Is it just me, or has activity been in a lull for most of the past week? I'm used to 120-130 different "wants", but now it's down closer to 85.
My guess is that people are saving up so they can pay inflated pre-release prices, but then again, I don't know. I don't remember this happening during Fate Reforged spoilers.
I start saving up some points before the next release hits. That said, I've been unloading a lot of value in the last week or so. I had $200 flowing out last week, although much of that has now arrived.
The lull is probably the lead up to Dragon's release. There's been a shorter turn around between fate and dragons than most sets. IIRC, there was a massive slow down before fate dropped too.
Italy I have no problems with. Argentina is a total hit or miss. I don't send to Spain and have stopped sending to Argentina. I have over $100 worth of points dating back to December that haven't been credited. It's not just their mail system sucks, the users from those countries don't comment back or care to log back in to give you the points.
I won't be sending out of USA/Canada anymore. Not worth the hassle.
Just got a single Form of the Dragon all the way from Canada. Cost them $1.20 just for the stamp. Not my money, but I don't understand it.
Also, who here reuses the sleeves and toploaders they get? I have a shoe box full of them that I reuse, but I seem to get a lot of one that look brand new in the mail.
I reuse the toploaders, but the problem is that I ship out 15 envelopes for every 1 envelope I get in. So unfortunately I am shipping almost all new toploaders. Thank goodness they are only around 8 cents each.
Are other people experiencing problems with people never reacting to cases or not closing trades? I've got five cases running at this moment against irresponsive people and it seems the mods are not picking them up, leaving them to clutter my "Receiving" page and taking my points hostage.
Also, it seems most of the trading is done within the USA with more and more people not willing to send abroad. I understand the hassle when sending to the mediterranean countries (Spain, Italy, Greece) since I've experienced problems with them too. But is this also true for countries such as Germany, Great Britain and my home base the Netherlands? I ask because I see a lot of people offering the cards I want (For random foils I count 30 offers as quite a lot) but I've been waiting for them for over 2 months now.
On the topic of "bounties". For those who have used that method successfully, how do you all get it to work? I'm looking for a certain foil card and willing to offer more than Pucatrade values it at. I added the word "Bounty" to my username, but how do people know which card I'm offering a bounty on? Should I change my username to the name of the card? Should I add it to my profile and hope someone looks there?
They are behind on cases at the moment because of the huge surge in Puca's popularity, and limitations on the case resolution system. They are working to improve it, but significant changes take time and must be done very carefully to avoid introducing more issues.
I've done bounties several times. Generally, I do it like this:
Username change from "Aranthar" to "Aranthar-Bonus Pts"
In my profile add a section that says:
I am offering a "bounty" of bonus points for people sending me certain cards. This will be sent in addition to the actual point value of the card. My current bounty card(s) are:
Snapcaster Mage - 300 Points ($3)
My friend got a message today from a user and we both had a chuckle. He has a card (sneak attack judge foil) on his want list. The guy messages him and says that he has one for trade but he wanted an extra 1500 points. No reason, no explanation.
My friend got a message today from a user and we both had a chuckle. He has a card (sneak attack judge foil) on his want list. The guy messages him and says that he has one for trade but he wanted an extra 1500 points. No reason, no explanation.
Pretty sure the reason and explanation are simple: Despite Pucatrade already overvaluing the points the card is worth, the user feels that it's worth about $15 more. Seems like a fair request (not really a fair price though) and one your friend can easily and politely decline.
My friend got a message today from a user and we both had a chuckle. He has a card (sneak attack judge foil) on his want list. The guy messages him and says that he has one for trade but he wanted an extra 1500 points. No reason, no explanation.
Guy messages me with a MP Bayou that he wants 15,500 points for. By comparison, the NM price is currently 15,150. Told him I'm interested at around 13,500, and the guy doesn't even bother to tell me that 13,500 isn't enough, and just disappears.
I don't hold it against the individual since I'm always interested in getting the most points for my cards, but I could get a NM one on TCGPlayer shipped for $145, so... I'll pass.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Former Level 2 Judge (Retired / Renounced)
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
My friend got a message today from a user and we both had a chuckle. He has a card (sneak attack judge foil) on his want list. The guy messages him and says that he has one for trade but he wanted an extra 1500 points. No reason, no explanation.
Pretty sure the reason and explanation are simple: Despite Pucatrade already overvaluing the points the card is worth, the user feels that it's worth about $15 more. Seems like a fair request (not really a fair price though) and one your friend can easily and politely decline.
Yep, he certainly can ask for whatever he wants for the card.
My friend got a message today from a user and we both had a chuckle. He has a card (sneak attack judge foil) on his want list. The guy messages him and says that he has one for trade but he wanted an extra 1500 points. No reason, no explanation.
Guy messages me with a MP Bayou that he wants 15,500 points for. By comparison, the NM price is currently 15,150. Told him I'm interested at around 13,500, and the guy doesn't even bother to tell me that 13,500 isn't enough, and just disappears.
I don't hold it against the individual since I'm always interested in getting the most points for my cards, but I could get a NM one on TCGPlayer shipped for $145, so... I'll pass.
Yeah, when I was looking to get my Mishra's Workshop I had a lot of similar encounters. Generally they would all come in at around 100 dollars over what the value was already marked at on pucatrade and the card would end up being HP when I asked for pictures. I always countered and they just disappeared. On the flip side though, I did have someone who sent me a Chaos Orb for 2400 points (his offer) and was pleasantly surprised.
Yeah it happens more at high dollar cards it seems. When I was looking for a Chains of Mephistopheles (got it), someone sent me a message asking for offers on theirs (NM English). I told him that if he had it, he could just click send and he'd get full points. He mentioned that he was looking for more than the sticker price. I had numerous SP/MP offers at below the sticker price, so I didn't feel the need to take it. I can't imagine ever going higher than the standard price by more than a few % of the card value.
For duals and power, I can see accepting the full price for SP to SP+ cards and I know that for duals / Karakas and similar, MP cards tend to go at a 10-15% discount over NM (at least, that's about what I'm able to negotiate in general), but I can't think of a single card where I'd pay more than 10% above the posted price, except when the posted price is obviously wrong (7th Foil Ensnaring Bridges were listed at 2,000 points for a good while when they're really worth 15,000+, for instance).
On the bright side, I have managed to pick up 9 dual lands on PucaTrade in the past month, leaving me five short of a playset.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Former Level 2 Judge (Retired / Renounced)
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
I am pretty new but this seems like a really bold and interesting system to get the value out of cards that one no longer uses. I was surprised to see a thread here about it.
Since most of you are much experienced than I am, what if any advice would you suggest? I looked at the thread a bit, so i gleaned how best to ship and a bit about the poor mailing systems in some countries (I live in the States), but is there anything else that might be vitally important? I am really carefully looking at the condition that my cards are in before and edition since those seem to be common pitfalls.
My suggestion would be to list everything you want to get rid of, even the commons and uncommons. You might have a large collection, and it might take awhile. But its worth it. That's what I did and I am in the top 50 all time traders (signed up at the end of October). I do it without a page monitor and I check the site a few times a day.
By listing everything out I can quickly complete trades that are worth it for me to ship out. I don't waste time by place holding one card for a minute while I open another page to see if I have other cards that user is looking for. Everything is already listed on the wanted page.
I am pretty new but this seems like a really bold and interesting system to get the value out of cards that one no longer uses. I was surprised to see a thread here about it.
Since most of you are much experienced than I am, what if any advice would you suggest? I looked at the thread a bit, so i gleaned how best to ship and a bit about the poor mailing systems in some countries (I live in the States), but is there anything else that might be vitally important? I am really carefully looking at the condition that my cards are in before and edition since those seem to be common pitfalls.
My advice...
1) Only mail within the US.
2) Anything expensive, track. Expensive is defined as "worth more than you're willing to just give away." For me it's usually $15.
3) Whenever you agree to ship a card, click on the user's profile to see what else they want. It's a good way to bolster value.
4) Condition does matter, but your cards don't need to be Gem Mint under a magnifying glass. Just sent NM cards.
I am pretty new but this seems like a really bold and interesting system to get the value out of cards that one no longer uses. I was surprised to see a thread here about it.
Since most of you are much experienced than I am, what if any advice would you suggest? I looked at the thread a bit, so i gleaned how best to ship and a bit about the poor mailing systems in some countries (I live in the States), but is there anything else that might be vitally important? I am really carefully looking at the condition that my cards are in before and edition since those seem to be common pitfalls.
My advice...
1) Only mail within the US.
2) Anything expensive, track. Expensive is defined as "worth more than you're willing to just give away." For me it's usually $15.
3) Whenever you agree to ship a card, click on the user's profile to see what else they want. It's a good way to bolster value.
4) Condition does matter, but your cards don't need to be Gem Mint under a magnifying glass. Just sent NM cards.
Thanks for the quick reply.
To be honest, most of my cards are sub 20 dollars anyway, so I can't see shipping over seas being worthwhile. Heck, I think the most expensive things I am looking to get rid of are like a Serra's Sanctum and an Aether Vial. I was shocked to see my foil preordain was nearly as much as the vial though. The funnest thing are the unglued lands--I think every pack had one. I never bought alot but between my circle, I ended up trading into quite a few back when the set came out. But trading a pile of 5 dollar cards for a really nice card...that seems appealing to me.
Most of my cards are in pretty good shape, though when I acquired a few things from legends many years ago, the condition wasn't always the greatest. They weren't that bad but just whitening around the edges sometimes, so I've been really leery about sending those out--its probably less hassle to just take them to my local gaming store.
Remember as well that while a fair number of people are only looking for NM to Gem Mint cards, there are a fair number of people who also are willing to negotiate for played cards - I am one such individual, and there are others like me in that regard.
If you go that route, you will need a silver (i.e. paid) account and you should always get approval from the other party before sending less than NM - I am fine with SP and MP at a discount, yes, but I will get angry if I get less than NM and I'm not notified ahead of time.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Former Level 2 Judge (Retired / Renounced)
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
So I am relatively new to PT and received a MP card...not remotely expensive, but still the principle upsets me as I have sent nothing but pristine cards. Further, I opened a case not including the admins and the response was piss poor. Overall I am not pleased with the site at the moment.
Here is the correspondence...
I am happy to both provide pictures and let the admins handle this case. I am not paying for your mistake regardless. I am not paying for a stamp on a $1.25 card that you refused to send according to the rules. Thanks for the threat though. We could have handled this amicably, but you seem to refuse to.
Because if you don't give me point and refused to send it back that is mail fraud
It is scratched to high hell and the border shows significant whitening. Why do I have to cover the cost of a stamp to fix your mistake? I will alert an admin on this.
You can just send it back it then if the card isn't to your like all I know is I when by the Web sets grading and it's was lp if anything
I am pretty disappointed by the condition of the card. It is MP by Starcitygames standard (a general standard) and I was led to believe that the only accepted cards for this trading site are NM.
That's a pretty dumb response from the other trader. Mods are a behind on cases right now (a LOT of cases go up every day) but the other trader is clearly in the wrong and will probably get a reprimand, and either shape up or get booted.
For now I would keep the trade open and wait for the mod. If everyone does this with idiots like this guy, he'll have a bunch of open trades, no points to spend, and will be shut out until he makes it right.
So, to you veteran PucaTraders, how serious is to have a trader's account on hold?
I finally get the nerve to send cards over $10 and the receiver's account is now on hold! I haven't sent them yet, thankfully. Can I relist these cards in my Haves and just open a case to cancel this trade? I'm not too confident even to complete the trade if the hold gets lifted...thoughts?
So, to you veteran PucaTraders, how serious is to have a trader's account on hold?
I finally get the nerve to send cards over $10 and the receiver's account is now on hold! I haven't sent them yet, thankfully. Can I relist these cards in my Haves and just open a case to cancel this trade? I'm not too confident even to complete the trade if the hold gets lifted...thoughts?
What exactly does it say? I've never had a receiver's account "on hold". My guess would be that the person in question is being investigated for fraud or system abuse and that you shouldn't send in the meantime, but again, it's not a scenario I've ever seen before.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Former Level 2 Judge (Retired / Renounced)
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
It is odd, I've been following this thread since the beginning and I've yet see anyone post a similar scenario.
Basically, instead of seeing the receiver's address it displays:
I noticed this with a trade I had agreed to do as well today. I sent the Puca team a message, but assume it's something similar to an Eligibility Review here - so, basically what Drifting Skies just said. I would definitely not relist the card, since you've still agreed to send it. I'm sure that the PucaTrade team will reach out or, at the very least, void trades to that user if they come to the conclusion that there's an issue, but at the very least, you don't want to agree to send the card somewhere else and then have to jump through extra hoops to cancel the trade. If I hear back from the admin team, I can share what I was told.
I start saving up some points before the next release hits. That said, I've been unloading a lot of value in the last week or so. I had $200 flowing out last week, although much of that has now arrived.
Check out Odds//Ends - My articles on Quirky Cards and Oddball Builds
Long-time PucaTrade member and sometime author. Send me cards!
Currently playing Knight of the Reliquary - Retreat to Coralhelm Combo
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
I won't be sending out of USA/Canada anymore. Not worth the hassle.
Also, who here reuses the sleeves and toploaders they get? I have a shoe box full of them that I reuse, but I seem to get a lot of one that look brand new in the mail.
BUWGRChilds PlayGRWUB
BUWGR Highlander GRWUB
UBSquee's Shapeshifting PetBU
BW Multiplayer Control WB
RG Changeling GR
UR Mana FlareRU
UMerfolkU
B MBMC B
Also, it seems most of the trading is done within the USA with more and more people not willing to send abroad. I understand the hassle when sending to the mediterranean countries (Spain, Italy, Greece) since I've experienced problems with them too. But is this also true for countries such as Germany, Great Britain and my home base the Netherlands? I ask because I see a lot of people offering the cards I want (For random foils I count 30 offers as quite a lot) but I've been waiting for them for over 2 months now.
Trades
Pucatrade with me!
(Signature courtesy of Argetlam of Hakai Studios
I've done bounties several times. Generally, I do it like this:
Username change from "Aranthar" to "Aranthar-Bonus Pts"
In my profile add a section that says:
I am offering a "bounty" of bonus points for people sending me certain cards. This will be sent in addition to the actual point value of the card. My current bounty card(s) are:
Snapcaster Mage - 300 Points ($3)
Check out Odds//Ends - My articles on Quirky Cards and Oddball Builds
Long-time PucaTrade member and sometime author. Send me cards!
Currently playing Knight of the Reliquary - Retreat to Coralhelm Combo
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Guy messages me with a MP Bayou that he wants 15,500 points for. By comparison, the NM price is currently 15,150. Told him I'm interested at around 13,500, and the guy doesn't even bother to tell me that 13,500 isn't enough, and just disappears.
I don't hold it against the individual since I'm always interested in getting the most points for my cards, but I could get a NM one on TCGPlayer shipped for $145, so... I'll pass.
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
Have played duals? I have PucaPoints for them!
(Credit to DarkNightCavalier)
$tandard: Too poor.
Modern:
- GW Birthing Pod(?)
Legacy:
- UWR Delver
Yep, he certainly can ask for whatever he wants for the card.
Yeah, when I was looking to get my Mishra's Workshop I had a lot of similar encounters. Generally they would all come in at around 100 dollars over what the value was already marked at on pucatrade and the card would end up being HP when I asked for pictures. I always countered and they just disappeared. On the flip side though, I did have someone who sent me a Chaos Orb for 2400 points (his offer) and was pleasantly surprised.
On the bright side, I have managed to pick up 9 dual lands on PucaTrade in the past month, leaving me five short of a playset.
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
Have played duals? I have PucaPoints for them!
(Credit to DarkNightCavalier)
$tandard: Too poor.
Modern:
- GW Birthing Pod(?)
Legacy:
- UWR Delver
Since most of you are much experienced than I am, what if any advice would you suggest? I looked at the thread a bit, so i gleaned how best to ship and a bit about the poor mailing systems in some countries (I live in the States), but is there anything else that might be vitally important? I am really carefully looking at the condition that my cards are in before and edition since those seem to be common pitfalls.
By listing everything out I can quickly complete trades that are worth it for me to ship out. I don't waste time by place holding one card for a minute while I open another page to see if I have other cards that user is looking for. Everything is already listed on the wanted page.
1) Only mail within the US.
2) Anything expensive, track. Expensive is defined as "worth more than you're willing to just give away." For me it's usually $15.
3) Whenever you agree to ship a card, click on the user's profile to see what else they want. It's a good way to bolster value.
4) Condition does matter, but your cards don't need to be Gem Mint under a magnifying glass. Just sent NM cards.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Thanks for the quick reply.
To be honest, most of my cards are sub 20 dollars anyway, so I can't see shipping over seas being worthwhile. Heck, I think the most expensive things I am looking to get rid of are like a Serra's Sanctum and an Aether Vial. I was shocked to see my foil preordain was nearly as much as the vial though. The funnest thing are the unglued lands--I think every pack had one. I never bought alot but between my circle, I ended up trading into quite a few back when the set came out. But trading a pile of 5 dollar cards for a really nice card...that seems appealing to me.
Most of my cards are in pretty good shape, though when I acquired a few things from legends many years ago, the condition wasn't always the greatest. They weren't that bad but just whitening around the edges sometimes, so I've been really leery about sending those out--its probably less hassle to just take them to my local gaming store.
Thanks again for all the information.
If you go that route, you will need a silver (i.e. paid) account and you should always get approval from the other party before sending less than NM - I am fine with SP and MP at a discount, yes, but I will get angry if I get less than NM and I'm not notified ahead of time.
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
Have played duals? I have PucaPoints for them!
(Credit to DarkNightCavalier)
$tandard: Too poor.
Modern:
- GW Birthing Pod(?)
Legacy:
- UWR Delver
Here is the correspondence...
Pictures of the card in question:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10498534#post10498534
For now I would keep the trade open and wait for the mod. If everyone does this with idiots like this guy, he'll have a bunch of open trades, no points to spend, and will be shut out until he makes it right.
Check out Odds//Ends - My articles on Quirky Cards and Oddball Builds
Long-time PucaTrade member and sometime author. Send me cards!
Currently playing Knight of the Reliquary - Retreat to Coralhelm Combo
I finally get the nerve to send cards over $10 and the receiver's account is now on hold! I haven't sent them yet, thankfully. Can I relist these cards in my Haves and just open a case to cancel this trade? I'm not too confident even to complete the trade if the hold gets lifted...thoughts?
What exactly does it say? I've never had a receiver's account "on hold". My guess would be that the person in question is being investigated for fraud or system abuse and that you shouldn't send in the meantime, but again, it's not a scenario I've ever seen before.
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
Have played duals? I have PucaPoints for them!
(Credit to DarkNightCavalier)
$tandard: Too poor.
Modern:
- GW Birthing Pod(?)
Legacy:
- UWR Delver
Basically, instead of seeing the receiver's address it displays:
I'll give it a day or two and see what happens...
Draft my cube! (630 cards)