GameStop To Begin Buying and Selling Graded Pokemon Cards Next Week, Selling Pokemon Singles in Stores!
This news has been in the works for months.
We can reveal that starting next week, select GameStop stores in the U.S. will begin buying graded trading cards from customers, including Pokemon! The company will sell the graded cards on GameStop.com. Eventually, the program will expand to all locations.
As with their game trade-ins, customers will be able to sell their graded Pokemon cards to GameStop for cash or store credit. It’s currently unclear how GameStop will determine the value of the cards.
One store manager we spoke to, who worked with GameStop to test this program, stated, “GameStop’s leaders believe this is the obvious next step for the company. Physical media is waning, especially for video games. It was time for the company to branch out to trading cards. They are the future.”
GameStop will initially accept PSA 8 cards and higher. Cards valued at $500 or more will not be accepted. Graded cards from other companies like CGC and Beckett will not be allowed yet.
Most notably for Pokemon fans, GameStop will begin selling Pokemon singles in stores. They will launch with $1 holos and reverse holos. Other bundles of cards may be offered in the future. (Some of the pilot locations tested additional product configurations, like bundles of commons, but those have been cut.) GameStop will be sourcing the cards from the secondary market.
“GameStop specifically wants to sell Pokemon cards. Simply put, Pokemon is GameStop’s fastest selling TCG. And it’s by far the most popular franchise. They want to sell cards like an LGS.”
He went on to say, “I think this will make the Pokemon TCG more accessible to fans, especially young kids who visit our stores. They will get to pick out cards of their favorite Pokemon. Maybe it will inspire them to dive into the TCG. Or they can pick out cards they need to finish their decks. It opens up so many new doors for fans and of course GameStop.”
But that’s not all: could we also see GameStop host Pokemon Leagues in the future?
For the past few months, select GameStop locations have been running “Pokemon Trade & Play Events.” At first they were only held upon the release of a new set, but then GameStop expanded them to biweekly gatherings, almost like a Pokemon League. These events were officially backed by TPCi, who provided kits and promos. (The promos were all reprints from past events.)
Between selling Pokemon singles in stores and testing Trade & Play events at select locations, could GameStop be testing the viability of running Pokemon Leagues? If so, we should find out over the next few months!
GameStop has not officially announced any of this news yet. It’s possible they won’t make a public announcement until this program rolls out to all stores later this year.
We should have more details of GameStop’s program next week, including how fairly they value the cards. That will likely dictate how successful their program becomes. Stay tuned!
I will talk about all this news on this week’s episode of the PokeBeach podcast, along with additional insight.