Pokémon TCG Pocket Cards Spark Black Market Frenzy

A curious black market has emerged within the Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, where players are buying and selling digital cards online through a controversial trading system.

Numerous listings for Pokémon TCG Pocket cards have surfaced on eBay, with players charging between $5 and $10 per card. This activity is facilitated by the game's recently introduced trading feature, where sellers simply exchange friend codes with buyers to send a card directly.

One listing priced at $5.99 for a Starmie ex, for instance, requires buyers to confirm they possess 500 Trade Tokens, one Trade Stamina, and crucially, an "unwanted Pokémon ex" to trade for the desired card.

This situation takes an unusual turn. While it's a clear violation of the Pokémon TCG Pocket terms of service—which prohibit "buying or selling virtual content or data on the service"—the seller in these transactions effectively loses nothing.

The buyer trades an unneeded card for one they want, which is a standard exchange aside from the monetary cost, but the seller's inventory isn't depleted. Due to trading restrictions that only allow cards of identical rarity to be exchanged, the seller receives another ex Pokémon in return, enabling them to potentially resell it repeatedly.

Multiple listings for ex Pokémon and 1 Star alternate art cards, the two rarest tradable types, are available on eBay with various prices. Entire accounts are also being sold, often including Pack Hourglasses and the rare cards contained within—a practice that, while against the terms of service, is relatively common in online games.

Trading in Pokémon TCG Pocket was met with controversy upon its release last week, though this online marketplace isn't directly tied to those initial complaints.

In addition to the core mechanics that limit players from opening packs, using Wonder Pick, or now, trading excessively without real-money purchases, the feature launched with an additional constraint called Trade Tokens. Players voiced frustration over the high cost of acquiring these tokens, which required discarding five cards from their collection to trade one card of matching rarity.

However, this black market would likely have developed even if trading had been introduced with no restrictions at all. The only connection to player grievances is how limited the trading system feels, as it necessitates being friends with another user to complete any exchange.

This limitation disappoints players like siraquakip on Reddit, who hoped for "a secure way for the community to interact more." Many have requested an in-app feature to publicly list cards for trade, eliminating the need to rely on external sites like Reddit, Discord, and now eBay to find specific cards.

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Developer Creatures Inc. has already cautioned players against purchasing and selling cards with real currency or engaging in other cheating methods. Before trading went live, the company stated that "if we confirm a player has violated the Terms of Use, we will issue a warning, suspend their account, or take other appropriate measures."

The irony is that Creatures Inc. implemented the unpopular Trade Tokens system specifically to prevent exploitation of the kind these eBay sellers are demonstrating. This measure has clearly failed to curb the practice while alienating a significant portion of the player base.

The company is currently "actively investigating ways to enhance" the trading feature but has not provided specific details, despite complaints beginning three weeks ago when the system was first announced.

Some fans argue that trading was designed primarily to boost revenue for Pokémon TCG Pocket, which reportedly earned half a billion dollars in under three months before the trading feature even existed.

This theory is supported by the inability to trade cards of 2 Star rarity or higher. If players could simply trade for the cards they're missing, there would be less incentive to spend $10, $100, or more for a random chance at obtaining them. For example, one player reportedly spent approximately $1,500 just to complete the first card set, and a third set was introduced last week—the third in just three months.