Small point in favor of ABU Games; they're the place to buy specific basic land art. I also love selling to them.
Why would you love selling to them? Why not sell to people here or on ebay? You stand to make so much more money for basically the same effort.
I checked their buylists, and they are giving less than $2 for an angel of serenity and stuff like that. I did a few cards as a test, and their buy prices seem to be 25-30% of what the tcg *low* is - it's nowhere near the mid or high. And they sell for way more than the high. Their profits on reselling cards are absurd.
All we can do is get the word out to not buy from them, and to not support people promoting them. They give AjemanCinnajob a lot of product to display on his channel to promote sales, and he doesn't tell his audience the truth about them at all. He's smart enough to know better, which is why he deletes comments and tries to suppress the info. He isn't trying to help people - he just wants to help Abu continue to sell things at their insane prices because he's obviously getting free product for doing that.
For example, Gatecrash is the worst buy in a very long time. It's a very bad set to buy in sealed form. Yet, he's really pushing sales on his channel and his younger subscribers are listening to him. I checked, and several are just 12 years old - even by their own admission. It just seems like he's exploiting their ignorance. He's the helpful guy who helps them make decks and does faily pack openings, but tries to get his subscribers to buy from abugames all of the time. It kind of makes me sick.
I'm not saying I disagree with you mysticc, I mostly do agree. I think MtG secondary market prices in general are quite absurd and over inflated. And I don't like seeing younger kids taken advantage of.
But you're almost starting to sound like you're on a bit of a crusade or have a vendetta.
Why do people buy from them? I thought facetoface was overpriced a bit, but abugames is really quite a joke.
Face to Face are usually pretty reasonably priced for sealed product. Usually. Their new Daily Deal programme is actually a pretty sweet idea. I hope they continue with it.
F2F also used to be THE source to go to for singles in Canada. Pretty much no one could beat their singles prices online. Now they're a bigger deal and probably the biggest store in Canada and they consistently price their cards just under Star City to get the maximum value out of their cards but still be cheaper than SCG. A bit of a bummer, really. When they were cheaper, man, those were the days.
I have to stick up for ABU here. I've bought from just about everyone and they are easily the fastest shippers. They also get through buy lists quicker than anyone. Most cards that aren't the current super hotness are about the same as SCG.
I have to stick up for ABU here. I've bought from just about everyone and they are easily the fastest shippers. They also get through buy lists quicker than anyone. Most cards that aren't the current super hotness are about the same as SCG.
I get cards from players on mtgsalvation or canadian shippers on ebay in 2 days though. Even facetoface is 20% cheaper than abu, and that's 1-2 days shipping. Having good shipping options does not justify the 35% markup of the tcg mid/high.
I'm not saying I disagree with you mysticc, I mostly do agree. I think MtG secondary market prices in general are quite absurd and over inflated. And I don't like seeing younger kids taken advantage of.
But you're almost starting to sound like you're on a bit of a crusade or have a vendetta.
I'm just upset because he banned me for essentially telling the truth and trying to help people protect themselves by giving them honest and accurate and truthful information. Before the ban, I was just making a post about it out of curiosities sake, but the ban speaks volumes because it is very telling how the company operates. I don't like it.
I don't think abu is doing anything illegal, but the one way to fight against this crap is with information and letting people know.
In an average month I spend as much with ABU as I do on rent and have done so since about 2006. I also regularly shop through SCG, T&T, DAC, CSI, CS, and eBay. Their prices for the types of cards that I look for are competitive and their service is top-notch. I have sold to them too; their buylist prices are hard to beat. They have called me more than once just to ask what I think about various products. I would imagine the difference is that I don't play standard or shop for recent cards.
Private Mod Note
():
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The Collection:
Every English card ever printed: 99.02%
Arabian Nights through Lorwyn: Complete
Alpha: 94.2% Beta: 95.0%
Unlimited through M10: Complete
I'm just upset because he banned me for essentially telling the truth and trying to help people protect themselves by giving them honest and accurate and truthful information.
It's also not hard to understand why someone who is trying to run a business isn't going to take kindly to someone yelling on the rooftoops that he's screwing his customers over.
I have no dog in this fight but I do find "I'm angry because I speak the truth" to be a very dangerous sentiment.
The first time was for gaming supplies (binders, playmats, dice, etc.). I really like that they have a very wide selection of gaming supplies at reasonable prices.
The second time was for an Italian Karakas. At the time a regular Karakas was about $50-$55 with Italian Karakas in SP condition going for at least $40 on that "one really popular auction site". At the time, Abu had a SP- Karakas for $34 + $2 shipping which seemed kind of strange to me.
I have heard vague rumors of a moustache-dispensing vending machine in a distant laundromat, across the street from a tattoo parlor. However, this information is shaky, and time is of the essence.
It's also not hard to understand why someone who is trying to run a business isn't going to take kindly to someone yelling on the rooftoops that he's screwing his customers over.
I have no dog in this fight but I do find "I'm angry because I speak the truth" to be a very dangerous sentiment.
If he doesn't want people to talk badly about his company, then he can lower his prices so there's nothing bad to speak of. That's the risk of overcharging. He took the risk, and know he's paying the consequences. If we can't talk about this freely in the open, what is to deter them to correct their business practices?
I'm just upset because he banned me for essentially telling the truth and trying to help people protect themselves by giving them honest and accurate and truthful information. Before the ban, I was just making a post about it out of curiosities sake, but the ban speaks volumes because it is very telling how the company operates. I don't like it.
I don't think abu is doing anything illegal, but the one way to fight against this crap is with information and letting people know.
I don't know how it went down. I didn't see it. But what I can say is that there's a line where criticism goes from okay to not okay. If you're going onto someone's channel and politely making a point that what he's saying is inaccurate, that's one thing. If you're raising a ruckus, then that's another. Like I said, I don't know how it went down, but it's just something to keep in mind. There's a time and a place for everything.
The tl;dr of it is that criticism is fine, but don't overdo it. I don't like their business practices either, but I recognize that my criticism can only be so loud and can only reach such a wide audience. I don't try to take it past that.
I was polite, just as I am here. I just listed the price differences to make a point after it was said that abu prices were not marked up and were fair. It was a lie, to which I gave counter-evidence to bring that lie to light.
There was a 12 year old that was also getting advice from AjemanCinnajob, and I told the 12 year old some alternative information that was contrary to AjemanCinnajob's. This post was deleted too.
Another young person complained to Ajeman that he bought a fatpack at abu and got nothing good in it. Of course he didn't - but like all of ajeman's videos, he makes it appear like you're going to get good stuff when you buy boxes from abugames. The reality is that there isn't much to pull if you're just rare hunting. Again, I just recommended to buy singles from tcgplayer stores or ebay if you want specific cards, as it's much cheaper. But according to Ajeman, you should buy lots of sealed stuff from abugames, or singles from abugames. I was just sharing some information on how to get the outcome he wanted. He was lead to believe buying sealed product would do it, and I just tried to inform him to change that belief.
But you'd be a fool to think that you did not deserve a ban on his channel. He is sponsored by them; it is his livelihood to promote them. Your comments did just the opposite. If you walked into a store and started telling customers that they can get cheaper prices down the road, you would be thrown out.
But you'd be a fool to think that you did not deserve a ban on his channel. He is sponsored by them; it is his livelihood to promote them. Your comments did just the opposite. If you walked into a store and started telling customers that they can get cheaper prices down the road, you would be thrown out.
He could have sent a message to me asking me to stop. You know, the kind of thing civilized people do.
If you think they are too expensive, don't shop there.
I shop there for certain items - foils, legacy staples etc, when I want immaculate condition on older cards. I am willing to pay premium for near mint still glossy copies of cards like Candelabra of Tawnos. I bought a set of NM, still glossy for 260$ a card as a gift for someone special.
Of course, I am local to the storefront so my experience is different vs ordering a card online or whatever.
I've noticed some high prices (especially on standard staples), but they've always had everything I've wanted, and their quality is top notch.
The main reason I buy from them when I do (which isn't often, admittedly) is their shipping. They typically ship the next day, if not the same day when I buy in the morning, and them shipping from Boise, ID, to me near Seattle, is basically next day shipping.
If you think they are too expensive, don't shop there.
I shop there for certain items - foils, legacy staples etc, when I want immaculate condition on older cards. I am willing to pay premium for near mint still glossy copies of cards like Candelabra of Tawnos. I bought a set of NM, still glossy for 260$ a card as a gift for someone special.
Of course, I am local to the storefront so my experience is different vs ordering a card online or whatever.
It's not whether *I* think they are too expensive. Mathematically, they are too expensive. It's an open and shut case.
I can certainly see for very rare things, places to shop may be limited, but that is still not excuse to charge $38.99 for a non-foil Boros Reckoner.
Not only will I not shop there, but I hope others don't either, especially 12 year olds.
It's not whether *I* think they are too expensive. Mathematically, they are too expensive. It's an open and shut case.
I can certainly see for very rare things, places to shop may be limited, but that is still not excuse to charge $38.99 for a non-foil Boros Reckoner.
Not only will I not shop there, but I hope others don't either, especially 12 year olds.
Dont buy hyped up standard rares from them then. A number of people have pointed out that they dont charge the same price margins for all of their cards. The price on Boros Reckoner is high because they only have a single copy in stock. Duh.
You also are comparing the prices of a reliable store with a physical location to getting cards from people ebay. I certainly wouldnt trust some random seller on ebay to provide high quality service on bulk orders of cards.
Dont buy hyped up standard rares from them then. A number of people have pointed out that they dont charge the same price margins for all of their cards. The price on Boros Reckoner is high because they only have a single copy in stock. Duh.
You also are comparing the prices of a reliable store with a physical location to getting cards from people ebay. I certainly wouldnt trust some random seller on ebay to provide high quality service on bulk orders of cards.
There are quite a few sellers on ebay that you can trust, and I've certainly bought from people here too for great prices and got everything I wanted.
But even besides ebay and buying directly from cool people on these forums, there are many places on tcgplayer that sell cards for great prices - whether they have 1 or 40 in stock.
My only experience with ABUgames has been selling to them. They bought my NM grim tutor for $150 when they were going for $160-$180 on ebay, meaning I probably would have gotten less for it on ebay and I didn't have to deal with all that ebay bother. At least for the stuff I was looking to offload they had pretty decent buy prices.
How does this effect you. If you see that their prices are too high then don't buy from them. I buy from them frequently, because they always have the hard to find cards I am looking for and they have great trade in rates. I just don't understand why you would berate someone on their youtube channel and not expect to be banned. Just don't buy from them. It's there business they can set whatever price they want
How does this effect you. If you see that their prices are too high then don't buy from them. I buy from them frequently, because they always have the hard to find cards I am looking for and they have great trade in rates. I just don't understand why you would berate someone on their youtube channel and not expect to be banned. Just don't buy from them. It's there business they can set whatever price they want
I didn't berate him.
I am not arguing with their right to charge what they want. Of course they can charge what they want. I haven't even come close to ask for anyone to violate their right to conduct business as they see fit.
As for caring - I can care about whatever I want to care about. It's none of your business what I care about either. The same logic applies.
In a free market, you have to accept that people are going to speak badly about how one conducts a business, because that's the only way to encourage votes towards other businesses without getting the government involved to violate that businesses rights. We should encourage public protest and spread of information, not discourage it. This kind of action does not violate abugames rights whatsoever.
If abugames doesn't like it, they should change how they conduct business; it's not a person's fault for talking about the truth about how someone conducts business - it's the fault of the business. They need to change their ways if they don't like the bad press. Welcome to capitalism.
My only experience with ABUgames has been selling to them. They bought my NM grim tutor for $150 when they were going for $160-$180 on ebay, meaning I probably would have gotten less for it on ebay and I didn't have to deal with all that ebay bother. At least for the stuff I was looking to offload they had pretty decent buy prices.
They certainly not offering that kind of value for anything in standard that I checked. I didn't check non-standard stuff. They were offering like $1.80 for an angel of serenity, and the %'s were similar all across standard as I browsed their buy list.
I thought facetoface was overpriced a bit, but abugames is really quite a joke. [/B]
You think Face to Face is overpriced? Really? They are the cheapest online retailer in Canada, and are much cheaper than most of the US stores. Yes, tcgplayer will be cheaper, but that is because everyone trying to undercut each other.
Why would you love selling to them? Why not sell to people here or on ebay? You stand to make so much more money for basically the same effort.
I checked their buylists, and they are giving less than $2 for an angel of serenity and stuff like that. I did a few cards as a test, and their buy prices seem to be 25-30% of what the tcg *low* is - it's nowhere near the mid or high. And they sell for way more than the high. Their profits on reselling cards are absurd.
All we can do is get the word out to not buy from them, and to not support people promoting them. They give AjemanCinnajob a lot of product to display on his channel to promote sales, and he doesn't tell his audience the truth about them at all. He's smart enough to know better, which is why he deletes comments and tries to suppress the info. He isn't trying to help people - he just wants to help Abu continue to sell things at their insane prices because he's obviously getting free product for doing that.
For example, Gatecrash is the worst buy in a very long time. It's a very bad set to buy in sealed form. Yet, he's really pushing sales on his channel and his younger subscribers are listening to him. I checked, and several are just 12 years old - even by their own admission. It just seems like he's exploiting their ignorance. He's the helpful guy who helps them make decks and does faily pack openings, but tries to get his subscribers to buy from abugames all of the time. It kind of makes me sick.
But you're almost starting to sound like you're on a bit of a crusade or have a vendetta.
F2F also used to be THE source to go to for singles in Canada. Pretty much no one could beat their singles prices online. Now they're a bigger deal and probably the biggest store in Canada and they consistently price their cards just under Star City to get the maximum value out of their cards but still be cheaper than SCG. A bit of a bummer, really. When they were cheaper, man, those were the days.
I get cards from players on mtgsalvation or canadian shippers on ebay in 2 days though. Even facetoface is 20% cheaper than abu, and that's 1-2 days shipping. Having good shipping options does not justify the 35% markup of the tcg mid/high.
I'm just upset because he banned me for essentially telling the truth and trying to help people protect themselves by giving them honest and accurate and truthful information. Before the ban, I was just making a post about it out of curiosities sake, but the ban speaks volumes because it is very telling how the company operates. I don't like it.
I don't think abu is doing anything illegal, but the one way to fight against this crap is with information and letting people know.
In an average month I spend as much with ABU as I do on rent and have done so since about 2006. I also regularly shop through SCG, T&T, DAC, CSI, CS, and eBay. Their prices for the types of cards that I look for are competitive and their service is top-notch. I have sold to them too; their buylist prices are hard to beat. They have called me more than once just to ask what I think about various products. I would imagine the difference is that I don't play standard or shop for recent cards.
Every English card ever printed: 99.02%
Arabian Nights through Lorwyn: Complete
Alpha: 94.2% Beta: 95.0%
Unlimited through M10: Complete
It's also not hard to understand why someone who is trying to run a business isn't going to take kindly to someone yelling on the rooftoops that he's screwing his customers over.
I have no dog in this fight but I do find "I'm angry because I speak the truth" to be a very dangerous sentiment.
The first time was for gaming supplies (binders, playmats, dice, etc.). I really like that they have a very wide selection of gaming supplies at reasonable prices.
The second time was for an Italian Karakas. At the time a regular Karakas was about $50-$55 with Italian Karakas in SP condition going for at least $40 on that "one really popular auction site". At the time, Abu had a SP- Karakas for $34 + $2 shipping which seemed kind of strange to me.
If he doesn't want people to talk badly about his company, then he can lower his prices so there's nothing bad to speak of. That's the risk of overcharging. He took the risk, and know he's paying the consequences. If we can't talk about this freely in the open, what is to deter them to correct their business practices?
I don't know how it went down. I didn't see it. But what I can say is that there's a line where criticism goes from okay to not okay. If you're going onto someone's channel and politely making a point that what he's saying is inaccurate, that's one thing. If you're raising a ruckus, then that's another. Like I said, I don't know how it went down, but it's just something to keep in mind. There's a time and a place for everything.
The tl;dr of it is that criticism is fine, but don't overdo it. I don't like their business practices either, but I recognize that my criticism can only be so loud and can only reach such a wide audience. I don't try to take it past that.
There was a 12 year old that was also getting advice from AjemanCinnajob, and I told the 12 year old some alternative information that was contrary to AjemanCinnajob's. This post was deleted too.
Another young person complained to Ajeman that he bought a fatpack at abu and got nothing good in it. Of course he didn't - but like all of ajeman's videos, he makes it appear like you're going to get good stuff when you buy boxes from abugames. The reality is that there isn't much to pull if you're just rare hunting. Again, I just recommended to buy singles from tcgplayer stores or ebay if you want specific cards, as it's much cheaper. But according to Ajeman, you should buy lots of sealed stuff from abugames, or singles from abugames. I was just sharing some information on how to get the outcome he wanted. He was lead to believe buying sealed product would do it, and I just tried to inform him to change that belief.
Apparently these combined posts were worth a ban.
But you'd be a fool to think that you did not deserve a ban on his channel. He is sponsored by them; it is his livelihood to promote them. Your comments did just the opposite. If you walked into a store and started telling customers that they can get cheaper prices down the road, you would be thrown out.
He could have sent a message to me asking me to stop. You know, the kind of thing civilized people do.
I shop there for certain items - foils, legacy staples etc, when I want immaculate condition on older cards. I am willing to pay premium for near mint still glossy copies of cards like Candelabra of Tawnos. I bought a set of NM, still glossy for 260$ a card as a gift for someone special.
Of course, I am local to the storefront so my experience is different vs ordering a card online or whatever.
Big Thanks to Xeno for sig art <3.
The main reason I buy from them when I do (which isn't often, admittedly) is their shipping. They typically ship the next day, if not the same day when I buy in the morning, and them shipping from Boise, ID, to me near Seattle, is basically next day shipping.
It's not whether *I* think they are too expensive. Mathematically, they are too expensive. It's an open and shut case.
I can certainly see for very rare things, places to shop may be limited, but that is still not excuse to charge $38.99 for a non-foil Boros Reckoner.
Not only will I not shop there, but I hope others don't either, especially 12 year olds.
Dont buy hyped up standard rares from them then. A number of people have pointed out that they dont charge the same price margins for all of their cards. The price on Boros Reckoner is high because they only have a single copy in stock. Duh.
You also are comparing the prices of a reliable store with a physical location to getting cards from people ebay. I certainly wouldnt trust some random seller on ebay to provide high quality service on bulk orders of cards.
There are quite a few sellers on ebay that you can trust, and I've certainly bought from people here too for great prices and got everything I wanted.
But even besides ebay and buying directly from cool people on these forums, there are many places on tcgplayer that sell cards for great prices - whether they have 1 or 40 in stock.
I didn't berate him.
I am not arguing with their right to charge what they want. Of course they can charge what they want. I haven't even come close to ask for anyone to violate their right to conduct business as they see fit.
As for caring - I can care about whatever I want to care about. It's none of your business what I care about either. The same logic applies.
In a free market, you have to accept that people are going to speak badly about how one conducts a business, because that's the only way to encourage votes towards other businesses without getting the government involved to violate that businesses rights. We should encourage public protest and spread of information, not discourage it. This kind of action does not violate abugames rights whatsoever.
If abugames doesn't like it, they should change how they conduct business; it's not a person's fault for talking about the truth about how someone conducts business - it's the fault of the business. They need to change their ways if they don't like the bad press. Welcome to capitalism.
They certainly not offering that kind of value for anything in standard that I checked. I didn't check non-standard stuff. They were offering like $1.80 for an angel of serenity, and the %'s were similar all across standard as I browsed their buy list.
You think Face to Face is overpriced? Really? They are the cheapest online retailer in Canada, and are much cheaper than most of the US stores. Yes, tcgplayer will be cheaper, but that is because everyone trying to undercut each other.
Modern: Jund
Legacy: Pox
EDH: Chainer Reanimation and The Dragon Show, with Zirilan of the Claw