It was Pokemon Day at Target on May 2, and tons of fans flocked to the stores to grab the new and exclusive Pokemon clothes, toys, Pop-Tarts (which were also scalped), and displays, the latter of which are now being sold for thousands.
Scalping and Pokemon often go together. Regularly, a new Pokemon TCG set will drop, or exclusive merch, and fans will rush to buy them before they sell out. If they do sell out, then you can bet resale sites will have them listed for anywhere between double and ten times the original price of the item.
It’s so intense that both Nintendo and other stores have implemented restrictions and even quizzes to stop this from happening. Well, following Pokemon Day at Target, the scalpers have struck again, this time selling the displays, backing designs, and cardboard cutouts for thousands of dollars.
Scalpers selling Pokemon Target displays for thousands
Following the quick selling out of the Pokemon x Target collab items, fans were quick to begin grabbing the various displays, from the backing poster to the cardboard displays placed outside the store and in the aisles.
Naturally, those started appearing on various resale sites like eBay, with fans listing them for anywhere between $50 (reasonable if you forget they weren’t actually for sale) and a mind-blowing $2,250 for a Charizard and Gengar cutout. Some even sold for $700 and $900.
Granted, they’re pretty large, and the artwork does look fantastic, but it’s important to consider the fact that these weren’t on sale.
Target’s employees even took to Reddit to express their shock, with some explaining that “I had someone argue with me that we were just going to throw them away, so they could take it (which even if we were going to still a no??). I ended up having to call my TL up to tell the guest because they wouldn’t listen to me.” Others echoed the sentiment: “The amount of times I have to tell someone that, unfortunately, we cannot sell our displays is wild.”
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Some reported fans were stealing their displays, while others reported fans asking for permission beforehand. Either way, it seems in some way the displays were more popular than the exclusive items, with scalpers cashing in big on the unlikeliest of Pokemon merch.