How to run live Pokémon pack openings for your shop

• Excitement: seeing a rare card come out live hooks people more than any photo.
• Pack sales: viewers want to open their own, and the stream is your counter open to the whole country.
• Trust: people see the product is genuine and that you open the packs in front of everyone.
• Community: regulars come back every week and become loyal customers.

What equipment you need

You do not need a studio. With this your stream will look and sound good:

• A phone with a good camera and a tripod so the image stays steady.
• Light: a ring light or an LED panel. Shiny cards need soft light so they do not glare.
• Microphone: a lapel mic sounds far better than the phone.
• A tidy table with a playmat and your display or boxes behind you: it is your shop window.
• A good connection: cable or stable wifi; a stream that drops loses its audience.

• TikTok Live: brings the most new viewers; short streams with pace work very well.
• Instagram Live: ideal for your followers and local customers.
• Twitch and YouTube: for longer streams and a loyal community.
• WhatsApp or Telegram: not for streaming, but to tell customers when you go live.

Formats that work

1. 1

   The customer buys, you open

   The customer buys one or more packs and you open them live for them. Then you ship the cards or they collect them in store.
2. 2

   Shop opening

   You open a box of the new set to show what it contains. The good cards can be sold as singles afterwards.
3. 3

   Launch-day stream

   On release day, a stream opening the new box attracts everyone who wants to see it. Pre-order it so you have it that day.
4. 4

   A fixed weekly stream

   Same day and time every week: people get used to it and come back.

Transparency: how to earn trust

On a live stream, trust is everything. If someone suspects foul play, they will not come back:

• Show the box seal and open it in front of the camera.
• Open each pack without cuts or camera changes.
• Keep track of which packs belong to each customer and what came out of each one.
• Never promise specific cards: nobody knows what is in a pack.
• If you quote odds, use real data, such as the pull rates in our news.

The price of a pack on stream is usually the same as at the counter. To work out your margin, use the calculator in our guide on margin per box and per pack. To explain to your audience what can be pulled, use each set's data, such as the 30th Celebration pull rates.

Common mistakes on live streams

• Bad light or sound: people leave in seconds.
• No heads-up: without notice, the stream starts empty.
• Long streams with no pace: shorter with things happening is better.
• Not tracking orders: afterwards you do not know whose pack was whose.
• Running out of the new set: launch day is when you sell most.