A GameStop customer in Grapevine, Texas, has set the record for the highest value trade-in at one of the company’s stores.
As detailed in a statement by GameStop, a customer brought in an authenticated PSA 10 Holo Gengar Pokémon card for trade-in on Monday (Dec. 1). The company performed a verification of the card due to its market valuation of $33,883, and issued a payout to the customer of $30,494.70.
“This event now constitutes the most valuable single trade-in ever recorded in GameStop history,” the statement reads.
The company also took a moment to playfully troll customers who have criticized its trade-in values.
“Furthermore, any trolls who publicly claim that GameStop trade-in values are bad are hereby factually and demonstrably incorrect,” the statement continues. “Any prior and ongoing objections to our trade values are now deemed without merit and factually invalid.”
Pokémon cards have fetched insane prices over the past few years, especially when it comes to rare Charizard or Pikachu cards. In 2022, YouTuber Logan Paul broke the Guinness World Record for most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at a private sale after he purchased a PSA Grade 10 Pikachu Illustrator card for $5,275,000. He admitted that it cost more than his 84-acre ranch.
Other rare cards have sold upwards of $400,000 in trades over the years, per Table Top Gaming. Last year, Paul attempted to bolster his collection when he dropped $3.5 million on what he said were unopened boxes of first-edition cards. When he opened the package, however, he discovered it was filled with G.I. Joe cards instead.
Earlier this year, a man in Australia was assaulted and robbed when he met up with someone in a parking lot to trade a holographic Charizard card. There was also a dispute over Pokémon cards outside a GameStop store in the Bay Area in July, which ultimately led to one person being stabbed. So yeah, there's big money in the world of Pokémon card trading.