Local games stores have been offered a unique opportunity for Disney Lorcana, the new trading card game from Ravensburger that launched this past weekend. For the first six sets - new expansions of the game release𓆏d quarterly - local game stores can sell product exclusively for two weeks before big box retailers like Walmart and Best Buy. Ryan Miller, brand manager and co-designer of Lorcana, says “we want the hobby stores to know we see them as our partners, and we want new TCꦇG players, many of whom may have never been to a store like that, to come in and discover how amazing they are.”
As well-intentioned as that plan might be, the consequence of giving local stores exclusive access to product means that a small group of people have, at✨ least for a short period of time, complete control over the supply. Unsurprisingly, many stores are seizing the opportunity to charge double, or even triple the MSRP for Lorcana product.
As a result, customers - many who are brand new to TCGs just as Miller suggests - are venturing into their LGS to check out the new game and discovering unexpected and obscene prices. The exclusive window is meant to get people into their local game stores so they can build communities around Lorcana, but some are left feeling taken advantage of or🍨 priced out by their LGS. Instead of using this unique opportunity to grow their customer base, many stores only seem to care about the short-term profits they can make during their brief window of exclusivity.
This is an especially bitter pill for people that don’t have experience with other TCGs, because they may not understand that it’s normal for game stores to sell above MSRP. This happens for a few reasons. First, your LGS can’t sell through product at the same scale as a Target or Walmart, which can move tens of thousands of units a day and make a sizable profit on thin margins. Game stores have margins on product too, but they often need to widen it a bit to make a reasonable profit. Your LGS also offers a lot more than a big box stor🙈e can. They provide space to play, organize👍 events, and have knowledgeable staff that is trained up on each game. It’s also just good to support local businesses when you can, rather than giant corporations, even if the prices are a little bit higher.
But local game stores aren’t just charging a premium for Lorcana right now, they’re actively price gouging. I asked Lorcana fans on Twitter and Discord to share examples of what their LGS is charging fo🥀r product, and received dozens of examples of stores charging 2-3x MSRP all over the country. A store in Arizona sold booster packs for $15 (MSRP $5.99) and starter decks for $40 (MSRP $16.99). One in California sold Treasure Troves for $140 ($49.99 MSRP). Another in Ohio is asking $275 for booster boxes ($143.76 MSRP) and $60 for Gift Sets ($29.99 🐎MSRP). These are not outliers, this is how most LGSs in North America are pricing Lorcana this week.
These prices are also consistent with the current market price listed on TCGPlayer, an online, third-party marketplace where individuals and retailers can list TCG product for sale. And while TCGPlayer’s market value listing is typically a realistic reflection of the going rate for TCG product (and the source we use for our various card price lists), the stores that are basing their prices on TCGPlayer are ente𒐪ring into a feedback loop of rising prices that doesn’t take into account the unique situation they’re in with Lorcana.
Other than what was sold at Gen Con earlier this month, local game stores control 100 percent of the Lorcana supply. Everything listed on TCGPlayer is coming directly from local game stores (despite the fact that ). The market price that retailers are basing their own pricing on has been directly set by other retailers. It isn't direct, collaborative price fixing, but it’s as close as you can legally get to it.
Retailers will say that pricing their product near market value is designed to deter scalpers so that cards get directly into the hands of players, but if the customer is being charged scalper prices, it doesn’t really matter to them whether they’re paying a store or paying a reseller for the product. It’s also a disingenuous excuse for profiteering when there are other ways to deter resellers without gouging your customers, like only selling products to those who participate in organized play events, or uti♔lizing a customer loyalty system.
I don’t begrudge game stores that want to make money. These stores aren’t breaking the law, and from a cert꧋ain perspective they’re doing exactly what free market capitalism expects them to do. But I do think this is a short-sighted decision to make maximum profits today at the expense of building customer loyalty, supporting the budding Lorcana comওmunity, and protecting this incredible advantage they’ve been given over big box stores. The two week exclusivity period was not designed to be used this way, and it doesn’t benefit customers - as we’ll surely see when prices crash on September 1 as big box stores start selling Lorcana. Ravensburger only committed to 18 months of first-to-LGS support, and it seems unlikely this scheme will continue if it leaves players feeling taken advantage of.
Ultimately, it is the consumers that set the price, and these stores wouldn’t be able to price things so high if no one was willing to pay for them. This also wouldn’t be as big of an issue if Ravensburger had better-anticipated demand and been able to deliver a healthy supply of product to stores. But none of this excuses stores from price gouging. It’s not in the spirit of what Ravensburger intended with the exclusive window, and it doesn’t serve the customers either. Lorcana players should remember the stores that adhered to MSRP and res𓆏isted ripping off their customers, knowing full well the special circumstances surrounding it, and perhaps decide to pay them a visit when they next need Lorcana cards.