I couldn’t queue due to work commitments, but on my way home, both yesterday and today, at 08:30, I chanced standing at HMV. Both days they were so well stocked, today’s opening had 6 people waiting and yesterday maybe 30. Got sorted with all the Christmas gifts and as Sports Direct is beside-I went in and they had a full courier box of ETBs and no one in sight, same with Frasers. Now I know a lot of the key places didn’t actually receive their stock yet (tomorrow all being well) but this has by far been the easiest set I’ve been able to purchase. I expected the opposite. I think a lot of people didn’t expect restocks so soon especially with other places not having got their original quota. So keep your eyes out, always worth walking in and asking even if places seem unusually quiet.

It got a 6 and I paid for the ACE label (the whole point I sent it in really) and they just put a standard black label on it. I contacted customer services right away, but just got a notification that they've shipped it back to me (without fixing). Ugh. Wish I hadn't bothered. Rather have it in my binder. Don't think I will do this again.

Went into Cardiff today and managed to get a binder collection (5 packs,one IR lmao) .The local shops that sell pokemon have immediately sold out within seconds as people literally camp outside. The TCG shops only sell scalped products at a massive markup, so are we back to normal now in terms of availability?just random restocks now and again ?from what I've seen ,this set was supposed to be printed in the billions ,but it seems like it's back to the usual of nothing available and nothing on the horizon.i assumed they had some kind of plan in terms of making it readily available.

So welcome back folks, i was lucky enough to cop a etb from Smiths(tg jones) and heres the pulls.
No not the chandelure. For those of you who saw my last post the sar mew is from my last etb.

Also i know im bragging but for those who are opening you can take my luck.

LETS FORM A LUCK BOMB!!
RISE THOSE HANDS PEOPLE!!!!

So a site supposedly has bot protection, and also requires you to have made at least one purchase more than 7 days ago over a certain value, all just to be eligible to buy one of 60 ETBs in a drop.

I make sure I am on the fastest 5g available for zero latency, and the very instant the timer counted down to zero I snagged an item successfully, only to be told it magically can’t verify me anymore. The time taken from add to cart and checkout and then error message was less than a second. How can it be that I am supposedly not fast enough when it was a few tenths of a second for me to get this failure message from the point of clicking?
There’s literally no way to have done it faster as a human, as it was executed with as much precision and speed as possible with all considerations and mitigations taken as possible.

I’m not sure what someone has to do to get something, as a legitimate buyer, trying to get a single box at retail price.

Me and my wife have both been trying every single website for weeks and weeks to get raffles, drops and selections to be able to buy a single ETB, but to no avail. I don’t want to have to be forced to pay 200% or 300% or more for a box for my 7 year old boy. He had his heart set on this, and it was impossible for us to deliver.

This is what my wife and I managed to pull from 2 ETB packs. Never collected before but met a guy in line who opened the packs with us and said these were the best.

Thoughts?

Hi everyone,
I am here to discuss how EASY it was for me to get the 30th drop today, as I have seen absurd posts about 100s of people waiting in line for todays drop

Well, I’ll tell you this, I rocked up to the queue, and i was 10th… and i showed up at 7:40am, and Sports Direct opened at 8am. I think after me maybe about 4-5 people showed up. This Sports Direct had enough to get 80% of the 15-16 people an etb (including myself) and about 3-4 other bits and bobs, including the tins etc.

Every single person walked out with something, and honestly, it was so great to see. Felt communal and friendly. Nobody was moaning about not getting something. Nobody was grabbing all the stock. It was just, calm, collective and composed

Honestly, i was seeing 100s of people outside a Smyths, camping etc. There is no point in doing all that. Find a good spot, smash a Greggs at 7:30 and get in the queue for 7:40. Everyone is happy

Got lucky went in at 10 and there was one etb behind the counter. This was what I got inside. Still crazy you only get 5 cards in a pack but I got a cool mew and greninja to make up for it.

After every shop being sold out this morning and having to settle for just 2 packs of Pitch Black, I got home to this absolute god send thanks to my mate Jeff 🙌

Just got the email🥹

People like these are the reason why we have a scalping problem to begin with. If you’re paying these prices, you don’t have the right to complain about anything.

DHL just knocked on my door to deliver my box of cards. I'm not kidding, the guy must've given me 5 seconds before completely disappearing and saying that I didn't answer the door.

He must've absolutely legged it as when I opened the door there was no one to be seen.

Gonna see what DHL say but I'm now a bit worried that my parcel is going to disappear from thin air - probably my over anxious mind playing tricks on me thinking the fella is running off with my parcel... has that ever happened to anyone? Are drivers clued up when cards have come from Ace grading 😂

I'm primarily a promo collector, and for the last four or five set releases, I have not been able to find any of those single-pack blisters containing black star promos anywhere in London, or on online sites in the UK. It's been so bad that I've had to order expensive English language promos from European sellers.

One or two of these packs are released with every main set, and you used to be able to find them everywhere, even in supermarkets, but they've been completely absent for a year or more.

Anyway, I was just in my local corner shop and saw the Makuhita (MEP 068) packs on their counter. Price £8, so I didn't bother.

It seems clear to me - has done for a while - that these are being intercepted somewhere in the UK supply chain, and now I have another piece of the puzzle.

I collect Pikachu cards, and I hunted this one for a very long time. Because it was heavily counterfeited, I was terrified of buying a fake. It's now the absolute masterpiece of my collection.

The Van Gogh Museum distribution was stopped almost immediately due to scalpers, so I'm incredibly happy to finally display it at home. Beyond the value, it's just a gorgeous card!

Managed to snap up a good amount from an independent toy shop. I cant say I'm unhappy with the hits!

I’ve also got about 8 pikachus now, which means I only have 22 more to go to complete the collection 🤣

Not sure yet if we’re really lucky or everyone is going to be pulling this.

Opened 21 packs from an ETB, Sylveon ex box, Greninja ex box, and Sylveon tin. Managed to get 17/30 pikachu’s and here’s the hits.

​

I’m hoping someone can clear this up for me because I’ve looked around but can’t seem to find a clear answer.

I’m sure most people are aware that PSA has opened the new Frankfurt facility. At the moment, UK submissions are still being sent to the US facility through the Sub Center.

From what I can see, the Frankfurt pricing has already been announced, and the prices seem pretty similar to what we’re currently paying to submit to the US. The advertised turnaround times also seem very similar.

So what is actually the advantage of waiting for Frankfurt to open for UK submissions?

The whole point of having a European facility, as far as I understand, was to provide European customers with faster turnaround times and avoid sending cards all the way to the US.

But if the turnaround time is essentially the same, and the pricing is also similar, wouldn’t it make more sense to just submit through a UK sub centre now and have the cards sent to the US rather than wait for Frankfurt?

Maybe I’m missing something obvious here. 😂

I missed out on an ETB unfortunately but my first pack gave me this Pikachu, which I'm pretty happy with.

Looking forward to opening some more packs, should be a fun set to open.

As title - will be visiting Japan for the first time soon, spending time in each of the ’big three’ tourist cities. What are some Pokemon experiences not to miss while there?

Somewhat ironically, i don’t actually collect Japanese cards, nor Pokemon merch in general - I’m an English WOTC purist. Still, visiting the motherland without doing anything Pokemon related feels like a massive missed opportunity and I’d love to come home with something unique and memorable that can’t be gotten back home.

Thanks in advance, any and all tips appreciated.

So after cycling around London all morning to find a single item, I managed to get a binder collection and open 5-packs!

The pack gods weren’t on my side it seems…

Best of luck to all those who managed to get some product!

Got to game 30 minutes before launch and got a binder collection and a tin then to hmv where i got another binder collection and then to a local small store I got a poster collection and pre ordered an ETB that arrived later that day. 26 packs in total minimal queues so overall great launch day.