Sup guys, I just signed off for Pucatrade and I have a few questions. Do y'all provide tracking on all your shipments, or only after it exceeds a certain amount? Just sent out my first card today and the shipping with tracking was almost $4. It was an ~$20 card, so that's about a 1/5 of it's value just in shipping. Also how likely is it someone would get scammed if they don't use tracking and just use regular stamps for the U.S. and the Global stamps for international? Essentially what stops them from just saying they never received the card(s)?
I really want to like Pucatrade, I'm just still on the sketchy side.
Also what's the best way to find recipients? I posted a huge list of modern, standard, and EDH staples, and it's hard to believe no one on Pucatrade wants any of it.
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I usually do tracking on any card over $15 but I don't send too many cards over that value. If you're sending a lot it may be better to not get tracking and just accept the loss that may happen on rare occassion. If you lose a $20 card but shipped 20+ cards without tracking then you're still out far, far less than you would be if you'd paid for tracking for each package. I definitely wouldn't send any card over $20 without tracking, though.
Pucatrade's user base has increased so much lately it is getting harder to find cards to ship to people. You just have to check frequently. I seem to have the best luck finding cards to ship in the evening or late at night. Also, right now I think a lot of people are mainly looking to pick up Dragons of Tarkir cards. Once the new set hype dies down you might see an increase of people wanting older Standard, Modern and EDH stuff again.
It costs $3.37* to track a package, so I only track on cards over $25 or packages where the total value across all the cards in the package exceeds the same. I did manage to find a box of 25 bubble mailers for $5.40, which is a lot better than sixty cents apiece.
Most traders I have encountered are very honest - I always credit for cards received with minimal delay, and I've found the reverse to be true as well. I generally don't send internationally, though, so I can't comment on that.
* The commercial base rate is lower, but I'd rather pay an extra $1.40 than have to do business with PayPal.
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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.
You can get it insured with tracking for 2.59 at the post office.
I asked them and they said this is the cheapest way
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pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Sup guys, I just signed off for Pucatrade and I have a few questions. Do y'all provide tracking on all your shipments, or only after it exceeds a certain amount? Just sent out my first card today and the shipping with tracking was almost $4. It was an ~$20 card, so that's about a 1/5 of it's value just in shipping. Also how likely is it someone would get scammed if they don't use tracking and just use regular stamps for the U.S. and the Global stamps for international? Essentially what stops them from just saying they never received the card(s)?
I really want to like Pucatrade, I'm just still on the sketchy side.
Also what's the best way to find recipients? I posted a huge list of modern, standard, and EDH staples, and it's hard to believe no one on Pucatrade wants any of it.
I send tracking on anything approaching or over $20. If you use paypal multi-order shipping it costs $1.93 to send within the United States. I print out the packing label and tape it on a used bubble mailer with clear box tape.
I've had about 2 packages lost out of several hundred, and they were all for small enough amounts that I don't have any reason to believe someone was trying to scam me. Remember that for someone to have the points to buy your card, they have to have sent out cards successfully.
Mostly, I use a plain white envelope with a toploader. Put the card in a sleeve, upside down inside the toploader. Tape over the end of the toploader. Stick a Forever stamp on it and off it goes. I've sent internationally a few times using a Global Forever stamp.
Trades go fast on PucaTrade. When I post a new Want for something that is a staple card, someone usually confirms on it within 1-2 minutes. For rare cards like 10 year old foils or 5 year old commons, it may take a day. But if you want to send out Standard or Modern staples, you'll need a combination of luck and either be watching for trades frequently, or be on at non-peak times.
Okay, here's an interesting question - I had my first empty envelope sent to me from PucaTrade. The side was open, and thankfully it was only an Earthquake (40 points) (don't ask me why someone is sending points worth less than the cost of a stamp).
Anyhoo... they sent it in a pink envelope, so that even makes me wonder more - are there postal people out there getting wise to the increase of Magic cards getting swapped via USPS? Or was it a 'non-white envelope therefore something valuable inside' thing? Is it the probability of finally getting a sliced envelope catching up to me? Anyone else experience this? What makes me think it's the pink envelope is that the sender said I wasn't the first to have this happen to them. Also, the glue on the envelope was really cheap, so it could be that the envelope just came apart and the card slipped out.
Weird anyways.
It always irks me when someone writes on the envelope what the contents are. I trust my local mailman, but there are a lot of postal service employees, and if one of them plays Magic, I don't want them tempted when they see "UL Tropical Island" written on an envelope.
However, I wouldn't blame that on a human. I've had several envelopes sliced open over the years, and the cards are always still there (except for one case in which the seller really stuffed a PWE full of cards, and then they were all lost when the envelope tore). It's probably a machine error.
Machines do eat cards. In my experience small envelopes get eaten more than large ones and get delayed because they have to be hand sorted more often.
The lowliest paid postal employee makes enough in half a day to buy a UL trop so they aren't risking a job and that took 3 months to a couple years to get plus jail time by stealing mail. I know most of the heavy traders/ mtg purchasers in town (I see where the packages are coming from) and usually go out of my way to make sure people get their cards.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
Perhaps interesting for the people who are trading internationally: apparently there is going to be a postal strike in Spain after Easter, so keep that in mind when sending to and receiving from there.
I've noticed most trades going in less than a minute or two. The trick is to have everything you own on your list and look for a bunch of smaller cards that can go together to beat shipping. If you have a larger collection you can work out combinations to make it a good deal for you and people with smaller amounts of cards can't actually take them. For the bigger cards, you need an addon that refreshes your browser I think. I have it running while playing other games or watching TV, sorted to put the highest point cards on the top, so I can notice when a big card shows up immediately.
The other way...is have stuff that people want alot. I see huge waiting lists for fetches and abrupt decay, as well as the older legacy staples like duals or forces of will. Granted, this isn't ideal if you want/need those things, but you certainly get faster service. Its a sellers market for those type of items.
I just received a card. It was 'sent' 3 weeks ago and the seller contacted me 10 days ago asking me why I hadn't received it yet or if there was a problem with the card. I told him that i hadnt gotten it but would keep him updated. The postmark on the envelope yesterday was for Monday, March 30- 3 days before. Apparently he forgot to mail it and then wanted to know why I hadn't marked it received. Genius.
I just received a card. It was 'sent' 3 weeks ago and the seller contacted me 10 days ago asking me why I hadn't received it yet or if there was a problem with the card. I told him that i hadnt gotten it but would keep him updated. The postmark on the envelope yesterday was for Monday, March 30- 3 days before. Apparently he forgot to mail it and then wanted to know why I hadn't marked it received. Genius.
Anyone have any tips on getting dual lands? I've had enough points for awhile to get some, but haven't had any luck. I even added a note that I am open to less then NM for the cards.
People have been offering up bounties, but I personally dislike it because it becomes a type of ebay. When there is a list of people who want the same card you have to pretty much wait your turn or hope that someone decides to send to you the card over everyone else. A good way of doing that is fleshing out your profile. I include the amount of cards that I have sent and received to help illustrate that I've dealt with a lot of other users.
I just mailed out my first two trades. I did notice, however, that my account got flagged about 2 months ago for suspicious activity, meaning I can't get any bonus points. I'm not sure how this happened, but that's pretty much when I signed up just to check what the site was about. I only just got around to putting some cards onto my have list last weekened, so I'm not exactly sure what they consider 'suspicious'.
Anyways, I'm still a bit confused by the system. I look at the trends, and I see tons of anticipates, roasts, monastery swiftspears, etc, being traded, but I never see them pop up on the trade auto-match thing. Like, I have 30 swiftspears, which is like 7500 points total, but it doesn't seem like anyone actually needs them, so why the high price? On a similar tangent, I've got over 30 coiling oracles as well, which are over 100 points each, but it seems like the chances of me being able to trade a single one, let alone 30, is almost non-existent. I think the problem is a glut of cards, and a scarcity of cards, both look identical on the site - you can't tell if orders are just being placed superfast on something like swiftspears, or if there's just no one looking for them.
Also, is there no easier way to send more than one card at a time? Like, to trade a playset of something means you have to complete 4 trades (though obviously you ship them as one). Seems like a lot of effort to manage a bunch of individual trade numbers
I look at the trends, and I see tons of anticipates, roasts, monastery swiftspears, etc, being traded, but I never see them pop up on the trade auto-match thing.
Popular cards get filled super fast. With people getting notifications anytime one of those cards is added, it's hard to be the first. Also, there are a lot of people with a couple dollars worth of points wanting small stuff. So, Trader A has 300 points, wants a bunch of 200 point cards, and the first person to send out clears that guy off the want list since he/she now doesn't have enough points.
Also, is there no easier way to send more than one card at a time? Like, to trade a playset of something means you have to complete 4 trades (though obviously you ship them as one). Seems like a lot of effort to manage a bunch of individual trade numbers
How is that hard? You click through the cards you want to send, send them, they click through the cards they receive, and that's that. It's so easy that this is the first time I've ever even thought about it.
I just think something like a cart system would be easier, like, if you want to trade 20 cards to a guy, instead of having to click 40 times, you only need to click 21 times. Though, I'm honestly not sure what an average quantity of cards to ship out is. Right now, I see I have 8 wants that a single person wants and can afford right now, I don't know if that's high or low.
Anyways, it looks like this is being addressed. I'm looking at their indiegogo campaign, and it's feature number #5 that they highlighted.
I just think something like a cart system would be easier, like, if you want to trade 20 cards to a guy, instead of having to click 40 times, you only need to click 21 times. Though, I'm honestly not sure what an average quantity of cards to ship out is. Right now, I see I have 8 wants that a single person wants and can afford right now, I don't know if that's high or low.
Anyways, it looks like this is being addressed. I'm looking at their indiegogo campaign, and it's feature number #5 that they highlighted.
Most people ship 1-4 cards. If you have new cards then 8 wants seems normal and like something that never happens to me (I don't purchase new product and only trade for cards with decks waiting for them). But, yeah, if someone wants 8 cards why not send them to them? It takes about 10 seconds to agree to that.
What you are bringing up is a non-issue really. In all the complaints and praises of the site I have never heard someone say anything about bulk deals being too hard to click.
I've been thoroughly thrilled with the site. I've had zero problems on the receiving in almost, maybe a few cards there were lightly played rather than near mint, but that's not a huge concern of mine. I had one guy that disappeared off the site--when I clicked his profile, it redirected me to the main page, so I put in a case and in a few days, the points were awarded to me. I am guessing he was banned or something. Beyond that, I've only one other trade out side the two week window still ongoing (for a card worth a mere 350 points) and I've probably sent out 200 envelopes.
I've cleared out 90 percent of my binder in about 6 weeks. Some of these cards have sat there since the mid 90's (like wrath of gods from Revised). My collection wasn't large by any means despite starting in the 90's because I actively have traded things to casual friends to keep it relatively small or just given cards that I really didn't need or want away.
I managed to pick up a ton of fetchlands, a bunch of harder to find cards for my Nic Fit legacy deck (sensei's divining top, thrun, the last troll, gaddok teeg, thoughseizes for the board, abrupt decays, and even a scrubland). I also got some nice stuff to trade locally--people around here love slivers (and they are often willing to trade down fetches for slivers /boggle) and a few things for EDH decks I was missing). About the only card I haven't been able to pick up is a Savannah, but even if I never find a seller, I can't complain by any means. I still have a nice point nest egg, so I can grab the enemy fetches if they get printed in the fall or something out Magic Origins or MM2 if it strikes my fancy.
It certainly has opened my eyes up to the global magic community.
Despite having my settings to where only US traders can ship me cards, a Canadian guy was somehow able to send me a card. Nothing against him but that's frustrating because just like last time, it's a card I needed to complete a deck and now I may not have it in time due to how long it often takes to receive cards from Canada. :/
Despite having my settings to where only US traders can ship me cards, a Canadian guy was somehow able to send me a card. Nothing against him but that's frustrating because just like last time, it's a card I needed to complete a deck and now I may not have it in time due to how long it often takes to receive cards from Canada. :/
Send him a message right away - he will probably be willing to cancel the trade. I had a goof-up on my phone where I added to many copies of a card to my want list and the people who got the extra trades had no issue canceling them for me. I did fix it within a couple hours (as soon as I got to a real computer).
Despite having my settings to where only US traders can ship me cards, a Canadian guy was somehow able to send me a card. Nothing against him but that's frustrating because just like last time, it's a card I needed to complete a deck and now I may not have it in time due to how long it often takes to receive cards from Canada. :/
Send him a message right away - he will probably be willing to cancel the trade. I had a goof-up on my phone where I added to many copies of a card to my want list and the people who got the extra trades had no issue canceling them for me. I did fix it within a couple hours (as soon as I got to a real computer).
Sadly I can't! He sent it while I was away and has already marked it as shipped. I'm upset about that, though. Not at the shipper but the site. I don't know how he was able to send the card to me when I have it set to only accept trades from US sellers. Pucatrade must have reset my settings to accept from anyone. I couldn't really tell when I checked it out so I tried resetting it back to US only. Hopefully it works.
I've had problems with some high value cards getting lost in customs and just decided it wasn't worth the hassle and set it to only get cards from the US. Still get the occasional card from overseas, though, and I'm starting to wonder if the senders are changing their country to US to get new trades that they shouldn't be able to and then switch it back.
Speaking of international silliness, I'm pretty sure I was just able to snag a high-value, inflated standard send (that I've been trying to dump for weeks) solely because the receiver had his country set to Puerto Rico and most Americans are clueless about geography and US territories.
Had a person send me non NM cards for the second time. I was debating whether to send them back or not, but the fact that they were also postmarked a week later than they were supposedly sent kind of pushed the decision over the edge. For multiple cards, do you open a case for all or just one typically?
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I really want to like Pucatrade, I'm just still on the sketchy side.
Also what's the best way to find recipients? I posted a huge list of modern, standard, and EDH staples, and it's hard to believe no one on Pucatrade wants any of it.
Active:
BGRock/Jund/JunkRW
GRTron
0Affinity0
WGRZoo
Pucatrade's user base has increased so much lately it is getting harder to find cards to ship to people. You just have to check frequently. I seem to have the best luck finding cards to ship in the evening or late at night. Also, right now I think a lot of people are mainly looking to pick up Dragons of Tarkir cards. Once the new set hype dies down you might see an increase of people wanting older Standard, Modern and EDH stuff again.
Trades
Pucatrade with me!
(Signature courtesy of Argetlam of Hakai Studios
Most traders I have encountered are very honest - I always credit for cards received with minimal delay, and I've found the reverse to be true as well. I generally don't send internationally, though, so I can't comment on that.
* The commercial base rate is lower, but I'd rather pay an extra $1.40 than have to do business with PayPal.
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
I asked them and they said this is the cheapest way
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
I send tracking on anything approaching or over $20. If you use paypal multi-order shipping it costs $1.93 to send within the United States. I print out the packing label and tape it on a used bubble mailer with clear box tape.
I've had about 2 packages lost out of several hundred, and they were all for small enough amounts that I don't have any reason to believe someone was trying to scam me. Remember that for someone to have the points to buy your card, they have to have sent out cards successfully.
Mostly, I use a plain white envelope with a toploader. Put the card in a sleeve, upside down inside the toploader. Tape over the end of the toploader. Stick a Forever stamp on it and off it goes. I've sent internationally a few times using a Global Forever stamp.
Trades go fast on PucaTrade. When I post a new Want for something that is a staple card, someone usually confirms on it within 1-2 minutes. For rare cards like 10 year old foils or 5 year old commons, it may take a day. But if you want to send out Standard or Modern staples, you'll need a combination of luck and either be watching for trades frequently, or be on at non-peak times.
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
WGURBLands!WGURB
WGUInfectWGU
Legacy Lands Primer
Top 8 SCG Oakland 2014
Helpdesk
My Cube on CubeTutor
Machines do eat cards. In my experience small envelopes get eaten more than large ones and get delayed because they have to be hand sorted more often.
The lowliest paid postal employee makes enough in half a day to buy a UL trop so they aren't risking a job and that took 3 months to a couple years to get plus jail time by stealing mail. I know most of the heavy traders/ mtg purchasers in town (I see where the packages are coming from) and usually go out of my way to make sure people get their cards.
The other way...is have stuff that people want alot. I see huge waiting lists for fetches and abrupt decay, as well as the older legacy staples like duals or forces of will. Granted, this isn't ideal if you want/need those things, but you certainly get faster service. Its a sellers market for those type of items.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
BUWGRChilds PlayGRWUB
BUWGR Highlander GRWUB
UBSquee's Shapeshifting PetBU
BW Multiplayer Control WB
RG Changeling GR
UR Mana FlareRU
UMerfolkU
B MBMC B
Anyways, I'm still a bit confused by the system. I look at the trends, and I see tons of anticipates, roasts, monastery swiftspears, etc, being traded, but I never see them pop up on the trade auto-match thing. Like, I have 30 swiftspears, which is like 7500 points total, but it doesn't seem like anyone actually needs them, so why the high price? On a similar tangent, I've got over 30 coiling oracles as well, which are over 100 points each, but it seems like the chances of me being able to trade a single one, let alone 30, is almost non-existent. I think the problem is a glut of cards, and a scarcity of cards, both look identical on the site - you can't tell if orders are just being placed superfast on something like swiftspears, or if there's just no one looking for them.
Also, is there no easier way to send more than one card at a time? Like, to trade a playset of something means you have to complete 4 trades (though obviously you ship them as one). Seems like a lot of effort to manage a bunch of individual trade numbers
Even so, I've shipped out some shocks and Misty Rainforests, and gotten back fetchlands and Dig Through Times to update my legacy mono blue Show and Tell deck.
Overall I think it's a cool system.
How is that hard? You click through the cards you want to send, send them, they click through the cards they receive, and that's that. It's so easy that this is the first time I've ever even thought about it.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Anyways, it looks like this is being addressed. I'm looking at their indiegogo campaign, and it's feature number #5 that they highlighted.
What you are bringing up is a non-issue really. In all the complaints and praises of the site I have never heard someone say anything about bulk deals being too hard to click.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
I've cleared out 90 percent of my binder in about 6 weeks. Some of these cards have sat there since the mid 90's (like wrath of gods from Revised). My collection wasn't large by any means despite starting in the 90's because I actively have traded things to casual friends to keep it relatively small or just given cards that I really didn't need or want away.
I managed to pick up a ton of fetchlands, a bunch of harder to find cards for my Nic Fit legacy deck (sensei's divining top, thrun, the last troll, gaddok teeg, thoughseizes for the board, abrupt decays, and even a scrubland). I also got some nice stuff to trade locally--people around here love slivers (and they are often willing to trade down fetches for slivers /boggle) and a few things for EDH decks I was missing). About the only card I haven't been able to pick up is a Savannah, but even if I never find a seller, I can't complain by any means. I still have a nice point nest egg, so I can grab the enemy fetches if they get printed in the fall or something out Magic Origins or MM2 if it strikes my fancy.
It certainly has opened my eyes up to the global magic community.
Trades
Pucatrade with me!
(Signature courtesy of Argetlam of Hakai Studios
Send him a message right away - he will probably be willing to cancel the trade. I had a goof-up on my phone where I added to many copies of a card to my want list and the people who got the extra trades had no issue canceling them for me. I did fix it within a couple hours (as soon as I got to a real computer).
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
Sadly I can't! He sent it while I was away and has already marked it as shipped. I'm upset about that, though. Not at the shipper but the site. I don't know how he was able to send the card to me when I have it set to only accept trades from US sellers. Pucatrade must have reset my settings to accept from anyone. I couldn't really tell when I checked it out so I tried resetting it back to US only. Hopefully it works.
Trades
Pucatrade with me!
(Signature courtesy of Argetlam of Hakai Studios
Rancored Elf will cancel your order if prices go up. Read about him and other shady vendors here.
My Trade Thread!