The Pokemon Van Gogh Pikachu saga takes another turn, as scalpers have scooped up the rare card and have asked for ridiculously high prices for it.
The release of the Pokemon Van Gogh Pikachu has been a wild one for The Pokemon Company. Since its release, the card has led to wild incidents in Amsterdam where it was made available before the Van Gogh Museum — which had it in its shop — removed it altogether for safety reasons.
Earlier this month, the Pokemon Center announced it would give fans in the US and UK a fresh chance to get the card but that now is out of stock.
Now, scalpers have taken to the secondary market to sell it for high prices.
Scalpers run rampant with Van Gogh Pikachu
On the Pokemon TCG subreddit, one user found a Montreal-based scalper online that was charging $170 for the card, which was at one point available at the Pokemon Center as a gift with each eligible item purchased from the store.
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Pokemon TCG players were quick to criticize the move, and some put the blame squarely on The Pokemon Company and Pokemon Center.
One Pokemon fan noted, “Can someone please send this to Pokemon Center support and tell them great job selling to all the scalpers and losing more respect from the enthusiasts. Literally myself and everyone else I heard not scalping was flagged as a bot for no reason when trying to get ONE order in.”
Another added that there’s a simple solution to the scalping problem: don’t buy it. “If people quit paying 170, they won’t be 170.”
This is not the first time that Pokemon players have taken issue with scalpers asking for high prices for the Pikachu. Last month, players noticed the card being sold on the secondary market for more than $500, shortly after a stampede in Amsterdam when it was released to the European public.