MJ Holdings, the largest Pokemon TCG distributor, caught scalping.
Let’s talk about it. Pokemon cards. The hobby we all love. The hobby that’s been absolutely ruined by scalpers. By bots.
And now, ruined by distributors themselves.
That’s right. A distributor - the people who are supposed to supply stores - is scalping. You can’t make this up.
MJ Holdings and GT Collectibles
MJ Holdings is the largest Pokemon TCG Distributor. They supply WalMart.
GT Collectibles and Toys is a subsidiary of MJ Holdings. They even share the same address.
That means they’re getting product at a price that’s even lower than what stores pay. And what do they do? They turn around and sell it at marked-up prices. That’s textbook scalping.
Some idiots are gonna say, “Well, that’s just business.” Sure. Businesses exist to make money. But when you’re the middleman AND you’re controlling supply, that’s a whole different game. That’s like a grocery store manager buying all the milk and selling it outside for triple the price.
Artificial Scarcity and Market Manipulation
The Pokemon Company isn’t innocent either. They know what they’re doing. People have emailed them about it.
Artificial scarcity is a real thing. Make less product to create hype and watch people fight over it like it’s Black Friday. Let’s be real here. Scalping wouldn’t be a thing if the supply wasn’t so restricted. You shouldn’t have to camp outside a Target or risk getting punched over a box of Pokemon cards. But here we are.
Can’t I buy from pokemoncenter.com?
Don’t worry! You can always buy from PokemonCenter.com. Yeah, you’re a bot. Because unless you have a literal robot refreshing the page every second, you’re not getting a damn thing. Bots wipe the stock out in minutes, and then, surprise surprise, it all ends up on eBay at triple the price.
Who’s the Real Problem?
Scalpers suck. They’ve made collecting miserable. But you know what? People buy from them. That’s the problem, right?
Well, not really. Because what other choice do they have? Distributors are the only way to get product. There’s no option to just “wait for MSRP.” That price doesn’t exist anymore. The game is rigged from the top down.
It’s easy to blame buyers for giving in. But when the entire system is designed to screw them over, what else are they supposed to do? Either pay up or quit collecting. That’s the reality.
They’re just “playing the game,” right? No rules are being broken. They just happen to be flipping their own stock at premium prices. Totally normal. Nothing to see here.
The Harsh Reality
The sad truth? Nothing changes. Scalping exists because people let it exist. Distributors can get away with this because who’s gonna stop them? Pokemon Company? Yeah, right. They benefit from this hype. The stores? They don’t care as long as people keep lining up. The fans? They’ll keep paying. And that’s why this cycle never ends.
So yeah, GT Collectibles got caught. But let’s be real. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Jesse made a video on this whole mess. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSHpMoXkujQ