Inside Tiktok's Viral Pokémon Craze: How 'Hit or Miss' Packs Created a Social Shopping Monster
By Alexander Ross
Platform operators have not ignored the risks entirely. Throughout 2025 and 2026, TikTok ramped up seller onboarding protocols, requiring higher documentation thresholds for collectables sellers and deploying automated algorithms to scrub blatant fake card listings. High-profile enforcement drives shutter thousands of accounts each quarter.
The structural problem lies in how fast modern fly-by-night sellers adapt. While legitimate brick-and-mortar stores must maintain permanent business licenses and local commercial leases, online sellers operate through disposable storefronts. When a suspicious shop gets flagged for counterfeit goods or unfulfilled orders, the operators abandon the profile, purchase pre-aged accounts, and bypass verification using straw identities.
Consumer recourse suffers as a result. Platform buyer protection policies were written for traditional e-commerce items, dresses, electronics, beauty supplies, where a defective item can be placed in a return box and mailed back for an automated refund. Live trading card sales do not fit neatly into that framework. Once a booster pack is sliced open on camera, sellers argue the merchandise has been unsealed and fundamentally altered. When a customer receives cards that fail an authentic surface test or suspect pack tampering, customer service agents often close tickets on grounds that the customer willingly authorized the immediate unboxing of a collectible item.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
