Never checked this out so far, but it seems really interesting
Some questions though:
1) About the points, what are they equal to? Are big cards like duals, fetches power 9 and the likes overvalued and bulk undervalued? Are they estimated from a store's prices?
For example, there's no point in trading bulk for 12 cents, since i can do that with SCG too.
2) Ok so i make a have-list, and send out some cards. Perfectly safe and fine. Is tracking mandatory? If not, the receiving member might just keep my playset of Dark Confidants, open a case and get his trading points back. Free playset of Bobs for him, minus a playset of Bobs for me, with no trouble.
Even with tracking used, getting a picture of giant growths instead of bobs might get a case opened. Who do the admins side with then??? Who keeps me safe?
Or what if the receiving member simply doesn't care to mark as arrived? He loses nothing since he got his cards, i just get no points.
3) I send my cards, get my points, no problem at all. Then i try to buy, but the seller simply dissapeared and doesn't send anything. Then what? Do i have to open a case wait for some weeks with my points on hold until we realise he's just dissapeared?
Thanks in advance for any replies
1. the card values are pulled from an average on magiccards.info (tcgplayer) seems to be pretty fair, you do on occasion score a card that just increased in value before the site adjusts for it. what i do is only list cards that i have which are 1$ or more (100 points) and when i find someone who wants that i will also click on their name after confirming to send it to them and see if there are any other cards on their want list that i have. and click to send them as well in the same envelope to maximize points per mailing. (i got my MM Dark Confidants at about 45$ a pop when they were creeping up to 60$ on SSG)
2. it is a trust system yes. i photograph each card with the envelope before i package and mail it off so i have proof of condition in case something happens. and if it is a card over about 5$ for me i dont use a stamp i carry it to post office and pay a little more to send it with a tracking # with having that if something happens. i am assured to get my point value for the cards no matter if they are lost or if the person just runs with them.
i have had 3 cards in the past year that were sent to me that never arrived, i filed a case after 2 weeks and on one of them they finally showed up (from australia) before the case was resolved so i canceled it. the other never showed up so after they got a response from the shipper back. they refunded my points. if he was able to provide proof of shipping to them then they would have still given him points credit for the cards he mailed out. and they just asked me to let them know if they did arrive and provide a photo of the stamp with date from the post office if they did.
3. you have a want list ... that when you have enough points to spend on those cards, they will become visible to others who have the card to send out. first one of them to click on it gets it. the points will be put in a pending status. after they mail the card they go back and click on shipped to send you a notice that it has actually been shipped. when you receive it you confirm condition and click on received. at that time the points are transferred to the other person. on occasion a card will sit on your list for a while if you have the points and people do not send. it happens when it is a rarer card or a little used card (i have three FTV kird apes that have been on my want list for a while now) so if someone says they mailed it and you never get it ... after 2 weeks you file a ticket ... they contact the shipped .. if the person is MIA after a certain time they refund the points back to you and add the card back to your want list.
i have had similar experiences. at my LGS there is one individual that gives off the vibe of a stereo typical movie cast of a Used Car Salesman ... in how he looks, his voice and everything ... and he tries to low ball your cards and use the highest price for his ... but gets annoyed if you try to look up the prices as well ... so i will not deal with him ...
then the odd person that pulls cards from binder and starts showing them off to others before we even finish the trade ... trying to pressure you into finding something "of value" to trade off to someone else just so they can get the card they wanted.
for the most part now i either use a site like pucatrade .. or buylist them off to use store credit for other stuff... only really trade with one or two people locally ... and we try to watch out for cards for each other.
my current 360 cube .. 0 proxies ... but it is a pheasant cube. now the one i plan on building next will likely have a bit more proxies .. as we are going for a powered cube.
use a site like pucatrade to turn the 1$ cards into 20$ cards ... and use something like tappedout.net to try deck ideas before laying down money on the cards ...
when i sold out (around ice age) i sold about 4,000 cards for a little less then 150$ ... what i can remember of them now was well over 8k value wise .. and i am sure there was more as i had been buying since beta...
when i sold though it was because there was no others to play with in my town.
it is socially expected yes ... but in the end of the day it is still a job ... and if i feel that my time at the location was not pleasant ... or the food was messed up, or the wait staff did nothing but complain about their job and how they are over worked instead of just doing their job ... then i am likely not going to leave a tip ...
now if it is a wait staff that even remotely acts 'interested' in if i enjoyed my meal / experience and such then i will tip them ...
a tip that is expected is not a tip .. it is yet another fee for the service provided ... a tip is something that should be given out when earned by the person's actions ...
your signature on the back of the title is a bill of sale ... even if they have not signed it yet ... if anything were to happen later and it end up at a wrecking yard you just state to them that you sold it off already to someone else and it is no longer your responsibility ... now if you left your license plate on there that is another story ... but there is still a form you can pick up from the DMV that you fill out that verifies through them that you have sold the car to a private individual.
from the sounds of it, they may not have been official citizens and were just wanting a car to drive for a while and get it registered later in a friends name that is a citizen .. at least that is what we see around here a lot ... them, and people buying up older cars to transport across the border to strip down and rebuild
you are fine ... i have sold several dozen cars and never once met at a place to do a title transfer .. just signed the back of title and had them sign a bill of sale that i kept ...
it is left over from comic book collecting ... pvc plastic bags can harm what is inside them with the chemicals in the pvc that will seep / bleed out into what ever is inside it or next to it over time ...
now they likely have improved the quality and durability of it though.
1. the card values are pulled from an average on magiccards.info (tcgplayer) seems to be pretty fair, you do on occasion score a card that just increased in value before the site adjusts for it. what i do is only list cards that i have which are 1$ or more (100 points) and when i find someone who wants that i will also click on their name after confirming to send it to them and see if there are any other cards on their want list that i have. and click to send them as well in the same envelope to maximize points per mailing. (i got my MM Dark Confidants at about 45$ a pop when they were creeping up to 60$ on SSG)
2. it is a trust system yes. i photograph each card with the envelope before i package and mail it off so i have proof of condition in case something happens. and if it is a card over about 5$ for me i dont use a stamp i carry it to post office and pay a little more to send it with a tracking # with having that if something happens. i am assured to get my point value for the cards no matter if they are lost or if the person just runs with them.
i have had 3 cards in the past year that were sent to me that never arrived, i filed a case after 2 weeks and on one of them they finally showed up (from australia) before the case was resolved so i canceled it. the other never showed up so after they got a response from the shipper back. they refunded my points. if he was able to provide proof of shipping to them then they would have still given him points credit for the cards he mailed out. and they just asked me to let them know if they did arrive and provide a photo of the stamp with date from the post office if they did.
3. you have a want list ... that when you have enough points to spend on those cards, they will become visible to others who have the card to send out. first one of them to click on it gets it. the points will be put in a pending status. after they mail the card they go back and click on shipped to send you a notice that it has actually been shipped. when you receive it you confirm condition and click on received. at that time the points are transferred to the other person. on occasion a card will sit on your list for a while if you have the points and people do not send. it happens when it is a rarer card or a little used card (i have three FTV kird apes that have been on my want list for a while now) so if someone says they mailed it and you never get it ... after 2 weeks you file a ticket ... they contact the shipped .. if the person is MIA after a certain time they refund the points back to you and add the card back to your want list.
Brag post warning -Rax
then the odd person that pulls cards from binder and starts showing them off to others before we even finish the trade ... trying to pressure you into finding something "of value" to trade off to someone else just so they can get the card they wanted.
for the most part now i either use a site like pucatrade .. or buylist them off to use store credit for other stuff... only really trade with one or two people locally ... and we try to watch out for cards for each other.
when i sold out (around ice age) i sold about 4,000 cards for a little less then 150$ ... what i can remember of them now was well over 8k value wise .. and i am sure there was more as i had been buying since beta...
when i sold though it was because there was no others to play with in my town.
now if it is a wait staff that even remotely acts 'interested' in if i enjoyed my meal / experience and such then i will tip them ...
a tip that is expected is not a tip .. it is yet another fee for the service provided ... a tip is something that should be given out when earned by the person's actions ...
from the sounds of it, they may not have been official citizens and were just wanting a car to drive for a while and get it registered later in a friends name that is a citizen .. at least that is what we see around here a lot ... them, and people buying up older cars to transport across the border to strip down and rebuild
/edit doh!
now they likely have improved the quality and durability of it though.
Theros is honestly needed. in M14 was limited cards that would work ...