Here we are. We are officially in it.

Storm Emeralda M6 is now out in Japan, Pokémon’s 30th anniversary celebrations are ramping up, and the temperature in the TCG market is rising rather quickly.

This release schedule clearly brings back memories of Super Electric Breaker, Terastal Festival ex and Glory of Team Rocket: several highly anticipated products arriving close together, demand exploding, and half the community searching for the same displays at the same time.

Pokémon’s marketing team has cooked up another particularly explosive period for us.

But before we board this hype roller coaster, ladies and gentlemen, a quick safety announcement:

Please fasten your seat belts.

The one-minute check before ordering

You have found a highly sought-after product on a shop you have never heard of?

Before paying, check these five things:

• Is the price consistent with the rest of the market?
• Can you identify a real company or person behind the website?
• Are the sales, shipping and return conditions clearly explained?
• Does the shop have a genuine history online?
• Does the payment method offer any protection if something goes wrong?

One unusual detail proves nothing.

However, a miraculous price combined with no identifiable owner, no online history and payment by bank transfer only starts to form a rather lovely bouquet of red flags.

The hype attracts collectors… but not only collectors

Many new Pokémon TCG shops are currently appearing, and that is generally a very good thing. As both a collector and an entrepreneur, I genuinely respect the work required to launch a business in this market.

A new shop is obviously not automatically a dishonest shop.

Pokelu is still young too. It would therefore be rather bold of us to claim that every business created after ours is suspicious, haha.

Unfortunately, periods of intense demand also attract people with less admirable intentions.

When a product becomes difficult to find, prices increase and collectors start worrying about missing a release, dishonest websites have the perfect environment in which to operate.

They are not only selling Pokémon cards. They are mainly selling urgency:

“Only two displays left.”

“Special offer ending tonight.”

“Sold out everywhere else, but fortunately we still have 47 boxes available.”

When you have been searching for a product for several weeks, it becomes very easy to want to believe them.

I am writing this article partly to add useful content to our website and improve our Google rankings — hehe, there is no shame in admitting it — but mainly to prevent an enjoyable part of the hobby from becoming a very unpleasant experience.

I have personally fallen for one of these websites before, so I also want to make one thing clear:

There is no shame in being deceived.

Some websites are extremely convincing. They may have a clean design, detailed terms and conditions, customer support, reviews and even the identity of a real company copied onto the website.

The goal is not to blame victims. It is simply to develop a few useful reflexes.

1. Be careful with miraculous offers

I would also love to return to the blessed era when certain Pokémon 151 products could be found for less than CHF 50.

I would love Destined Rivals to be more affordable, rare cards to cost less and every booster I open to contain the best card in the set.

Unfortunately, none of these scenarios appears to be scheduled for the immediate future.

A low price is not proof of anything. A shop may be clearing stock, reducing its margin or benefiting from favourable supplier conditions.

However, when an unknown website offers a product that is unavailable everywhere else, far below the usual market price and in apparently unlimited quantities, take a moment to ask why.

Shops also have to purchase their products at a certain price. When an offer appears economically impossible, sometimes it simply is.

2. Check who is actually behind the website

Before placing your first order, look for:

• the name of the company or person responsible;
• a complete postal address;
• a coherent business email address;
• a genuine way to contact the shop;
• terms and conditions;
• clear shipping and return information.

Yes, terms and conditions are long.

Yes, nobody wakes up with an uncontrollable desire to read six pages about returning a Pokémon display.

But at least check that these pages exist and that the information is consistent.

Documents mentioning another shop, several different company names, an unrelated address or rules copied from a different country are important warning signs.

Creating a convincing-looking website is relatively easy today.

Creating a real business, answering customers and actually shipping orders is already a slightly different adventure, hehe.

3. Check the official business register

If a shop claims to be operated by a registered Swiss company, you can search for it through Zefix, the Swiss Central Business Name Index.

You can use it to check information such as:

• the company’s official name;
• its legal structure;
• its registered address;
• its current status;
• and the people authorised to represent it.

Not every very small business will necessarily appear in the register, as registration requirements depend on its legal structure and circumstances.

However, if a website explicitly claims to belong to a registered Swiss company and that company is missing, inactive or linked to entirely different people, ask for an explanation before paying.

Registration does not guarantee perfect service.

It does at least confirm that an identifiable legal entity exists behind the website.

And having an official contact in case of a problem is still slightly more reassuring than sending twelve unanswered messages to a random Gmail address.

4. Look for a history, not just a rating

Google and Trustpilot reviews can be useful, but do not look only at the average score.

Check:

• when the reviews were published;
• whether they appeared gradually or all at once;
• how detailed they are;
• whether customers added photographs;
• and how the shop responds to criticism.

A small business with eight detailed reviews spread over several months may be more reassuring than a website that suddenly received fifty perfect reviews in three days.

A flawless score is not always more credible either.

Every real business eventually encounters a delayed shipment, a damaged parcel, a misunderstanding or a customer who believes the shop personally controls the entire Swiss postal system.

What matters is also how the business reacts when something goes wrong.

Check its social media presence as well:

• How long has the account existed?
• Are the posts spread over time?
• Do the photographs appear original?
• Does the shop interact with real customers?

A shop does not need 20,000 followers to be legitimate. It simply needs to leave coherent signs that a real activity exists.

Pokelu is still a young shop and is probably not in the strongest position to lecture anyone about their number of reviews…

But it is entirely within your power to change that, haha.

5. Examine the payment methods

Be particularly careful when an unfamiliar shop accepts only:

• a bank transfer;
• cryptocurrency;
• a transfer to a private individual;
• or another method offering almost no possibility of dispute.

A bank transfer is not automatically suspicious. Many perfectly legitimate Swiss businesses accept them.

The problem begins when a difficult-to-recover payment is combined with an unrealistic price, an unidentifiable business and no genuine history.

6. Contact the shop when in doubt

Before placing an expensive order, simply ask whether the product is genuinely in stock, when it will be shipped or how a preorder will be handled.

Not every small TCG business has the customer service department of a multinational company.

The same person may be handling suppliers, listings, orders, social media and the cardboard boxes that decided to disappear precisely on restock day.

What matters is whether the reply is:

• clear;
• personalised;
• consistent;
• and compatible with the information shown on the website.

A few hours without a reply is obviously not dramatic.

A shop that accepts your payment immediately and then becomes impossible to contact is much less reassuring.

No single sign is enough

A new shop may have only a few reviews.

An honest seller may offer a genuinely excellent price.

A small website may contain a few mistakes.

A legitimate order may also be delayed.

Instead of searching for one magical proof, consider the overall picture:

• Is the price believable?
• Can the business be identified?
• Is the information consistent?
• Does it have a real online history?
• Can you contact someone?
• Does the payment method offer reasonable protection?

Several negative answers should encourage you to walk away, however tempting the product may be.

What should you do if you have already paid?

1. Keep the invoice, order confirmation, screenshots and all messages.
2. Contact the shop immediately in writing.
3. Ask your bank or payment provider whether the transaction can be disputed.
4. If you have suffered a financial loss, report the website and contact the police.

Do not wait for several weeks simply because the seller promises every three days that “the parcel will be shipped tomorrow”.

Enjoy the hype without losing your head

Storm Emeralda M6 and Pokémon’s 30th anniversary should above all be an enjoyable period for collectors.

Some products will be heavily sought after. Availability may be limited and prices may move quickly.

That does not mean you need to order in a panic from the first unknown website claiming to have stock.

Take a few minutes to check the business, compare prices and confirm that a real person exists behind the shop.

On our side, seeing Pokelu grow has been extremely rewarding. We are already starting to recognise certain names among our orders and to welcome the same customers back regularly.

That genuinely means a lot to us.

It also requires us to remain exemplary: clear information, accurately identified products, stock presented as transparently as possible and a real person available when something goes wrong.

That should simply be the standard.

But during a period when hype attracts both collectors and opportunists, repeating the basics never hurts.

Storm Emeralda M6 will be joining the Pokelu catalogue very soon.