Van Gogh Museum removes Pikachu promo card to combat Pokémon scalpers—but it’s not gone forever

The collaboration between Pokémon and the Amsterdam Van Gogh Museum has brought together some of the most devoted fans together to enjoy the once in a lifetime event between classical art and modern gaming—and attracted hordes of scalpers taking advantage of the limited edition merchandise.

An update today on the Van Gogh Museum website’s FAQs states that due to safety and security concerns for visitors and staff, the Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat promo card has been removed from the Museum, and will not be coming back for the rest of the series collaboration, which lasts until January 2024.

Initially, the Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat promo card was included with any purchase from the Pokémon x Van Gogh collection, but lead to public storming of the Museum’s store, with multiple videos showing price scalpers grabbing handfuls of the limited-edition merchandise with the intention to get as many promo cards while supplies lasted before listing them online for hiked-up prices on any bidding website.

The collaboration announcement and the perceived value of the Pikachu promo card unfortunately also inspired scalpers on an international scale. The Pokémon Center website, which allowed overseas fans to get the card as a bonus mail-in gift with any online purchase of the collection, also sold out of all merchandise in all regions within an hour of being listed, with eBay price scalped listings later popping up at six times the original asking price.

Community outrage to these events was so bad that multiple follow-up statements from The Pokémon Company were made, all addressing the problem and committing to allowing fans additional chances to obtain the cards online and in-person, with new rules set in place to discourage scalpers, such as a minimum purchase of $30 to qualify for the promo card and a limit of one card per order.

Despite the Van Gogh Museum removing the Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat for safety reasons, the FAQs included that residents of the Netherlands will have a second chance to obtain the promo card.  Instead of being stocked at the Van Gogh Museum, the promo card will be carried by participating Netherlands retailers in early 2024.

Unfortunately for international collectors, shipping from the Pokémon Center is still restricted to the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada. Fans not in those countries will have to wait for additional information to be later announced on the official Pokémon website and social media accounts leading up to the new promotion runs, or be restricted to buying from price scalpers, despite the efforts of The Pokémon Company.