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 the game's friend-code-based trading system. Listings often require buyers to possess 500 Trade Tokens, Trade Stamina, and an "unwanted Pokémon ex" to exchange for the desired card. This cleverly circumvents the game's terms of service, which prohibit buying and selling virtual content, as sellers essentially gain an equivalent card in the trade. They lose nothing, merely exchanging one rare card for another of the same rarity, then repeating the process.

Numerous eBay listings feature rare ex Pokémon and 1-Star alternate art cards, with entire accounts, including valuable Pack Hourglasses and rare cards, also for sale. While account selling is common in online games, this practice directly violates Pokémon TCG Pocket's terms of service.

The trading mechanic itself proved controversial from its launch. Beyond the usual restrictions on pack openings and Wonder Picking, the introduction of Trade Tokens further fueled player discontent. The high cost of obtaining these tokens—requiring the deletion of five cards to trade one of equal rarity—generated significant backlash.

This black market wouldn't necessarily be prevented even without the existing restrictions. The core issue lies in the trading system's limitations; trading is exclusively between friends, forcing players to use external platforms like Reddit, Discord, and now eBay to connect and trade. Many players, like Reddit user siraquakip, desired a more integrated, in-app trading system.

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Developer Creatures Inc. has warned players against real-money transactions and cheating, threatening account suspensions for violations. Ironically, the Trade Token system, intended to prevent such exploitation, has instead alienated the community.

Creatures Inc. is "actively investigating" improvements to the trading feature but lacks concrete solutions despite complaints dating back three weeks. Many believe the trading system is revenue-driven, considering Pokémon TCG Pocket's estimated half-billion-dollar revenue in under three months before the trading feature. This is further supported by the inability to trade 2-Star or higher rarity cards, a clear incentive to encourage in-app spending. The cost of completing sets can reach thousands of dollars, highlighting the financial pressure on players.