So after betting on the wrong horse (Esper) and having the singles I've purchased fall to half the value I've paid for them, I've decided I've wasted enough money and want to get out of Magic.
What's the best way to get the most value out of your collection? I have my deck and a ton of cards from cracking open 6 or 7 booster boxes (my boyfriend bought those).
I know Star City has their buy list but they don't buy everything and the prices aren't great. Local shops apparently buy collections at half TCG mid but that's still eating a lot of loss.
Any shop will give you at best 50% of retail value in cash. Selling to individuals at retail prices without having the reputation of an actual store is also a losing proposition. Your best bet is to identify the cards you have that are worth a reasonable amount of cash, and try to sell for about 75% of value, maybe a little more if a particular card is in high demand. The player gets better prices than a shop this way, and so do you, so go pull out all the foils, rares, and mythics. A select few uncommons MIGHT be worth $1-$3 tops, but for the most part, the foils, rares, and mythics are where your cash is likely to be.
Recouping the expense of a booster box is highly unlikely unless you just opened something crazy out of it.
With the rest of the cards, you either find someone willing to buy them as bulk for a couple extra bucks, or take them to your LGS and donate them to someone who does play.
The LGS is the fastest way to unload a collection, but not the most profitable. Parting out the higher $$ pieces and selling them on the market street here or on ebay is slower, but more profitable.
Of course, Esper might not be hot right now, but something could be printed in Eldritch Moon that gives it a boost and makes Esper a a more viable decktype. Control decks usually start to shine later on through sets/blocks as the format (and the cards necessary to fight it) becomes more defined and control can better select from a larger pool and make better choices as far as to what to play. Aggro decks are more powerful earlier on because turning stuff sideways is always a pretty decent strategy if the format has no clue what it wants to be. Once the format has been around and people figure out what the best decks to play are, then they work on figuring out how to beat those decks and that's where control decks really start to come into play. Just something to keep in mind.
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EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
So after betting on the wrong horse (Esper) and having the singles I've purchased fall to half the value I've paid for them, I've decided I've wasted enough money and want to get out of Magic.
What's the best way to get the most value out of your collection? I have my deck and a ton of cards from cracking open 6 or 7 booster boxes (my boyfriend bought those).
I know Star City has their buy list but they don't buy everything and the prices aren't great. Local shops apparently buy collections at half TCG mid but that's still eating a lot of loss.
Suggestions?
Generally, you can either get max money out of it, or you can put minimal effort into getting rid of it. A good first step would be to make a list (maybe in Google Sheets) of all your rares, mythics, and foils. Then we can make suggestions such as "Take these twenty cards and put them on eBay as singles, and take the rest and sell them as a lot, maybe start at $Y." Or, you never know, one of us may make you an offer.
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I would sell to stores only as a last resort. Most of them will rip you off hard, you might only get 50% of the value for your cards at most. Get quotes from multiple different stores. Try using something like craigslist to sell your cards directly to players so you can get close to full value. I made myself the promise that I would never sell to stores again, I would rather keep the cards then give it to them for a small amount so they can then resell at a large profit. Why should they get the profit instead of me? And don't sell to SCG either, they have the lowest buy prices.
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Standard
none
Modern UBG B/U/G control BBB MBC WUR Control WWW Prison RRR Goblins
Legacy BBB Pox UBG B/U/G Control UWU StoneBlade UW Miracle Control
I can't recall if there are rules against this (hopefully not), but both Ebay and TCGPlayer have stores that are relatively easy to set up. You can see ending auction or lowest market price (i.e. what people are paying, not stores) and depending on the size of your collection sell that way. If you have a friend with a mature eBay account, that may be the best as seller ratings are better both for giving buyers confidence and avoiding scammers.
But lastly - don't get out of magic! Even if you just stick to longer term (i.e. rotated) mythics and rares, you can have a blast w/ kitchen table magic and not fret the standard or modern-tournament price regression blues. It's still a very fun game - maybe more fun once you aren't worrying about secondary market losses.
1. Sell expensive cards yourself through eBay, TCG, Facebook groups or other such similar outlets
2. Buy list / bulk out the rest so you don't spend forever working to sell your low-dollar stuff
Personal note: when I dumped my collection, I sold a few hundred bucks worth of cards through Pucatrade so I could get back into the game later, if needed. When I started playing casually with friends at a later date, I was glad to have that fund to help pimp out some cards.
I would sell to stores only as a last resort. Most of them will rip you off hard, you might only get 50% of the value for your cards at most. Get quotes from multiple different stores. Try using something like craigslist to sell your cards directly to players so you can get close to full value. I made myself the promise that I would never sell to stores again, I would rather keep the cards then give it to them for a small amount so they can then resell at a large profit. Why should they get the profit instead of me? And don't sell to SCG either, they have the lowest buy prices.
Retail stores stay in business by buying a piece of inventory and selling it for twice that. Rent, utilities, insurance, taxes, accountants, fixtures, payroll. These all cost money. The owner also needs to eat and make a living. That's how retail operates. They aren't trying to rip you off or give you a bad price. I own a shop, work 6.5 days a week and can tell you it's not easy to balance. I don't make a lot of money, but I do love to play MTG and absolutely love the community that has evolved around my shop. I've made a space available for people to come together that wouldn't be there otherwise. You might want to educate yourself a little more before you speak about running a business, and the costs that are involved when reselling inventory.
I felt that I needed to address that comment, it touched a nerve. Celestrael, I would definitely consider holding on to cards for awhile. You never know how the cards will be valued later (look at Wasteland, and Snapcaster Mage). If you really need to sell, then selling singles online is your best bet (ebay, tcgplayer). It takes time, that's where game shops come in. They will pay 50%, but shoulder the work of selling for you if you're in a hurry.
I can't recall if there are rules against this (hopefully not), but both Ebay and TCGPlayer have stores that are relatively easy to set up. You can see ending auction or lowest market price (i.e. what people are paying, not stores) and depending on the size of your collection sell that way. If you have a friend with a mature eBay account, that may be the best as seller ratings are better both for giving buyers confidence and avoiding scammers.
But lastly - don't get out of magic! Even if you just stick to longer term (i.e. rotated) mythics and rares, you can have a blast w/ kitchen table magic and not fret the standard or modern-tournament price regression blues. It's still a very fun game - maybe more fun once you aren't worrying about secondary market losses.
Good luck
I'm going to keep bulk rares and commons, and I have all the Dual Decks I play casually with friends. I also play the Magic Duels app. Still love the game but I'm too grown to be losing this kind of money on a hobby. If cards held their value better I wouldn't be so discouraged but everything is sliding in standard and the cards with eternal value I don't have. Plus now standard cards rotate twice as fast so the loss is more frequent. I just don't like wasting money.
I've actually gotten into the Game of Thrones LCG which has a much cheaper buy in. And when you buy Chapter Packs they contain a playset of each card in it.
I'm going to give TCGplayer a try I think. I don't feel like trading/selling here is very safe and I'm not interested in eating a huge loss by selling to a shop (no shop hate, I just don't want to waste even more money).
Your mistake was investing in standard. You should know better than to invest in cards that fluctuate in price so rapidly. Generally cards in standard fall in price close to rotation or when they stop being played. Only a few cards like modern/legacy staples don't drop in price. A card can be in a flavor of the week deck and go through the roof, and then rapidly go down because people don't really need it. It looks like you bought into the hype since a few of the planeswalkers in your deck just came out in SOI a couple months ago. If you don't want to buy cards for high prices and lose value over time (most of them do), then wait a few months after the set releases. I would keep cards like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy since they get played in other formats. I highly suggest you either send off your cards on Pucatrade to buy into modern, or buylist to a store and choose the store credit option to get cards. There are two decks in modern that I can see right now that play JVC: Grixis control and Grishoalbrand (also called instant reanimator).
I feel like modern isn't a sound investment either. At my local card shops they are usually scraping trying to put together people for modern at FNM and wasn't it just pulled off the Pro Tour? Plus the entry cost of Modern is very high. Decks are going to run you at least 1,000 dollars. Granted I spent like 600 on my Standard deck (partly why I'm so salty). MTG Finance takes most of the fun out of the game for me. Which is why I've gravitated towards the GoT LCG. It takes the financial component out of the equation.
Yeah, that's partly why I never got into modern. Felt like too much of a gamble as some of those cards are rather expensive, and, not being reserve listed, are dangerous investments that can be reprinted (or banned) at any moment. Legacy is more fun anyway IMO.
If you enjoy playing the game without the huge financial investment that can be incurred, but also want to play on a competitive level, you should look into limited formats more. I find drafting to be a good way to improve lots of various skills as well as an excuse to crack a few packs here and there. If some of your friends are also turned off by the financial challenges Magic can represent, this may be a good alternative to still playing the game on a competitive level without a huge monetary investment while simultaneously building a collection for your casual decks.
As a side note: I gather that you're newer here, so I understand your apprehension with doing business with a community that you have little experience with. I would advise you to briefly reconsider that your experience on here can be a pleasant one provided you know who you're dealing with. It's generally pretty safe if the person you're dealing with has a ton of references; MTGS has a feedback system like ebay, and if you don't want to deal with anyone under, say 25 feedback, you don't have to. Or you can require that person to send cash before you send cards, but since you have no feedback, that's probably a little tricky. Having said that, many in the sale/trade community have extensive feedback and are very active. Some even are buyers for stores that will buy your cards more aggressively if they are still getting a good deal. It's simply a matter of looking at the feedback of who you're dealing with and making an educated decision in proceeding with that transaction. Someone with 50+ references is probably not going to throw away their account to scam someone out of $100 worth of standard stock.
One last thing you can do that might get you more bang for your buck: since you have an interest in other games, you may look to vendors that offer more than cash if you take store credit. You can use the store credit to fund other hobbies and games that retailer may have available for sale.
I feel like modern isn't a sound investment either. At my local card shops they are usually scraping trying to put together people for modern at FNM and wasn't it just pulled off the Pro Tour? Plus the entry cost of Modern is very high. Decks are going to run you at least 1,000 dollars. Granted I spent like 600 on my Standard deck (partly why I'm so salty). MTG Finance takes most of the fun out of the game for me. Which is why I've gravitated towards the GoT LCG. It takes the financial component out of the equation.
Just because modern was pulled off the pro tour doesn't mean it's not supported. There are still many modern GPs, as well as states and regionals by TCG Player and SCG. If your LGS doesn't really have a modern scene then it might not make sense to build a modern deck, though it's always nice to have a modern deck in case you go to another store. While it is true that many decks in modern are expensive, it's cheaper than if you had bought a few standard decks to keep up with the meta. If you spent $600 on a standard deck then it shouldn't be hard to spend $1k on a modern deck. The good thing about modern is that you don't have to worry about your cards losing value like they do in standard. They're also easier to maintain since you rarely have to buy cards for them once you build them. For standard the meta is constantly changing and you have to keep buying cards to keep up with the meta.
The great thing about modern no longer being a pro tour format is that they won't ban cards just to shake up the meta like they did with Splinter Twin. And card prices won't go up as much as they did when people really needed cards for the pro tour.
Uh I don't know where you get the $1000 at least figure. That is extremely uneducated. There are actually a lot of Modern decks that are $500 or less and do extremely well. My Affinity deck cost me around $500 and it has several foils, playsets of promos, etc. Affinity is a tier 1 modern deck and has been for several years now, the cards have all gone up in value (actually paid around 450 for everything and then paid more to pimp it out later, now its worth almost 800). There are several tier 1 and tier 2 modern decks that are as cheap or cheaper then some standard decks, and they hold value and don't rotate out.
What's the best way to get the most value out of your collection? I have my deck and a ton of cards from cracking open 6 or 7 booster boxes (my boyfriend bought those).
I know Star City has their buy list but they don't buy everything and the prices aren't great. Local shops apparently buy collections at half TCG mid but that's still eating a lot of loss.
Suggestions?
WUBEsper ControlWUB
Recouping the expense of a booster box is highly unlikely unless you just opened something crazy out of it.
With the rest of the cards, you either find someone willing to buy them as bulk for a couple extra bucks, or take them to your LGS and donate them to someone who does play.
The LGS is the fastest way to unload a collection, but not the most profitable. Parting out the higher $$ pieces and selling them on the market street here or on ebay is slower, but more profitable.
Of course, Esper might not be hot right now, but something could be printed in Eldritch Moon that gives it a boost and makes Esper a a more viable decktype. Control decks usually start to shine later on through sets/blocks as the format (and the cards necessary to fight it) becomes more defined and control can better select from a larger pool and make better choices as far as to what to play. Aggro decks are more powerful earlier on because turning stuff sideways is always a pretty decent strategy if the format has no clue what it wants to be. Once the format has been around and people figure out what the best decks to play are, then they work on figuring out how to beat those decks and that's where control decks really start to come into play. Just something to keep in mind.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Generally, you can either get max money out of it, or you can put minimal effort into getting rid of it. A good first step would be to make a list (maybe in Google Sheets) of all your rares, mythics, and foils. Then we can make suggestions such as "Take these twenty cards and put them on eBay as singles, and take the rest and sell them as a lot, maybe start at $Y." Or, you never know, one of us may make you an offer.
none
Modern
UBG B/U/G control
BBB MBC
WUR Control
WWW Prison
RRR Goblins
Legacy
BBB Pox
UBG B/U/G Control
UWU StoneBlade
UW Miracle Control
But lastly - don't get out of magic! Even if you just stick to longer term (i.e. rotated) mythics and rares, you can have a blast w/ kitchen table magic and not fret the standard or modern-tournament price regression blues. It's still a very fun game - maybe more fun once you aren't worrying about secondary market losses.
Good luck
2. Buy list / bulk out the rest so you don't spend forever working to sell your low-dollar stuff
Personal note: when I dumped my collection, I sold a few hundred bucks worth of cards through Pucatrade so I could get back into the game later, if needed. When I started playing casually with friends at a later date, I was glad to have that fund to help pimp out some cards.
I felt that I needed to address that comment, it touched a nerve. Celestrael, I would definitely consider holding on to cards for awhile. You never know how the cards will be valued later (look at Wasteland, and Snapcaster Mage). If you really need to sell, then selling singles online is your best bet (ebay, tcgplayer). It takes time, that's where game shops come in. They will pay 50%, but shoulder the work of selling for you if you're in a hurry.
I'm going to keep bulk rares and commons, and I have all the Dual Decks I play casually with friends. I also play the Magic Duels app. Still love the game but I'm too grown to be losing this kind of money on a hobby. If cards held their value better I wouldn't be so discouraged but everything is sliding in standard and the cards with eternal value I don't have. Plus now standard cards rotate twice as fast so the loss is more frequent. I just don't like wasting money.
I've actually gotten into the Game of Thrones LCG which has a much cheaper buy in. And when you buy Chapter Packs they contain a playset of each card in it.
I'm going to give TCGplayer a try I think. I don't feel like trading/selling here is very safe and I'm not interested in eating a huge loss by selling to a shop (no shop hate, I just don't want to waste even more money).
WUBEsper ControlWUB
WUBEsper ControlWUB
If you enjoy playing the game without the huge financial investment that can be incurred, but also want to play on a competitive level, you should look into limited formats more. I find drafting to be a good way to improve lots of various skills as well as an excuse to crack a few packs here and there. If some of your friends are also turned off by the financial challenges Magic can represent, this may be a good alternative to still playing the game on a competitive level without a huge monetary investment while simultaneously building a collection for your casual decks.
As a side note: I gather that you're newer here, so I understand your apprehension with doing business with a community that you have little experience with. I would advise you to briefly reconsider that your experience on here can be a pleasant one provided you know who you're dealing with. It's generally pretty safe if the person you're dealing with has a ton of references; MTGS has a feedback system like ebay, and if you don't want to deal with anyone under, say 25 feedback, you don't have to. Or you can require that person to send cash before you send cards, but since you have no feedback, that's probably a little tricky. Having said that, many in the sale/trade community have extensive feedback and are very active. Some even are buyers for stores that will buy your cards more aggressively if they are still getting a good deal. It's simply a matter of looking at the feedback of who you're dealing with and making an educated decision in proceeding with that transaction. Someone with 50+ references is probably not going to throw away their account to scam someone out of $100 worth of standard stock.
One last thing you can do that might get you more bang for your buck: since you have an interest in other games, you may look to vendors that offer more than cash if you take store credit. You can use the store credit to fund other hobbies and games that retailer may have available for sale.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Just because modern was pulled off the pro tour doesn't mean it's not supported. There are still many modern GPs, as well as states and regionals by TCG Player and SCG. If your LGS doesn't really have a modern scene then it might not make sense to build a modern deck, though it's always nice to have a modern deck in case you go to another store. While it is true that many decks in modern are expensive, it's cheaper than if you had bought a few standard decks to keep up with the meta. If you spent $600 on a standard deck then it shouldn't be hard to spend $1k on a modern deck. The good thing about modern is that you don't have to worry about your cards losing value like they do in standard. They're also easier to maintain since you rarely have to buy cards for them once you build them. For standard the meta is constantly changing and you have to keep buying cards to keep up with the meta.
The great thing about modern no longer being a pro tour format is that they won't ban cards just to shake up the meta like they did with Splinter Twin. And card prices won't go up as much as they did when people really needed cards for the pro tour.
That's a rather *****ty policy.
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