Pokémon TCG Scalpers Complain About Decreasing Profitability of the 30th Celebration Expansion

The Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration set, released simultaneously worldwide for the first time, has been available since September 16, 2026 – and its launch was anything but quiet. Long queues formed outside many stores, individual buyers stocked up on entire cases, and those who were quick were fortunate enough to snag even a single display. These were seemingly ideal conditions for scalpers. However, it now turns out that it's the resellers, of all people, who are dissatisfied with the outcome.

The reason lies in the pull rates, meaning the probability of drawing rare cards in a pack. According to the official announcement, each pack contains six foil cards, plus a guaranteed one of the 30 exclusive Pikachu illustration cards, along with a ‘Classic Collection’ featuring reprints of iconic designs. Evaluations of thousands of opened packs show that the new ‘Futuristic Rares’ including Mew ex and Mewtwo ex have a pull rate of approximately 1:117, making them significantly more common than comparable chase cards from previous sets. For collectors, this is a celebration; for scalpers, it's a problem: If rare cards are no longer all that rare, their resale value drops accordingly quickly.

Why Are Scalpers' Profit Margins Shrinking?

It's simple: supply and demand. Anyone who hoarded cases full of boosters shortly after release, hoping to resell the supposedly rare ‘hit’ cards at a high price later, is now sitting on a pile of cards that are suddenly not worth much anymore. Reports indicate that prices on the secondary market corrected downwards within a few days, simply because too many copies of the coveted Illustration Rares are in circulation. Consequently, in collector communities, the public complaints from scalpers are met more with a shrug than with sympathy.

If the current pull rates are maintained in future expansions, Pokémon might actually have found an effective lever against professional resellers – something fans and collectors have been discussing for years.

What Does This Mean for Regular Collectors?

This problem isn't entirely new: Back with the Scarlet & Violet ‘151’ set in autumn 2023, empty shelves, queues, and reports of systematic buying-up caused frustration, while individual chase cards like the Charizard ex #199 SIR temporarily cost several hundred Euros on the secondary market. The issue also regularly flares up with other limited collectibles. However, the 30th Celebration expansion now demonstrates that the problem can be mitigated through product design itself: high pull rates simply make hoarding less attractive.

For regular collectors and players who simply want to get their favorite cards at a fair price, this is good news. From our perspective, the decreasing profitability for scalpers is exactly what many fans have been wishing for years – even if it's certainly not the last time speculators will complain about a disappointing release.

Source: Nintendo Life

What are your thoughts on this? Have you opened any 30th Celebration expansion packs, and what did you pull? Let us know in the comments!