Pikachu, I choose you! Man sells Pokemon trading cards from jazzed up van

If you see this bright yellow van with Pikachu's face on the road, do not mistake it for a regular vehicle!

It is actually a mobile trading card shop started by Ace, a lifelong Pokemon fan who quit his six-figure IT job to drive this striking van around Singapore.

Speaking to AsiaOne on Tuesday (Dec 30), Ace said that this venture, which he named CardTruck SG, began in mid-November and was a solution to issues he faced when he was collecting Pokemon TCG cards.

At the time, there were not many card shows around.

Card shows are conventions for trading card games (TCG) like Pokemon, attended by players as well as card collectors and sellers.

In the past, their locations were often inconvenient and overcrowded, which made Ace's experience unpleasant. 

The Pokemon fan therefore decided to bring the card shop — or card show — to people instead, taking inspiration from ice cream uncles and rojak sellers who set up shop at void decks using mobile carts.

The design of Ace's custom van — featuring Pikachu's adorable face and iconic tail — was based on a toy car he bought from a vending machine in a local mall, he said.

When asked about people's reactions upon seeing his van, Ace said that many will snap pictures and give him a thumbs up, while some point it out to their children.

"Once, I was at a traffic light and there was a guy cosplaying as Batman shouting excitedly across to me when he saw my truck," he said.

Not only does the van's exterior resemble the popular Pokemon character, but the interior is also decked out in Pikachu merchandise and yellow furniture to complete the look.

To one side is the retail section with a variety of Pokemon cards for sale. To the other side is his work desk, which doubles up as a live selling and unboxing area where he unpacks cards on a livestream at customers' request.

Ace told AsiaOne that he spent about $120,000 on the customised van itself, and another $40,000 on the set-up.

 

 

 

 

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Despite the high startup costs, the business owner said he mostly matches the prices of his cards to the market rate — which rises and falls quite often.

"I factor in the additional cost of bringing the cards to customers by having delivery fees," he explained.

For instance, it costs $30 to get a two-hour express delivery for a card purchased from CarTruck SG.

Ace said that he only brings in items that are unlikely to be tampered with, such as sealed packs, and also avoids loose Pokemon packs which could be "filtered".

Filtering refers to sellers (often unethical) opening up sealed packs of cards and taking out valuable or rare cards before repackaging them for sale.

Ace stressed that all packs purchased from the CardTruck SG website are sealed and they are only opened when customers purchase them on his livestreams and ask for unboxing to be done.

"My motto when I first set out to do this was to bring the joy of opening packs of Pokemon TCG or any TCG cards... into the comfort of one's home, at the same affordable price," he said.

"I believe that when you treat others right, people will do the same to you," he added.

Although operating a mobile card shop is a new venture, this is not Ace's first rodeo with entrepreneurship.

He started off selling pre-loved items on Carousell as a side hustle 11 years ago, and his CarTruck SG Carousell account has an overall rating of 4.96 stars and over 600 reviews as of Dec 31.

The business owner said he has made many friends in the Pokemon and TCG communities through selling cards, with them helping one another get better deals from other sellers.

When asked about his future plans, Ace said that he hopes to have a fleet of different Pokemon-themed vans, each with its own character and identity. 

And if money were not a concern, he would build a Pikachu container truck as well.

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bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com