eBay Pokémon Presales Raise Fraud Risks While Boosting GMV
Pokémon’s 30th anniversary trading card products will not be released until September, but eBay sellers began taking presale orders months earlier, with some listings priced hundreds of dollars above retail for products buyers may never receive.
One July 3 listing offered the Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Box for $279.99, more than four times the $59.99 price Pokémon Center charged when its own presales opened July 15.
The seller described the order as “confirmed” and disclosed a September 17 release date, while eBay told buyers to expect delivery between July 9 and July 16.
The official release date is September 16. Pokémon Center says its exclusive Elite Trainer Box is expected to ship in mid-September, making it impossible for an order from this listing to meet the displayed estimated delivery date.
eBay's presale policy says listings must "clearly state that they are presale in the title and description and guarantee shipment within 40 business days of purchase."
The policy also reflects federal mail-order rules requiring sellers to ship within the promised timeframe or obtain the buyer’s consent before delaying the order.
In practice, neither eBay’s policy nor the underlying consumer protections have stopped violating presales from proliferating across the platform. Buyers remain at risk of being defrauded.
Liz Morton
These listings are particularly risky because the eBay Money Back Guarantee generally requires an item-not-received claim to be opened within 30 calendar days after the estimated or actual delivery date.
When eBay displays an impossibly early delivery estimate for a September product, the protection clock can begin running before the item officially exists.
A buyer who contacts the seller after the estimate passes may be reminded that the description said September and encouraged to keep waiting. By the time it becomes clear the seller cannot or will not fulfill the order, the normal claim period may have expired.
Buyers may still pursue a chargeback or persuade eBay to issue a discretionary courtesy refund. I have personally helped buyers recover money in presale cases after eBay initially denied claims because too much time had passed. It should not take a social media pressure campaign to force the company to honor protections buyers thought they already had.
Presale fraud spans many categories on eBay, but the Pokémon listings are especially significant because the franchise has become increasingly important to the company’s collectibles strategy.
The company highlighted Pokémon several times in its first-quarter 2026 results, including a 30th anniversary eBay Live auction and Goldin’s record-breaking $16.5 million sale of a PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator card.
eBay also said its card-scanning tool had surpassed 30 million cumulative scans after expanding across the five largest collectible card game genres. The company reported total first-quarter GMV of $22.2 billion, up 18% year over year.
eBay does not disclose total Pokémon GMV or the revenue it earns from Pokémon transactions, making it impossible to quantify the franchise’s full contribution. Its marketing activity, product investment and repeated mentions to investors show the category is important enough to receive special attention.
Standard final value fees on collectible card game products are charged as a percentage of the total amount paid, including shipping and sales tax, while Promoted Listings can add another advertising charge. Whether the seller has secured inventory or is simply betting on obtaining it later makes no difference to the amount eBay earns from the transaction.
Those presales can also contribute to eBay’s headline growth metric.
eBay defines gross merchandise volume as the total value of paid transactions between users on its marketplace platforms during the applicable period, including shipping and taxes.
Because GMV is recorded when the buyer pays, a Pokémon presale completed before June 30 could be included in second-quarter results even though the product will not be released until September. July transactions would fall into the third quarter, regardless of whether the seller had secured inventory or shipped anything.
eBay does not adjust GMV for cancellations, returns or refunds, so the transaction remains counted even if the order is later canceled or refunded after a non-receipt claim.
Removing violating listings means giving up potential GMV, transaction fees and advertising revenue. Leaving them active allows eBay to record the transaction immediately while any fulfillment problem emerges weeks or months later.
This pattern has appeared repeatedly across other high-demand product launches.
In 2021, eBay promoted a Funko Funkoween event featuring hundreds of presales that failed to identify themselves properly or could not ship within the company’s then-current 30-day limit.
Liz Morton
After the violations were raised publicly, eBay acknowledged that some sellers had circumvented the policy and ended the promotion. Many of the listings remained active.
That same year, the company quickly removed Steam Deck reservation listings after they attracted widespread media coverage. Other violating presales involving Funko products, consoles and collectibles continued despite repeated reports.
The difference appeared to be attention rather than policy.
In 2022, eBay partnered directly on a MetaZoo Wilderness booster box presale scheduled roughly 60 days ahead, beyond the written limit in effect at the time.
Liz Morton
An eBay representative acknowledged the exception, explaining that the company could work with sellers on events extending beyond the normal presale period and provide additional protection if problems occurred.
The event sold 6,250 boxes in a matter of hours, representing more than $405,000 including shipping and an estimated $48,000 in base eBay fees at the rates then in effect.
Scalpers subsequently listed their own presales at higher prices, creating another round of transactions and fees.
In 2023, eBay extended the presale limit from 30 calendar days to 40 business days, formalizing a longer handling-time option it had already introduced.
Liz Morton
But the expanded limit did little to address enforcement. Products with release dates well beyond the permitted window continued appearing, including Trump sneakers sold in February 2024 for expected delivery in July.
eBay already scans listings and account activity for prohibited items, fraud and other policy violations, and has visibility into sudden waves of sellers offering the same unreleased product.
A comparison between the stated release date, handling time and estimated delivery date should be enough to flag the most obvious cases automatically.
A dedicated presale format could require an official release date, block delivery estimates that precede it and prevent sellers from accepting orders that cannot be shipped within the permitted window. eBay could also hold funds for higher-risk presales until shipment.
Pokémon’s staggered release schedule will create more opportunities for speculative listings through the fall, but the problem extends far beyond one anniversary launch.
Thousands of presales across eBay ask buyers to pay for products sellers do not yet possess and may not be able to deliver within the required timeframe.
The Pokémon listings are just the latest example of a system that generates GMV and fees long before anyone knows whether the promised product will arrive.
