The Ridiculous Price One McDonald's Pokémon Card Sold For
On February 25, a single non-holographic Pikachu card from the 25th anniversary Pokémon Happy Meal set sold on eBay for $500. Why'd this McDonald's Pokémon card sell for so much? Game Rant explains that the card was cut with diagonal edges instead of curved ones. This gave the Pokémon card a unique identity and a higher price point, even though it lacked the holographic background that tends to command more money. Despite the stories of other exorbitantly priced Pokémon cards, Game Rant notes that the value of this card is due to the scalping that occurred around the launch of the Happy Meal set. People would buy multiple toys that go with the Happy Meal in an attempt to collect the entire set easily — or worse, to control the entire availability of the cards in a certain area, which has led to a rise in prices. Once the excitement dies down, you could expect prices for the Pokémon cards to drop as well.
Other artificially high prices noted by Sportskeeda included a set of 150 cards for $1,000 and the entire McDonald's set of 50 cards for $500, both perhaps a tad more understandable than the single card going for $500.
McDonald's and Pokémon addressed the issue
Faced with certain adult individuals hogging all of the promotional gifts meant for kids, McDonald's began to limit the number of toys and Happy Meals available. IGN reported on February 11 that McDonald's corporate had begun to strongly encourage such restrictions on goods. Already, at that point, packs of the promotional cards were being sold for over $1,000. While McDonald's was, of course, happy with the attention that their attention-seeking promotion received, they still put out a statement reading: "We want to offer the full Happy Meal experience to as many families as possible, and help ensure everyone is able to get in on the fun!"
At the time, however, the Pokémon company too was making moves to address the issue. In a Tweet, the company announced that due to the difficulty fans were having in purchasing cards, they were reprinting them so that fans could enjoy them without shelling out $1,000. It will take a while for the $500 Pikachus to vanish, but steps are in place that will destabilize the artificially high prices that led to this absurdity.