Costco just launched an online queue for a 2-pack Pokémon 30th Anniversary bundle with an Elite Trainer Box with nine booster packs, dice, card sleeves, and a Nidoran promo card. The second part of the bundle is a 30th Anniversary Booster product with six TCG packs. You can enter the digital line here; the event officially begins at 12:42 PST.
Why is Costco's Pokémon drop such a good deal?
The manufacturer's suggested retail price for the ETB alone is $49.99; the Booster Bundle is around $26.99. Most stores, such as Target, sell these products with a markup — the ETB alone is $69.99. Market prices, which you'll find on places like Facebook or TCGPlayer, are nearly double MSRP.
Somehow, Costco is selling its ETB and Booster Bundle combo for a mere $57.49. (Insert the head explosion emoji here.) And if that weren't enough, Costco also concurrently just launched a digital queue for an affordable set of Ascended Heroes mini-tins that you can enter here.
There's a good chance that the drop could go sideways, as has been the case in the past for Costco and Pokémon cards. The selection process also isn't first-come-first-serve — Costco selects participants at random. It is typical for the page to struggle to load at first. Once you're in, you have 10 minutes to complete your purchase. It may take over an hour to get through the queue, but there's no telling if stock will actually last that long. If you are on the app, the page will refresh on its own; don't navigate away or refresh!
Do I need a Costco membership to buy the Pokémon 30th Anniversary bundle or Ascended Heroes?
You do — Costco employees won't let you into a store without one. You also need a membership to purchase online.
How much ETB and Booster Bundle stock will Costco have?
Online, we have no idea. In-store, for the current lineup, third-party distributors suggest Costco's TCG shipments are large. My closest store, for example, is expected to be somewhere between 720 and 1,200 units. Other stores in my vicinity are estimated to have just under 5,000 units. You can check out regional shipment breakdowns here.
When will Costco start selling the Pokémon bundles?
The online queue for the bundle is live as of Nov. 13. For in-person drops, it's difficult to access when sales begin even with specific stock estimates. The aforementioned shipments aren't arriving all at once, and stores decide when to put pallets on the sales floor. Some shipments have only been ordered, while others are actively in transit. Some locations, like a handful in Texas, have already sold their initial inventory. In other cases, stores that were going to participate in the offer dropped out over the last few days. If your store is going to receive a shipment, the only certainty is that the store will put out the boxes soon.
The best way to keep track of these drops is to join a Discord server like PokeBratz, or to search Facebook for local groups that post regional updates. Just be aware that, in many cases, there's a gap between when a drop begins and when news spreads. Usually, when a user in a Facebook group tells others about a Pokémon drop, that stock disappears in 30 minutes or less. Plan accordingly.
Will Costco sell the UPC?
If you strike out both IRL and online, don't lose hope. Pokémon restock Discord servers report that Costco will begin sales for a two-pack of the 30th Anniversary Ultra Premium Collection. The bundle consists of one Day-themed box and one Night-themed box, and it'll allegedly cost $288. For the sake of comparison, Target sells a single UPC for $249.99 — and resale prices for each variant are well over $300. Geez.
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Image: Nintendo | Graphic: Polygon
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