Any news on stock lists for this Friday for local retailers?

Went to big w yesterday had a chat with a worker I see there constantly he said they will be dropping the ascended heroes on Friday with the chaos rising drop I’m not sure if this is every store but maybe this might help people from waiting there on Monday morning 🤙🏽

There will also be a small amount of prismatic restock

Just to let everybody know. Multiple stores received a stock outage and the delivery did not show up. Management have advised it’s happened to multiple locations.

Only snagged 1 of each, 1 PP limit!

There seems to be a bit of confusion around this; so thought I’d quickly address it.

ICYMI - Big W are restocking a very small amount of ASC Bundles, Pris Posters, Pris 3-Pack and Pris Tins. Lots seemed to think it was a nation wide drop happening today - this is not true. If you got told this, then I’m sorry you were misled.

The truth: The stock is arriving and can be sold from today onwards. Not all at once - this is indicated by how many stores didn’t get the shipment and have zero stock to sell. There is no way to correctly predict when a store is receiving it, it’s completely random. Keep in mind that as this is a small restock, and completely random, I want to be realistic by telling you to keep your expectations low - and if you’re somehow lucky, then congratulations.

Keep in mind that most stores are receiving between 10 and 20 bundles and really not much of a difference for the other items - so again you’re going to have to be lucky to get your hands on anything.

Regarding the Paldean Fates Premium Collection

This product is apparently embargoed until early June, in line with the toy day sale - it’ll be the same as the Crown Zenith Sea and Sky Collection release last year. If you’re in a discord server, you may have seen the product pinging a lot. This does not mean it’s available to buy - it means there is stock is being scanned in.

We will know more about the exact release day when Big W announces the toy day sale catalogue.

I’m sorry if you lined up somewhere this morning based on the fact you thought a drop was happening.

I wish you luck on your chase to get the stock!

To Kmart Australia,

We are writing to you as a group of several Australian Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) communities, representing thousands of dedicated players, collectors, and parents of disappointed children. Our goal with this letter is to ensure that Pokémon TCG products remain accessible to genuine fans and customers.

The Current Challenge

The kmart.com.au online shopping experience for high-demand Pokémon releases is compromised and unusable. When Kmart lists new Pokémon TCG products, they frequently appear "in stock" on your website, yet human users are consistently unable to complete a purchase. These products are often completely sold out within seconds, all purchased by software robots, leaving genuine customers frustrated and unable to participate in the hobby.

The latest examples: 

• Today, 12th of May: Pokémon TCG Pokémon Trading Card Game: First Partner Illustration Collection Series 2
• In previous weeks: Ascended Heroes Booster Bundles, Elite Trainer Boxes - highly popular products and systematically purchased by bots, not humans

Technical Exploitation

This issue is driven by the use of automated "bot" software. This software does not navigate your website like a standard customer; instead, they utilise techniques to bypass the standard Kmart website or app. These methods include:

• API-Direct Checkout: Bots send data requests directly to your backend checkout and payment servers, skipping the "Add to Cart", shipping information and payment pages entirely, even if the product is not meant to be orderable yet. This means bots buy the products, owned/run by scalping opportunists, not real buyers.
• Fake order details: Bots cycle through names, credit cards, email and physical addresses, to maximise the amount of stock they can order automatically.
• Inventory Monitoring: Automated scripts scrape your servers at millisecond intervals to detect stock changes before they are even visible to the public.
• Automated browsing: Multiple automated instances act simultaneously to overwhelm the system and secure all available inventory before a human can click a single button.

Proposed Solutions

To level the playing field and ensure a fair distribution of products, we urge Kmart Australia to implement robust bot-mitigation strategies. Specifically, we recommend:

1. Advanced Captcha Systems: Implementing a challenge-response test (such as hCaptcha, reCAPTCHA v3, or Cloudflare Turnstile) at the point of adding items to the cart or at the final checkout stage.
2. Queueing Systems: Utilising a "waiting room" or queue for high-demand releases to process transactions in an orderly, human-verifiable manner. Cloudflare can offer you this capability.
3. Account limits: Ensure that TCG purchases require a one-pass subscription and enforce an account limit for each product.
4. Lottery: If you can’t invest in better technical systems like other stores have, stop selling online and ensure all stock is sold in-store, with a fair numbering or lottery system.

For the best successful examples of solutions, please refer to: JB-Hi-Fi and EB Games.

Call to Action

Facebook marketplace Australia is full of products that were purchased from Kmart, via bots run by scalpers, thereby taking advantage of collectors. We call on Kmart to implement a solution as soon as possible, with potential options outlined above. We call on Kmart to please stop helping scalpers profit. 

We are calling on the wider Australian TCG community to share this letter across social media platforms and community forums. By raising awareness, we hope to demonstrate to Kmart Australia that there is a significant demand for a secure, fair, and bot-free shopping environment.

We look forward to seeing Kmart take proactive steps to support the local Aussie TCG community.

Sincerely,

The Australian Pokémon TCG Collector Community

Is there a restock due this Friday at bigW for ascended hero’s? Seen a post from drop zone but unsure if it’s just clout?

In case you didn't know - if a product is still available on EB Games after a week of it being listed for preorder, you can order up to the limit again. The fine print for this - it has to be 7 days and 1 minute after your previous order.

E.g. You ordered at 8:05am on Friday - you can order more at 8:06am the next Friday.

The only down side right now - Pitch Black only has 2 items left to preorder:

Booster Pack (Order 36 and get a sealed booster box) - https://www.ebgames.com.au/product/toys-and-collectibles/342554-pokemon-tcg-mega-evolution-pitch-black-booster

3-Pack Blister - https://www.ebgames.com.au/product/toys-and-collectibles/342552-pokemon-tcg-mega-evolution-pitch-black-3-pack-blister

Chaos Rising is only a couple of weeks away, and there's still a couple items left for that set too:

Booster Pack (Order 36 and get a sealed booster box) - https://www.ebgames.com.au/product/toys-and-collectibles/340997-pokemon-tcg-mega-evolution-chaos-rising-booster

3-Pack Blister - https://www.ebgames.com.au/product/toys-and-collectibles/340995-pokemon-tcg-mega-evolution-chaos-rising-3-pack-blister

Checklane Blister - https://www.ebgames.com.au/product/toys-and-collectibles/340999-pokemon-tcg-mega-evolution-chaos-rising-checklane-blister

Hopefully in future this helps you get more product and bang for your buck with EB Plus!

I’ve been seeing some chatter that Woolworths have stocked cards before and are stocking them again very soon. Can anyone confirm this and maybe have any info on what stores? Please and Thankyou