Where in the fine print does it say "We reserve the right to hold on to your money and cards for a week or two and then decide if we would rather refund your money or actually send you your cards"?
Bought a Bridge From Below from them a couple of days ago for ~10 dollars, right in the thick of the price spike to around 20-25 bucks for most vendors. Got it in today along with the rest of my order, no cancellation. I'm pleased.
Any other updates about MTGF? I always use ebay. I don't really see a reason to use online vendors over ebay. You can get the best deal, you can find cards that vendors never have in stock, and you can use feedback to see what kind of person you're buying from. I'm just curious to see if MTGF has changed any of their practices after having people all over the Magic community bashing them for a over a year.
Any other updates about MTGF? I always use ebay. I don't really see a reason to use online vendors over ebay. You can get the best deal, you can find cards that vendors never have in stock, and you can use feedback to see what kind of person you're buying from. I'm just curious to see if MTGF has changed any of their practices after having people all over the Magic community bashing them for a over a year.
There is a thread over on the Source about this too. This store is still as much of a joke as ever, but unfortunately this practice is becoming more and more common.
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i just sold to them and they didn't take $100 of the stuff i sent and even though they claimed it was bc of condition, 60% of that stuff was nm and i sent it in as played
I wouldn't even try to sell to MTG Fanatic if I were you. The store (buying from them, selling to them, and their customer service) is total trash.
Buying wise, they rejected my orders, mostly made up of foils. This was years ago, and I've since stopped buying from this store anymore. They did not refund me even though they cancelled my order, and their replies were so slow and were not helping so I filed a dispute against them. I had to chase them for ages to get the reason for a cancellation as well. Reason for the cancellation from the owner was, 'cherry picking on foils'. Owner refused to sell me the cards based on that.
Selling wise, this was before they started to screw me on my purchases. I sold them a bunch of cards, most of which were checked once before I filed the order, and a second time before I packaged the cards. Most of the cards were from newer sets and most of them haven't been played with, fresh out of the boosters. I sent a small pile of cheaper cards that they were buying to make a bigger sale. They rejected a good amount of the order, keeping a good portion of the cards of which the buy prices were decent to them, and sent back most of the crap at my expense.
After I received the cards back, some of the cheaper cards were obviously played with and/or damaged, definitely not the cards I've sent. I could remember opening a few of them from boxes myself, plus I double checked conditions personally before I sent. A couple of the pack fresh cards I sent came back with some obvious wear, one of which I could remember had wear on 1/4 of the entire card's edge. My packaging was more than sufficient since I never had the problem with other stores.
I talked to some friends who sold cards to the MTG Fanatic around that time period and they had the same suspicions. Most of them are suspecting the store replaced the (usually cheaper) cards sent in with their own damaged cards and marked it as played. Obviously we can't really prove anything, and I have no idea whether the store changed the way they buy cards. I'm not going to sell cards to them anymore, I suggest you do the same. Plenty of other stores/dealers around that process your sales to them way better.
I honestly dont know why people do business with these people anymore. They clearly lack any consideration for proper levels of customer service, and only care about how much money they can make and dont care about how many people they have to screw over in the process to do so. Ive told everyone I know never to buy from them or sell to them and pointed them to the different issues people have posted here in this thread, and most are shocked at how poor their practices are.
My problems happened sometime in 2008. I'm amazed at how the store still operates in the same sketchy way for so long. The store also takes ages to process cards being sold to the store back then. It took them 1-2 weeks (usually closer to 2 weeks) from the time they checked condtions to pay for my cards. Most of the stores I sold to take a day or less to process and send payment to me.
I would advise anyone not to deal with the MTG Fanatic. Chris Tremblay and MTG Fanatic certainly do not deserve any business from anyone, and I would be glad to see the store go down. There are many other stores that provide better service and not screw you over.
Another vote to avoid this site. I've done a couple sales to them and I always get short changed one way or another. My most recent sale, they charged almost $10 for shipping a couple cards back to me.
I just sold them about $1000 worth of cards, and the process was relatively smooth. I have to say they are very picky about conditions though, but they offer competitive buy prices. It took several weeks to get paid, but I find that fairly typical.
I just sold them about $1000 worth of cards, and the process was relatively smooth. I have to say they are very picky about conditions though, but they offer competitive buy prices. It took several weeks to get paid, but I find that fairly typical.
Being picky about condition is one thing, though I tend to compare what condition cards are received from the business in, vs what they would buy the cards back in and rate the condition accordingly. Any business that is overly picky when buying, but then is happy to send you lesser conditioned cards when selling (ie: taking the same card and using two different metrics for evaluation for buying/selling) is usually an indication of a poor business, and one to be avoided.
Competitive buy prices are only good if they actually will pay those prices.
As for the several weeks issue to get paid, this I find completely unacceptable. Most good online stores that you can sell cards to will pay you within a couple days of receiving the cards (once they have time to process and verify the entire lot) (of course payment through paypal would go faster than sending a check which takes additional time.)
Ah well, to each their own, I for one wouldnt do business with them, given everything Ive heard, and their many unacceptable practices. Basically one of those "at your own risk" sorts of businesses to deal with.
Hello,
This is Chris Tremblay from MtgFanatic.com. I figure since you are all bashing my company that I should take the opportunity to defend myself and my company.
Every one of our 15 Loyal retainers were sold on the same day because the item was under-priced due to a massive prive fluctuation. When a card barely sells and then all of the sudden you sell your entire stock in a single day, obviously something is wrong. Because of this, the orders were set aside. The reason for the late response was because I was not the person who personally set them aside and I only found out about it later in the week at which point I sent the email to this customer.
To make the following claim: "They are not honest, they don't play by the rules and just want to sell you cards if they're screwing you. " is slander and is entirely untrue. This customer is upset becuase he did not make $120 profit per item off the items he was intending to purchase from us. We clearly state the following on the checkout page BEFORE you place your order:
****
We Reserve the Right to Reduce the Purchase Quantity Of Any Item.
We reserve the right to reduce the purchase quantity of any item for any reason. Reasons that the purchase quantity may be reduced include the following but are not limited to:
Unable to find item.
If we are unable to locate an item due to inventory errors, item damage, etc...
Pricing Error.
As with any data entry job, there may be occasional data entry errors in which the listed price is incorrect. In these cases, we may reduce the quantoty of the item or remove the item from your order.
Rapid Price Fluctuations.
Due to the sometimes volatile nature of the collectible market, sometimes there are rapid price fluctuations. In these cases, we have the right to reduce the purchase quantity of an item.
If you purchase a large quantity of an item that has significantly changed in price, it is VERY likely that the purchase quantity of that item will be reduced. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not purchase large quantities of items, especially ones that have changed in price significantly.
***
The information is also on the following page:
Source: http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Company/FAQs.aspx?ID=262
As stated on our legal page, when a price changes in price significantly we reserve the right to reduce the purchase quantity of an item. An Item spiking from $40 to $160 is a significant price spike and therefore we reserve the right to reduce the purchase quantity.
You need to realize, companies are in business to make money. Lets do the math. We sold 15 Loyal Retainers for $40.00 which equals $600.00. Now, because the price went up to $160.00 I need to buy them back at AT LEAST $120.00 which is $1800.00 minus the $600.00 that I made for selling them for $40.00. I just lost $1200.00 by completing these transactions. So in maybe 4 orders, I just lost what many people make in an entire month. I could pay an entire months salary for one of our employess for what I just lost in a couple sales because of a price spike. No, you put YOURSELF in OUR shoes and then see what YOU think makes sense.
Put yourself in our shoes. If you own an item and you make a sale to us through our buylist, then the price of an item spikes, don't you reserve the right to not send us that item? Yes, you do. And in fact we have many dealers who sell us inventory all the time. This is a very common occurance. We are in the your shoes very often. But why would I expect anybody to sell me an item if it spiked in value overnight? The point of selling us items through our buylist is to make money. We cannot, make you, nor would we expect you to ship us that item.
*******************
Quote: "I would say it is deceitful".
Response:
Deceit is defined as follows - The action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth.
I specifically told the customer "This item was not listed at the correct price, so I am unable to ship these items at this time". This is exactly why we did not ship the item. Therefor, we are not mis-representing or concealing the truth.
Quote: Yes it's dishonest and deceitful and makes me want to go burn their houses down.
Response: So burning someone's house down is less morally wrong then not shipping you an item because it more than trippled in value and now my company is going to lose over $1200.00?
You cannot win this argument. You will be making money on the cards you are selling at 40 bucks. Saying you are losing money because you didn't re-list the item at $160 is garbage. That argument needs to be saved for others. You would be purchasing $160 cards for $120 ANYWAY.
Your example is you wouldn't make AS MUCH profit. YOU would NOT be taking a loss. A very bad, super bad policy guys. You need to do like most other sellers and either remove that horrible policy or implement a card limit for sales. Business 101 so you don't piss customers off even if the customer is trying to take advantage of you. Your bad policy set you up for the fall. Greed didn't help much either. Sorry.
I've purchase from and sold to (though less frequently, the latter) MTG Fanatic for quite a few years now, since back when they were a much smaller operation, and my overall experiences have been mostly positive.
==== Aside ====
With regards to the whole limiting sale quantity argument, I think it's BS that so many people get up and bash every store that does this, especially when they disclose it on their site, and right before you make a purchase. (My whole reason for coming here to post in this thread tonight, actually, is that I just made a small purchase from MTGF, and noticed the disclaimer just before checkout.)
Now, there are conditions under which I think this practice is dishonest, but the store not being split-second fast enough to adjust prices after a spike when there are countless Magic nerds glued to their computers waiting to click "buy" with every slightest market fluctuation is just not one of them. The crowds of ravenous Magic investors/speculators need to to get off their high horses and stop expecting to make 400% profit flipping cards every time a ban list changes... and I'm a player/speculator myself, and certainly no store owner.
Anyway, I digress. Chris Tremblay made his point about this above, and pretty much every store out there does the same thing. Anyone still abhorred by the practice isn't about to be convinced otherwise now.
==== End aside ====
In terms of my personal buying/selling experiences at MTG Fanatic, they've been mostly positive, buying more than selling.
Buying: I always get my orders lightning fast, and the cards are almost always in great condition, especially compared to a lot of stores out there that are hit-or-miss at best. I've never had an order pulled out from under me due to pricing, etc. - but then again, I tend not to swarm sites looking for quick flips immediately following a spike.
Selling: I've sold several batches of cards to MTGF over the years, typically stackfuls of $1-$5 cards that have good buy prices on their site that would be hard to unload on eBay. I learned early on with MTGF that I need to scrutinize my cards VERY carefully before sending them in, as they'll downgrade condition for really minor imperfections. I'm honestly fine with that, so long as the cards I receive when I buy from them are up to the same standards.
Issues: One in a while, I'll have a card downgraded in condition when selling. It usually amounts to only a few cents, so not a huge deal. There was one time I remember, though, where they actually shipped a beat up Bogardan Hellkite back to me when I KNOW the card I sent them to sell was mint. No real idea what happened that time, but given that it only happened to me once, and with only the one card, I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and chalked it up to human error (accidental card swap or something).
As a buyer, I've found that on occasion the cards I receive from MTGF don't seem up to the same standards as the cards that I send in to sell. That really irks me, but here again, it's not the norm with these guys, and even when it happens, the cards are still in much better shape than the kind of crap I've received from stores like White Lion Games.
tl;dr - positive experiences overall, high card condition standards both directions, very fast/smooth ordering process. Occasional minor problem, but nothing that would keep me from continuing to shop with/sell to them. People need to lighten up on stores canceling orders after a major spike - or at least avoid singling out individuals for it, when it's more commonplace than not among online Magic retailers.
Heres the thing. Just because of lot of businesses have poor business practices, doesnt make that acceptable at all. In fact many businesses do in fact do a good job in fulfilling orders (within the limitations of their site, if they have a like 4-8 per order limit or something per card.) You learn after a while which businesses value customer service above all else, and, especially a store like SCG is able to thusly bring in more business than most other sites (combined) in many cases, due to their dedication to customer service, and having a selection practically second to none. While I can sympathize to an extent with a store missing a sudden price spike and being bought out by a bunch of customers/speculators/etc, you know what? That stuff happens to me all the time with my ebay listings, and Im fine with that, because I do value customer service above all else. Its easy for a store to set up programming on their site to limit the amount of a card someone can purchase in a single order. Its easy enough for a store to take the initiative if they care that much, to make note when a card is unbanned, or does well in a tournament, or otherwise, and eithor pull the card from their online inventory, or raise the price proactively.
On ebay a seller can put that they limit purchases all they want, however ebay doesnt work that way. If you want to limit a purchase, you only put that quantity of a card up. Once someone purchases and pays, a seller can refund and request a cancellation but the buyer is under no obligation to accept that, the buyer can then leave a negative if the seller refuses to complete the transaction, and the seller will be forced to pay the fees for the items selling. Even some of the bigger sellers have no problem taking a hit in their feedback to make an extra buck though. Those are the sellers I avoid and block from my own listings. That said, I respect a seller having a limit on a purchase, and I wont exceed that, but A: Dont lie to me, Im a seller know, I know when another seller is full of crap, and B: Customer service is EVERYTHING when it comes to this business. If you dont realize that, you shouldnt be in business PERIOD.
This post applies to any online store or ebay seller that doesnt understand this, and chooses to ignore customer service in order to make a few extra bucks. I work my tail off and spend all the extra time and energy to make sure my prices are constantly up to date, and up to the moment accurate. I make sure my inventory is always correct and up to date, and I dont put myself in a position where Im selling the same cards from the same inventory on more than one non-linked site/otherwise. I keep a seperate ebay inventory from my shop inventory. If I can make this work, any online store can as well. Hell, Im a single individual doing all this. It does take a lot of work, but thats part of owning and operating a business. Making excuses, and not being good to your customers is why so many businesses go out of business each year, and so many card shops fail.
Mistakes happen, and thats fine. So long as the business learns from it and doesnt make the same mistakes again. If a business has been around for a long time and continues to make the same poor decisions, and mistakes time after time, then thats the sign of a business that should simply be avoided, and should have a thread like this created to make sure others know to avoid that business.
Whew, sorry for the long post, Ive had a bad week, and this is something I simply feel strongly about on a general level. Im sure MTG Fanatic isnt THAT bad of a store all in all, they simply have some improper ideas of how to run some aspects of their business and simply need to learn from past experiences and do their best to make sure they are putting customers first and not trying to screw customers over to make a few extra bucks or otherwise.
Whew, sorry for the long post, Ive had a bad week, and this is something I simply feel strongly about on a general level. Im sure MTG Fanatic isnt THAT bad of a store all in all, they simply have some improper ideas of how to run some aspects of their business and simply need to learn from past experiences and do their best to make sure they are putting customers first and not trying to screw customers over to make a few extra bucks or otherwise.
I agree with your general stance on the matter Jeff, as even when I sell on eBay as an individual, customer service is always my top priority. I just think it's a little unfair for a store to get bashed so hard in a thread like this when I really don't believe they're trying to be dishonest or deceitful. How the store handles price spikes is only a single aspect of its overall business model, and half the time the buyers getting "screwed" aren't even interested in buying the product anyway, rather just looking to make a few quick bucks.
Anyway, one thing about MTG Fanatic that I left out - a couple years back, a received a random letter from them in the mail. I was pretty confused when I saw the envelope, as I hadn't placed an order recently, and didn't have any reason to be expecting cards. I opened it to find a notice that I'd won one of the their random customer giveaways - a $70 "shopping spree" in store credit.
Again, they're not perfect, but my own experiences have been much more good than bad, and I definitely rate them higher than the majority of the other online shops I've dealt with over the years. So just wanted to give all the glaring negativity in this thread a bit more context.
We placed an order with them and they have not shipped it or cancelled it and have not responded to our e-mails or paypal claim so we finally escalated the claim. Not sure what their deal is but they need to get their act together. If you don't want to ship us the cards that is fine but at least give us a refund...
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PureMTGO MTGOTraders - Coupon mtgsallypaypal for 8% off orders paid for with paypal. MTGO Hotlist! - Pays more than bots for singles. CapeFearGames - Coupon mtgsally for 5% off entire order. Orders ship same day if order placed before 3pm EST M-F. Do not stack with other coupons please.
Paying extra 20% on paper cards for MTGOTraders credits.
We placed an order with them and they have not shipped it or cancelled it and have not responded to our e-mails or paypal claim so we finally escalated the claim. Not sure what their deal is but they need to get their act together. If you don't want to ship us the cards that is fine but at least give us a refund...
When did you place the order? Given the holiday we just had, I imagine some delays and communication issues could be present. Anyhow, such information would help :).
I think that is more than enough time for even the worst sellers to ship something or at least reply to an e-mail.
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PureMTGO MTGOTraders - Coupon mtgsallypaypal for 8% off orders paid for with paypal. MTGO Hotlist! - Pays more than bots for singles. CapeFearGames - Coupon mtgsally for 5% off entire order. Orders ship same day if order placed before 3pm EST M-F. Do not stack with other coupons please.
Paying extra 20% on paper cards for MTGOTraders credits.
I think that is more than enough time for even the worst sellers to ship something or at least reply to an e-mail.
Over a month ago?! Yikes. Yeah, thats just rediculous. Poor customer service like that is just yet another reason why people shouldnt buy from them, ever. Ive had them on my dont-buy list for a while though. When enough people complain about a business, eventually the pattern becomes enough to where, potential deals or not, its just better to go for a trustworthy and reliable business that will actually deliver, than ones that wont.
Doh that sucks to hear. Hrm I think I just get extremely lucky, I've ordered several times from mtgfanatic over the years, almost always single-card orders but I've gotten them all with no problems.
Jeff, sometimes I wish mtgsalvation was something like Reddit so I could just plus 1 you every time you post in this thread.
Hopefully over time consumers will slowly filter away from mtgfanatic. There are enough stores at similar prices, stock, convenience, and have legitimate customer support.
I read through that. I actually did enjoy the article, and that part about the poor or less reputable online stores not honoring their sales just exemplifies, unfortunately, this online store. If someone buys something from me from my ebay listings before I catch the news/increase, then good for them, they got a good deal. I wish everyone who sold online took this to heart and understood that customer service is the #1 most important thing, and that their lack of business is due to their poor reputation. MTG Fanatic is one of many though that have this view, and while thankfully there are more good stores than bad, it still doesnt help any when one discovers a bad one first the first time. And hey, lets just say there is a reason that all of the reputable online stores tend to sell out before everyone else. Its because they will actually deliver 100% of the time. They've earned their reputation as a reputable business and people trust them. MTG Fanatic is not one of those, and probably never will be.
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There is a thread over on the Source about this too. This store is still as much of a joke as ever, but unfortunately this practice is becoming more and more common.
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Buying wise, they rejected my orders, mostly made up of foils. This was years ago, and I've since stopped buying from this store anymore. They did not refund me even though they cancelled my order, and their replies were so slow and were not helping so I filed a dispute against them. I had to chase them for ages to get the reason for a cancellation as well. Reason for the cancellation from the owner was, 'cherry picking on foils'. Owner refused to sell me the cards based on that.
Selling wise, this was before they started to screw me on my purchases. I sold them a bunch of cards, most of which were checked once before I filed the order, and a second time before I packaged the cards. Most of the cards were from newer sets and most of them haven't been played with, fresh out of the boosters. I sent a small pile of cheaper cards that they were buying to make a bigger sale. They rejected a good amount of the order, keeping a good portion of the cards of which the buy prices were decent to them, and sent back most of the crap at my expense.
After I received the cards back, some of the cheaper cards were obviously played with and/or damaged, definitely not the cards I've sent. I could remember opening a few of them from boxes myself, plus I double checked conditions personally before I sent. A couple of the pack fresh cards I sent came back with some obvious wear, one of which I could remember had wear on 1/4 of the entire card's edge. My packaging was more than sufficient since I never had the problem with other stores.
I talked to some friends who sold cards to the MTG Fanatic around that time period and they had the same suspicions. Most of them are suspecting the store replaced the (usually cheaper) cards sent in with their own damaged cards and marked it as played. Obviously we can't really prove anything, and I have no idea whether the store changed the way they buy cards. I'm not going to sell cards to them anymore, I suggest you do the same. Plenty of other stores/dealers around that process your sales to them way better.
I would advise anyone not to deal with the MTG Fanatic. Chris Tremblay and MTG Fanatic certainly do not deserve any business from anyone, and I would be glad to see the store go down. There are many other stores that provide better service and not screw you over.
Being picky about condition is one thing, though I tend to compare what condition cards are received from the business in, vs what they would buy the cards back in and rate the condition accordingly. Any business that is overly picky when buying, but then is happy to send you lesser conditioned cards when selling (ie: taking the same card and using two different metrics for evaluation for buying/selling) is usually an indication of a poor business, and one to be avoided.
Competitive buy prices are only good if they actually will pay those prices.
As for the several weeks issue to get paid, this I find completely unacceptable. Most good online stores that you can sell cards to will pay you within a couple days of receiving the cards (once they have time to process and verify the entire lot) (of course payment through paypal would go faster than sending a check which takes additional time.)
Ah well, to each their own, I for one wouldnt do business with them, given everything Ive heard, and their many unacceptable practices. Basically one of those "at your own risk" sorts of businesses to deal with.
You cannot win this argument. You will be making money on the cards you are selling at 40 bucks. Saying you are losing money because you didn't re-list the item at $160 is garbage. That argument needs to be saved for others. You would be purchasing $160 cards for $120 ANYWAY.
Your example is you wouldn't make AS MUCH profit. YOU would NOT be taking a loss. A very bad, super bad policy guys. You need to do like most other sellers and either remove that horrible policy or implement a card limit for sales. Business 101 so you don't piss customers off even if the customer is trying to take advantage of you. Your bad policy set you up for the fall. Greed didn't help much either. Sorry.
==== Aside ====
With regards to the whole limiting sale quantity argument, I think it's BS that so many people get up and bash every store that does this, especially when they disclose it on their site, and right before you make a purchase. (My whole reason for coming here to post in this thread tonight, actually, is that I just made a small purchase from MTGF, and noticed the disclaimer just before checkout.)
Now, there are conditions under which I think this practice is dishonest, but the store not being split-second fast enough to adjust prices after a spike when there are countless Magic nerds glued to their computers waiting to click "buy" with every slightest market fluctuation is just not one of them. The crowds of ravenous Magic investors/speculators need to to get off their high horses and stop expecting to make 400% profit flipping cards every time a ban list changes... and I'm a player/speculator myself, and certainly no store owner.
Anyway, I digress. Chris Tremblay made his point about this above, and pretty much every store out there does the same thing. Anyone still abhorred by the practice isn't about to be convinced otherwise now.
==== End aside ====
In terms of my personal buying/selling experiences at MTG Fanatic, they've been mostly positive, buying more than selling.
Buying: I always get my orders lightning fast, and the cards are almost always in great condition, especially compared to a lot of stores out there that are hit-or-miss at best. I've never had an order pulled out from under me due to pricing, etc. - but then again, I tend not to swarm sites looking for quick flips immediately following a spike.
Selling: I've sold several batches of cards to MTGF over the years, typically stackfuls of $1-$5 cards that have good buy prices on their site that would be hard to unload on eBay. I learned early on with MTGF that I need to scrutinize my cards VERY carefully before sending them in, as they'll downgrade condition for really minor imperfections. I'm honestly fine with that, so long as the cards I receive when I buy from them are up to the same standards.
Issues: One in a while, I'll have a card downgraded in condition when selling. It usually amounts to only a few cents, so not a huge deal. There was one time I remember, though, where they actually shipped a beat up Bogardan Hellkite back to me when I KNOW the card I sent them to sell was mint. No real idea what happened that time, but given that it only happened to me once, and with only the one card, I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and chalked it up to human error (accidental card swap or something).
As a buyer, I've found that on occasion the cards I receive from MTGF don't seem up to the same standards as the cards that I send in to sell. That really irks me, but here again, it's not the norm with these guys, and even when it happens, the cards are still in much better shape than the kind of crap I've received from stores like White Lion Games.
tl;dr - positive experiences overall, high card condition standards both directions, very fast/smooth ordering process. Occasional minor problem, but nothing that would keep me from continuing to shop with/sell to them. People need to lighten up on stores canceling orders after a major spike - or at least avoid singling out individuals for it, when it's more commonplace than not among online Magic retailers.
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On ebay a seller can put that they limit purchases all they want, however ebay doesnt work that way. If you want to limit a purchase, you only put that quantity of a card up. Once someone purchases and pays, a seller can refund and request a cancellation but the buyer is under no obligation to accept that, the buyer can then leave a negative if the seller refuses to complete the transaction, and the seller will be forced to pay the fees for the items selling. Even some of the bigger sellers have no problem taking a hit in their feedback to make an extra buck though. Those are the sellers I avoid and block from my own listings. That said, I respect a seller having a limit on a purchase, and I wont exceed that, but A: Dont lie to me, Im a seller know, I know when another seller is full of crap, and B: Customer service is EVERYTHING when it comes to this business. If you dont realize that, you shouldnt be in business PERIOD.
This post applies to any online store or ebay seller that doesnt understand this, and chooses to ignore customer service in order to make a few extra bucks. I work my tail off and spend all the extra time and energy to make sure my prices are constantly up to date, and up to the moment accurate. I make sure my inventory is always correct and up to date, and I dont put myself in a position where Im selling the same cards from the same inventory on more than one non-linked site/otherwise. I keep a seperate ebay inventory from my shop inventory. If I can make this work, any online store can as well. Hell, Im a single individual doing all this. It does take a lot of work, but thats part of owning and operating a business. Making excuses, and not being good to your customers is why so many businesses go out of business each year, and so many card shops fail.
Mistakes happen, and thats fine. So long as the business learns from it and doesnt make the same mistakes again. If a business has been around for a long time and continues to make the same poor decisions, and mistakes time after time, then thats the sign of a business that should simply be avoided, and should have a thread like this created to make sure others know to avoid that business.
Whew, sorry for the long post, Ive had a bad week, and this is something I simply feel strongly about on a general level. Im sure MTG Fanatic isnt THAT bad of a store all in all, they simply have some improper ideas of how to run some aspects of their business and simply need to learn from past experiences and do their best to make sure they are putting customers first and not trying to screw customers over to make a few extra bucks or otherwise.
I agree with your general stance on the matter Jeff, as even when I sell on eBay as an individual, customer service is always my top priority. I just think it's a little unfair for a store to get bashed so hard in a thread like this when I really don't believe they're trying to be dishonest or deceitful. How the store handles price spikes is only a single aspect of its overall business model, and half the time the buyers getting "screwed" aren't even interested in buying the product anyway, rather just looking to make a few quick bucks.
Anyway, one thing about MTG Fanatic that I left out - a couple years back, a received a random letter from them in the mail. I was pretty confused when I saw the envelope, as I hadn't placed an order recently, and didn't have any reason to be expecting cards. I opened it to find a notice that I'd won one of the their random customer giveaways - a $70 "shopping spree" in store credit.
Again, they're not perfect, but my own experiences have been much more good than bad, and I definitely rate them higher than the majority of the other online shops I've dealt with over the years. So just wanted to give all the glaring negativity in this thread a bit more context.
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MTGOTraders - Coupon mtgsallypaypal for 8% off orders paid for with paypal.
MTGO Hotlist! - Pays more than bots for singles.
CapeFearGames - Coupon mtgsally for 5% off entire order. Orders ship same day if order placed before 3pm EST M-F. Do not stack with other coupons please.
Paying extra 20% on paper cards for MTGOTraders credits.
When did you place the order? Given the holiday we just had, I imagine some delays and communication issues could be present. Anyhow, such information would help :).
MTGOTraders - Coupon mtgsallypaypal for 8% off orders paid for with paypal.
MTGO Hotlist! - Pays more than bots for singles.
CapeFearGames - Coupon mtgsally for 5% off entire order. Orders ship same day if order placed before 3pm EST M-F. Do not stack with other coupons please.
Paying extra 20% on paper cards for MTGOTraders credits.
Over a month ago?! Yikes. Yeah, thats just rediculous. Poor customer service like that is just yet another reason why people shouldnt buy from them, ever. Ive had them on my dont-buy list for a while though. When enough people complain about a business, eventually the pattern becomes enough to where, potential deals or not, its just better to go for a trustworthy and reliable business that will actually deliver, than ones that wont.
Hopefully over time consumers will slowly filter away from mtgfanatic. There are enough stores at similar prices, stock, convenience, and have legitimate customer support.
AVOID MTG Fanatic ! Remands Orders and Re-lists cards for more money!
I guess if you're going to try and stick it to the speculators, you better make sure you do it to speculators who write for major websites as well.
Called Out!
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I read through that. I actually did enjoy the article, and that part about the poor or less reputable online stores not honoring their sales just exemplifies, unfortunately, this online store. If someone buys something from me from my ebay listings before I catch the news/increase, then good for them, they got a good deal. I wish everyone who sold online took this to heart and understood that customer service is the #1 most important thing, and that their lack of business is due to their poor reputation. MTG Fanatic is one of many though that have this view, and while thankfully there are more good stores than bad, it still doesnt help any when one discovers a bad one first the first time. And hey, lets just say there is a reason that all of the reputable online stores tend to sell out before everyone else. Its because they will actually deliver 100% of the time. They've earned their reputation as a reputable business and people trust them. MTG Fanatic is not one of those, and probably never will be.