Pokemon TCG Pocket players are selling cards on eBay and it makes no sense

Pokemon TCG Pocket players looking to make a quick buck on digital cards have started listing them on auction sites despite the game’s trading restrictions making real-world trading next to impossible.

Numerous listings for various Genetic Apex and Space-Time Smackdown cards appear on eBay when searching for the hit mobile game, with prices generally settling around $5 USD for any card of Four Diamond rarity or above.

Stranger still, sorting by sold listings yields several confirmed sales – a head-scratching phenomenon, considering the seller loses absolutely nothing in such exchanges.

Perpetual trading

For those unfamiliar, Pokemon TCG Pocket’s trading system has several stipulations players must adhere to if they want to swap cards with others, chiefly that cards can’t be traded with others for nothing in return.

Any cards exchanged must be of the same rarity, requiring varying amounts of Trade Tokens and Stamina to complete. You can check out our dedicated trading guide for more information but suffice it to say that every trade in Pokemon TCG Pocket results in participants swapping cards.

Anyone selling cards for real money is essentially charging for the privilege of swapping friend codes and cards. The buyer still has to provide a card of the same rarity they either don’t want or need, while the seller receives a card they can resell, repeating the process infinitely.

A quick Google search yields numerous results for communities dedicated to trading on Discord and elsewhere without having to spend real money, making this entrepreneurial endeavor all the more nonsensical.

Trading was added to Pokemon TCG Pocket on January 29 alongside its second major expansion, Space-Time Smackdown. The game’s developer released a statement on January 31 addressing criticisms of the feature’s implementation and distributed free Trade Tokens on February 5 as a short-term fix.