30th Celebration keeps falling as Costco sells an ETB and bundle for $57

Costco is selling a 30th Celebration Elite Trainer Box and a Booster Bundle together for $57. That's 15 packs for under $4 apiece and about half what the ETB alone resells for on eBay. Polygon reports that the pairs have been reaching warehouses since early November and that some Texas stores have already sold through. Warehouse Runner tracks Costco shelf prices and lists the item at 195 warehouses. None of them showed it in stock when we checked Wednesday.

Pokémon's 30th anniversary set came out Sept. 16. We checked prices on several chase cards from the set and they sell for less than they did in September. The Mew ex Special Illustration Rare, the Pikachu ex and Mewtwo ex SIRs, the Magikarp and the Lugia from the Classic Collection have all slid.

The reason is supply. Polygon took the five-hour sellout of the Pokémon Center's 30th Celebration ETB pre-orders in July as a sign The Pokémon Company was "heavily printing" the set. ICv2 wrote in September that the trade had expected a "massive print run" from preorder numbers. Now Costco is unloading pallets. The market isn't waiting for those boxes to land. It's pricing them in now.

The flip still works if you can find one. The ETB sells for about $112 on eBay and the Booster Bundle for about $61. A buyer who flips the pair makes money after fees, but local drops sell out fast and that window closes as more boxes hit the shelves.

I'd buy Costco's pair to open. $4 a pack is the cheapest way to rip ultra modern Pokémon in years. Ripping is the only use I'd have for 30th Celebration sealed right now. I wouldn't hold a single box of it. Save your sealed budget for the next set, Flowing Fists, which Wargamer reports launches Feb. 5.