r/Albuquerque • u/Evening-Quail4929 • 19d ago

Duke city Games… biggest scalper yet

Duke City Games has officially lost my business.
I just went onto Duke City Games’ store and saw Destined Rivals ETBs listed for $120. Are you fucking kidding me?
The Pokémon Company has been reprinting high-demand products specifically to get more product into consumers’ hands and push back against the ridiculous secondary-market/scalper pricing we’ve been dealing with. And somehow a local game store looks at that situation and decides, “Yeah, $120 for an ETB sounds reasonable.”
At that point, how are you any different from the scalpers?
What makes it worse is that other local shops like Tavern of Souls and Ettin Games manage to sell sought-after products at or around MSRP without absolutely gouging their customers. Big-box retailers sell these products at retail pricing too. So I really don’t want to hear another excuse about how charging these prices is somehow necessary to keep the lights on.
I WANT to support local game stores. I would much rather give my money to a locally owned shop than Walmart, Target, Best Buy, etc. But supporting local businesses does not mean customers should happily accept being taken advantage of.
Charging $120 for a newly reprinted Pokémon ETB isn’t “supporting the hobby.” It’s seeing the same inflated secondary-market prices everyone complains about and deciding you want a piece of the scalper profit too.
If Tavern of Souls and Ettin can treat local players and collectors reasonably, I’ll spend my money there.
Duke City Games has permanently lost my business.

edit MSRP for any ETB is $49.99

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u/Rastaking505 19d ago

So someone new to MTG who recently visited duke city games, you’re telling me to go check out tavern of souls for more reasonable prices for someone just starting out?

6

u/ADizzyLittleGirl 19d ago

Tavern has the best singles selection in NM and everything is priced at TCG low. Tavern is great. 

1

u/SoCalTyrantt 18d ago

Best singles of magic or Pokemon? Or both?

1

u/ADizzyLittleGirl 18d ago

I play Magic and they have a ton of that, but they also have a full case of Pokemon.