High Rarity Pokémon TCG Pocket Cards Fuel Bizarre Black Market Trading

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has sparked a unique and controversial black market, where players are engaging in the buying and selling of digital cards online. This activity is facilitated by the game's recently introduced trading mechanic, which allows players to exchange friend codes and trade cards directly. Listings for these cards have surfaced on eBay, with prices ranging from $5 to $10 per card. For instance, a Starmie ex card is listed for $5.99, requiring buyers to have 500 Trade Tokens, one Trade Stamina, and an "unwanted Pokémon ex" to complete the trade.

This practice blatantly violates the Pokémon TCG Pocket terms of service, which explicitly prohibit the buying or selling of virtual content or data. Interestingly, the sellers in these transactions do not lose any stock. The buyer trades an unwanted card for a desired one, which is a standard trade, but the seller retains the ability to sell the received card again due to the game's restriction that only cards of the same rarity can be traded.

eBay listings are not limited to individual cards; entire accounts are also being sold, offering rare cards and Pack Hourglasses. This trend, while common in online games, still breaches the service's terms. The trading feature in Pokémon TCG Pocket has been controversial since its release, though the online trading on eBay is not directly related to the initial complaints about the mechanic.

The game's trading system includes restrictions such as Trade Tokens, which players must obtain by deleting five cards from their collection to trade one of the same rarity. This has been a point of contention among players due to the high cost of these tokens. Despite these restrictions, a black market would likely have emerged even without them, as the trading mechanic is quite basic and requires players to be friends to trade, limiting its accessibility.

Players like siraquakip on Reddit have expressed a desire for a more community-friendly trading system, suggesting features like public trade listings within the app to reduce reliance on external platforms like Reddit, Discord, and now eBay. This would enhance the community's ability to connect and trade more efficiently.

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Creatures Inc., the developer, has warned players against engaging in these transactions, stating that violations of the Terms of Use could lead to warnings, account suspensions, or other actions. Ironically, the Trade Tokens mechanic was introduced to prevent such exploitation, but it has not been effective and has instead alienated much of the community.

The developer is currently "actively investigating ways to improve" the trading feature, though no specific plans have been announced despite complaints starting three weeks ago. Some fans believe that the trading system is designed to boost revenue for Pokémon TCG Pocket, which reportedly earned half a billion dollars in less than three months before trading was introduced. The inability to trade cards of 2 Star rarity or higher further supports this theory, as it forces players to spend real money to obtain these cards through random packs. One player reportedly spent $1,500 to complete the first set, with the third set arriving just last week.