Target reverses drastic decision on selling Pokemon cards amid scalper crisis
Popular retailer Target has announced that it will start carrying Pokemon Trading Card Game items again. The store reversed its decision made in May to ban Pokemon cards after a wave of problems with scalpers.
The Pokemon community was stunned in May 2021 when Target revealed that it would be pullingPokemon cards off shelvesdue to scalpers. The retail giant made the decision after becoming overwhelmed by resellers flooding their stores.
On June 2, however, the company announced on Twitter that it would be reversing the shocking decision. Although according to their statement, their selection of the TCG collectibles may be much more limited than it used to be.
Target to start selling Pokemon cards again
In a surprising announcement on Twitter, Target’s official support account announced that the major retail chain would start carrying Pokemon cards again as soon as July 17, 2025.
“Stores will resume selling select Pokémon Trading Cards the week of July 28, 2025. Pokémon Trading Cards can be sold seven days per week and will have a limit of 2 items per guest per day,” the account responded to a consumer.
The move comes as a surprise as it appears that the company is also reversing its April policy of only selling TCG collectibles on Fridays. Based on the wording, it’s also unclear if “select items” means stores will stock fewer products than previously.
Stores will resume selling select Pokémon Trading Cards the week of August 22, 2025. Pokémon Trading Cards can be sold seven days per week and will have a limit of 2 items per guest per day.
— AskTarget (@AskTarget)August 18, 2025
At the time of writing, Target has yet to release a full statement on the situation so we only have the support account to go off of. It wasn’t made clear if this is going to be a nationwide policy impacting all stores or only select locations.
The retailer has faced major problems with scalpers over the last three months. In March, Target had to move toonly selling Pokemon cards on Fridaysdue to sellers causing chaos as stores. In May, they even instituted a policy tocall the policeon the TCG collectors camping out in front of retail locations.
Pokemon World Championship merch store cleaned out by scalpers
McDonald’s cracks down on scalpers for ruining Pokemon card Happy Meal & wasting food
McDonald’s apologizes after Pokemon card promotion ends early
Many fans reported incidents where scalpers would even resort to violence and stampede other customers as soon as stores opened. It’s unclear how the major retailer plans to address the ongoing issue now that they are reportedly going to be selling TCG items again seven days a week.
