Pokémon has been the most successful toy company in the world over the last five years. In 2024, it was the being the only toy company to exceed $1 billion in sales.

All Trading Card Games stores in the Cannington area say they are completely out of Pokémon cards, and they are unsure of when they will be able to replenish stocks.

Pokémon TCG has been a staple for the gaming community since October 1996, and this year alone has already seen the release of three more expansions packs.

Good Games manager Conor Jonath says the cards in his store are never in stock for long, often sold out well before they even hit the shelves.

Mr Jonath says the price of cards keeps going up in many stores, and Good Games is no exception.

“The manufacturers are raising the prices for us, forcing us to increase the prices of the cards, but we want to keep it available for customers.”

Mr Jonath says there is a card on the market at the moment, a limited edition Prismatic Evolutions Umbreon, going for a low of $904 and a high of $1999.

Games World Cannington has been hit with similar issues. Shop employee and Pokémon collector Viruni Sen says they have been sold out of the cards for months.

Collector Calvin Kol says the prices have changed over the years from $5 to $14, and his last partner tried to stop him spending on the hobby, because she thought it was excessive.

He says he likes collecting but it feels never ending, constantly spending money on blind packs just trying to get cards strong enough for ‘battle’ but you can go through $80 worth of packs and still not find what you want.

Hardcore collector Jordan Hylands says to get cards you have to fight to get past people who preorder, and he says it feels wrong that it’s so hard just to get a piece of cardboard aimed at children.

“Currently Pokémon cards are being bought and resold for ridiculous amounts of money, frustrating me and other collectors around me,” he says.

“Not only Pokémon are going up in price, but other hobbies like collecting POP figures and consoles, which is making me go broke so I can just have entertainment. It’s expensive to keep yourself entertained and I’m sick of it.”

Collectors and stores are left subject to the whims of scalpers buying out stocks and reselling them, with nothing that they can do but just stand idly by.

“It’s affecting me an a lot of other collectors because we just want to open cards for fun but the scalpers are buying all the products and doubling the price, ruining the fun,” Mr Hylands says.