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

Pokémon TCG Pocket's controversial trading mechanic has spawned a bizarre black market on eBay. Players are buying and selling digital cards for $5-$10 each, exploiting a loophole in the system. Sellers exchange friend codes with buyers, sending a desired card in exchange for an "unwanted Pokémon ex" of the same rarity. This cleverly circumvents the game's terms of service, which prohibit buying and selling virtual content, while simultaneously allowing sellers to profit repeatedly without losing valuable cards.

Numerous listings for rare ex Pokémon and 1-Star alternate art cards flood eBay, alongside entire accounts containing valuable Pack Hourglasses and rare cards. This practice, while a clear breach of service, mirrors similar occurrences in other online games.

The trading mechanic itself proved contentious from its launch. Beyond the existing restrictions on pack openings and Wonder Picking (limiting actions without real-money spending), the introduction of Trade Tokens further fueled player frustration. The high cost of acquiring these tokens—requiring the deletion of five cards to trade one of equal rarity—was widely criticized.

However, this black market likely wouldn't be so prevalent even without the Trade Token system. The core issue lies in the trading mechanic's restrictive nature; players can only trade with friends, forcing reliance on external platforms like Reddit, Discord, and now eBay to facilitate trades. This contrasts sharply with the community's desire for a more integrated and accessible in-app trading system, as voiced by players like siraquakip on Reddit. Many players envisioned a safer, more convenient way to connect and exchange cards within the game itself.

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Developer Creatures Inc. has issued warnings against real-money transactions and other forms of cheating, threatening account suspensions for violations of the Terms of Use. Ironically, the Trade Token system, intended to curb such exploitation, has backfired, alienating a significant portion of the player base.

While Creatures Inc. is "actively investigating" improvements to the trading feature, concrete solutions remain elusive despite complaints surfacing three weeks ago. Many suspect the trading mechanic's limitations, particularly the inability to trade 2-Star or higher rarity cards, are designed to drive revenue. This is further supported by the significant cost of completing card sets, with one player reporting spending approximately $1,500 to complete the first set. The game, estimated to have generated half a billion dollars in under three months before the trading feature, further fuels these suspicions.