There is something that must be understood. The store owners are there for your money by offering you a service and are not there to just offer you a service because you have beautiful eyes.
They have no sympathy for you and nor should you have for them. Business its business and if they suck it's their problem. Why should you care? What's that? You say that you hang out at the stores with your friends? That the owner organizes tournaments? Fair enough but it is not something unique that this store offers. If you don't have another store in the area does it mean that you will let him empty your wallet for a standard service? If you do let them, then you are to be blamed. You are plain stupid.
If the store closes down you can always go to a cafeteria or use your college's student club space to organize tournaments (or your school's clubs if you have). Also, homes, garages and every other place with a table can be used. It will, however, require some of your time to organize everything and facebook can be your friend here. My area's stores stopped having webpages and transferred to facebook. If they can do it, you can do it.
Finally, the final price of a single card is NOT an indicator of profit. The difference of selling price and buying price is. If they overcharge for singles (yes, even for uncommons and commons) it means that they WANT to rip you off!!! They already made the expected profit and they are been very greedy and are looking for MORE! No self-respecting store would ever buy cards at a price that won't cover its expenses and make profit when they are sold at MARKET PRICE. So, they could lower the prices but they don't want to. Singles is only one source of income, they don't depend on it.
Summarizing: DON'T EVER BUY OVERPRICED CARDS OUT OF PITY!! YOU BEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF!!
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First, value is relative. I might be willing to pay $1 for an uncommon I need for a tournament that night. The same price for the same card might be too high if the tournament isn't for a few weeks. Value is relative based on so many factors: supply, time, convenience, etc.
Contrary to what some people believe, cards don't have hard set values.
$1 each for good uncommons is not a big deal, think about everything a brick and mortar store has to pay for that places like SSC do not have to cover. Like a place for the customer to play. Running a website is a lot cheaper than running a brick and mortar store.
FYI, SCG has a large physical store in Virginia. It's actually very nice.
If your going to get stressed over nickles and dimes, i guarenteed u will not have a long life span.
This stuff is no different than if u spend 8 bux on a beer at a baseball game thats normally worth 2 dollars or A 6 dollar popcorb at a movie threater or if u buy an xbox upon the release night. Its called convience. I bought a 2 dollar ultimate price, it didnt destroy my wallet and i saved thousands from not making myself have stroke about it.
Magic isnt a necessity. These stores arent robbing u of electricity or clean water. Put this in persective instead of being butthurt that u had to basically tip your store owner a few pennies.
My LGS has popular commons and uncommons for seventy five cents to a dollar, pre sorted and ready to go.
There are also boxes of commons and uncommons, sorted by set and nothing else, from the most recent blocks - ten cents for a common and twenty five for an uncommon.
When you pay a dollar for a doom blade, you are paying for the time it took for someone who has better things to do. Someone went through a bunch of garbage from core sets to pick out those cards.
If your going to get stressed over nickles and dimes, i guarenteed u will not have a long life span.
This stuff is no different than if u spend 8 bux on a beer at a baseball game thats normally worth 2 dollars or A 6 dollar popcorb at a movie threater or if u buy an xbox upon the release night. Its called convience. I bought a 2 dollar ultimate price, it didnt destroy my wallet and i saved thousands from not making myself have stroke about it.
Magic isnt a necessity. These stores arent robbing u of electricity or clean water. Put this in persective instead of being butthurt that u had to basically tip your store owner a few pennies.
Then go ahead and tip your LGS and be irrational about it. Your logic contradicts the logic behind free market and competition but whatever suits you. its your money after all.
You have to care about the pennies you know, especially if you are not a rich guy. But how do you think the rich became rich? By not caring? You are wrong!
Its not a big deal to buy online anyway. Its very fun and saves you money, a lot of it! E-bay is your best friend.
Do you want to know how much money I saved making 3 cheap standard decks, by buying from E-bay? close to 30-40 bucks. Is it pennies that I saved? No, it's a week's groceries (well almost and for 1 person).
Multiply that amount by the number of decks you make and you will see the difference(an its not even close). It's the little things that matter in life...
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No, it's not a shock. It's expected. This, however, does not mean that you will chose the higher price of a gaming store when there is a reliable and cheaper alternative.
Also many of the online sellers on E-bay are far from been a bunch of random guys. They have a made a name for themselves through countless transactions.
EDIT: DISSOLVE, as it was mentioned to be sold at $1, when I bought it it was $1 for a playset with shipping fees INCLUDED! Yeah, i would buy it from my LGS...right..
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Then go ahead and tip your LGS and be irrational about it. Your logic contradicts the logic behind free market and competition but whatever suits you. its your money after all.
The logic of the free market is that everything is worth whatever a customer will pay for it. Someone choosing to buy commons and uncommons at a markup does not somehow violate the principles of the free market.
Buying online won't always save me money, either. Say I am tooling around with a deck that's already mostly complete, but realize, after I've already gotten my deck together, that some Elvish Mystics would go great in this deck. I go to my LGS, and pay 25 cents apiece for them, for a total of 1 whole dollar. Or I buy them online, pay 10 cents apiece, plus shipping. Seeing as how the shipping itself is probably a dollar, that actually costs me 40 cents extra. Even if the LGS in question is selling the elvish mystics for 50 cents apiece, for a 500% markup, buying online really isn't saving enough for it to be worth my time and energy hassling with ordering online.
Now, if I am buying chase rares, or a whole big stack of uncommons, then there is no way in heck i'm buying from an LGS, unless it's a cheapo budget deck and I just really want to have the whole thing ready to go for the weekend. Even then, that's debatable.
The logic of the free market is that everything is worth whatever a customer will pay for it. Someone choosing to buy commons and uncommons at a markup does not somehow violate the principles of the free market.
Buying online won't always save me money, either. Say I am tooling around with a deck that's already mostly complete, but realize, after I've already gotten my deck together, that some Elvish Mystics would go great in this deck. I go to my LGS, and pay 25 cents apiece for them, for a total of 1 whole dollar. Or I buy them online, pay 10 cents apiece, plus shipping. Seeing as how the shipping itself is probably a dollar, that actually costs me 40 cents extra. Even if the LGS in question is selling the elvish mystics for 50 cents apiece, for a 500% markup, buying online really isn't saving enough for it to be worth my time and energy hassling with ordering online.
Now, if I am buying chase rares, or a whole big stack of uncommons, then there is no way in heck i'm buying from an LGS, unless it's a cheapo budget deck and I just really want to have the whole thing ready to go for the weekend. Even then, that's debatable.
If you want to get technical, you'll spend more than 40 cents in subway/bus/gas to get to your LGS an additional time and buy the cards.
Couldnt agree more! I would love to support my local meta, but when I can buy commons and uncommons for 10 cents a piece on TCG rather than 25 and 50 cents... It adds up fast. I have to look out for myself first.
Then go ahead and tip your LGS and be irrational about it. Your logic contradicts the logic behind free market and competition but whatever suits you. its your money after all.
You have to care about the pennies you know, especially if you are not a rich guy. But how do you think the rich became rich? By not caring? You are wrong!
Its not a big deal to buy online anyway. Its very fun and saves you money, a lot of it! E-bay is your best friend.
Do you want to know how much money I saved making 3 cheap standard decks, by buying from E-bay? close to 30-40 bucks. Is it pennies that I saved? No, it's a week's groceries (well almost and for 1 person).
Multiply that amount by the number of decks you make and you will see the difference(an its not even close). It's the little things that matter in life...
Im all about saving money but it seems as u dont understand opportunity cost. If ur gettingcards at a shop right before a tourney, ur saving time ordering them, waiting around for them and hoping they arrive safetly. The real stores are a business, not a charity. There in business to pay their bills and what not, they could care less how finishedur decks are.
We are talking about pocket change here if ur an adult. If your that hard up on money then you probably should be worrying less about magic and more about making an income. This is a hobby, not your kid. Im sorry about ur fiancial troubles but stressimg over a few bucks over what u do in ur spare time isnt a healthy state of mind.
Im all about saving money but it seems as u dont understand opportunity cost.
I'm guessing nobody in this thread understands opportunity cost.
Edit: The assumption that a LGS is interested in profit, having their interests in mind over yours is not a bad starting assumption. However, I have become fairly good friend-quaintances with almost every store owner in a 30 mile radius. Some other gamers I know are actual good friends with these LGS owners, going to each others' houses for dinner, out to movies, etc. These are real people and if you get to know them, it becomes a lot easier to either pay a little more for your commons and uncommons or tell them that you think their prices are a little high.
This is a shop. Not some random internet seller. You get your cards right away, a place to play and meet with your fellow planewalkers.
Is it too much to ask that you support your FLGS?
The prices at my store are the same as yours, but as a regular, the store owner will most of the time put prices the same as starcitygames or even less if we take many copies.
Use your head and analyse the situation. Otherwise, buy on the net and wait 3 weeks for your 3 uncommons.
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Playing modern: all BGx, storm, burn, green eldrazi, dredge.
IMO the reality is that many shops are run by gamers, not businessmen, and it is a sword that cuts two ways. What the OP is experiencing is the downside of that.
The only reason that a person should ever be angry at store prices is if that store is a monopoly. If it's impossible to buy singles from SCG in your town(for some reason) and that's the only card shop there - yes, I guess I can get behind "they are ripping me off" point of view.
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Wizards can start putting booster packs inside dog poo and dog owners will still complain.
Pros:
- No waiting time
- No sending costs
- No risk of shipment getting lost/stolen
- What you see is what you get, no issues with mint-ness
- Shopping at the place that gives you a usually FREE venue to play
- Supporting local businesses
- Building a potentional friendship with the LGS folks (depending on the LGS)
Cons:
- Higher prices
- Higher risk of not having items in stock
So unless you're a penny-pincher or so entitled to the lowest of the low prices...yeah. Really, I find its best to shop at both - online for a big bulk of stuff that my LGS either doesn't stock or is very poorly priced, and in-store whatever is left, adding it as a tip so to say to my LGS.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Open your own store. Jesus, you're talking about paying a $1 a card like you had to pay $10 for a loaf of bread. If it's as bad a practice as you say they'll go out of business and you won't have to play there anymore. You are very conceited. You could have said no. Get over it.
You know what I think is conceited? Complaining about complainers.
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I petition for a new pack structure: 1 Mythic Rare 3 Rares 5 Uncommons 7 Commons 1 Token/B. Land
But I also propose even distribution of number of cards in each rarity: Large set: 60 c, 60 u, 60 r, 60 m.
Probabilities of particular cards: Common 7/60, Uncommon 1/12, Rare 1/20, Mythic 1/60.
Finally, the final price of a single card is NOT an indicator of profit. The difference of selling price and buying price is. If they overcharge for singles (yes, even for uncommons and commons) it means that they WANT to rip you off!!! They already made the expected profit and they are been very greedy and are looking for MORE! No self-respecting store would ever buy cards at a price that won't cover its expenses and make profit when they are sold at MARKET PRICE.
Since cracking boxes is how all stores get their singles supply at the launch of a set, let's look at the math:
Let's say that SCG opens 1,000 boxes. When they do this, they're going to open about 600 of each rare, and 300 of each mythic (Law of large numbers). This kind of predictability, combined with the pre-order data and the fairly substantial discount they get for ordering from WotC lets them price these cards in such a way that the commons and uncommons aren't needed to generate much profit. This lets them sell Doom Blade for a quarter.
Your LGS opens 6 boxes of product (which is a large amount for most small stores). The number of rares/mythics they get is much more variable because of the small amount opened. In order to make profit, they need playable commons and uncommons to pull some weight. This is why you see Doom Blade and Dissolve at a dollar. They need the increased profit margins on these cards to actually make money.
The other thing you have to take into account is the whole economies of scale argument. SCG sells thousands of orders per day, where your LGS may only have a few dozen. This decreases the amount of profit per item necessary to cover operating costs. It's the same reason why Wal-Mart can sell Campbell's Tomato Soup at 48 cents per can, when your local grocery store has to charge 68 cents per can.
I can handle $1 here or there. But 2 to 4 times the price of SCG? Why would anyone buy a 20oz coke of a machine that costs $4 when there is a machine right next to it that charges $1?
Yes, but the $1 coke machine will take 7-10 days to give you your soda. If you want your coke now, you're out of luck.
Customers who buy ANYTHING at an LGS (or merely pay entry fees and nothing more) are supporting that store by definition. Don't even try to argue otherwise.
Getting cards cheaper means nothing if you have nowhere to sling your spells. If you live in one of the higher cost of living regions of the country, your LGS can't possibly compete with TCG and Ebay sellers selling cards out of their homes. People purchasing primarily from these sources forces the LGS to increase prices (since they still have operating costs), which drives more people away. It quickly descends into a death spiral. When your local stores close, how useful is all of that cardboard now?
In addition, do you realize that most stores make nothing off of tournament fees? Tournaments exist to get you in the store so you buy things like sleeves, soda, food and the occasional single. If you go strictly by tournament fees, SCG Opens are run at a loss. It takes 500 players just to make back the money given out in prizes... not taking into account staffing (judges, other tournament staff, commentators), hall fees (rental for a weekend, set up, tear down, communications) and transportation. The real reason the SCG Open circuit exists is for them to buy your cards then sell them on their website.
It's my fault for not having the cards? Excuse me, but if a store owner told me that I would never return to his store. Ever.
Personal responsibility man... if you don't have the cards you need for an event, the only one to blame is yourself. You decided to risk buying your cards on location, where you knew they could be charging a higher price than what you could pay online if you ordered them a week in advance.
Sometimes, it is worth it to spend that extra $0.10 per card at the brick and mortar store. I'm not saying you should let anyone rip you off, but when the brick and mortar store has very close prices to the online deals, and it just comes down to an extra buck total out of your pocket, give it to the place that provides a community, a play environment, hosts events, etc.
Im all about saving money but it seems as u dont understand opportunity cost. If ur gettingcards at a shop right before a tourney, ur saving time ordering them, waiting around for them and hoping they arrive safetly. The real stores are a business, not a charity. There in business to pay their bills and what not, they could care less how finishedur decks are.
We are talking about pocket change here if ur an adult. If your that hard up on money then you probably should be worrying less about magic and more about making an income. This is a hobby, not your kid. Im sorry about ur fiancial troubles but stressimg over a few bucks over what u do in ur spare time isn't a healthy state of mind.
It is a healthy state of mind, i don't doubt it. However if can do it for less money the better. That's why you don't have to buy overpriced cards. Its all about saving money whenever you can. If you pay less for cards you can have that money for something else or just for more cards. I will gladly buy more cards for a cheaper price. I don't have to be loyal to a business. The owner is not my friend.
About the opportunity cost that someone said:
Yes there always opportunity cost. No matter what you choose to do it will be there. You order them online? Then they may not come on time. You buy them from the LGS? Then you pay a premium and forgo other stuff or more product that you could have gotten with that extra money you pay. However, most of the time the cards I ordered on e-bay were here on time so the opportunity cost is rather low (especially with the buyer protection e-bay offers).
The fact that we have a hobby it doesn't mean that we HAVE to waste a lot of money for it, neither that we should be dump and pay silly premiums. I do have a lot of patience when it come to cards and always wait for a good deal. It's a hobby, my life does NOT depend on it to rush and buy the cards for double the price. They won't get my money easily. Period.
However, LGS do need some revenue to operate. If no one buys the WILL close. You dont have to buy the overpriced stuff JUST BUY SOME STUFF you can afford every now and then. For example a booster, a deck box , some sleeves, some food (if they have any), a draft once a month or two (if you like it)... you get the point.
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My LGS typically undercuts the TCG Player Shops/lows. They have a real-time online inventory with all the prices listed. If something on your wishlist pops up, you get an email notification. It's pretty neat and they've earned my loyalty. It's a shame I live 40~ minutes away.
Examples:
Assemble the Legion
TCG Player: 1.99
LGS: $.90
The owner of one of my local game store suggested that every LGS in my city have a "LGS appreciation month" where they would forbid anyone from actually playing games at their facilities for a full month. Now this was just a hypothetical but could you imagine where you would play? Sanctioned tournaments would die for that month. Sure you could play online but not everyone does. So before you complain about price ask yourself, do you play there?
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"Listen closely as your radio plays
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
You cannot expect a small LGS to match TCG player mid prices. I agree it sucks but in order for them to be competitive on singles they have to also move enough singles to make up for the loss in profit margin.
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PureMTGO MTGOTraders - Coupon mtgsallypaypal for 8% off orders paid for with paypal. MTGO Hotlist! - Pays more than bots for singles. CapeFearGames - Coupon mtgsally for 5% off entire order. Orders ship same day if order placed before 3pm EST M-F. Do not stack with other coupons please.
Paying extra 20% on paper cards for MTGOTraders credits.
They have no sympathy for you and nor should you have for them. Business its business and if they suck it's their problem. Why should you care? What's that? You say that you hang out at the stores with your friends? That the owner organizes tournaments? Fair enough but it is not something unique that this store offers. If you don't have another store in the area does it mean that you will let him empty your wallet for a standard service? If you do let them, then you are to be blamed. You are plain stupid.
If the store closes down you can always go to a cafeteria or use your college's student club space to organize tournaments (or your school's clubs if you have). Also, homes, garages and every other place with a table can be used. It will, however, require some of your time to organize everything and facebook can be your friend here. My area's stores stopped having webpages and transferred to facebook. If they can do it, you can do it.
Finally, the final price of a single card is NOT an indicator of profit. The difference of selling price and buying price is. If they overcharge for singles (yes, even for uncommons and commons) it means that they WANT to rip you off!!! They already made the expected profit and they are been very greedy and are looking for MORE! No self-respecting store would ever buy cards at a price that won't cover its expenses and make profit when they are sold at MARKET PRICE. So, they could lower the prices but they don't want to. Singles is only one source of income, they don't depend on it.
Summarizing: DON'T EVER BUY OVERPRICED CARDS OUT OF PITY!! YOU BEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF!!
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Contrary to what some people believe, cards don't have hard set values.
FYI, SCG has a large physical store in Virginia. It's actually very nice.
This stuff is no different than if u spend 8 bux on a beer at a baseball game thats normally worth 2 dollars or A 6 dollar popcorb at a movie threater or if u buy an xbox upon the release night. Its called convience. I bought a 2 dollar ultimate price, it didnt destroy my wallet and i saved thousands from not making myself have stroke about it.
Magic isnt a necessity. These stores arent robbing u of electricity or clean water. Put this in persective instead of being butthurt that u had to basically tip your store owner a few pennies.
There are also boxes of commons and uncommons, sorted by set and nothing else, from the most recent blocks - ten cents for a common and twenty five for an uncommon.
When you pay a dollar for a doom blade, you are paying for the time it took for someone who has better things to do. Someone went through a bunch of garbage from core sets to pick out those cards.
Then go ahead and tip your LGS and be irrational about it. Your logic contradicts the logic behind free market and competition but whatever suits you. its your money after all.
You have to care about the pennies you know, especially if you are not a rich guy. But how do you think the rich became rich? By not caring? You are wrong!
Its not a big deal to buy online anyway. Its very fun and saves you money, a lot of it! E-bay is your best friend.
Do you want to know how much money I saved making 3 cheap standard decks, by buying from E-bay? close to 30-40 bucks. Is it pennies that I saved? No, it's a week's groceries (well almost and for 1 person).
Multiply that amount by the number of decks you make and you will see the difference(an its not even close). It's the little things that matter in life...
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Singles sold from individuals being cheaper than singles sold from stores shouldn't shock anyone.
Though I'll put it in a small font.
Please stop hijacking my reply box.
Also many of the online sellers on E-bay are far from been a bunch of random guys. They have a made a name for themselves through countless transactions.
EDIT: DISSOLVE, as it was mentioned to be sold at $1, when I bought it it was $1 for a playset with shipping fees INCLUDED! Yeah, i would buy it from my LGS...right..
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The logic of the free market is that everything is worth whatever a customer will pay for it. Someone choosing to buy commons and uncommons at a markup does not somehow violate the principles of the free market.
Buying online won't always save me money, either. Say I am tooling around with a deck that's already mostly complete, but realize, after I've already gotten my deck together, that some Elvish Mystics would go great in this deck. I go to my LGS, and pay 25 cents apiece for them, for a total of 1 whole dollar. Or I buy them online, pay 10 cents apiece, plus shipping. Seeing as how the shipping itself is probably a dollar, that actually costs me 40 cents extra. Even if the LGS in question is selling the elvish mystics for 50 cents apiece, for a 500% markup, buying online really isn't saving enough for it to be worth my time and energy hassling with ordering online.
Now, if I am buying chase rares, or a whole big stack of uncommons, then there is no way in heck i'm buying from an LGS, unless it's a cheapo budget deck and I just really want to have the whole thing ready to go for the weekend. Even then, that's debatable.
If you want to get technical, you'll spend more than 40 cents in subway/bus/gas to get to your LGS an additional time and buy the cards.
Im all about saving money but it seems as u dont understand opportunity cost. If ur gettingcards at a shop right before a tourney, ur saving time ordering them, waiting around for them and hoping they arrive safetly. The real stores are a business, not a charity. There in business to pay their bills and what not, they could care less how finishedur decks are.
We are talking about pocket change here if ur an adult. If your that hard up on money then you probably should be worrying less about magic and more about making an income. This is a hobby, not your kid. Im sorry about ur fiancial troubles but stressimg over a few bucks over what u do in ur spare time isnt a healthy state of mind.
I'm guessing nobody in this thread understands opportunity cost.
Edit: The assumption that a LGS is interested in profit, having their interests in mind over yours is not a bad starting assumption. However, I have become fairly good friend-quaintances with almost every store owner in a 30 mile radius. Some other gamers I know are actual good friends with these LGS owners, going to each others' houses for dinner, out to movies, etc. These are real people and if you get to know them, it becomes a lot easier to either pay a little more for your commons and uncommons or tell them that you think their prices are a little high.
WUBRROBOTSRBUW
BRGLIVING ENDGRB
URSPLINTER TWINRU
LEGACY
WUBRGTESGRBUW
WUBRGDREDGEGRBUW
EDH
BRGKRESH, THE BLOODBRAIDEDGRB
WBGDORAN, THE SIEGE TOWERGBW
UBSYGG, RIVER CUTTHROATBU
PAUPER EDH
WUGRHOX WAR MONKGUW
UBRDREADWINGRBU
RGFERAL ANIMISTGR
PAUPER
WUBRGALL OF ITGRBUW
This is a shop. Not some random internet seller. You get your cards right away, a place to play and meet with your fellow planewalkers.
Is it too much to ask that you support your FLGS?
The prices at my store are the same as yours, but as a regular, the store owner will most of the time put prices the same as starcitygames or even less if we take many copies.
Use your head and analyse the situation. Otherwise, buy on the net and wait 3 weeks for your 3 uncommons.
Pros:
- No waiting time
- No sending costs
- No risk of shipment getting lost/stolen
- What you see is what you get, no issues with mint-ness
- Shopping at the place that gives you a usually FREE venue to play
- Supporting local businesses
- Building a potentional friendship with the LGS folks (depending on the LGS)
Cons:
- Higher prices
- Higher risk of not having items in stock
So unless you're a penny-pincher or so entitled to the lowest of the low prices...yeah. Really, I find its best to shop at both - online for a big bulk of stuff that my LGS either doesn't stock or is very poorly priced, and in-store whatever is left, adding it as a tip so to say to my LGS.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
You know what I think is conceited? Complaining about complainers.
But I also propose even distribution of number of cards in each rarity: Large set: 60 c, 60 u, 60 r, 60 m.
Probabilities of particular cards: Common 7/60, Uncommon 1/12, Rare 1/20, Mythic 1/60.
Since cracking boxes is how all stores get their singles supply at the launch of a set, let's look at the math:
Let's say that SCG opens 1,000 boxes. When they do this, they're going to open about 600 of each rare, and 300 of each mythic (Law of large numbers). This kind of predictability, combined with the pre-order data and the fairly substantial discount they get for ordering from WotC lets them price these cards in such a way that the commons and uncommons aren't needed to generate much profit. This lets them sell Doom Blade for a quarter.
Your LGS opens 6 boxes of product (which is a large amount for most small stores). The number of rares/mythics they get is much more variable because of the small amount opened. In order to make profit, they need playable commons and uncommons to pull some weight. This is why you see Doom Blade and Dissolve at a dollar. They need the increased profit margins on these cards to actually make money.
The other thing you have to take into account is the whole economies of scale argument. SCG sells thousands of orders per day, where your LGS may only have a few dozen. This decreases the amount of profit per item necessary to cover operating costs. It's the same reason why Wal-Mart can sell Campbell's Tomato Soup at 48 cents per can, when your local grocery store has to charge 68 cents per can.
Yes, but the $1 coke machine will take 7-10 days to give you your soda. If you want your coke now, you're out of luck.
Getting cards cheaper means nothing if you have nowhere to sling your spells. If you live in one of the higher cost of living regions of the country, your LGS can't possibly compete with TCG and Ebay sellers selling cards out of their homes. People purchasing primarily from these sources forces the LGS to increase prices (since they still have operating costs), which drives more people away. It quickly descends into a death spiral. When your local stores close, how useful is all of that cardboard now?
In addition, do you realize that most stores make nothing off of tournament fees? Tournaments exist to get you in the store so you buy things like sleeves, soda, food and the occasional single. If you go strictly by tournament fees, SCG Opens are run at a loss. It takes 500 players just to make back the money given out in prizes... not taking into account staffing (judges, other tournament staff, commentators), hall fees (rental for a weekend, set up, tear down, communications) and transportation. The real reason the SCG Open circuit exists is for them to buy your cards then sell them on their website.
Personal responsibility man... if you don't have the cards you need for an event, the only one to blame is yourself. You decided to risk buying your cards on location, where you knew they could be charging a higher price than what you could pay online if you ordered them a week in advance.
How To Keep Your FOIL Cards From Curling: http://youtu.be/QTmubrS8VnI
The Best Deck Boxes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEwgLph_Pjk
The Best Binders: http://youtu.be/H5IauASYWjk
It is a healthy state of mind, i don't doubt it. However if can do it for less money the better. That's why you don't have to buy overpriced cards. Its all about saving money whenever you can. If you pay less for cards you can have that money for something else or just for more cards. I will gladly buy more cards for a cheaper price. I don't have to be loyal to a business. The owner is not my friend.
About the opportunity cost that someone said:
Yes there always opportunity cost. No matter what you choose to do it will be there. You order them online? Then they may not come on time. You buy them from the LGS? Then you pay a premium and forgo other stuff or more product that you could have gotten with that extra money you pay. However, most of the time the cards I ordered on e-bay were here on time so the opportunity cost is rather low (especially with the buyer protection e-bay offers).
The fact that we have a hobby it doesn't mean that we HAVE to waste a lot of money for it, neither that we should be dump and pay silly premiums. I do have a lot of patience when it come to cards and always wait for a good deal. It's a hobby, my life does NOT depend on it to rush and buy the cards for double the price. They won't get my money easily. Period.
However, LGS do need some revenue to operate. If no one buys the WILL close. You dont have to buy the overpriced stuff JUST BUY SOME STUFF you can afford every now and then. For example a booster, a deck box , some sleeves, some food (if they have any), a draft once a month or two (if you like it)... you get the point.
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Examples:
Assemble the Legion
TCG Player: 1.99
LGS: $.90
Eslpeth, Sun's Champion:
TCG Player: 18.90
LGS: $17.70
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How dare they try to run a business and make a profit!