The plague of Pokémon scalpers has once again descended upon an event with exclusive merchandise and collectibles. The annual Pokémon World Championships are happening in the Anaheim Convention Center this weekend, and while people are gathering to watch the best players in the world compete in Scarlet and Violet, there’s also a merch booth full of exclusive items that won’t be sold anywhere else. Well, not by The Pokémon Company, at least. The event hasn’t even started in earnest, and there are already eBay listings upselling items like the Pikachu plush, TCG playmats, card binder, and backpack being sold at the booth.
While the store had a one-per-person rule for the exclusive merch, that hasn’t completely quelled the issue of scalpers buying items to take advantage of people who can’t make it out to Anaheim. As wild as it is to imagine someone going to the biggest Pokémon event of the year just to buy all the exclusive merchandise for sale to try and turn a profit, that’s exactly what some people seem to be doing. When the show opens for more of the general public on Friday, August 15, we’ll likely see even more listings popping up online, or people posting on social media that they have these items and will sell them to whoever’s willing to pay some exorbitant price.
If your main purpose of attending a Pokémon Worlds event is to rob Pokémon fans the chance to buy the things they saved up for just so you can scalp and resell them for 20x more than the original price, then you deserve to be banned from attending official events. pic.twitter.com/Jj1cYFJ2xj
— Out of Context Pokémon (@OoCPokemon) August 12, 2025
Probably the worst pokemon center ever. Mobs of people trying to stampede and grab the arcanine style merch, people next to me saying “let’s buy the denim jackets because it has the highest resale value”, are we serious 😑
— Azulite (@Azulite_poke) August 13, 2025
The prices on most of this merchandise are ridiculous, but perhaps the most egregious is what people are asking for the exclusive Pokémon Worlds jukebox. The stylized radio cost roughly $130 at the event, and is now running anywhere from $500 to over a grand on eBay.
The Pokémon World Championship Jukebox is incredible. pic.twitter.com/wulBpDuCt5
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) August 13, 2025
The rat race for exclusive merchandise is nearing the Black Friday-esque chaos of 2023’s Van Gogh Museum art exhibit. There are some videos surfacing showing event staff having to be firm with attendees who refuse to abide by the store’s rules. Content creators and press who were in attendance early reported long lines and shoving, even with the early access groups receiving designated time slots. TikTok creator NerdOnTheNet said the entire ordeal was “not worth the wait,” and that despite getting a 4:45 p.m. time slot, they weren’t able to get into the store itself until 7, and spent hours waiting in line.
The Pokémon Center gave me Black Friday flashbacks pic.twitter.com/NPKQKkdFbg
— Dom | Silverddragn 🐉 (@Silverddragn) August 14, 2025
The event lead just said the fire marshall will shut this down if people don’t move out of the way. As cars are trying to move through the crowd. I can’t believe they didn’t organize this better. And I feel so sorry for the event staff who will probably lose their voices soon. pic.twitter.com/RcFDclD0Wx
— PokeBeach.com💧 (@pokebeach) August 13, 2025
Cops had to get involved because people were getting pushed to the floor https://t.co/EaEpXnhnJV
— PokeDuels (@PokeDuelsTikTok) August 13, 2025
It’s a real shame that Pokémon seemingly can’t do any kind of event without it devolving into chaos and underhanded behavior. Just earlier this week, the company had a cross-promotion with McDonald’s that went so poorly that the fast food chain had to issue a statement. We’re far past the point of this being a stain on the series’ legacy, as people have left the collecting hobby behind because it feels like for every fan who’s happy to be there, there are a dozen resellers there just looking to turn a profit.