Pokémon Plushies Are Not Safe From Scalpers, As The Pokémon Center Issues Refunds Without Warning

The scalping problem for Pokémon products is getting worse, with the online Pokémon Center getting hit with major waves of canceled orders due to oversells on multiple products. For years, the Pokémon community has been plagued by scalpers and folks looking to take advantage of limited supply and high demand for profit.

This was a major issue with Pokémon TCG cards during the pandemic and has recently spiked again due to several new popular sets. However, the franchise is now dealing with a major scalping problem - this time with plushes. Over the past few days, many people have reported that their Pokémon plushes and other exclusive Pokémon Center orders have been canceled due to overorders.

In a Reddit post from Bukowskaii, fans complained of their plushies orders getting canceled, with bots and scalpers being blamed for the over-orders. Commenter Responsible_Gear_116 writes, "Bots are buying everything on the site," "They just canceled my daughter’s jumbo [A]rcanine plush for being “oversold” as well." When someone asked if bots were to blame for the cancelation, the same user replied "They’re reselling these for double to triple on Ebay. So yes."

Scalpers Have Officially Taken Over The Pokémon Plush Market

Scalpers Are Targeting Exclusive Merchandise From Pokémon Center

This sadly isn't the first time that scalpers have targeted Pokémon plushes via the Pokémon Center. Scalpers targeted merchandise tied to a collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum back in 2023, leading to sellouts in seconds and subsequent markups on sites like eBay. However, now scalpers appear to be targeting all merchandise sold on the Pokémon Center retail store, largely because it's home to a plethora of exclusive merch. It's also a guaranteed way to get Pokémon card pre-sales, which makes it an easy target for scalpers.

Pokémon's Gen 1 starters, Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur, in front of a map of Santo.

Pokémon Day Is The Perfect Opportunity For Nintendo To Surprise Us All With A Re-Release

Pokémon Day is just a few days away, and what better treat would it be than to have Nintendo surprise fans with a Switch Red and Blue re-release?

Posts

Unfortunately, there's no easy fix to this, although the Pokémon Center did recently implement a queue system to help reduce mass bot and scalper attempts. They've also taken steps to increase their printing of Pokémon TCG cards and are also restocking popular items that have been out of stock for years. At the end of the day, The Pokémon Company is trying to keep its fans sated. It's just made harder by the presence of bots and scalpers competing for limited products.

Pokémon Fans Have Had Enough Of Bots & Scalping

Pokémon Fans Are Fed Up With Having Exclusive Merchandise Grabbed From Under Them

The biggest takeaway of all this is that fans have had enough. The Pokémon Company is not a small independent company - it's one of the biggest media franchises in the world. The games, cards, and merchandise can be ordered in higher quantities and The Pokémon Company can take the actions it needs to cut down on scalpers.

At the same time, Pokémon isn't the only franchise suffering from these problems. Almost any big franchise or event with limited quantities is getting scooped up by bots. Until a solution is figured out, Pokémon might be plagued with scalpers for a long time.

Source: Reddit