Family Condemns $20,000 Pokémon Card Listing Using Late Son's Memory

The parents of Avery Garcia have issued a blistering statement demanding that sellers immediately remove listings exploiting their son's death to inflate Pokémon card prices. Avery, who built a following as "Avery the Poke Kid" sharing pack-opening videos, died on September 18th at age 12 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. In the days since his passing, an eBay listing has appeared attempting to use the tragedy for profit, with one seller asking $20,000 for the specific illustrated Jirachi card Avery pulled in his final video.

Christian Garcia and Rebecca Rosa-Valentin made their position unequivocal in a public statement: they have not approved any sales using their son's name or likeness, they are not benefiting from them, and they have asked sellers to take the listings down immediately. The family's request cuts through the noise of a secondary market that has long treated tragedy as marketing collateral. For a community that rallied around Avery's videos during his illness, the pivot to profiteering has struck a particularly raw nerve.

Here's a thinking process:

The illustrated Jirachi card comes from the Pokémon Trading Card Game's 30th anniversary set, which The Pokémon Company deliberately designed with more generous pull rates to combat the scalping frenzies that have plagued recent releases. Avery's final video captured the genuine excitement of pulling this card from a pack — a moment that resonated widely because it was unscripted, unpolished, and purely joyful. Illustrator Akira Egawa responded to the video with a simple sentiment: "I want my art to bring happiness to people. That's one of the reasons I draw. I'm so glad I put that wish into this piece."

That moment of connection between a young fan and the artist who drew the card should have been the story's endpoint. Instead, the video's circulation triggered a predictable but no less galling response from resellers. Demand for the illustrated Jirachi began climbing almost immediately, with vendors attempting to reframe a child's final happy memory as a speculative asset. The Pokémon Company's effort to make sought-after cards more accessible through better pull rates was intended to address short supplies and scalping frenzies, but resellers have tried to capitalize on recurring misprints to drum up value.

The $20,000 Listing and Its Shifting Narrative

On eBay, a seller under the name Ash's Secret Vault offered a printed Jirachi card for $20,000. At first, the listing allocated 10 % of the sale to the Kids Cancer Foundation, then altered the listing to boast a 90 % donation pledge. Collectors noted that the inflated price would still leave the seller with plenty above the asking rate. As more people questioned the move, the seller fired back, claiming

The seller’s message turned hostile toward critics, saying, “Nonetheless, you reddit aholes will not stop my missionm [sic] you only stopped the family from getting money directly so good work.” That tone argues public pressure is hurting the family, flipping the real story. The family has asked sellers to take their listings down immediately, stating this does not honor Avery's generous heart. Since the story broke, Ash’s Secret Vault pulled its charity listings, but Jirachi card prices on the site seem to be trending upwards overall. Critics claim the listing misused a late son’s memory, but the family is outraged by

Here's a thinking process:

The Pokémon TCG secondary market has been a site of sustained chaos for years, driven by speculative buying, manufactured scarcity narratives, and the elevation of printing errors into premium collectibles. The 30th anniversary set's improved pull rates were a direct response to this environment — an attempt by The Pokémon Company to restore some balance between players who want to play and collectors who want to collect, and the resellers who treat every release as a financial instrument. When natural demand fails to sustain inflated prices because supply is actually adequate, bad actors manufacture new narratives. Misprints, grading controversies, and now a child's death become the hooks on which to hang unjustified valuations.

Community reaction has been swift and furious. The announcement thread on social media drew thousands of responses condemning the listings, with many noting the fundamental indecency of using a grieving family's loss as a sales pitch. The family's statement has been widely shared as a clear boundary: this is not how Avery should be remembered, and his name should not appear in auction descriptions. Egawa's comment — that he draws to bring happiness — stands in quiet, sharp contrast to the commercial opportunism that followed his work's appearance in Avery's final video.

Here's a thinking process:

For anyone who engages with the Pokémon TCG — whether as a player, a casual collector, or someone who simply enjoys opening packs — this episode clarifies the stakes of the current secondary market. The line between "investing" and exploitation has never been thinner, and the mechanisms that drive card prices upward are increasingly detached from the game itself. When a 12-year-old's final moment of joy becomes a $20,000 listing within a week, the hobby has lost its way. The family's request is simple and reasonable: let them grieve in peace, and stop using their son's memory to move cardboard at inflated prices. That such a request even needs to be made is an indictment of the ecosystem that has grown up around these cards.

The Pokémon Company's design choices for the 30th anniversary set were meant to make the hobby more accessible. That goal is undermined every time a tragedy gets repackaged as a marketing angle. Avery's family has drawn a line. Whether the secondary market respects it will say more about the community's values than any pull rate ever could.