In this thread, I'm going to discuss an idea I had for a business. Feel free to give your opinions and/or suggestions. The idea is a website where you can borrow cards for an undetermined period of time. It's a card library, basically, where you can borrow cards for a tournament for a relatively low price. It's designed for those who can't afford to break into a format, so they can borrow a deck to play at a Grand Prix or SCG event. Anti-fraud measures would be a deposit equal to the value of cards borrowed. The website would charge a per-card fee for orders. What do you think? Would you use it? Any loopholes?
So, somehow the "library" would need many multiples of the "top tier decks" (and this changes frequently over time in standard specifically) would need to charge enough to not suffer the "impact" of the high degree that card prices change in said format, yet not so much that it wouldn't be worth doing.
My bigger worry is...why would someone want to play a deck they haven't been playing regularly in competitive situations...that would mean "renting the deck" for every FNM LOL
I see a potential pitfall again about card price changes.
Say I get X cards with value equal to $250. Imagine I "crush" at that tournament or just the deck I played did and the card prices go up to $400...what if I just let you keep my $250 cards for this nice $400 deck now?
Finally, I could imagine some interesting customer service issue with shipping. Shipping needs to be fast and unless you're a central location or multiple locations in regions, it would seem ... a source of friction.
EDITED in this PS of encouragement.
I would TOTALLY do this to play standard when I don't like the sets. For example, I would have complete done this with Battle and Oath
Yeah you need to figure out how to make money on it. And there is a bit of risk to consider that you may just have to endure to price properly. Also, consider that people aren't going to want to deposit $700. It might be necessary, though. I could see something like : go to event, deposit deck value with vendor via credit card, return deck for 90% return, or something. Managing the collection is going to be an incredible chore, and may make this not worth it for you.
The scenario that presents itself to me is a way to prevent the cards from getting stolen. The honor system is pretty shaky the smaller something is vs how much it's worth.
It would take time to inspect and validate 75 cards for forgeries, something that would be required as a guarantee and to prevent running afoul of the WPN. I can check 4 or 5 75 card decks before I start getting bored. I can't imagine checking 20 or 30 decks e ery night.
That might require card sleeves that can be sealed (a collector might go looney toons if a $200+ card is damaged in the process but that's off topic) and marked to prevent the sleeve from being reused. That doesn't even answer what happens if a sleeve splits during play.
Then an entire RFID system might be needed to quickly validate if cards are actually there. Anything else would be considered marked.
But how to ensure their return? As someone mentioned,a $250 deck that suddenly jumps to $400 amounts to a tidy profit. The owner, who accepted a $250 deposit would be in a bind. That's a lost investment. To really make it hurt, the thief can initiate a chargeback. Now the onus is on the merchant to contest the chargeback, the smaller a business you are, the less leverage you have to contest and win the chargeback. I can smell small claims in that whole mess.
The more I try to solve the problems, the uglier it gets and the less it looks like a good idea.
The biggest loophole I see is accountability.
You have to First: Gather a card library that allows you to do this on whatever scale you choose. So lets say you start with your 3 LGS. You need a hub to arrange this. If its send a rep to each LGS for each event youre paying someone to be there. If its through the LGS they take a cut. IF you do through the mail you have postage to worry about. Lets say you have the ability to supply each LGS 1 deck each of the top 8 decks currently in standard. Thats THOUSANDS of dollars let alone of you go for eternal formats.
Second: How are the cards being tracked? Do you have to stamp each one with IR ink? Who collects the cards and grades them going in and out? What do you do if someone damages a card?
Third: The deposit. If someone was going to drop the $250 on the deck maybe they just ourtight buy it. Maybe they just want to try it and thats a pay wall for some of the less privileged players. The deposit has to be enough that it covers losses that will eventually happen. Again back to the first point you need someone at the LGS for pickup and drop off to ensure you get your cards.
Fourth: How do you regulate? Do you need gov't issue ID? Do you just sign up as John Doe? Its fine if you have a local and someone can vouch but what if someone just shows up?
I could see this working if you were a vendor at a large event and identified these issues. Or as i mentioned you ran it through a LGS but then then need a cut. The model seems sketchy no matter how you swing it, mostly on the startup side. Good luck of you do proceed with this though
Something like that, except that sparedeck.com is very expensive. I was thinking more like 20$ a deck, but you need to deposit some money in case the deck is damaged/ stolen.
The biggest loophole I see is accountability.
You have to First: Gather a card library that allows you to do this on whatever scale you choose. So lets say you start with your 3 LGS. You need a hub to arrange this. If its send a rep to each LGS for each event youre paying someone to be there. If its through the LGS they take a cut. IF you do through the mail you have postage to worry about. Lets say you have the ability to supply each LGS 1 deck each of the top 8 decks currently in standard. Thats THOUSANDS of dollars let alone of you go for eternal formats.
Second: How are the cards being tracked? Do you have to stamp each one with IR ink? Who collects the cards and grades them going in and out? What do you do if someone damages a card?
Third: The deposit. If someone was going to drop the $250 on the deck maybe they just ourtight buy it. Maybe they just want to try it and thats a pay wall for some of the less privileged players. The deposit has to be enough that it covers losses that will eventually happen. Again back to the first point you need someone at the LGS for pickup and drop off to ensure you get your cards.
Fourth: How do you regulate? Do you need gov't issue ID? Do you just sign up as John Doe? Its fine if you have a local and someone can vouch but what if someone just shows up?
I could see this working if you were a vendor at a large event and identified these issues. Or as i mentioned you ran it through a LGS but then then need a cut. The model seems sketchy no matter how you swing it, mostly on the startup side. Good luck of you do proceed with this though
The deposit is returned once the cards are returned to me.
So, somehow the "library" would need many multiples of the "top tier decks" (and this changes frequently over time in standard specifically) would need to charge enough to not suffer the "impact" of the high degree that card prices change in said format, yet not so much that it wouldn't be worth doing.
My bigger worry is...why would someone want to play a deck they haven't been playing regularly in competitive situations...that would mean "renting the deck" for every FNM LOL
I see a potential pitfall again about card price changes.
Say I get X cards with value equal to $250. Imagine I "crush" at that tournament or just the deck I played did and the card prices go up to $400...what if I just let you keep my $250 cards for this nice $400 deck now?
Finally, I could imagine some interesting customer service issue with shipping. Shipping needs to be fast and unless you're a central location or multiple locations in regions, it would seem ... a source of friction.
EDITED in this PS of encouragement.
I would TOTALLY do this to play standard when I don't like the sets. For example, I would have complete done this with Battle and Oath
These are all great arguments. Stamping cards would have to be a must. Thanks for the feedback!
Something like that, except that sparedeck.com is very expensive. I was thinking more like 20$ a deck, but you need to deposit some money in case the deck is damaged/ stolen.
You can't get it that cheap. I know it's hard to hear, but this service will be expensive, especially if you are wanting to service Standard.
Something like that, except that sparedeck.com is very expensive. I was thinking more like 20$ a deck, but you need to deposit some money in case the deck is damaged/ stolen.
You can't get it that cheap. I know it's hard to hear, but this service will be expensive, especially if you are wanting to service Standard.
I just find it sad that renting the deck costs almost as much as the deck itself.
So, somehow the "library" would need many multiples of the "top tier decks" (and this changes frequently over time in standard specifically) would need to charge enough to not suffer the "impact" of the high degree that card prices change in said format, yet not so much that it wouldn't be worth doing.
My bigger worry is...why would someone want to play a deck they haven't been playing regularly in competitive situations...that would mean "renting the deck" for every FNM LOL
I see a potential pitfall again about card price changes.
Say I get X cards with value equal to $250. Imagine I "crush" at that tournament or just the deck I played did and the card prices go up to $400...what if I just let you keep my $250 cards for this nice $400 deck now?
Finally, I could imagine some interesting customer service issue with shipping. Shipping needs to be fast and unless you're a central location or multiple locations in regions, it would seem ... a source of friction.
EDITED in this PS of encouragement.
I would TOTALLY do this to play standard when I don't like the sets. For example, I would have complete done this with Battle and Oath
It would take time to inspect and validate 75 cards for forgeries, something that would be required as a guarantee and to prevent running afoul of the WPN. I can check 4 or 5 75 card decks before I start getting bored. I can't imagine checking 20 or 30 decks e ery night.
That might require card sleeves that can be sealed (a collector might go looney toons if a $200+ card is damaged in the process but that's off topic) and marked to prevent the sleeve from being reused. That doesn't even answer what happens if a sleeve splits during play.
Then an entire RFID system might be needed to quickly validate if cards are actually there. Anything else would be considered marked.
But how to ensure their return? As someone mentioned,a $250 deck that suddenly jumps to $400 amounts to a tidy profit. The owner, who accepted a $250 deposit would be in a bind. That's a lost investment. To really make it hurt, the thief can initiate a chargeback. Now the onus is on the merchant to contest the chargeback, the smaller a business you are, the less leverage you have to contest and win the chargeback. I can smell small claims in that whole mess.
The more I try to solve the problems, the uglier it gets and the less it looks like a good idea.
You have to First: Gather a card library that allows you to do this on whatever scale you choose. So lets say you start with your 3 LGS. You need a hub to arrange this. If its send a rep to each LGS for each event youre paying someone to be there. If its through the LGS they take a cut. IF you do through the mail you have postage to worry about. Lets say you have the ability to supply each LGS 1 deck each of the top 8 decks currently in standard. Thats THOUSANDS of dollars let alone of you go for eternal formats.
Second: How are the cards being tracked? Do you have to stamp each one with IR ink? Who collects the cards and grades them going in and out? What do you do if someone damages a card?
Third: The deposit. If someone was going to drop the $250 on the deck maybe they just ourtight buy it. Maybe they just want to try it and thats a pay wall for some of the less privileged players. The deposit has to be enough that it covers losses that will eventually happen. Again back to the first point you need someone at the LGS for pickup and drop off to ensure you get your cards.
Fourth: How do you regulate? Do you need gov't issue ID? Do you just sign up as John Doe? Its fine if you have a local and someone can vouch but what if someone just shows up?
I could see this working if you were a vendor at a large event and identified these issues. Or as i mentioned you ran it through a LGS but then then need a cut. The model seems sketchy no matter how you swing it, mostly on the startup side. Good luck of you do proceed with this though
Standard- Esper Control
Commander- Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Intet, the Dreamer
Jhoira of the Ghitu
Something like that, except that sparedeck.com is very expensive. I was thinking more like 20$ a deck, but you need to deposit some money in case the deck is damaged/ stolen.
The deposit is returned once the cards are returned to me.
These are all great arguments. Stamping cards would have to be a must. Thanks for the feedback!
You can't get it that cheap. I know it's hard to hear, but this service will be expensive, especially if you are wanting to service Standard.
I just find it sad that renting the deck costs almost as much as the deck itself.
The Scapeshift one, for example, is $900 from tcgplayer.com, and costs ~$115 to rent.
That's not even close to "almost as much".