Pokemon Card Scalpers Are Snagging All the McDonald’s Happy Meals

Pokemon cards have seen a heavy amount of interest on the secondary market lately, and resellers […]

February 9, 2021, 6:47pm

Pokemon cards have seen a heavy amount of interest on the secondary market lately, and resellers are taking advantage during a new Happy Meal promotion at McDonald’s. On Twitter, a number of different posters have been bragging about buying up as many of the cards as they can to giveaway or resell. But wait, it gets worse! Twitter user @redphoenixcards shared images of two auctions for cases of the cards they discovered on eBay, one priced at $925, and the other at $1000. It’s incredibly disappointing to see, and it could spell doom for the promotion on the very first day it started.

The Tweet from @redphoenixcards can be found embedded below.

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@McDonalds @Pokemon I sure hope you do some form of inventory control for your promo Pokémon cards as some of your stock is being sold in sealed boxes which means they’re not even making it to your stores 😳 Though same thing happened with Tim Hortons Hockey too. Retail $1.99 😳 pic.twitter.com/kX8qZyRX2V
— redphoenixsportscards (@redphoenixcards) February 9, 2021

While older Pokemon fans can hardly be blamed for wanting to purchase the cards for their own collections, it’s frustrating to see resellers ruin the fun for everyone. The recent success of the cards on eBay made this almost inevitable, but it’s definitely frustrating. Pokemon toys and cards have been offered in a number of fast food promotions over the years, but this sort of demand seems unprecedented.

For those unfamiliar with the promotion, McDonald’s is currently offering packs of Pokemon cards in Happy Meals. There are 25 cards to collect, spanning all of the starting Pokemon from the various video game generations. Each card also has a hologram variant, so there are technically 50 that can be acquired. The cards are accompanied by an additional bonus, such as a cardboard holder, stickers, or a plastic card frame. Ironically enough, all of the cards have previously been released in older sets. However, the McDonald’s cards have new set numbers, and feature the 25th anniversary logo.

Hopefully, McDonald’s will find a way to make sure that resellers can’t ruin the fun for fans young and old alike.

Did you pick up any Pokemon cards from McDonald’s today? Have you noticed any restaurants that sold out of the cards? Let us know in the comments or share directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!