The Pokémon Company, a Japanese corporation, is planning to introduce mandatory user verification using government documents to crack down on speculators and scalpers. The new anti-scalping system could come into effect as early as August 2026 when selling scarce goods and collectible card games.
The Pokémon Company, a Japanese corporation, is planning to introduce mandatory user verification using government documents to crack down on speculators and scalpers. The new anti-scalping system could come into effect as early as August 2026 when selling scarce goods and collectible card games.
This is stated in the material of Dexerto. In the first stage, the initiative will be implemented in Japan, where the system will be integrated with the state digital ID cards «My Number Card». The innovations will be used to verify the identities of players during online lotteries, order high-demand goods and register for official tournaments.
To verify identity, customers will have to scan their ID card with a smartphone through a specialized external verification service linked to the user’s profile. The Pokémon Company emphasizes that it will not collect or store customers' personal identification numbers, as the verification will be based solely on electronic security certificates embedded in the card’s chip.
The new scheme will apply to high-demand items on the official Pokémon Center online store. It is currently unknown whether the developers plan to scale this practice to the international market, but experts expect that such a move will help significantly reduce the influence of bots and resellers who currently control the collectibles market.
The Pokémon merch and trading card game market has been plagued by shortages and aggressive scalping in recent years. Recently, limited edition prints of the brand were resold on the secondary market for $500, and branded display cases stolen from American Target supermarkets were showing up on eBay for thousands of dollars.
