Daelum said:
Honestly, I don't even want to comment on your opinion on weighing packs. Actually, I will, because it needs to be said. Weighing packs is unfair for everyone but the person doing the weighing. Before I begin, I just want to say that buying booster packs is almost always a waste of money - it always has been, and it always will be; the odds are too unbalanced to make a $4 pack worth the money a majority of the time. Yes, you can go buy 1 pack and get an expensive card, but that rarely happens. Okay, moving on, weighing packs is unfair - let's use an example. I buy a Plasma Freeze booster box. I weigh all 36 packs. I keep the heaviest packs for myself, open them, and pull all the URs from the box. I then go and sell the unopened packs to someone who does not know I weighed them - whether it is online or in person does not matter. The buyer generally believes that they have some chance of pulling a UR, or at least a holo. Of course, they know the risks of opening packs, but they are willing to take the risk. Now, since I weighed the packs, the risk involved in opening packs drastically changes. No longer is there a possibility of them getting a UR or a holo. The odds have disappeared. Do you see why this is unfair? If you do not inform the buyer that the packs are weighed, you are cheating them out of the fairness of having that random chance.
First of all let me state that scaling is immoral and I do not weigh packs at the store. I used to weigh packs from booster boxes I bought, pull the ultra rares but try to keep some of the regular holos in the packs and put them in lots of 4-5 with 1-2 heavy boosters and sell them. I realized this wasn't right and was unfair, despite somewhat evening the odds, I still felt guilty. I stopped and now try to discourage scaling whenever I come across it and discussions pertaining to weighing. I still weigh my own packs mainly for curiosity but I can predict which packs will have ultra rares/holos by writing stuff down and making an educated guess.
With that out of the way, we have to accept that scaling is the reality. Usually retail places like Wal-Mart or Target will be scaled and all thats left is junk. Unfortunately it's also the most likely place kids buy their boosters, when they're out with the parents shopping. It's also the place you're least likely to get caught scaling, or the employees there don't care. It's a large store too, so you can probably scale in peace anyway.
It's how it is. I don't agree with it, I don't participate, but I don't waste energy trying to argue that it's not the reality. All you can do is try and educate people that scaling happens and how to avoid it.
Big retailers with their cards behind glass are less likely to be scaled too, along with local card shops with boxes on or near the counter or behind glass as well. Places that host tournaments are pretty much guaranteed to leave their boxes alone and enforce strict rules on scaling, but your milage may vary.
For online sellers you have to scour their feedback. Do they also sell singles? If they do, they have an automatic conflict of interest. Is Pokemon their specialty or do they stock other card games, or other items in general? What's their volume like? All these can point to signs of scaling. Try and look for other reviews like their facebook page.
Other online retailers with their own website like pokemonforever are less likely to scale their packs and have generally good reputations.
All this still doesn't help that little kid who gets a random pack here and there or the random collector who buys a few packs with their groceries, which sucks, but we can't do much about except try to inform as many people as possible.
Bo$$_89 said:
Still, think of the little kid going to Wal Mart. He plays the Pokemon games, trades cards with his friends, and has no idea that there is actually a competitive way to play Pokemon. His mom lets him buy packs once a week for allowance, and they're always crap. Now he can't trade with his friends because the cards seem crappier than his friends, and he doesn't have the joy of opening a FA EX for example. You know how happy that makes a kid feel? His day would be set and now he can show off to his friends. Scaling doesn't just hurt the kids though, it also hurts he people that just buy packs for fun, and don't buy singles. Buying packs can be a much easier way to obtain cards, since most meta cards are upwards of thirty now.
I absolutely agree, but the reality is that we can't do much for them. We can only help people who smell something isn't right and post to places like here and other forums. Or they search for generally accepted pull rates and see they should've gotten something after 25 packs or whatever. We can also try and discourage scalers who show off their gains.
