Not sure if this is the right area to post this, but here I go. I saw PokeTaj and Primal Lugia on twitter discussing a practice where stores are taking the shrink wrap off booster boxes before selling them to combat flipping in Japan. I am not sure if the stores are disclosing that the product will be opened before it is sent to them, but I wanted some opinions on this.
This is reminiscent of stores requiring customers to walk out in the shoes they purchased, as to un-DS them and prevent flipping. As somebody who repeatedly lost out on releases I wanted due to botting, I still felt as though this was over the line for stores to be doing. It is not really the place of the store to decide what I do with my item after I purchase it. After all, as much as flipping sucks, it is the freedom of the buyer to decide if they want to resell, or keep their item sealed/ DS, etc. This is an intervention of the store to prevent flippage, but the quantity supplied is not meeting the quantity demanded, which is the root of the problem. Ultimately, it is my opinion that this responsibility is on Pokemon.
This practice does seem to be effective in preventing reselling, though. If the stores are making the buyers aware that they will be taking the plastic wrap off the item, then it isn’t really as much of an issue generally because people are agreeing to buy on those terms. If people living in Japan are cool with it, then I’m happy for them. I wanna know what some people think because if I purchased a sealed box and it showed up to my house opened, I would be pretty pissed
As you mentioned, it doesn’t actually address the problem, just a symptom of it. It’s not even a great bandaid for the symptom because there’s nothing stopping people from flipping open boxes. All it does it contribute to a premium on sealed boxes
Very fair! I don’t want to assume, but I figure it must not be disclosed because otherwise flippers wouldn’t purchase from there? I’d be really interested to hear more details from someone with first-hand experience of this
I have not experienced (or heard from anyone else) any issue with it not being disclosed. This is generally for sales in-person at a shop, not shipped product. Individuals still list unwrapped product for resale, but it’s often just fronting for a scam.
This happens in other industries too, a lot of watches that could be considered “investment” grade get unsealed. I do think its silly on pokemon cards as the quantity of boxes really just drives the cash towards sealed product as others have mentioned.
I’d probably just buy elsewhere, I like the plastic and it makes me feel better about not getting juked.
This isn’t an isolated case thats pokemon-only. Vendors of other collectibles such as Gundams and other toys have also started doing something similar. For gundams some stores even cut open some of the pieces and put them back in the box you bought (mostly high grades, they dont care about the lower ones).
The flip game is so massive over there recently, fueled by a perfect mix of high demand from overseas and unemployment due to the pandemic.
It’s interesting that the stores are taking action to protect customers from scalpers. But it’s entirely not to the shops gain, apart from keeping regulars on board, does it matter if they sell everything to scalpers or 10 year olds?
Sorry for double post - but re-reading, I don’t think the point is to catch flippers out, it’s to put them off. So they would want to make a big show of it, social media announcement etc. As the whole point is to deter the flippers, thus retaining enough product to keep regular fans and presumably locals happy.
All good! That definitely makes sense, but it seems like flippers are purchasing the unsealed product. It’s really tough because I don’t actually have super detailed information about this (perhaps I shouldn’t have made a post about it with little info lol), but it seems that angry flippers are posting it, not the stores who are doing it. I can’t imagine why a flipper would knowingly purchase an unsealed box, I don’t know anyone who purchases JPN packs secondhand (I think boxes can be mapped to a degree, don’t quote me on that tho + situation could be different in Japan, although it was my understanding a lot of the rippy-flippy-doo was Japanese buyers marking up product for international buyers)
