Community International Members need not apply...

[TheCraftyScot]

After reviewing the latest pokebeach sign-up sheet for the monthly tournament I noticed the new change that specifically mentions international Members, it reads something to the effect of, if you are from outside of the US and wih to win prises we don't recommend that you play in the tournament.

I'm left pretty baffled by this, I live in the UK, I have played in the tournament a fair few times now, and have won prizes in the past, both of these being on the old system of get X packs depending on where you finish (as apposed to store credit), and I have never been charged any postage whatsoever.

The post does link you to the tcgplayer website but it's not clear on whether I would be charged, how much it would be, or if I am even eligable for prizes now?

I'm left confused, and pretty disappointed, I very much enjoy taking part in the tournament, and would really like to be in with a chance to win prizes.

The monthly tournament is something that attracted me to pokebeach to begin with and without the chance of prizes I'm not sure I can justify the sub.

I'd love to hear from other international players here and possibly some staff, am i wrong to think I won't be able to win any prizes from the tournament?

 

[TheCraftyScot]

@PokeMedic @JGB146

 

[JGB146]

We may need to adjust the wording there. Here's what it comes down to:

TCGPlayer supplies all the prizing, and to a large extent dictates what that prizing can be. They have decided that all prizing will be in the form of store credit from here on out. For many non-US players, that creates a significant cost because all shipping charges become the player's responsibility. For some countries, TCGPlayer will not even do shipping at all.

Thus the quote in the article was meant to convey that if your only goal is to win prizes (and that is the determining factor for whether or not you play), then we suspect in a lot of cases it will not be worth it for international players to play. That definitely applies much more heavily for non-premium members, since the difference in the amount of store credit they'd receive means they almost have to win it outright to get a meaningful amount of credit (after accounting for shipping costs).