One month later, Pokémon Center Worlds Anaheim scalpers appear to be struggling to offload some of their purchases – Destructoid

Out of curiosity, I loaded up eBay and other reseller websites this morning to see how much some of the Pokémon World Championship 2025 Anaheim merch was going for. I had attended nearly every event in recent years, until Anaheim, and wanted to pick up at least a figure and a playmat that were only sold at the on-site Pokémon Center during the weekend event last month.

I expected to see items selling for large amounts of cash or being sold out, but in actual fact, the more I delved into everything, the more I realized what a hard time scalpers seem to be having selling their items. Or at least that’s how it looks on the surface.

Suppose you log onto a website like eBay and look past the items currently listed and how much people are selling them for, and instead look at how much they sold for. You might notice some surprises. In that case, it paints a picture of scalpers either breaking even on their purchase (after fees, etc, are considered) or even making a loss. And that makes me so happy.

Take, for example, the official playmat for TCG lovers. Recent sales of the item are around $30, a far cry from the $100 some were selling for the day of the event, with scalpers appearing to drop their asking price down to a point where they are near enough breaking even. Most of the live listings that are still asking for astronomical amounts have a large quantity available, but only one or two sales overall.

The same can be seen with the Pikachu plush. Once selling for over $100, it is now being sold for $50 and is getting lower as sellers appear to be having a hard time offloading all their items. You have to wonder if they remain unsold, and as more time goes by, how much further these prices will drop, and how much money scalpers could lose in the process.

Now I’m not saying that all items from the event have this effect. One look at the $500 Jukebox and other exclusive stuff still shows vast profits from those who weren’t able to beat a scalper’s grasp. And there are some sales where people are clearly buying at inflated prices, maybe by choice or accident.

But as a person who has seen my hobby of collecting cards and merch tainted by greed, any small win like this is one I’ll happily celebrate, even if it’s minuscule.

So I’ll hold the line and try to purchase the items I missed out on at Anaheim until they drop further. Who knows, maybe I’ll even save a few dollars in the next month if scalpers are still unable to move their stock.

We can only hope.