, we are maximizing production to increase product availability upon release.
“We will continue to reprint impacted products to replenish stock at participating retailers, including Pokémon Center, as soon as possible.
“We are committed to providing a smooth purchasing experience at Pokémon Center and employ technology that helps get products into the hands of fans first and foremost.”
The Pokémon Company International
“Currently, Pokémon Center implements a virtual queue for certain products to help provide a more seamless purchasing process during periods of increased site traffic.
“We will continue to explore measures that help create the best possible experience for Pokémon Center customers.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
