The Pokemon Company has issued an apology after merchandise from the Pokemon x Van Gogh Museum collaboration was bought out by scalpers.

The Pokemon Company is now facing some adversity after scalpers cleared their stock of Pokemon x Van Gogh Museum collaboration merchandise minutes after the exhibit started.

“We apologize to all the fans eagerly awaiting our Pokemon Center x Van Gogh Museum release today. Due to overwhelming demand, all our products from this collection have sold out.” they said.

Most of special edition items were sold out within minutes, despite being meant to be available throughout the duration of the exhibit, which will be ongoing from 28th September 2023 to 7th January 2024.

Scalpers have since listed the products up for sale on eBay, charging exorbitant amounts of money, sometimes even 100 times the original value.

“We understand this is disappointing to many who were looking to our official email and social media channels for guidance on how and when to purchase. We are actively working on ways to provide more “Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat” promo cards for fans shopping at Pokemon Center in the future. Details will be released at a later date.” they said.

Fans seem to be unhappy with the way that Pokemon seems to be handling the situation, as they do not address nor discouraged the activities of scalpers in their apology, but merely just provided more avenues for scalpers to get their hands on more product.

“Blah blah blah we just want the money, blah blah blah we can completely regulate this but wont, keep buying we dont care.” one fan said in response to the apology.

The scalping is largely caused by a promotion where every product purchased will come with a “Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat” promo card, causing scalpers to clear the stock to get their hands on said cards.

Meanwhile in the Pokemon at Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam… 🤦‍♂️#Pokemon pic.twitter.com/1pQxo4EcXF

— Pokemon Deals Community (@deals_pokemon) September 28, 2023

Moreover, scalping was made easy as they didn’t need a ticket to buy the merchandise, which caused chaos at the gift store, with scalpers rushing to buy as many products as possible.