The One Piece TCG has been infested by scalpers, that plague that comes for all trading card games sooner or later. Whether it caused by resellers switching lanes after the recent cooling off of the Pokémon card market isn't clear, but what we do know is that the One Piece Card Game is fighting back against resellers, and I sure hope Pokémon TCG is taking notes.
As announced by the One Piece Card Game US shop via social media, Official One Piece card game stores in the US will now remove the plastic shrink wrap from all booster boxes at time of purchase.
That of course makes it very difficult for resellers to make money from them. People are very wary about buying unwrapped boxes, as it increases the risk that they've been tampered with.
The announcement comes after what appears to be a surge of reselling in the One Piece TCG community. Prices for all One Piece booster boxes shot up swiftly around late November, and continue to reach new heights.
This is a useful step towards combatting the effect. It won't magically fix the problem overnight, of course. This practice only applies to official One Piece stores, and there are only a handful of these spread throughout the US. Scalpers can just look elsewhere for their boxes.
But what this does do is at least ensure there's a decent supply of product that's effectively reserved and put aside for players to enjoy. It's also really good PR for the One Piece TCG, naturally. And I can't think how great it would be if the Pokémon TCG, the ultimate scalper-infected card game, did the same thing
If Pokémon Centers in the US followed suit, it would be a big victory for regular Pokémon fans and a blow against the predatory practices of resellers who buy up stock just to flip it for profit.
And it's not too outrageous to think it might happen, either. Removing the plastic wrap has already been the norm for Poké Centers in Japan for many years, and Singapore followed suit a few years ago too.
Find more Pokémon news and discussions over on the Wargamer Discord.