Pokémon TCG Pocket Trading Has Spurred a Strange Black Market for High Rarity Cards

Pokémon TCG Pocket's in-game trading system fuels a thriving black market for digital cards on platforms like eBay. Sellers are exploiting the system by exchanging friend codes and cards, circumventing the game's "no buying or selling virtual content" rule. Listings commonly feature rare cards like Starmie ex, priced between $5 and $10, with buyers needing to provide specific cards and Trade Tokens in exchange.

The loophole lies in the trading restrictions: only cards of the same rarity can be traded. This means sellers essentially break even, gaining a rare card in exchange for a similarly rare card they can immediately resell. While buyers technically trade a card they don't want, the overall effect is a de facto sale.

Numerous listings for high-rarity cards (ex Pokémon and 1-Star alternate art cards) and even entire accounts with valuable assets are available. This, while a breach of service, is not uncommon in online games.

The trading mechanic itself has been controversial since its launch. Criticisms center around the Trade Token system, requiring players to delete five cards to trade one of equal rarity, and the inability to trade publicly within the app. Players have expressed frustration with the lack of a public trading system, forcing them to use external platforms like Reddit, Discord, and now eBay.

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Despite developer Creatures Inc.'s warnings against real-money transactions and account suspensions, the black market persists. The ironically implemented Trade Token system, intended to prevent exploitation, has instead fueled community backlash. While Creatures Inc. is investigating improvements to the trading feature, concrete solutions remain elusive, leaving players frustrated three weeks after the feature's launch.

Many believe the trading system's limitations, such as the inability to trade 2-Star cards or higher, are designed to incentivize spending, given the game's reported half-billion-dollar revenue in under three months. The high cost of completing sets further supports this theory, with some players spending upwards of $1500.

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