Pokemon TCG collectors are sick of greed destroying the hobby

Pokemon TCG collectors have been venting their frustrations over disingenuous third-party sellers plaguing the hobby.

The perceived lack of regulation to protect buyers from being jilted at checkout after scoring a winning bid on auction sites has become a recurring problem, prompting an outpouring of complaints on social media.

Sharing a negative experience on Reddit relating to one such transaction for a graded Pokemon card, the user said, “I just won this miscut Toxicroak EX on eBay for a steal and paid. The seller goes and cancels the order, only to relist it again and I can’t even leave a review. It’s crazy to me that eBay is just okay with this?”

An accompanying image providing proof of purchase notes that the seller canceled the order, citing “Out of stock or damaged” as the reason.

As expected, the encounter precipitated the sharing of anecdotes from other community members who have experienced disingenuous sellers.

“Usually those sellers don’t know how to place an auction in order to get the minimum they want,” one response claimed, adding “When they see their item got sold at a low amount, they fake backorder or any other bullsh*t reason and just cancel your bid.”

“This is what some sellers do when they aren’t satisfied with the sale,” reads another comment. “This happened to me a lot of times. The seller claims that I no longer want the item and cancel it,” they continued.

“Tried to buy a Gyarados but the guy canceled it after I bought it and said the reason was my shipping address was wrong. Relists it higher than what I’d paid,” came another.

Other comments claim that eBay users can leave feedback for sellers even if a transaction is ultimately canceled, but it’s not straightforward. “Leave feedback for a different order, after submitting that it opens a list of items that you can also leave feedback for and it’ll be there.”

Ultimately, eBay is unable to prove that a seller is being disingenuous about a cancelation reason. The site’s stance on abuse of the process reads:

“Sellers aren’t allowed to abuse the order cancellation process. A seller should never cancel an order and select an incorrect cancellation reason, including falsely claiming that the buyer failed to pay.”

In other corners of the Pokemon TCG fandom, fans have been criticizing the annual Pokemon TCG Illustration Contest for appearing to accept AI-generated submissions.