The Pokemon Company and Japanese marketplace Mercari has taken a new measure to prevent scalpers. The company will be temporarily banning listings of certain products from the Pokemon 30th Anniversary set.

According to a report by Pokebeach, Mercari will be banning the listings of booster packs, booster boxes, and the Japanese equivalent of the First Partner Collections of the Pokemon 30th Anniversary TCG set. This is major since Mercari and TPCI have been working together since 2023 to make Mercari a stable marketplace for secondhand Pokemon cards.

The official statement by Mercari is that this policy is a marketplace-safety measure intended to reduce user disputes. It will also mean that scalpers cannot use Mercari's marketplace to resell Pokemon 30th Anniversary products  Given the set has drawn a ton of attention for celebrating a milestone anniversary, and a unique suite of Pikachu cards, such measures are expected.

However, this doesn't mean all Pokemon 30th Anniversary materials are banned forever from the marketplace. Single cards will still be listed. In addition, the ban will remain in effect until "the company determines that a safe trading environment can be maintained."

These anti-scalping measures are a rising issue within the TCG space. It's a problem with no concrete solution since they usually coincide with other factors.Printing more cards, the more direct answer to the problem, may be overtaken by increased fan demand due to limited-runs like Magic: The Gathering's Chaos Vault or milestone events like Pokemon's 25th Anniversary in 2021.

Since the worldwide release of the Pokemon 30th Anniversary set on September 15, retail stores have taken other measures to combat these scalpers. According to a report by Polygon, retail outlets Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods have instigated a raffle promo system with a limit of one per customer. The catch is the products are being sold at an unbelievable markup. The Elite Trainer Box, usually sold at an MSRP of $49.99, is being sold for $120.