I don't have any hard numbers on this, but I'm targeted more often than a black guy driving a beat-up sedan with a broken tail-light and no license plate, and Cy's well aware of that.
Let me be the first to say that although SCG's prices on staples are usually ridiculously expensive, their prices on cheaper cards are usually right in line or even cheaper then what you can get them for on eBay. I've placed multiple orders with them over the years, and I always preorder at least a box of the newest set through them when they offer it for $85 something a box. I preordered two boxes of ZEN at that price and quickly ZEN hit $120 a box on their site, but they still sold me to them at the agreed price.
These guys are also the best in the business at customer service, and they are one of the only online stores that will uphold the prices they sell to you at no matter what, even if the price goes up overnight.
If you want to sacrifice some $ for reliability, these are the guys to do it.
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I'm bad at magic, you're bad at magic, and Level 4 Pro Ari Lax is terrible at magic.
Regardless of the premium I've had to pay on a lot of card singles, I've never had a problem with SCG EVER. I have ordered EX foils from them and gotten NM, almost unquestionably, cards instead.
SCG is also pretty good at pricing foils. Prior to RoE and Worldwake, See Beyond and Loam Lion foils were selling for insane sums on Ebay. SCG beat the price on these high-end foils each time.
They also ship basically the day a set is released, and are very good about getting you your pre-order cards.
Far and away, I've had my best online store card-dealing experiences with SCG. Even if you're paying a bit more, the service they give you (and their responsiveness to calls and emails) is unparalleled.
Star City's prices for staples are overpriced, in my opinion, and I usually use other vendors for staples.
That said, I have done business with Star City multiple times for EDH foils and random odds and ends. I agree with Kijin that I've order EX foils and received NM foils several times over. Their foil prices (for non-rares) are generally very competitive.
Star City's customer service goes above and beyond the call of duty. I have dealt with multiple customer service departments in my life, who give you the standard run around with no intent of actually solving your problem. Star City, however, goes out of their way to please their customers and do right by people.
For example, at a 5K event I had sold well over one hundred dollars of cards to them. I opted to take it in store credit, to receive the trade in bonus. However, since it was at an event site, they were unable to issue me any kind of certificate. The guy took my information told me I'd have a redemption code emailed to me by Tuesday. When Wednesday had rolled around and I hadn't received anything, I rang Star City and was immediately able to speak to a representative about it. They again took my information and asked me if I'd like them to call me when the certificate was issued; I said yes.
I was expecting to hear from them in a few days time; I would have been pleased at that. Instead, I received a phone call ten minutes later, informing me that the gift certificate had been issued and received a sincere apology for their tardiness as well. I have never received an apology from someone in customer service for an oversight. Similarly, I have never received such prompt service and resolution to an issue. Not only is Star City's customer service the best in the online world, it is the best in brick and mortar as well. Part of me wishes Star City would offer a weekend seminar on how to run a customer service department, as 99% of businesses across America could learn a thing or two from them.
If you're a foreign freak like I am (especially for Japanese cards), Star City is the place to go. Their prices on foreign cards are very competitive overall. It's very difficult to find foreign cards overall, and Star City keeps a well stocked list. The fact I can easily find Russian and French cards, in addition to Japanese cards, is gravy.
My dealings with Star City have always been positive, and I would recommend them to anyone looking for foreign cards, competitively priced foils and other Magic odds and ends. But their pricing on staples continues to be on the high end of high, so I would not recommend their services for staples.
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EDH UUU Azami, Lady of Scrolls RRR Diaochan, Artful Beauty UR(U/R) Tibor, Lumia, & Melek (WIP)
I don't have any hard numbers on this, but I'm targeted more often than a black guy driving a beat-up sedan with a broken tail-light and no license plate, and Cy's well aware of that.
I recently ordered some Korean basic lands from Urza's Saga from them. They, as with every other site I looked at, don't have foreign basic lands listed individually. I contacted Ben Bleiwess and found the cards I was looking for, quoted me a price(better than some estimates I had received on a forum) and then put the item up for me with a unique link so I could add it to my cart. All the email responses came in a timely manner and it was great of them to find some specific basic land for me.
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MTG Rules Advisor
I currently play only two formats, what I play in them is:
Legacy: Domain Zoo, RGW Zoo, Merfolk, Solidarity, Mono Black Aggro
EDH: Kagemaro, First to Suffer
I placed my first order with these guys a few weeks ago and was pleased to actually be able to pick up the phone and get in touch with someone. (Cards came as promised too)>
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
I have had extreemly benfitital experances with Star. Excellent Service Very fast shipping. Only 2 things burn me about them. 1) they follow WOTC "In print card policy" which really isn't a bad thing except if you live outside the usa.... and 2) on some select staples they are a TAD higher in price but for the AMAZING service you get you can overlook that.
I ordered cards from SCG twice. The first time was horrible. As a Non-Us-Buyer I couldn't use the credit card the first time and had to "Western Union" the money the whole process up until the WU-fees were horrible and I swore to never buy there again.
Second time ('never' is such a long time) I was looking for a card that only SCG offered at a reasonable price and since I already went through the WU-hoop I thought everything was ok....Not so much.
New process...SCG debited 2 amounts between $0.01 & $5 on my cc (nothing special about this process) and I had to mail them the amounts to verify these amounts. They told me that my amounts were wrong. I rechecked, still wrong...it's not like I am blind or stupid or both.
As of that time I never ever bought anything anymore. Too many hoops for my taste.
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Signed card collector Current signed cards count (31.12.16):
Diff. signed cards: 16'451 Artist alters: 828 Beta Project: 2574/2853 Grand Total signed cards: 42'091
I've known Pete and Ben since I was a kid and I've always had great experiences buying and selling cards to them. You might be able to find that one card you need for a couple bucks less on another website, but I would gladly pay the additional money knowing that if anything goes wrong with my order that SCG will fix it almost immediately.
There's a reason these guys have such a good reputation, they are extremely reliable and are very fast with their business. While I still buy the majority of my cards from the local store, if I ever need a card or something else I can't find fast before an event, I've always been able to call someone at SCG and have them hold it for me until the next morning where I can meet with someone at one of their booths and get it there.
I honestly wouldn't buy singles from anywhere else, unless they suddenly started charging 300% premiums or something unreal like that.
I ordered cards from SCG twice. The first time was horrible. As a Non-Us-Buyer I couldn't use the credit card the first time and had to "Western Union" the money the whole process up until the WU-fees were horrible and I swore to never buy there again.
Second time ('never' is such a long time) I was looking for a card that only SCG offered at a reasonable price and since I already went through the WU-hoop I thought everything was ok....Not so much.
New process...SCG debited 2 amounts between $0.01 & $5 on my cc (nothing special about this process) and I had to mail them the amounts to verify these amounts. They told me that my amounts were wrong. I rechecked, still wrong...it's not like I am blind or stupid or both.
As of that time I never ever bought anything anymore. Too many hoops for my taste.
You're basing your entire experience on them covering themselves with a foreign buyer? You realize, no offense to you of course, the fraud risk involved dealing internationally, don't you? Some stores would just say "PayPal only from confirmed US account" and that would be that.
Sorry about your experience, mine have been great. Even greater in light of my recent experiences with MTGChicago... :/
Star City is fine for obtaining cards quickly, but I really dislike their shipping policy. If there is ever a mistake in shipping, even if they made it, they will charge you for it. E.g. if their printer runs out of ink or the label is missing some info on it, or something similar... if it gets returned to them, they will give you the option of either shipping it again (charging additional shipping) or refunding your money (minus the shipping cost). Either way, they force you to pay for shipping even if they make a mistake.
You're basing your entire experience on them covering themselves with a foreign buyer? You realize, no offense to you of course, the fraud risk involved dealing internationally, don't you? Some stores would just say "PayPal only from confirmed US account" and that would be that.
Yes, that's what I do because they're the only online store I use(d) that has such an annoying process. For non-US-Single-Buyers just not worth it.
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Signed card collector Current signed cards count (31.12.16):
Diff. signed cards: 16'451 Artist alters: 828 Beta Project: 2574/2853 Grand Total signed cards: 42'091
Just made a order, after I put the order in, then I realized I had forgot to put a playset of some promo cards I wanted. So, I sent them a email with the addition, putting down what I wanted a link to the page, prices, etc. So, when the order went through this evening I noticed that they had accidentally charged me for a playset of regular ones instead.
So, I call up the sales department hoping to catch the order before its out the door. Sadly, I was a little late but the man on the phone put me on hold to see what they could do. After being on hold for a little bit, he comes back and kindly apologizes for the error. What they end up doing is going ahead and sending me the playset of the promo for the difference, and said the regular playsets were free of charge. Granted, the promos/regulars arent very expensive, but I have to say that is great customer service. They realized a error was made, then went above and beyond(imo) in correcting it.
I have made a lot of orders of SCG, and this just makes sure I will continue to shop from them. Sure, it may cost alil more on some things, but they always have good amount of stocks. Finally, you cant beat their customer support, and that is worth the little extra when things like this happen.
Well, I'll never use them again. I messed up on a trade and left out a Crumbling Necopolis, to make it up to the user I wanted to buy him a foil one and send it over. Cardkingdom had it at $9 and starcity games 2.50...so yeah. I logged into starcity, but then they wouldn't accept my credit card. And said I can't use paypal cause I'm out of country and gave me 3 options:
Bank transfer (ugh yeah right, it's called paypal losers)
Western Union (me pay fee for you being terrible?)
Money Order (lol)
So thankfully I worked out a deal with the user and I'll never even visit starcitygames page again.
Well I recently bought from this site (despite having a public disagreement with Ben Bleiwiess over his site's Standard singles prices) in order to gauge their quality firsthand.
What can I say? They had impeccable customer service and lightning fast shipping. They really are a quality site. The shipping was reasonable as well.
I've always had good experience with them, and when you trade in for store credit they seem to give you a good price. I got 62.50 when I sold a Jace 2.0 to them. I got my certificate pretty much the day it arrived, and I had cards bought, and shipped back to me within a week. Fast turnaround, very fast. And a good deal too, though I probably could have traded here or ebay for a bit more here.
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"I've always been a fan of reality by popular vote" - Stephen Colbert (in response to Don McLeroy)
Ok, so the general consensus is that if you are from a country where they have no prayer of prosecuting and recovering what you could potentially defraud of them, then they are no good. Got it. Thanks for the clarification, guys.
Ok, so the general consensus is that if you are from a country where they have no prayer of prosecuting and recovering what you could potentially defraud of them, then they are no good. Got it. Thanks for the clarification, guys.
No need to be a douche about it -.-.
Anyways, Starcitygames has awesome prices on all foils and if you're overseas you have no choice but to use their slightly annoying payment methods. But i feel that a bank transfer really ain't that hard to do, but i really wish they would just accept paypal. However they have quick shipping, reasonable shipping costs and costs on cards (non-staples) so i'd highly recommend this.
I am personally following this thread, and just wanted to thank everyone for the feedback. We are always looking for ways to better serve the needs of our customers, so I appreciate everyone taking the time to post.
I ordered like 10 cards from them once, including two sylvan messengers from the EvG duel deck, to go with my other two i already had. However; they sent me two from apoc, which didn't appear in my order, I whined and they gave me my money back and let me keep the cards, not too shabby
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Dear kbx41,
You have received a warning at MTG Salvation Forums.
Reason:
-------
Flaming or Other Forms of Misbehavior
Saying that you sometimes wish people (in this case the implication is the staff) would fall down a well and get AIDS is hardly appropriate for the forum.
I've heard glowing reviews of their customer service, but whenever I check by them (whether buying or selling), their prices don't seem good enough, so they're not high on my list of sites to actually check when I'm shopping. I find that a lot of cheaper sites still have good service
KingAlan, they're buy prices aren't the greatest, but they've got three things going for them:
1) They buy EVERYTHING. Compared to Troll, who has a very picky buylist.
2) EXCEPTIONAL customer service. I called about a collection, and even though the buylist wasn't up, one of the guys went through the whole collection with me so that I could price it out.
3) 25% trade bonus is awesome.
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Stop wasting your time here and come to a forum that actually fosters intelligent discussion: Fires Rf Salvation
KingAlan, they're buy prices aren't the greatest, but they've got three things going for them:
1) They buy EVERYTHING. Compared to Troll, who has a very picky buylist.
2) EXCEPTIONAL customer service. I called about a collection, and even though the buylist wasn't up, one of the guys went through the whole collection with me so that I could price it out.
3) 25% trade bonus is awesome.
I do compare several buylists; if Troll and Toad doesn't want it or has a really crummy offer price that day, one of the other stores I work with might.
And a trade bonus often doesn't help if it's not a store I'm inclined to buy from often. I suppose I could read the prices as list*1.25, see where that gets me.
CoolStuffInc I do buy form a lot, so their 15% bonus is much like cash to me.
I admit I'm VERY price-conscious when doing these things
Admittedly, shopping around can be a pain, especially if the lists update in the middle of arranging an order.
I ordered 40 to 50 or so dollars worth of cards. Cards were shipped nicely in penny sleave within hard plastic case within bubble loader. All NM cards were perfect, all SP cards could have been traded at nm (i looked at the cards within an inch of my face and noticed that the SP cards had slight corner edging, possibly from being moved between sleeves, but really good).
So, their grading is great. Cards were shipped in a nice time. A list game with my cards telling me which i had bought. Was all very nice and neat. Singles are slightly more expensive, but you pay for reliability. Personally, if your trading, I feel like they are one of the most reliable sites to price check from. so i commonly flip through the store looking at card prices in addition to simply buying stuff. Solid store.
EDIT: the lack of certified mail in a bubble loader through the usps is irritating
I don't like how the only cheap shipping option they have is UPS. Whenever I've attempted to order, the only USPS shipping option was Express, which costs a ton. I prefer not to use UPS as the the delivery driver always shows up while I'm out, leaves a slip that he missed me, and I have to try to make it to the UPS building to pick up the package before it closes.
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Negative experiences should be backed with verifiable information; failure to do so will result subject your post to a warning and or infraction.
UUU Azami, Lady of Scrolls
RRR Diaochan, Artful Beauty
UR(U/R) Tibor, Lumia, & Melek (WIP)
Mafia Stats
These guys are also the best in the business at customer service, and they are one of the only online stores that will uphold the prices they sell to you at no matter what, even if the price goes up overnight.
If you want to sacrifice some $ for reliability, these are the guys to do it.
My Trade List (long dead)
My Sales List (long dead)
">Foil Japanese Death and Taxes! (In progress, needs <10 cards)
SCG is also pretty good at pricing foils. Prior to RoE and Worldwake, See Beyond and Loam Lion foils were selling for insane sums on Ebay. SCG beat the price on these high-end foils each time.
They also ship basically the day a set is released, and are very good about getting you your pre-order cards.
Far and away, I've had my best online store card-dealing experiences with SCG. Even if you're paying a bit more, the service they give you (and their responsiveness to calls and emails) is unparalleled.
Buy from me on TCGPlayer::Twitter::Flickr
That said, I have done business with Star City multiple times for EDH foils and random odds and ends. I agree with Kijin that I've order EX foils and received NM foils several times over. Their foil prices (for non-rares) are generally very competitive.
Star City's customer service goes above and beyond the call of duty. I have dealt with multiple customer service departments in my life, who give you the standard run around with no intent of actually solving your problem. Star City, however, goes out of their way to please their customers and do right by people.
For example, at a 5K event I had sold well over one hundred dollars of cards to them. I opted to take it in store credit, to receive the trade in bonus. However, since it was at an event site, they were unable to issue me any kind of certificate. The guy took my information told me I'd have a redemption code emailed to me by Tuesday. When Wednesday had rolled around and I hadn't received anything, I rang Star City and was immediately able to speak to a representative about it. They again took my information and asked me if I'd like them to call me when the certificate was issued; I said yes.
I was expecting to hear from them in a few days time; I would have been pleased at that. Instead, I received a phone call ten minutes later, informing me that the gift certificate had been issued and received a sincere apology for their tardiness as well. I have never received an apology from someone in customer service for an oversight. Similarly, I have never received such prompt service and resolution to an issue. Not only is Star City's customer service the best in the online world, it is the best in brick and mortar as well. Part of me wishes Star City would offer a weekend seminar on how to run a customer service department, as 99% of businesses across America could learn a thing or two from them.
If you're a foreign freak like I am (especially for Japanese cards), Star City is the place to go. Their prices on foreign cards are very competitive overall. It's very difficult to find foreign cards overall, and Star City keeps a well stocked list. The fact I can easily find Russian and French cards, in addition to Japanese cards, is gravy.
My dealings with Star City have always been positive, and I would recommend them to anyone looking for foreign cards, competitively priced foils and other Magic odds and ends. But their pricing on staples continues to be on the high end of high, so I would not recommend their services for staples.
UUU Azami, Lady of Scrolls
RRR Diaochan, Artful Beauty
UR(U/R) Tibor, Lumia, & Melek (WIP)
Mafia Stats
I currently play only two formats, what I play in them is:
Legacy: Domain Zoo, RGW Zoo, Merfolk, Solidarity, Mono Black Aggro
EDH: Kagemaro, First to Suffer
Second time ('never' is such a long time) I was looking for a card that only SCG offered at a reasonable price and since I already went through the WU-hoop I thought everything was ok....Not so much.
New process...SCG debited 2 amounts between $0.01 & $5 on my cc (nothing special about this process) and I had to mail them the amounts to verify these amounts. They told me that my amounts were wrong. I rechecked, still wrong...it's not like I am blind or stupid or both.
As of that time I never ever bought anything anymore. Too many hoops for my taste.
Current signed cards count (31.12.16):
Artist alters: 828
Beta Project: 2574/2853
Grand Total signed cards: 42'091
All my stuff in a FB group
Me@WOTC
There's a reason these guys have such a good reputation, they are extremely reliable and are very fast with their business. While I still buy the majority of my cards from the local store, if I ever need a card or something else I can't find fast before an event, I've always been able to call someone at SCG and have them hold it for me until the next morning where I can meet with someone at one of their booths and get it there.
I honestly wouldn't buy singles from anywhere else, unless they suddenly started charging 300% premiums or something unreal like that.
You're basing your entire experience on them covering themselves with a foreign buyer? You realize, no offense to you of course, the fraud risk involved dealing internationally, don't you? Some stores would just say "PayPal only from confirmed US account" and that would be that.
Sorry about your experience, mine have been great. Even greater in light of my recent experiences with MTGChicago... :/
UGExperiment KrajUG
--S
Yes, that's what I do because they're the only online store I use(d) that has such an annoying process. For non-US-Single-Buyers just not worth it.
Current signed cards count (31.12.16):
Artist alters: 828
Beta Project: 2574/2853
Grand Total signed cards: 42'091
All my stuff in a FB group
Me@WOTC
So, I call up the sales department hoping to catch the order before its out the door. Sadly, I was a little late but the man on the phone put me on hold to see what they could do. After being on hold for a little bit, he comes back and kindly apologizes for the error. What they end up doing is going ahead and sending me the playset of the promo for the difference, and said the regular playsets were free of charge. Granted, the promos/regulars arent very expensive, but I have to say that is great customer service. They realized a error was made, then went above and beyond(imo) in correcting it.
I have made a lot of orders of SCG, and this just makes sure I will continue to shop from them. Sure, it may cost alil more on some things, but they always have good amount of stocks. Finally, you cant beat their customer support, and that is worth the little extra when things like this happen.
Bank transfer (ugh yeah right, it's called paypal losers)
Western Union (me pay fee for you being terrible?)
Money Order (lol)
So thankfully I worked out a deal with the user and I'll never even visit starcitygames page again.
What can I say? They had impeccable customer service and lightning fast shipping. They really are a quality site. The shipping was reasonable as well.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//carddisplay.php?product=176341
I've always had good experience with them, and when you trade in for store credit they seem to give you a good price. I got 62.50 when I sold a Jace 2.0 to them. I got my certificate pretty much the day it arrived, and I had cards bought, and shipped back to me within a week. Fast turnaround, very fast. And a good deal too, though I probably could have traded here or ebay for a bit more here.
"I've always been a fan of reality by popular vote" - Stephen Colbert (in response to Don McLeroy)
GPolukranos, Kill ALL the Things!G
UGExperiment KrajUG
No need to be a douche about it -.-.
Anyways, Starcitygames has awesome prices on all foils and if you're overseas you have no choice but to use their slightly annoying payment methods. But i feel that a bank transfer really ain't that hard to do, but i really wish they would just accept paypal. However they have quick shipping, reasonable shipping costs and costs on cards (non-staples) so i'd highly recommend this.
I am personally following this thread, and just wanted to thank everyone for the feedback. We are always looking for ways to better serve the needs of our customers, so I appreciate everyone taking the time to post.
Best wishes,
Pete Hoefling
President, StarCityGames.com
www.starcitygames.com
Dear kbx41,
You have received a warning at MTG Salvation Forums.
Reason:
-------
Flaming or Other Forms of Misbehavior
Saying that you sometimes wish people (in this case the implication is the staff) would fall down a well and get AIDS is hardly appropriate for the forum.
I have 28 different EDH decks
Vintage: Dredge | Legacy: Burn, Goblins, Soldier | Standard: Mono-Red Aggro
Commander: Nicol Bolas, Sliver Overlord, Rafiq
Casual: Selesnya Saproling Smackdown, Izzet Labs, Rebel
Played since June 2004, mostly inactive June 2011 to March 2018
Other usernames include AlanFromRochester, homerthebeerbaron
MTG checklists from Alpha to Ravnica Allegiance - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/other-magic-products/third-party-products/805324-checklists-for-everything-from-alpha-to-ravnica
1) They buy EVERYTHING. Compared to Troll, who has a very picky buylist.
2) EXCEPTIONAL customer service. I called about a collection, and even though the buylist wasn't up, one of the guys went through the whole collection with me so that I could price it out.
3) 25% trade bonus is awesome.
I do compare several buylists; if Troll and Toad doesn't want it or has a really crummy offer price that day, one of the other stores I work with might.
And a trade bonus often doesn't help if it's not a store I'm inclined to buy from often. I suppose I could read the prices as list*1.25, see where that gets me.
CoolStuffInc I do buy form a lot, so their 15% bonus is much like cash to me.
I admit I'm VERY price-conscious when doing these things
Admittedly, shopping around can be a pain, especially if the lists update in the middle of arranging an order.
Vintage: Dredge | Legacy: Burn, Goblins, Soldier | Standard: Mono-Red Aggro
Commander: Nicol Bolas, Sliver Overlord, Rafiq
Casual: Selesnya Saproling Smackdown, Izzet Labs, Rebel
Played since June 2004, mostly inactive June 2011 to March 2018
Other usernames include AlanFromRochester, homerthebeerbaron
MTG checklists from Alpha to Ravnica Allegiance - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/other-magic-products/third-party-products/805324-checklists-for-everything-from-alpha-to-ravnica
So, their grading is great. Cards were shipped in a nice time. A list game with my cards telling me which i had bought. Was all very nice and neat. Singles are slightly more expensive, but you pay for reliability. Personally, if your trading, I feel like they are one of the most reliable sites to price check from. so i commonly flip through the store looking at card prices in addition to simply buying stuff. Solid store.
EDIT: the lack of certified mail in a bubble loader through the usps is irritating
Legacy:WUBG Jace Rock
Trade thread
Sig by: heroes of the plane studios