Can Local Game Store Owners/Staff Members ban customers from their store for purchasing cards from competing stores or through e-commerce websites? I know there used to be a rule at one of the Local Game Stores I go to that customers weren't allowed to buy/sell cards to/from other customers except from the store employees since they're the ones trying to make money to pay for overhead to provide a place for customers to play MTG and other Trading Card Games/Collectible Card Games.
Of course I used to think that If they're having trouble getting in certain products from their local distributor or that If someone is selling products from discontinued Trading Card Games/Collectible Card Games that it wouldn't pose as much of a problem for the LGS and their employees. I think the reason why they would consider banning loyal customers from their store is due to how the retail market has dramatically changed to the point where they're starting to take more incentives to save their own business.
So unless the LGS opens up their own e-commerce website like setting up their own eBay store or through Crystal Commerce then they won't be able to compete with retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target. I'm starting to wonder If the LGS isn't making as much revenue on card singles compared to sealed product where it has the "blind buy purchase" model that everyone seems to loathe. Then again what good is the "blind buy purchase" model on sealed product If companies can get away with rigging the pull rates on booster packs?
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
A person can be banned from any business for any reason that is not a protected reason (age, gender, race, etc). That being said the only time I've heard people being banned is when buying/selling inside the store itself and it's for the reason you mentioned that the store isn't making any money that way.
A person can be banned from any business for any reason that is not a protected reason (age, gender, race, etc). That being said the only time I've heard people being banned is when buying/selling inside the store itself and it's for the reason you mentioned that the store isn't making any money that way.
Maybe the LGS can fix this problem by selling more card singles for other Trading Card Games/Collectible Card Games outside of MTG, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Pokémon that isn't just exclusive toward sealed product but for games still currently in circulation like Cardfight!! Vanguard and Dragon Ball Super. It's hard to sell card singles for discontinued Trading Card Games/Collectible Card Games since the Secondary Market for those cards no longer exist though there are a few that have managed to maintain their monetary value particularly when it comes to Dragon Ball Z/GT by Score Entertainment.
The real question is whether or not the LGS will adopt this type of business model to make up for monetary losses in sealed product. I do think it's one way that they can help diversify their business portfolio depending on what else the store sells that appeals to that demographic but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. The LGS is already turning into a clubhouse with the possibility of charging membership fees to customers who are needing to rent table space whether If it's for an event or just to chill out. As long as the fee isn't too expensive I can probably get by with it.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Barring players from engaging in non-store monetary transactions within the establishment is one thing, since store employees and owners should at least be able to control what is bought or sold in their own space. Taking action against players to seek out competitors and online card purchases is something else entirely. I mean, they can do it, but that just sounds really desperate and inadvisable. The tactic could hurt loyalty rather than increase it due to backlash, and demanding loyalty risks turning away newcomers. Not to mention, enforcement would be a nightmare. There is no way to verify where players purchased the cards they bring into the shop, and I wouldn't expect a store owner who puts such a policy in place to require a particularly high burden of proof. Proving a player purchased cards elsewhere would require spies or really invasive tactics. Oh, and a shop not having particular item in stock could leave players screwed. No matter how you slice it, extending the type of rules that control in-store behavior outside of the storefront would be deeply problematic.
I think that If someone was engaging in a non-store monetary transaction outside the establishment then they should be safe from getting kicked out of the store as long as they don't get caught doing it on security cameras or no one talks about it. Though I think it speaks to how flawed the system is for physical loot boxes where often times it's the only real way that a Local Game Store (LGS) can gain revenue aside from the Singles Market where they're not making as much as the companies that manufacture the actual cards let alone local distributors. That's why I'm concerned that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) isn't taking physical loot boxes (booster boxes / sealed product) as seriously as digital loot boxes where it seems to be more predatory than the other.
I know that Tara Sophia from MagicalTabletopGirls on YouTube has been more vocal on this subject than I have and yet nobody seems to care about the ramifications of this since we're incompetent and overconfident that we'll keep paying into the business model and pretend that nothing needs to be fixed in order to adapt to a rapidly changing retail market. At the end of the day we're masochistic players / collectors who enjoy the abusive business model. We want rarer and shinier. Make the consumer suffer more. But as we've learned from Living Card Games it doesn't have to be that way, though I'm sure that the Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game model will evolve into something that's a win-win for both the LGS and the consumer.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Can Local Game Store Owners/Staff Members ban customers from their store for purchasing cards from competing stores or through e-commerce websites?
How on earth do they propose to enforce this?
"That card you're playing was not bought here!"
I know there used to be a rule at one of the Local Game Stores I go to that customers weren't allowed to buy/sell cards to/from other customers except from the store employees since they're the ones trying to make money to pay for overhead to provide a place for customers to play MTG and other Trading Card Games/Collectible Card Games.
That's perfectly ok.
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"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
I know there used to be a rule at one of the Local Game Stores I go to that customers weren't allowed to buy/sell cards to/from other customers except from the store employees since they're the ones trying to make money to pay for overhead to provide a place for customers to play MTG and other Trading Card Games/Collectible Card Games.
That's perfectly ok.
It's not necessarily a mandatory rule/store policy that ALL Local Game Stores abide by, though I can see why it seems like a cause of alarm due to how difficult it can be to complete decks for various Trading Card Games/Collectible Card Games on sealed product alone. Purchasing cards outside the establishment cuts the waiting period of specific card singles that the Local Game Store and the distributor have difficulty acquiring when they mostly rely on sealed product to make most of their money for their business instead of specific card singles.
That's how "Trading" in Trading Card Games lost it's meaning over time since it's become more about not having to play the booster box lottery when it's more convenient to get the cards a person needs without losing as much financially on sealed product purchases. The point I'm making here is that a gaming hobby shouldn't have to make you feel like you're in poverty to get ahead when everyone should be on equal ground. Why do you think crunching quarters at local Arcades was such a bad marketing ploy for it's time during the 90's and early 2000's?
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The cynic in me wants to say that the LGS would want to try stamping the cards like the Pro Tour does, with the logic that ruining resale value means players need to spend more money on the store's cards instead of trading in old cards for cash or store credit. But beyond that it's probably just a scare tactic to try and get gullible players to pay inflated prices without actually thinking about how such a policy could ever be enforced.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Of course I used to think that If they're having trouble getting in certain products from their local distributor or that If someone is selling products from discontinued Trading Card Games/Collectible Card Games that it wouldn't pose as much of a problem for the LGS and their employees. I think the reason why they would consider banning loyal customers from their store is due to how the retail market has dramatically changed to the point where they're starting to take more incentives to save their own business.
So unless the LGS opens up their own e-commerce website like setting up their own eBay store or through Crystal Commerce then they won't be able to compete with retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target. I'm starting to wonder If the LGS isn't making as much revenue on card singles compared to sealed product where it has the "blind buy purchase" model that everyone seems to loathe. Then again what good is the "blind buy purchase" model on sealed product If companies can get away with rigging the pull rates on booster packs?
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The real question is whether or not the LGS will adopt this type of business model to make up for monetary losses in sealed product. I do think it's one way that they can help diversify their business portfolio depending on what else the store sells that appeals to that demographic but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. The LGS is already turning into a clubhouse with the possibility of charging membership fees to customers who are needing to rent table space whether If it's for an event or just to chill out. As long as the fee isn't too expensive I can probably get by with it.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I know that Tara Sophia from MagicalTabletopGirls on YouTube has been more vocal on this subject than I have and yet nobody seems to care about the ramifications of this since we're incompetent and overconfident that we'll keep paying into the business model and pretend that nothing needs to be fixed in order to adapt to a rapidly changing retail market. At the end of the day we're masochistic players / collectors who enjoy the abusive business model. We want rarer and shinier. Make the consumer suffer more. But as we've learned from Living Card Games it doesn't have to be that way, though I'm sure that the Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game model will evolve into something that's a win-win for both the LGS and the consumer.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
How on earth do they propose to enforce this?
"That card you're playing was not bought here!"
That's perfectly ok.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
That's how "Trading" in Trading Card Games lost it's meaning over time since it's become more about not having to play the booster box lottery when it's more convenient to get the cards a person needs without losing as much financially on sealed product purchases. The point I'm making here is that a gaming hobby shouldn't have to make you feel like you're in poverty to get ahead when everyone should be on equal ground. Why do you think crunching quarters at local Arcades was such a bad marketing ploy for it's time during the 90's and early 2000's?
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The cynic in me wants to say that the LGS would want to try stamping the cards like the Pro Tour does, with the logic that ruining resale value means players need to spend more money on the store's cards instead of trading in old cards for cash or store credit. But beyond that it's probably just a scare tactic to try and get gullible players to pay inflated prices without actually thinking about how such a policy could ever be enforced.