Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has sparked a thriving black market, with players buying and selling digital cards online through its contentious trading system.

Numerous listings for Pokémon TCG Pocket cards have surfaced on eBay, with prices ranging from $5 to $10 per card. This is enabled by the game’s new trading feature, where sellers exchange friend codes with buyers to transfer cards.

A $5.99 listing for a Starmie ex, for instance, requires buyers to have 500 Trade Tokens, one Trade Stamina, and an "unwanted Pokémon ex" to swap for the desired card.

This practice raises concerns. It violates Pokémon TCG Pocket’s terms of service, which prohibit "buying or selling virtual content or data." Yet, sellers lose nothing, as they trade for a card of equal rarity, allowing them to repeat the process.

The buyer trades an unneeded card for a desired one, resembling a standard trade despite the cost, but the seller retains their inventory. Trading restrictions ensure only cards of the same rarity can be swapped, so sellers gain another ex Pokémon to sell again.

Countless eBay listings offer ex Pokémon and 1 Star alternate art cards, the rarest tradable items, with prices varying widely. Entire accounts, including Pack Hourglasses and rare cards, are also for sale, a common practice in online games despite breaching terms.

The trading feature in Pokémon TCG Pocket stirred controversy upon its debut last week, though this online black market isn’t directly tied to those grievances.

Besides the mechanic limiting pack openings, Wonder Picking, or excessive trading without real-world spending, the feature introduced Trade Tokens. Players criticized their steep cost, requiring the deletion of five cards to trade one of equal rarity.

Yet, this black market would likely exist even without trading restrictions. The only connection to player complaints is the system’s simplicity, as trading requires friendship with another player.

Some players, like siraquakip on Reddit, sought "a secure way for the community to connect." Many advocate for public in-app trading to eliminate reliance on external platforms like Reddit, Discord, and eBay to find desired cards.

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Developer Creatures Inc. has cautioned players against trading cards for real money or cheating, stating before trading launched that "if we detect violations of the Terms of Use, we will issue warnings, suspend accounts, or take further action."

Ironically, the unpopular Trade Tokens were meant to curb system exploitation, like the tactics used by eBay sellers. Clearly ineffective, this mechanic has alienated much of the community from the developer.

The company is "actively exploring improvements" to the trading system but has shared no details, despite complaints beginning three weeks ago when the feature was announced.

Fans argue trading was designed to boost revenue for Pokémon TCG Pocket, which reportedly earned half a billion dollars in under three months before trading existed.

This is further supported by the inability to trade cards of 2 Star rarity or higher. If players could easily trade for missing cards, they wouldn’t spend $10, $100, or more for a chance to obtain them. One player spent roughly $1,500 to complete the first set, and the third set arrived last week.