Massive Cancellation of Pokémon TCG 30th Celebration Orders as Company Takes Stand Against Scalper Bots

The highly anticipated 30th Celebration set for Pokémon TCG is set to launch on September 16, but given the current landscape of the hobby, collectors are bracing themselves for potential letdowns.

However, there’s a flicker of hope for those eager to find Pokémon TCG stock on shelves next week, as it seems that The Pokémon Company has canceled thousands of bot-driven orders for the 30th Celebration set on its official website.

Reports from various users on social media and Pokémon TCG-related forums indicate that a significant number of 30th Celebration orders placed through the official site were abruptly canceled overnight.

While there hasn’t been an official statement from The Pokémon Company regarding this sudden wave of cancellations, many collectors suspect that the cancellations are primarily targeting bot orders. This assumption is bolstered by Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa’s assurance to shareholders in July that the company would continue to address this issue.

???? The Pokémon Center has taken action!

THOUSANDS of bot orders for the 30th Celebration preorders have just been canceled in a massive wave.

Stay tuned for another drop on the Pokémon Center site soon! pic.twitter.com/UpJR18r2M9

— Poke Signals (@PokeSignals) September 7, 2026

That said, several users claiming to have made legitimate purchases through the Pokémon Center have reported that their 30th Celebration orders were also caught in the crossfire.

“I waited in the queue for hours on my phone and got flagged as a bot? Why??” one user posted on the r/PokemonTCG subreddit. “I can’t compete with scalpers and bots. Why do I even care about Pokémon anymore? I buy shirts and other merch too. There’s no way it thought I was a bot.”

“Mine got canceled. I had one order,” another commenter shared. “I waited in the virtual line for hours. I’m not a bot. It seems like some people are just getting the short end of the stick.”

Some speculate that the Pokémon Center website may have tracked links for purchases that led to the site from Pokémon TCG Discord alert servers, while others believe the company may have simply “oversold” its available stock.

Regardless, this situation is likely to frustrate genuine collectors, as the only way to obtain the Pokémon Center ETB promo cards (without resorting to scalpers) is to buy the ETBs directly from the Pokémon Center website, where they are already being listed on resale sites for four times their retail price.