According to a photo posted on Twitter/X from an undisclosed Target location, the retail giant is apparently telling customers it will no longer sell to “resellers.”
This is the text on the sign:
Target no longer sells to resellers. This ensures all guests have a fair opportunity to purchase products and helps us remain competitive.
Purchases must be for personal use only. The quantity purchased should be reasonable for use in an average household.
Thank you for your understanding.
— Team Target
What is a reseller?
A reseller is someone who buys items at garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores, auctions, or on platforms like Facebook Marketplace and then resells them for a profit, typically on eBay or similar marketplaces.
I follow reseller content on YouTube, mostly to pick up tips for selling my own stuff. I do sell things on eBay, but nearly everything I list belongs to my wife or me. Over the years, I’ve collected various things, lost interest, and then sold them on eBay to fund whatever I wanted to collect next.
I also watch certain creators to learn what not to do.
True reselling, spotting an underpriced item at an estate sale or a yard sale and flipping it for a profit, is a skill I don’t have. It takes real knowledge to do consistently.
The person who posted the photo appears to be a Pokémon collector. Within the online Pokémon community, there’s long been frustration directed at “scalpers,” people who buy sealed Pokémon boxes at retail on release day, then resell them to fans at a steep markup.
It’s worth drawing a distinction here: a reseller sources products secondhand and adds value through curation and effort. A scalper buys retail and immediately resells for more, contributing nothing but friction. The sign doesn’t make that distinction, which is part of what makes it… odd.
Some collectors are willing to pay several times the retail price for a sealed box, chasing the excitement of pulling a Special Illustration Rare (SIR) from a fresh pack of cards. Everything that’s not a high-priced SIR is “bulk.”
I’m not a degenerate gambler. I don’t enjoy games of chance. When I want a specific card, I just buy it directly on eBay. Paying for certainty suits me better than paying for a chance.
Target already has anti-scalping measures
What makes the sign stranger is that Target already limits purchases in its trading card section. Most locations display signs capping guests at two units. My local Target limits Pokémon boxes to one per customer.
So the new sign isn’t solving a problem that the existing policy doesn’t already address. At least for trading cards.
In conclusion
Posting a sign that says “Target no longer sells to resellers” is a bit like posting one that says “Target no longer sells to plumbers.” Reselling is a legitimate occupation that requires skill, knowledge, and effort. The target of this policy seems to be scalpers, but the sign doesn’t say that, and the distinction matters. Broad, vague policies tend to create confusion more than they solve problems.