Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Retail giants have been urged to step up their game amid claims scalpers armed with automated software are threatening the future of a popular, decades-old hobby for real collectors.
Melbourne father Kym O’Brien wants Kmart and Target to take action against “the plague of auto-checkout bots” which he said are robbing traditional Pokemon card enthusiasts and families of the chance to buy the latest sets.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: The real reason fans line up for the beloved trading cards
He said online stocks are depleted almost instantly, with “everyday customers” unable to add the hot commodity to their cart before they are sold out.
“Those that have tried will know exactly what we’re talking about – the constant refreshing of your page trying to get the add-to-cart button to work, and if it does, getting error after error in the checkout page due to the server timing out,” O’Brien said in an online petition that has gathered more than 4000 signatures.
“Checkout”, “scalping” and “shopping” bots automate the process for buying scarce, high-demand goods.
They can monitor for a release, add to cart, check out at lightning speed, and repeat that process across a number of accounts, pocketing more stock than per-customer limits allow.
“It’s not just a few rogue purchases – automated traffic often overwhelms retailer websites during these launches,” Fastly director Liam Mayron said.
Experts say they can even uncover hidden product pages before they are publicly available.
One Pokemon card collector highlighted the issue on Thursday, claiming on Reddit that more than 5000 units were “just botted through Kmart’s backend” before human buyers even knew they were there.
“It’s part of a big issue within the trading card game community because at this point, you are more guaranteed a product lining up (outside a store) at a ridiculous time,” Sydney card collector Sebastian-Felipe Castano told 7NEWS.com.au.
O’Brien said he had been a fan of the Pokemon franchise since it launched in the 1990s, and had passed on the passion to his two young girls.
He was inspired to start the petition when he was unable to get his hands on any special 30th anniversary releases through Kmart or Target.
He had wanted to buy them for his daughters as a reward for their hard work.
The problem is not just limited to retailers in Australia.
And in another blow for those that miss out, the packs, boxes and bundles are often put up for re-sale on online market places for exorbitant prices within minutes.
O’Brien said “it’s extremely frustrating”.
“It’s the greedy few that’s actually taking away from the majority, and they’re doing it for their own benefit,” he told 7NEWS.com.au.
“I’ve looked at raising the petition because I want parents to be able to have the chance to actually buy their kids something … at a reasonable price.”
He conceded many long-term collectors are tired of the constant battle to land one of the latest trading card sets.
“It’s almost killing the hobby,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien wants Kmart and Target to introduce protections similar its competitors, and said through his petition that parent company Wesfarmers needs to be aware of the problem.
“Kmart Australia very clearly knows there’s importance in setting limits for customers purchasing the stock – this is reflected in their in-store release day policies, where items over $20 are one per person and anything under that is five per person,” he said.
“The online system also has limits per transaction – however there is no limit as to how many times a customer is able to submit multiple orders for the same product. We don’t understand why Kmart doesn’t block this behaviour.
“EB Games has hard limits per account and manually validate each account to see who breaks the terms and conditions.
“JB Hi-Fi have a verification process where if you place orders for a product you’ve already purchased in the last 12 months, they automatically cancel your order.
“This indicates it can be done – there just needs to be a level of effort actually put in.”
Kmart ‘reviewing customer feedback’
7NEWS.com.au reached out to Wesfarmers about potential network-wide action against bots and scalpers.
A Kmart spokesperson said it is considering consumer feedback.
“We know how disappointing it can be for customers to miss out on highly sought-after Pokemon products,” they told 7NEWS.com.au.
“Kmart has measures in place to support fair access to high-demand products and to protect our online shopping experience.
“We don’t provide details of our technological safeguards, as doing so could undermine those controls.
“We take concerns about product availability and the customer experience seriously and are reviewing the feedback we have received.
“We will continue to monitor high-demand releases and our processes to help provide a fair experience for customers.”
