It appears TPC has issued a formal apology for the recent shortage of JP Pokemon card product. Wanted to start a discussion here mainly to ask people what they think of the current JP market and the upwards trend of prices for set cards. Do we think TPC will be able to remedy the supply issue and to what extent?
For example, withthe recent release of the Clay Burst/Snow Hazard set came one of the most expensive set cards in a while: Iono SAR (special art rare) releasing at 238k yen ($1643) (source: CardRush) on 4/14/23 and boxes going for $300 we’re seeing a sharp ramp-up of demand and prices for set cards.
In my opinion these prices aren’t really sustainable and TPC recognizes it is an issue. On top of this another issue albeit unconfirmed is the “backdooring” of JP product by sellers in order to flip for higher prices instead of MSRP at your typical game store. So even if the supply issue is fixed would affordable product be able to reach buyers at msrp?
I find this spike in JP product interesting and I’m curious where it will go from here as I am both an EN and JP set collector.
I view it the same way as what happened with english. Until they produce more product (which took about a year with an extra factory and ignoring quality control) there is nothing they can do at their current set pacing. Until then, opportunists will make it difficult to get product. But once they catch up, the market will flood for a while.
I just hope that people dont start looking into other japanese product as investment avenues once they get pushed out of the modern set flipping scene.
The problem is that product has been in short supply here since mid 2021. I suppose it’s gotten worse lately, but it’s remarkably bad planning from TPC in my opinion,
When 600 people are lining up outside one store for one set release you know you have a supply and demand “problem”. Not really a problem for them as Pokemon TCG is just license to print money and will further push Pokemon towards being a more high-end and luxury brand. Massive influx of supply and excess stock sitting in retail stores doesn’t really align with being those things.
Unless they genuinely address the supply issues these are just empty words IMO.
Do we know who is actually backdooring product? Is it just random #grindset people who have managed to steal boxes or are LGS and retail oriented store spaces doing it as well? Are LGS and retail spaces still selling boxes at msrp or are they selling at whatever the high prices are?
This is more of a speculative guess based on what people have reported seeing private sellers have stacks of cases selling individual boxes at 3x+ prices. How do they obtain that much product? Your guess is as good as mine.
As for Japan LGS - I don’t really know enough about that situation to know what they do with high demand product. Perhaps @rabby250 can weigh in on this one since he knows the local scene a lot better.
I have also seen what appears to be private sellers with no connection to operating a brick & mortar store within the US with 200+ cases of boxes in hand on release day. That seems very suspicious to me.
Follow-up: TPC announces reprint of Clay Burst and Snow Hazard set with possible made-to-order allocation for Clay Burst.
The price of Iono has allegedly dropped by $400 already since this announcement. Overall I’m glad TPC seems to be tackling this head on and with some level of transparency.
This is… Weird. They’re still limiting it to one box per person. It seems they’ve forgotten that the actual aim of buying boxes is to try and complete the set and 1 box is never going to be nearly enough. Thanks for the link though, since I missed out on the previous lottery and will definitely place an order for this!
