My g/f is more or less just a collector. She has binders and binders of cards she collected over 30 years before the scalpers turned the TCG into a commodity. She got so fed up with the scalpers and inflated prices that she started an LLC so she can get wholesale product. She has to compete with big box stores for product, which means she gets way less wholesale than big established stores. She probably sells 75% of the wholesale product/unopened packs and keeps 25% for herself. She charges reasonable prices. She's making like $2 an hour profit running her LLC after accounting for packaging, shipping, and purchasing new inventory. Even though she can't get as much product as she wants, she's always sold out because she isn't charging scalper prices. She gets cards/packs for herself at reasonable prices, and her small customer base doesn't have to pay scalper prices.

Yeah they're like corporations and big investors.

This is a problem with every kind of hobby. Anytime something is throttling production or there's a limited edition, scalper bullshit comes around. It's one of the big reasons I hate limited editions so goddamn much.