How exactly do they "corner the market"? I've heard that they are buying up Trostani like anyone's business, but just looking at Cardmarket in the EU they have tons of copies for sale at 2-3 Euros ($3-5). There are many thousands of copies in the world and SCC can't buy them all. They are merely stocking up for an expected demand. You could do the same if you were clever enough. It doesn't take a genius to work out that Trostani (an already strong card) will provide 4 g/w devotion to the G/W God. The fact the God has turned out not very strong will certainly temper this demand.
In this post we have the following:
1. An ad hominem attack on my "cleverness"
2. The use of one example to disprove a general trend (and I'm being charitable since Europe is basically a different market anyway and even your example is nonsensical)
3. Baseless assertions about SCG "stocking up for demand"
You don't have to be clever to see that buying up most fetchlands right when modern was taking off would let you jack up the price. It's obvious.
The problem is, when someone has to much money/power/influence they are able to manipulate the market. Like I said, Ben is a smart guy. But when you combine clever and to much money you get an unfair market.
Mm.. I dont buy singles that much. But these are my experiences with SCG:
#1) I posted a question about the big difference in delivery costs. SCG replied "Whats the worst to happen? Lost delivery?" Felt that my question wasnt answered and their response was annoying.
#2) Despite that, I attempted to purchase singles during their sales. Being an overseas buyer, they presented so many loops to jump through to verify my credit card till I gave up on the purchase. I booked accommodations in USA, using my CC for the bill of thousands and experienced none of the antics SCG used.
The buying and selling is just an attempt to make additional money. That seems legit, and fetchlands needed a correction in pricing and SCG got in front of that.
The high prices are (imo) not necessarily a reflection of SCG's activity buying and selling cards, but rather a side effect of their well publicized tournaments. I'm glad that they run those tournaments and it is good for MTG as a whole, but with increased awareness about "good decks" comes spikiness in prices as more people try to hit a supply that isn't terribly flexible.
I think the main time you'll see some serious sketchy action from SCG is if/when they make the decision to transition to modern. They'll quietly reduce their legacy stocks and buy up modern stuff, and then make a very nice chunk of change from the ensuing supply/demand changes.
The problem is, when someone has to much money/power/influence they are able to manipulate the market. Like I said, Ben is a smart guy. But when you combine clever and to much money you get an unfair market. Kinda like investment banking, just a lot smaller scale.
Also, who said people are bad at evaluating trends? More like most people don`t have unlimited money and have to make choices on which cards to buy now. Do I buy my fetches or my Jaces, I only have $50 a month to spend on MTG. OMG, Jace dropped down to $65 at rotation I gotta buy my playset. Or, I think fetches will rise slowly I will buy some more duals. This is the reality for many players.
This is a tactic that is forcing many players to spend more money on MTG then they intend. If you don`t buy the card now it could be 2-4 times the price next year. This wouldn`t be so bad if prices went up slowly up overnight prices can double or more, depending on the price of the card, and other factors.
As why people use SCG`s for pricing, it is the easiest site, with TCG player maybe being equal. Ebay is a pain, what is the sellers feedback rating, percentage, does that auction include shipping.
As to why stores use it, sure most store owners are a bit lazy, and will generally use SCG pricing because it`s easy. But don`t forget most stores are small businesses so they don`t have the tools to evaluate the market.
Guess you one of those guys who thinks it would be fair for the government to sell all the air or water to a company and then they could charge whatever they want for it. Hey, it`s fine. They saw a market and exploited it, your just jealous because you didn`t do it. Never mind the fact it is called exploitation for a reason.
The magic demand is often prejudged by hype. A card that shoots up in price in the short term will often come back down over time. If you are a smart MTG investor then you will not pay inflated pre-release prices on many cards. Jace, Architect of Thought pre-sold at $35 during pre-release hype. In the time before Theros came out it was down to £8 and I bought 4. If you follow MTG trends then you can use a limited budget to pick up good cards.
Just because many stores are lazy in their pricing doesn't mean that you cannot fine what you want at a cheaper price. SCG cannot buy every copy of a card.
You call it exploitation but in fact they are following market forces of demand. If they were exploiting you, then you would have to buy it from them. I've already pointed out that just because they are buying up stock of something that you can still get the card at the same price. However what you will find is that eventually demand will create a price increase no matter who is buying it. It's just basic economics.
The magic demand is often prejudged by hype. A card that shoots up in price in the short term will often come back down over time. If you are a smart MTG investor then you will not pay inflated pre-release prices on many cards. Jace, Architect of Thought pre-sold at $35 during pre-release hype. In the time before Theros came out it was down to £8 and I bought 4. If you follow MTG trends then you can use a limited budget to pick up good cards.
Just because many stores are lazy in their pricing doesn't mean that you cannot fine what you want at a cheaper price. SCG cannot buy every copy of a card.
You call it exploitation but in fact they are following market forces of demand. If they were exploiting you, then you would have to buy it from them. I've already pointed out that just because they are buying up stock of something that you can still get the card at the same price. However what you will find is that eventually demand will create a price increase no matter who is buying it. It's just basic economics.
So was Standard Oil. What's your point? The idea that an unregulated market always produces the best outcomes is a childish libertarian fantasy.
1. An ad hominem attack on my "cleverness"
2. The use of one example to disprove a general trend (and I'm being charitable since Europe is basically a different market anyway and even your example is nonsensical)
3. Baseless assertions about SCG "stocking up for demand"
You don't have to be clever to see that buying up most fetchlands right when modern was taking off would let you jack up the price. It's obvious.
I used an example to show that SCG does not dominate the market for magic cards. Examples are good to prove a point.
Wrong. If you are buying up fetchlands just as demand is going up then you are predicting a future price increase. If it's obvious you can do the same. That's called speculation. They are not buying them to jack up the price, they are buying them as they know there will be future demand and they need to carry stock.
I used an example to show that SCG does not dominate the market for magic cards. Examples are good to prove a point.
A point about general trends? No, they're not. That's like saying that meeting a non-Muslim from Saudi Arabia proves that most Saudis aren't Muslim. Your argument is fundamentally illogical.
Wrong. If you are buying up fetchlands just as demand is going up then you are predicting a future price increase. If it's obvious you can do the same. That's called speculation. They are not buying them to jack up the price, they are buying them as they know there will be future demand and they need to carry stock.
It's not an either/or. SCG knew the price would increase due to demand AND that they could charge more by capturing the market.
So was Standard Oil. What's your point? The idea that an unregulated market always produces the best outcomes is a childish libertarian fantasy.
I did not say it produces the 'best outcome', please do not put words in my mouth. I am talking economics here which has nothing to do with liberatianism.
A card suddenly becomes the in thing for whatever reason then demand will go up. Assuming supply stays the same that will lead to a price increase on the card. Simple fact. The point you are compaining about is that SCG sees that trend and buys into the card before it goes up. Its the same principle as playing the stock market. You have to understand what is going on in the market to be able to make money on it. That is all SCG is doing - they are a business after all not a charity.
It's not an either/or. SCG knew the price would increase due to demand AND that they could charge more by capturing the market.
So did everyone else know the price would increase ... you already said it was obvious. SCG buying up a number of things that were already on the market at a lower price is hardly capturing the market. That would be a very small percentage of the total cards. Yes they will make a profit on it, but please don't insult my intelligence by claiming they have captured the market.
SCG is the largest single dealer in the magic singles market.
Like any market, demand changes and supply adjusts prices accordingly. SCG has high visibility, so when people want cards and the price has gone up, they complain.
But SCG is just as subject to market conditions as anyone else. Like anyone else, they try to predict and follow trends. They may make a few more waves than smaller fish, but if they stray from the market and try to "corner" something, they'll incur losses the same as anyone else.
TLDR: Angry people who can't afford cards shoot at SCG because its the largest target.
SCG, while completely legal, has some very questionable business practices.
Basically, because they're the biggest retailer, they can basically set the prices. Kiora was spoiled. In any reasonable world, she'd be preordering for $10. But SCG got burned on TMS (they preordered it at $25-30 for most of its preorder tenure and 3 days after release it was $40), now more or less all walkers preorder for $30 to start. Even tibalt was $30 to start with.
Then there's their habit of deciding that they want a price to go up, so they either get their people to buyout most of the reasonably priced supply, then relist it for their price, or just up their buy price to more than the reasonable price, then relist. Take Scalding Tarn. Before October '12, it was about $15, slowly trending up about 50 cents a month. Then SCG decided that wasn't enough, that 32 was more reasonable. They upped their buy price to something around $23 and relisted at £32. The market value climbed to match in 6 days. Then we had that weird spike in legacy staples last may and it ended up at $50.
That's why people don't like them, they have so much clout that they can more or less set their prices to whatever they want and it rapidly becomes the base for the new "normal" value.
Personally, I admire them for their current customer service ethos (which is exemplary) and their support of the game in terms of the open series and invi's etc. But as a store, I'm not keen on them.
While I have some problems with SCG, blaming them for Scalding Tarn spiking is absurd. You know why Scalding Tarn spiked? Modern was growing. SCG is a large share of the market, but not enough to control the price.
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You are complaining that SCG saw a trend and went out and got stock at a price they thought was undervalued. If other people can judge the trends of cards then its hardly SCG's fault!
All I've seen in this thread is how clever SCG is at evaluating cards and trends and how bad other people are. The reason that most people follow SCG prices is that other poeple (including stores) can't evaluate the market.
Part of the issue has been to turn the card game into a stock market. The original value of cards would shift, but not at such an abrupt period of time. The other factor has been the extreme price spikes in conjunction with the limited print. Which creates a problem or perception about a "rich man's game."
People like price stability and ease of entry. StarCity's profit maximization model with heavy buyouts of smaller vendors disrupts that price stability and encourages the sharp price rises at a sharp point. This equates to an unfairness quotient with opportunity. A gradual rather than a sharp price spikes up or down often lead to confidence that the "market is fair."
Since a sharp price spike can also lead towards consumer lack of confidence in ability to enter a format, this disrupts the player supply. However, this has been more of a WotC reprint issue than a StarCity games problem as StarCity can hop to a different game depending on how well capitalized it is.
Then we also have to look at low end vendors protecting their assets as well. You'll notice that for purchases Star City doesn't allow for any data mining with it's buying. So the same tactic that's used against some other vendors cannot be as readily used against Star City. However, this also leads to criticism about people who want to sell cards to Star City about the ease to look up a card through a search engine and get a quick price rather than slogging through a massive list scrolling through. Sorry, but this isn't the 1990's anymore and being paranoid about that can make the brand appear overly guarded for something that today is done readily across many industries as a standard for buy/sell comparison.
Just because many stores are lazy in their pricing doesn't mean that you cannot fine what you want at a cheaper price. SCG cannot buy every copy of a card.
You call it exploitation but in fact they are following market forces of demand. If they were exploiting you, then you would have to buy it from them. I've already pointed out that just because they are buying up stock of something that you can still get the card at the same price. However what you will find is that eventually demand will create a price increase no matter who is buying it. It's just basic economics.
Acting as a clearing house whose prices are mimicked and practices are seen as the top do indeed set a precedence in a market. As prices begin to rise, there's been more smaller vendors activating bots or having actual people taking cards off the market more quickly.
As there are "active traders" racing to find "deals" for greater profit maximization that whose total jobs are specialized for that will create a sense of unfairness for a game that people are used to a certain time period before prices spike.
Judging by the one forum screenshot, there was talk about SGC's strategy becoming blatant. While the trader was asking and expecting for privacy, you're also seeing the opposite with small retailers looking at lost profits to a larger competitor with a specialized, professional trader.
My basic expectation, like you seen in the screenshot, is to see people discussing and sharing information about business practices and expecting how to adapt to such practices. While being rampant maybe smart, there comes a time whenever the shoe becomes the other foot.
After a while, a bad reputation for certain business practices with B2B sales can become very contentious. Nepotism and collusion are often done cloak and dagger. While it may not hurt the larger or smaller business, it does send an annoyance factor in the economic game of war if one occurs.
Which may mean more "staple black out periods" and other such things that will act as a defense against large scale purchases or even limiting quantity to a single buyer. Which, again, can cause problems for the consumer as the capitalist tries to play a game of protection.
Making money is one thing, starting a defensive practices business conflicts with B2B sales isn't necessarily good. It only gets worse with corporate espionage, hacking, and other stupid things (not accusing nor insinuating any establishment of engaging in such practices as no such evidence has been gathered) that comes in from other industries.
Speculation encourages some really bad and stupid behaviors. It hasn't achieved stupid yet, but when considering other industries here I'm not going to say in a decade's time I would not be surprised if there may very well be some new rules put into place by some businesses to protect assets.
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Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
They've basically set the prices for every card worth more than $5. Maybe they didn't intend to do that but intent doesn't matter in the end. Unfortunately some LGS owners don't understand that SCG is a huge corporate store, capable of setting their prices higher than the average because their target customer base can afford to pay more, and use their prices in their small B&M operations hoping to cash in on general consumer misinformation. This is why many people dislike SCG.
I buy from SCG for EDH needs only. I just hate going to an LGS and paying $1 for a rare that's worth $.15. Why? Because it prevents me from buying more and I like to make my dollars go further. Plus, SCG has pretty much every card and sometimes I need something unusual or just really old. For Standard I trade or buy at an LGS because the metagame changes too quickly for me to be waiting by the mailbox for cards to arrives.
Speculation is just that. There are countless times I suspect where SCG has bought in stock with the expectation that something is going to take off and in reality its been a flash in the pan. I can't think of too many examples to be honest but I'm sure its happened.
Yes I agree that SCG does have an influence on the market, but that is not necessarily SCG fault. It is more a symptom of people (both traders and buyers) being lazy about pricing.
They have been accused of dodgy business practices in this thread, but all I've seen so far is restocking ahead of an anticipated increase and there is nothing dodgy or illegal in that.
I would like to understand exactly what these dodgy practices are. If they had private information from WoTC that they used to their advantage then I could understand people's anger. Just because they are clever and successful at what they do is not a reason to slam them.
They've basically set the prices for every card worth more than $5. Maybe they didn't intend to do that but intent doesn't matter in the end. Unfortunately some LGS owners don't understand that SCG is a huge corporate store, capable of setting their prices higher than the average because their target customer base can afford to pay more, and use their prices in their small B&M operations hoping to cash in on general consumer misinformation. This is why many people dislike SCG.
I buy from SCG for EDH needs only. I just hate going to an LGS and paying $1 for a rare that's worth $.15. Why? Because it prevents me from buying more and I like to make my dollars go further. Plus, SCG has pretty much every card and sometimes I need something unusual or just really old. For Standard I trade or buy at an LGS because the metagame changes too quickly for me to be waiting by the mailbox for cards to arrives.
You hate paying $1.00 for a card that costs $0.15? Ok, have fun paying $2.99 getting your 0.15 rare then by mail...
$1.00 < $3.14
Which one seems more reasonable?
If its' the only card I need, I'm not paying the shipping costs, I'm going to go local...
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If starcitygames runs out of stock on a card, what are they supposed to do?
We're talking about the single biggest store in magic. Do you know how you become the biggest store? By having everything.
Now, if starcity runs out of a card, are they supposed to tell their thousands and thousands of customers to go somewhere else? Who would do that? People would stop buying from them because 'they're always out of what I want' because out of the many cards in standard, there's only about 20 anyone wants, and everyone wants them.
So, when starcity runs out, they can't turn customers away, so they have to BUY THE CARDS. Players aren't selling these cards to them, because THEY WANT THEM TOO! So SCG has to buy it from somewhere else, they have to buy it from OTHER STORES. So they do, they buy from stores and sell to players because they're out of stock.
And then they raise the price, to maintain a profit, because they're a ****ing store and they need to make money to stay open.
SCG did nothing wrong when as far as the fetchland debate goes, and the only reason people believe they did now is because they believed SCG did wrong two years ago and are too stubborn to admit it they're wrong or jumped on the SCG Hatewagon. The fetchlands, while they were increasing little by little beforehand, were going to jump regardless because two weeks afterwards, Modern PTQ Season started.
I think a problem a lot of people have with SCG is that they are sort of the Walmart of the MTG community.
They have a lot of buying power and a large influence on the secondary market. Most online stores do not price cards until SCG sets a price. Then other stores either set their cards at the same price or undercut them by some margin. SCG also tends to price staple cards higher than any other (or in reality, all other stores undercut them a few dollars to make it seem SCG is overpricing).
It isnt SCGs fault they are as big as they are. The issue I personally have is that since they influence the market so much, other stores aren't going to charge a respectable value for a card (Temporal Mastery presale price rings a bell - VERY hyped and kept going up) if SCG is charging noticeably more.
Another issue I have is that they use "pros" (aka ppl like Todd Anderson who I really don't look at as a pro) to hype up all these cards every set and write all these articles claiming how cards "can" "might" "may" and "possibly" do something. Whats worse is that a lot of the community just takes it at face value and believes it. Their almost more like sales reps than MTG Pros.
This is capitalism though, and with the good comes the bad. SCG wont cut card prices to make competitive magic more accessible to everyone, they are a business first and foremost.
In this post we have the following:
1. An ad hominem attack on my "cleverness"
2. The use of one example to disprove a general trend (and I'm being charitable since Europe is basically a different market anyway and even your example is nonsensical)
3. Baseless assertions about SCG "stocking up for demand"
You don't have to be clever to see that buying up most fetchlands right when modern was taking off would let you jack up the price. It's obvious.
Do you mean unfair or unequal?
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#1) I posted a question about the big difference in delivery costs. SCG replied "Whats the worst to happen? Lost delivery?" Felt that my question wasnt answered and their response was annoying.
#2) Despite that, I attempted to purchase singles during their sales. Being an overseas buyer, they presented so many loops to jump through to verify my credit card till I gave up on the purchase. I booked accommodations in USA, using my CC for the bill of thousands and experienced none of the antics SCG used.
Ignored them ever since.
The high prices are (imo) not necessarily a reflection of SCG's activity buying and selling cards, but rather a side effect of their well publicized tournaments. I'm glad that they run those tournaments and it is good for MTG as a whole, but with increased awareness about "good decks" comes spikiness in prices as more people try to hit a supply that isn't terribly flexible.
I think the main time you'll see some serious sketchy action from SCG is if/when they make the decision to transition to modern. They'll quietly reduce their legacy stocks and buy up modern stuff, and then make a very nice chunk of change from the ensuing supply/demand changes.
Like I said, SCG's business practices wouldn't be tolerated in the real stock market. What they are doing is definitely scummy.
The magic demand is often prejudged by hype. A card that shoots up in price in the short term will often come back down over time. If you are a smart MTG investor then you will not pay inflated pre-release prices on many cards. Jace, Architect of Thought pre-sold at $35 during pre-release hype. In the time before Theros came out it was down to £8 and I bought 4. If you follow MTG trends then you can use a limited budget to pick up good cards.
Just because many stores are lazy in their pricing doesn't mean that you cannot fine what you want at a cheaper price. SCG cannot buy every copy of a card.
You call it exploitation but in fact they are following market forces of demand. If they were exploiting you, then you would have to buy it from them. I've already pointed out that just because they are buying up stock of something that you can still get the card at the same price. However what you will find is that eventually demand will create a price increase no matter who is buying it. It's just basic economics.
So was Standard Oil. What's your point? The idea that an unregulated market always produces the best outcomes is a childish libertarian fantasy.
I used an example to show that SCG does not dominate the market for magic cards. Examples are good to prove a point.
Wrong. If you are buying up fetchlands just as demand is going up then you are predicting a future price increase. If it's obvious you can do the same. That's called speculation. They are not buying them to jack up the price, they are buying them as they know there will be future demand and they need to carry stock.
It's not an either/or. SCG knew the price would increase due to demand AND that they could charge more by capturing the market.
I did not say it produces the 'best outcome', please do not put words in my mouth. I am talking economics here which has nothing to do with liberatianism.
A card suddenly becomes the in thing for whatever reason then demand will go up. Assuming supply stays the same that will lead to a price increase on the card. Simple fact. The point you are compaining about is that SCG sees that trend and buys into the card before it goes up. Its the same principle as playing the stock market. You have to understand what is going on in the market to be able to make money on it. That is all SCG is doing - they are a business after all not a charity.
So did everyone else know the price would increase ... you already said it was obvious. SCG buying up a number of things that were already on the market at a lower price is hardly capturing the market. That would be a very small percentage of the total cards. Yes they will make a profit on it, but please don't insult my intelligence by claiming they have captured the market.
Like any market, demand changes and supply adjusts prices accordingly. SCG has high visibility, so when people want cards and the price has gone up, they complain.
But SCG is just as subject to market conditions as anyone else. Like anyone else, they try to predict and follow trends. They may make a few more waves than smaller fish, but if they stray from the market and try to "corner" something, they'll incur losses the same as anyone else.
TLDR: Angry people who can't afford cards shoot at SCG because its the largest target.
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Is this a real post?
What is the point of stocks then, don't people buy them only to sell them at a later time to hopefully make profit?
What am I missing here?
While I have some problems with SCG, blaming them for Scalding Tarn spiking is absurd. You know why Scalding Tarn spiked? Modern was growing. SCG is a large share of the market, but not enough to control the price.
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Magic cards aren't stocks.
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WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Part of the issue has been to turn the card game into a stock market. The original value of cards would shift, but not at such an abrupt period of time. The other factor has been the extreme price spikes in conjunction with the limited print. Which creates a problem or perception about a "rich man's game."
People like price stability and ease of entry. StarCity's profit maximization model with heavy buyouts of smaller vendors disrupts that price stability and encourages the sharp price rises at a sharp point. This equates to an unfairness quotient with opportunity. A gradual rather than a sharp price spikes up or down often lead to confidence that the "market is fair."
Since a sharp price spike can also lead towards consumer lack of confidence in ability to enter a format, this disrupts the player supply. However, this has been more of a WotC reprint issue than a StarCity games problem as StarCity can hop to a different game depending on how well capitalized it is.
Then we also have to look at low end vendors protecting their assets as well. You'll notice that for purchases Star City doesn't allow for any data mining with it's buying. So the same tactic that's used against some other vendors cannot be as readily used against Star City. However, this also leads to criticism about people who want to sell cards to Star City about the ease to look up a card through a search engine and get a quick price rather than slogging through a massive list scrolling through. Sorry, but this isn't the 1990's anymore and being paranoid about that can make the brand appear overly guarded for something that today is done readily across many industries as a standard for buy/sell comparison.
Acting as a clearing house whose prices are mimicked and practices are seen as the top do indeed set a precedence in a market. As prices begin to rise, there's been more smaller vendors activating bots or having actual people taking cards off the market more quickly.
As there are "active traders" racing to find "deals" for greater profit maximization that whose total jobs are specialized for that will create a sense of unfairness for a game that people are used to a certain time period before prices spike.
Judging by the one forum screenshot, there was talk about SGC's strategy becoming blatant. While the trader was asking and expecting for privacy, you're also seeing the opposite with small retailers looking at lost profits to a larger competitor with a specialized, professional trader.
My basic expectation, like you seen in the screenshot, is to see people discussing and sharing information about business practices and expecting how to adapt to such practices. While being rampant maybe smart, there comes a time whenever the shoe becomes the other foot.
After a while, a bad reputation for certain business practices with B2B sales can become very contentious. Nepotism and collusion are often done cloak and dagger. While it may not hurt the larger or smaller business, it does send an annoyance factor in the economic game of war if one occurs.
Which may mean more "staple black out periods" and other such things that will act as a defense against large scale purchases or even limiting quantity to a single buyer. Which, again, can cause problems for the consumer as the capitalist tries to play a game of protection.
Making money is one thing, starting a defensive practices business conflicts with B2B sales isn't necessarily good. It only gets worse with corporate espionage, hacking, and other stupid things (not accusing nor insinuating any establishment of engaging in such practices as no such evidence has been gathered) that comes in from other industries.
Speculation encourages some really bad and stupid behaviors. It hasn't achieved stupid yet, but when considering other industries here I'm not going to say in a decade's time I would not be surprised if there may very well be some new rules put into place by some businesses to protect assets.
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
Individualities may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.
Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.
I buy from SCG for EDH needs only. I just hate going to an LGS and paying $1 for a rare that's worth $.15. Why? Because it prevents me from buying more and I like to make my dollars go further. Plus, SCG has pretty much every card and sometimes I need something unusual or just really old. For Standard I trade or buy at an LGS because the metagame changes too quickly for me to be waiting by the mailbox for cards to arrives.
Yes I agree that SCG does have an influence on the market, but that is not necessarily SCG fault. It is more a symptom of people (both traders and buyers) being lazy about pricing.
They have been accused of dodgy business practices in this thread, but all I've seen so far is restocking ahead of an anticipated increase and there is nothing dodgy or illegal in that.
I would like to understand exactly what these dodgy practices are. If they had private information from WoTC that they used to their advantage then I could understand people's anger. Just because they are clever and successful at what they do is not a reason to slam them.
You hate paying $1.00 for a card that costs $0.15? Ok, have fun paying $2.99 getting your 0.15 rare then by mail...
$1.00 < $3.14
Which one seems more reasonable?
If its' the only card I need, I'm not paying the shipping costs, I'm going to go local...
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We're talking about the single biggest store in magic. Do you know how you become the biggest store? By having everything.
Now, if starcity runs out of a card, are they supposed to tell their thousands and thousands of customers to go somewhere else? Who would do that? People would stop buying from them because 'they're always out of what I want' because out of the many cards in standard, there's only about 20 anyone wants, and everyone wants them.
So, when starcity runs out, they can't turn customers away, so they have to BUY THE CARDS. Players aren't selling these cards to them, because THEY WANT THEM TOO! So SCG has to buy it from somewhere else, they have to buy it from OTHER STORES. So they do, they buy from stores and sell to players because they're out of stock.
And then they raise the price, to maintain a profit, because they're a ****ing store and they need to make money to stay open.
They have a lot of buying power and a large influence on the secondary market. Most online stores do not price cards until SCG sets a price. Then other stores either set their cards at the same price or undercut them by some margin. SCG also tends to price staple cards higher than any other (or in reality, all other stores undercut them a few dollars to make it seem SCG is overpricing).
It isnt SCGs fault they are as big as they are. The issue I personally have is that since they influence the market so much, other stores aren't going to charge a respectable value for a card (Temporal Mastery presale price rings a bell - VERY hyped and kept going up) if SCG is charging noticeably more.
Another issue I have is that they use "pros" (aka ppl like Todd Anderson who I really don't look at as a pro) to hype up all these cards every set and write all these articles claiming how cards "can" "might" "may" and "possibly" do something. Whats worse is that a lot of the community just takes it at face value and believes it. Their almost more like sales reps than MTG Pros.
This is capitalism though, and with the good comes the bad. SCG wont cut card prices to make competitive magic more accessible to everyone, they are a business first and foremost.
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
DCI Rules Advisor as of 5/18/2015