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Pok\u00e9mon cards are already way more expensive than MSRP at GameStop, but the retailer still isn’t done squeezing out every possible dollar from the collector-market frenzy. Since last year, the video game retailer has been selling something called ‘Power Packs,’ which are small sets of cards compiled by GameStop itself. Earlier in April, GameStop followed that up by launching a digital version of Power Packs, which allows users to buy and trade digital versions of physical cards. <\/p>\n
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So why would someone willingly purchase repacked cards, a practice that allows resellers to pocket the most valuable cards while still making a profit from duds? What GameStop is selling is certainty. Packs come in different rarities, denoted in colors such as silver and gold. The cheapest Power Pack is $25, whereas the rarest packs cost $2,500. Expensive packs hold the best cards, but there’s no guarantee that a Power Pack will contain a good card. There’s only a chance<\/em> at a better card.<\/p>\n Like the physical packs, digital Power Packs allot a random assortment of cards to the user. These digital cards correspond to real-world cards held by PSA, the grading service that has teamed up with GameStop. Once a player opens a pack online, they can sell or continue storing the cards inside a digital vault. If a card is sold, ownership transfers to the purchaser \u2014 without neccesarily shipping the item to them. It’s kind of like owning stocks \u2014 except that by some (potentially dubious) measures, the value of Pok\u00e9mon cards outperforms the current stock market.<\/p>\n Another selling point for Power Packs is convenience. Users have the option to either sell cards to other people or to sell them back to GameStop for 90% of their estimated value. This buyback program offers less than a user could get from the wider marketplace, but it’s also instant. In doing so, users avoid the hassle of writing a listing, taking pictures of the card, and doing marketing to find a buyer. Power Pack owners also don’t have to worry about the time-consuming process of having their cards verified or graded, as every card has already been evaluated by PSA.<\/p>\n That means GameStop can resell a card multiple times without ever needing to actually distribute a physical card. The retailer can buy said cards for under market value and pocket the difference. Any desirable card can then be put back into the Power Pack ecosystem, where a user might purchase multiple packs for a chance <\/em>at pulling a high-value card. GameStop benefits even if users only sell to each other: every transaction comes with a fee that goes directly to GameStop. These fees are around 6% of the total value, which is reportedly higher than what a customer might be charged had they cut out the intermediary and sold to PSA directly.<\/p>\n In an attempt to drum up excitement for and awareness of its gacha-like platform, GameStop is pulling a Willy Wonka. The company teases that one of its many Power Packs contains a rare Charizard card with an estimated value of $29,000. But to make a profit, Power Packs can’t be too <\/em>valuable on the whole. And GameStop can ensure that is the case, as the retailer determines what each pack contains.<\/p>\n It might sound dubious to some. But Power Packs are clearly working for GameStop. Even investors are excited about it.<\/p>\n “I can’t believe these $150 gambling packs flew off our cashwrap,” one employee wrote on the GameStop subreddit. “We sold out.<\/p>\n Like damn.”<\/p>\n “They know that the people this is marketed towards have no self control,” another remarked.<\/p>\n In the event that a customer pulls a genuinely rare card and keeps it, GameStop can still benefit. These users are likely to go online to boast about their pull, and those social media posts might trigger a fear of missing out. It is also difficult to tell whether such posts are real, or if users are being paid to post their pulls. It does not help that screaming influencers and Twitch streamers who get good cards are being used as promotion by GameStop as well. What are the odds that famous people like Casey Neistat happen to pull great cards while being recorded by GameStop?<\/p>\n It’s not impossible, but results among collectors without influencer clout seem more mixed. One Reddit user says they spent $200 on Power Packs that included more than double that value in cards. (Meanwhile, GameStop also earned hundreds in fees from those same transactions.) A less lucky GameStop customer in that same thread claims that they “probably lost $4,000” on Power Packs and had to block GameStop’s website to prevent themselves from burning more cash. Rather than perceiving GameStop’s card scheme as a gambling racket, users with thousands of dollars to spare are giving each other tips on how to approach Power Pack purchases. No wonder GameStop is going all in on Pok\u00e9mon cards.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n