A SOLUTION to ID has been urged by shoppers at Best Buy and Target as they face issue buying a popular game on shelves.
The craze for the iconic brand has led to retail systems becoming overwhelmed with bots buying up all of the product.
A solution to ID has been urged by shoppers at Best Buy and Target as they face issue buying a popular game on shelves[/caption]
The US Sun has previously reported on the call from customers to put purchase limit on Pokémon items.
Shoppers at Dollar General were struggling to get their hands on Pokémon cards because they kept being bought up.
One person demanded on X: “@DollarGeneral Put a d*mn limit on how many Pokémon tins people can buy to 3 or something.
“It wrecks it for people like my son who saves his allowance to buy one.
“NO reason not too. Our store said a lady came from 2.5 hrs away & purchased all 36 tins.”
The same issue has also been reported at Walmart, per The US Sun.
In this instance, the customer claimed that the whole section in the store had been destroyed.
They said: “Sad day my son been wanting Pokémon cards, they are so hard to find every place is sold out.
“He got excited when he saw these Pokémon mystery power boxes at Walmart but someone destroyed the whole section & stole everything.
“Why do people have to be like that? @Walmart @Pokemon.”
This led to Pokémon themselves speaking out about a purchase policy, which the brand stood behind, The US Sun revealed in May.
The company said: “You may only purchase products from the Site or through the Services for personal use by either yourself or your intended recipient of the products.
“We may place a limit on the quantities that may be purchased per order, per account, per credit card, per person, or per household.
“We reserve the right, without prior notice, to refuse service to any customer or reject any order at any time and refund any money you have paid for such order.”
Target’s anti-theft measures
Target has implemented multiple anti-theft measures to combat crime in the store.
The retail giant has placed some items behind locked cases, which has resulted in customer backlash.
In April 2024, reports surfaced that it is planning to add TruScan cameras to its self-checkout registers.
Target also added weight sensors to its self-checkout registers in another move to combat theft.
BOT PROB
Now, a series of posts on the social media platform have accused Best Buy, Walmart and Target of suffering a bot problem when buying Pokémon items.
Various shoppers have called for ID verification systems that stop bot accounts buying lots of Pokémon items, which inevitably go onto to be upsold on sites like eBay.
One post said: “@Walmart @Target @BestBuy desperately need to add a ID verification system for accounts in order to buy high demand items and solve the botting issue already, if botters are limited to 1 account they wont be such a damn issue, how this hasn’t been solved already is mind blowing.”
If bot accounts, or any account for that matter, isn’t facing purchasing limits, it allows large amounts of Pokémon cards to be bought without a policy in place to stop it.
This demand was echoed in a similar post on X: “@Target you people need to fix your system for buying Pokémon.
“You have bots buying literally every single thing before I can even get the app open or click the link to go to buy it.
“Make a queue system and limit buys. It’s a complete joke as it is now and everyone knows it.”
There has been no official word from any of the three retailers if a purchase limit will be put in place.
Many retailers have policies to stop bots already, requiring different forms of verification to confirm the buyer is a human.
The US Sun revealed that Best Buy has previously used product limits for Pokémon-related items.
The US Sun has reached out to Best Buy, Walmart and Target for comment on a potential product limit on Pokémon products.
The US Sun has previously reported on the call from customers to put purchase limit on Pokémon items[/caption]
