Walmart pulled MJ Holding’s Pokemon listings… but don’t celebrate.
Jesse uploaded a video breaking this down on the Happy Tiger Gaming Youtube channel. You can watch it here.
Walmart pulled MJ Holding’s Pokémon listings.
Because enough of you complained. Yay, right? The bad guys got caught. Refunds went out. Balance is restored. Except... not really.
Here’s the part they’re not telling you. MJ Holding didn’t just sell Pokemon cards. They controlled the supply. They’re the biggest distributor out there, but instead of sending product to local game stores (LGSs) like they’re supposed to, they held it back. Why? So they could flip it themselves through their shady little subsidiary, GT Collectibles. Same business address. Same scam.
LGSs had to cancel pre-orders because of this. Imagine being a loyal customer, excited for Prismatic Evolutions, only to get that “sorry, we can’t fulfill your order” email. Why? Because MJ Holding decided to be greedy.
So, Walmart pulled the listings. Woohoo. But what happened to that massive inventory MJ Holdings was ready to dump on the secondary market? Do you think it just... disappeared?
Nope. MJ Holding is still sitting on it. And guess what? Even if they do decide to distribute it to stores now, they still win. After a product’s release, distributors can charge whatever they want. So instead of selling Prismatic to stores for under MSRP like they should have, they’ll sell it for just under market price. Basically, the same price they were trying to gouge you for online.
The only difference is you giving them an interest free loan, before you were refunded on preorders…
Same product. Same profit. They get their money. And you? You get to pay for it.
But It Gets Worse...
Just when you thought things couldn’t get shadier. Journey Together is coming. TCGplayer just split the booster boxes into two versions. One is the standard box. The other is an “enhanced” version with a box-topper that’s already worth more.
Here’s the scam. Remember those refunded Journey Together preorders? They’re not giving those back to you. Oh no. Now that they know they’ve got the enhanced version. Now they’re going to hold most of that back. Wait it out. And then sell those “enhanced” boxes for 3x MSRP.
This time, not through Walmart. Directly to stores. At that price.
So, Was This a Win?
Technically, yeah. Walmart pulling MJ Holding’s listings is a small victory. But let’s not kid ourselves. The bigger problem isn’t going anywhere. Someone even said Pokemon responded to an email, confirming that distributors are allowed to sell to themselves. Awesome. So what’s next? MJ Holding starts pushing product on Amazon now?
This was a micro win. But the system? Still broken. And until that changes, prices are going to stay ridiculous for way longer than they should.
So about those Journey Together booster boxes.
Don’t forget. We’re getting Journey Together booster boxes in soon. We’re selling for less than TCGplayer prices. The best way to know when they drop?
Good luck out there, friends!