As One Piece has grown in popularity across the globe so too has the One Piece Card Game. And while that's not necessarily always a bad thing, this massive popularity has led to increased demand. With that also comes collectors and scalpers looking to make a quick buck. That's never a good thing for fans who just want to play the game as intended.
The One Piece Card Game, like many other trading card games such as Pokemon, doubles as a collectors item. Rare or first-print cards are often in high demand, and the limited supply usually drives up prices, making them even more valuable. Early One Piece Card Game booster boxes and promo cards can sell for two to three times their retail price on secondhand marketplaces, creating a strong financial incentive for scalpers.
The One Piece Card Game has been particularly heavily affected by scalpers, especially in the United States. It's not unusual to see booster boxes sell out within minute online and in stores. And, unfortunately, it's usually the scalpers who get them first, much to the disappointment of fans who actually want to play the game.
To combat these resellers, the U.S. One Piece Card Game Official Shop is making a drastic change to how it sells cards in its official stores. Moving forward, booster boxes sold at all U.S. One Piece Card Game Official Shops will have their plastic shrink wrap removed at the time of purchase. The announcement reads:
“To help prevent resale and ensure the continued availability of our products, we will remove the shrink wrap from booster boxes at the time of purchase in all U.S. ONE PIECE CARD GAME Official Shops. We sincerely appreciate your understanding and cooperation.”
It's worth noting that retailers are only removing the shrink wrap. The actual internal booster packs and cards remain sealed and untouched. So while it's still a brand new box for gameplay purposes, it will technically no longer be considered "factory sealed," thereby hopefully reducing the item's value on the secondary market.
Collectors and resellers often pay huge premiums for these shrink-wrapped "factory-sealed" boxes as it indicates the box has not been tampered with. By removing the factory wrap, the game maker is hoping that it makes these boxes less valuable and therefore less attractive for resellers to want to snatch up, and that hopefully means more stock available for actual players.
The policy is only being enforced at specific One Piece Official Shop locations in the United States, and not at mass-market retailers. You'll still be able to find One Piece Card Game products at major retailers, like Target, but these factory sealed booster boxes are usually at the official One Piece stores.
Despite the good intentions, the change in policy has been met with mixed reaction from fans. Many argue that no one is going to want to buy an open box that's potentially been tampered with, even those who just want to play the game. As a result, there's fear that this change will only continue to drive up the price of unsealed boxes. I guess we won't really know for sure how this will impact the supply and demand of the One Piece Card Game until it goes into effect.
Do you think this change will help or hurt the One Piece Card Game?