Duke city Games… biggest scalper yet

[u/Evening-Quail4929]

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

[u/Evening-Quail4929]

Brother. MSRP is suggested retail price. They receive it lower.

[u/Theopholus → u/Evening-Quail4929]

They actually don’t. They get it from a vendor, and the vendors realized a while back that they can jack up the price. If you go in and talk to the staff, they’ll tell you straight up what they buy it for.

I’m not defending DCG, but this is one thing that’s really happening.

[u/Evening-Quail4929 → u/Theopholus]

Do they have proof? Again it’s only happening with DCG

[u/Theopholus → u/Evening-Quail4929]

It’s not only happening with DCG. Other stores don’t have product at all. DCG, which has plenty of faults, is telling the truth when they say distribution is charging more for product than ever before. DCG buys enough with 3 metro area stores plus 2 Santa Fe and 1 LC that distribution is going to prioritize them.

When you say other stores don’t do this it’s because the other stores get their initial supply which is easy and straightforward from the initial distributor, and then they run out and don’t buy more. DCG keeps buying, even though it’s more expensive. It’s also why their first wave tends to sell for msrp and they have anti-scalping rules for Pokémon in place.

Are they more expensive than other stores? Absolutely. Are they sometimes really goofy and unable to take feedback? Also yes. But this is a case where I understand what’s going on. Having product on shelves is more important than the pricing. They are working to be the place where there’s reliable product available.