GUYS, IF YOU RECENTLY ORDERED FROM THEM, CHECK THAT THE CORRECT CHARGE WENT THROUGH.
I ordered $18.42 of product and was debited $1,842. I will be calling them tomorrow, but last week had to "reconfirm" the order with them due to "glitches in their new system". BE CAREFUL.
Private Mod Note
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Modern:
Affinity
EDH:
Rhys (Tokens)
Karrthus (Dragons)
Bruna (Auras OP)
I've done a few trades for store credit with SCG, and always had a positive experience. They're quick, efficient, and fair. Their prices on chase rares/mythics are on the high side but they also have great prices on lesser stuff (i.e., if you want lower-value rares, they are nearly always cheaper at SCG than at an LGS).
I'd love to see cheaper shipping for small singles orders. I haven't ordered singles from them for that reason; would like to not pay $8 in shipping for a $60 order.
GUYS, IF YOU RECENTLY ORDERED FROM THEM, CHECK THAT THE CORRECT CHARGE WENT THROUGH.
I ordered $18.42 of product and was debited $1,842. I will be calling them tomorrow, but last week had to "reconfirm" the order with them due to "glitches in their new system". BE CAREFUL.
Hey there!
I spoke to the head of our Customer Service department, and she has said that this issue has since been resolved! We made sure to check back through our records, and it appears that this is both an isolated incident, and that we were quickly able to put measures in place to make sure it stays as a one-off problem.
Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for bringing this to our attention so we could fix it for you!
- Ben Bleiweiss
- Director of Sales, StarCityGames.com
I spoke to the head of our Customer Service department, and she has said that this issue has since been resolved! We made sure to check back through our records, and it appears that this is both an isolated incident, and that we were quickly able to put measures in place to make sure it stays as a one-off problem.
Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for bringing this to our attention so we could fix it for you!
- Ben Bleiweiss
- Director of Sales, StarCityGames.com
I know, I called. But it is not a bad practice to be double checking. Ill admit they made it right.
I think she clearly explained the issue. She says that she sent you forms for alternative payment. She said you can't use Paypal and your respond with "Would you be so kind to send me payment request to my paypal?" They can't.
Honestly, you are accusing SCG of being shady and it's pretty clear that the problem is on your end.
Starcitygames is not being shady in the slightest. Their policy has been clearly spelled out to you in their emails back to you, and its been known to us on this site for a while. Paypal leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to their seller protection for international purchases, do to their requirement of tracking/delivery conformation for all shipments and the obscene cost to ship internationally in such a way. I for example stopped shipping internationally all together when dealing with my online sales because of paypal's policy. If you dont like the alternatives offered to pay for your items, then no one is forcing you to buy the cards, but to come on here and bash them for covering themselves and protecting their buyers from CC fraud and such really is uncalled for.
I would hazard a guess that they changed policies since you last ordered due to customers(not you clearly) who have done shady things in the past involving Paypal payments and varying address's for shipping/payment.
Last month I've made 3x orders for 150$ Each on ABUgames (Best shop EVER).
NO problems accepting Paypal as a payment.
NO problems with my non-us IP.
NO problem with different shipping and billing addresses.
I have ordered for about 2000$ from Starcity in 2009 through my friend's account. So I am sure their service is not as good as before.
I think she clearly explained the issue. She says that she sent you forms for alternative payment. She said you can't use Paypal and your respond with "Would you be so kind to send me payment request to my paypal?" They can't.
In e-mail I also asked why I can not pay with credit card. It is verified by them and they already send me couple orders payed by credit card.
As for other methods. Well, I personally know a man here in Russia who paid by wireless transfer and there was delay about MONTH before they shipped. So, no thanks.
Paypal leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to their seller protection for international purchases, do to their requirement of tracking/delivery conformation for all shipments and the obscene cost to ship internationally in such a way. I for example stopped shipping internationally all together when dealing with my online sales because of paypal's policy. If you dont like the alternatives offered to pay for your items, then no one is forcing you to buy the cards, but to come on here and bash them for covering themselves and protecting their buyers from CC fraud and such really is uncalled for.
I am not using paypal. The issue is about credit card.
I have positive history on site and also my credit card payment was accepted for previous orders. Very nice to change their policy to gain profit.
Last month I've made 3x orders for 150$ Each on ABUgames (Best shop EVER).
NO problems accepting Paypal as a payment.
NO problems with my non-us IP.
NO problem with different shipping and billing addresses.
I have ordered for about 2000$ from Starcity in 2009 through my friend's account. So I am sure their service is not as good as before.
In e-mail I also asked why I can not pay with credit card. It is verified by them and they already send me couple orders payed by credit card.
As for other methods. Well, I personally know a man here in Russia who paid by wireless transfer and there was delay about MONTH before they shipped. So, no thanks.
I am not using paypal. The issue is about credit card.
I have positive history on site and also my credit card payment was accepted for previous orders. Very nice to change their policy to gain profit.
I read this thread overnight, and I've forwarded it to our Customer Service department. They are more familiar with our shipping/payment policies than I am, so they'll be the ones who can best respond to this later today (It's 6:40am now, and we don't open until 10am).
I can say two things without hesitation:
1) In the nine years I've been with StarCityGames.com, it has always been our policy that we do not accept payment through Paypal from foreign countries, period. No exceptions - our system is hard-wired to not allow this payment type, and we'll be investigating as to how this was able to happen on your order.
2) Whether it's you or someone else, those Routs are selling at $19.99 and Aura Shards at $14.99. The prices on those cards WILL NOT CHANGE. Period. I hope that you are able to work it out with Customer Service so that you are able to buy these cards in the end, but we're in the business of selling cards at the prices we have them listed for on the website. If we didn't want to sell Foil Rout at $19.99 and Foil Aura Shards at $14.99, we wouldn't list them on our website at $19.99 and $14.99.
I go on SCG all the time and just now noticed that Island (#148) from Mirrodin Besieged is $0.99. All the others are only $0.25. Can someone tell me why this card is it's price or point me in the right direction to ask the right person?
GP Providence has come and gone and I have a gripe with SCG.
SCG packed up and went home early on Saturday (honestly, I can't remember if it was around 5pm or 8pm, but it was well before the end of the event) and didn't bother showing up on Sunday. Rumour has it that they ran out of buy money, so saw no reason to stay and vend.
This just smacks of arrogance on their part. It is almost like saying that it is not worth the money to Starcity to remain and sell cards to the public if they cannot afford to buy cards. Rather than acting like a true retail establishment, they are basically saying they are only interested in buying people's cards on the cheap so they can sell them on their website.
I know that several other vendors (smaller vendors) ran out of money over the course of the weekend for buys, but they still stuck through to the very end. Incoming cash from sales were put towards buys, as well as offering 'store credit' on buys when cash was not available.
I've always been a fan of SCG, but this incident just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It seems like a real slap in the face of the general player base and the organizers of the GP.
Do you know that is the reason they "packed up" as you say?
Maybe they didn't have cards to sell? Maybe they figured they would get there for the start of the event and serve the legacy player base, but they had places to be and people to pay somewhere else after that.. IE they didn't bring a lot of standard stuff with them.
Why is everyone so quick to judge?
Private Mod Note
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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.
GP Providence has come and gone and I have a gripe with SCG.
SCG packed up and went home early on Saturday (honestly, I can't remember if it was around 5pm or 8pm, but it was well before the end of the event) and didn't bother showing up on Sunday. Rumour has it that they ran out of buy money, so saw no reason to stay and vend.
This just smacks of arrogance on their part. It is almost like saying that it is not worth the money to Starcity to remain and sell cards to the public if they cannot afford to buy cards. Rather than acting like a true retail establishment, they are basically saying they are only interested in buying people's cards on the cheap so they can sell them on their website.
I know that several other vendors (smaller vendors) ran out of money over the course of the weekend for buys, but they still stuck through to the very end. Incoming cash from sales were put towards buys, as well as offering 'store credit' on buys when cash was not available.
I've always been a fan of SCG, but this incident just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It seems like a real slap in the face of the general player base and the organizers of the GP.
...couldn't you have simply posted and asked why they did leave early to actually allow for Ben to "chime in and clear things up" instead of making an inflammatory post that automatically assumes the worst?
There isn't really much to say here, and I didn't even realize this was going to be an issue (given that we've done this going back for as long as I've been with the company - almost a decade now!)
I've found that when we have (very rare) shows where we run out of buy money, we have two options:
1) Stay at the tournament, to only sell and trade, or
2) Leave early
Based on experience, people are very, very disappointed when we are set up at a tournament and don't have money left to buy cards - the majority of people who come up to our booth are looking to sell to us, and most are upset that we are still at the tournament and cannot buy their cards. I've found it's better to thank everyone for a fantastic tournament, and head on out so we don't give the impression we are still set up to buy cards.
Couple this with us needing to make an 11 hour drive, and turn around the entire inventory we have in time for our Invitational in Indy this next weekend, it seemed better to cut the trip short a day and get everything back to Roanoke, than to stay on Sunday, and frustrate customers.
The last time we ran out of money on a Saturday of a GP was Columbus last year, and we brought twice as much money this year to Rhode Island as we did to Columbus. The lesson here is that for the next Legacy GP, we should bring double that amount again! At least this time, we made it to around 7pm, instead of running out at noon on Saturday like last year
- Ben
PS: It is interesting whether you say it is or is not worth it to stay and still sell/trade cards to the public. From a strict financial standpoint, it's MORE worth it for us to have stayed for the last couple of hours on Saturday and all of Sunday - all of our booth people were already up in Rhode Island, our hotel room was already paid for, and our booth was already paid for. We had no additional costs to staying (meal stipends were already paid out to employees, etc), so leaving was only a negative. Again - I've found that many customers find it a great disservice to them if we are set up and can't buy their cards, so the majority of this decision came from me experiencing the negative customer experience of us still being at a tournament, but running out of money to buy cards.
I must be in that minority that prefers to buy cards rather than sell cards
I went back and re-read my original post. I wasn't trying to be inflammatory. SCG is still one of the most reputable shops out there. It just left a bad taste for me when I went to look for something to find that they left because they ran out of money to buy cards, that is all.
I think the comments that Ben brings up in his PS are the same thoughts that I had at the time--"its not like its costing them anything to stay and provide a service to the folks as a seller only."
But, like he says, even that pisses off some people. To each his own, I suppose.
I think the comments that Ben brings up in his PS are the same thoughts that I had at the time--"its not like its costing them anything to stay and provide a service to the folks as a seller only."
But, like he says, even that pisses off some people. To each his own, I suppose.
Keep up the good work overall.
Thanks, and I totally understand where you're coming from here. Generally as a rule, if we're the only vendor at a tournament, we will stick it out until the end no matter what, as a service to the players. If there are lots of other vendors at a tournament, we may be looser with our leave time, because there are still other vendors around who can service the players.
To add to Ben's post, by the time the tournaments already in gear the sales become smaller anyway compared to the buys. Anyone buying things wants to for that deck that day. Later on in the weekend it's to pick up cards from break out decks or just to pick stuff up while they can on other staples if they have the dough. I'm sure they wouldn't sell nearly enough to start buying in the rest of the weekend.
Also when a retailer says "always buying" then run out of money and aren't buying, players tend not to like that. Part of the customer service of larger vendors is to know you can take your cards to them and get cash right there. Some players actually stock up all year to get rid of their bulk and parts of their collections when they go to events like these because it's cash now and a way of getting rid of excess cards you'll never use. Had i gone to the GP i would probably have sold off everything that was rotating in the fall since I can't play standard for a while and might not be able to trade everything away before the rotation. Better to put the cash towards cards i need then and i'd be disappointed hearing "I can't buy those now, we're out of money"
If possible, I'd like a comment on Jonathan Medina's latest article. He describes some very shady trading practices in it.
A snippet as example:
Random: I'm interested in your Stoneforge, what do you put it at?
You: Aren't they like $25? (Notice that you are asking a question and not stating a price here—I know, tricky, tricky!)
Let's pause here. If the guy bites and takes it at $25, then you win big; if not, then you can still ship the Stoneforge at retail without identifying yourself as a value trader (some people don't take kindly to those types) because you quoted the perceived price. It's reasonable that you would think that Stoneforge is $25 since that's the perceived value. Let's continue with the example.
To gain virtual value, you have to work with two things. The first is alternate pricing sources. The pricing picture looks different when you use FindMagicCards.com (FMC) pricing instead of StarCityGames.com (SCG) pricing. Do you see the difference? It's not drastically different but different enough to make a buck or two if you value your cards at SCG prices and theirs at FMC. Switching between these pricing websites is not easy to do during a trade, but it's good to have the knowledge. Even though there are a lot of people checking smart phones, it's very rare for them to check every price of every card to make sure that things match up.
IMO, this is nothing but being a bad trader trying to rip someone off. And he's explaining it as if it is something that more people should try.
It's disappointing because I've always enjoyed your finance articles, but Medina's articles just seem to be training people on how to rip others off. Frankly, that type of article and trading technique is just bad for everyone.
I received an order from them today. They have always been perfect, but this first problem is a bad one. I ordered a foil SP Hallowed Fountain for $37.99, they sent me an SP normal Hallowed Fountain....the scary thing is I checked their order FAQ and it says "All orders are triple-checked for accuracy before being shipped". I have emailed the sales team, hopefully someone can get back to me.
If possible, I'd like a comment on Jonathan Medina's latest article. He describes some very shady trading practices in it.
A snippet as example:
IMO, this is nothing but being a bad trader trying to rip someone off. And he's explaining it as if it is something that more people should try.
It's disappointing because I've always enjoyed your finance articles, but Medina's articles just seem to be training people on how to rip others off. Frankly, that type of article and trading technique is just bad for everyone.
There's been more than enough discussion about medina and his trading methods for value, so i'll just leave my usual 2 cents on the subject.
What is the value of NM Tropical Island?
If you ask any player, their numbers will be similar but not always exact because there's a lot behind this.
To buy from SCG.com, they are charging $110 for NM.
If you go look on TCG Player they are between $105-125, with the only store selling a playset+ being channel fireball (they have them for $120)
If you go to ebay you can find them between $75-85 a piece.
Their motl pricing is $75, and i'm sure if sellers on there have them on their list, that's what they're asking at minimum.
SCG has a buylist where they are $70. This means rather than pay ebay fees, shipping, and what have you i can go to them and sell them my trop for $70. So for a "liquid" number $70 would be accurate.
Will you trade me trops at $70 NM? If so talk to me asap as i will take them all.
So then tell me, what is a tropical island truly worth? Because it seems like anywhere between $70-125 can be a right number, that's over $50 difference, and that's where grinders will get value.
When people ask me what i value their cards it's a tough question. What I value a card won't be what someone else values it so it comes down to making sure the numbers add up for both people. Also it's hypocritical to call it a ripoff when someone values my cards. Want to value my goblin guide at $10? Who's going to say no? If they value their stuff above retail it's not even a problem because you're getting double the card's value.
Even with the different pricing systems i come across this:
"What do you value Card X at?"
"$15"
"$15?"
"Yes."
"Ok."
If they undervalue my stuff, or its just too far a gap (as in i put markups on my stuff so it evens out and they think its too much, or they start the pricing game and i use tcgplayer/scg and they are pricing higher) then i usually give them the skinny and say "you're pricing way above retail, i'm pricing my stuff at retail, there's no way we can make it even." and start to close my binder, often times it follows.
"well what do you think is fair?"
"Retail on the card is $Y, so that works for me."
and continue this until we can agree. On some cards they may say no or not believe me. One others they'll be okay with.
Case in point everyone has a number, but unless they're getting it that doesn't matter. I've gone under retail on cards because the trade still worked out. I get a lot of stuff at ebay prices or below. I've even got stuff cheap enough i could sell it at buylist pricing and still make a tidy profit on it all.
So all in all who can say what's a rip off or not? The only prices that matter is what the buyer is paying the seller when the card is sold, and anyone can make up any number they want. If they want to get rid of it in trade/sale bad enough they'll adjust accordingly. Likewise I intentionally overvalue some cards of mine because i simply don't want to trade them unless i have to. I'm not a fan of "that's not for trade" bullcrap, so instead i give it a number that most will pass on. If I had a black lotus and intended to keep it, i'd want $1300-1400, most people will pass as you can get U lotus for $900-1100 usually. It's a way of saying i don't want to get rid of it but will if someone wanted it bad enough to give me that price for it. If I wanted to ship the lotus i would price it around $1,000 as this seems fair market value for most people. If I wanted cash now, i might even sell for $850-900 just to move it. Now i've given 5 different prices on the same card and none of them matter unless i get that number. So how can i trade fairly if there's 5 different ways to put it on paper? I'm sure it'd only be truly even 1 out of 5 times, maybe less than that, and if that's we're all ripping each other off, so why is trading still a very popular sector of magic? why is financial interest in the game at its highest in years?
If possible, I'd like a comment on Jonathan Medina's latest article. He describes some very shady trading practices in it.
Hey there! If you'd like to discuss this either over Private Message or on the SCG boards, I'd be happy to discuss this with you - but since this thread is about SCG the business (Market Street Cafe and all), I'd like to try to keep discussion about authors and individual articles out of it
I received an order from them today. They have always been perfect, but this first problem is a bad one. I ordered a foil SP Hallowed Fountain for $37.99, they sent me an SP normal Hallowed Fountain....the scary thing is I checked their order FAQ and it says "All orders are triple-checked for accuracy before being shipped". I have emailed the sales team, hopefully someone can get back to me.
Hey Stan:
You should be getting an e-mail from one of our inventory representatives today to clear up this situation!
I received an order from them today. They have always been perfect, but this first problem is a bad one. I ordered a foil SP Hallowed Fountain for $37.99, they sent me an SP normal Hallowed Fountain....the scary thing is I checked their order FAQ and it says "All orders are triple-checked for accuracy before being shipped". I have emailed the sales team, hopefully someone can get back to me.
I've had this happen at all the major retailers. Sometimes they dont notice the foil tag. Everyplace this has happened to me has sent me out the foil one when I contacted them.
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I ordered $18.42 of product and was debited $1,842. I will be calling them tomorrow, but last week had to "reconfirm" the order with them due to "glitches in their new system". BE CAREFUL.
Modern:
Affinity
EDH:
Rhys (Tokens)
Karrthus (Dragons)
Bruna (Auras OP)
I'd love to see cheaper shipping for small singles orders. I haven't ordered singles from them for that reason; would like to not pay $8 in shipping for a $60 order.
Hey there!
I spoke to the head of our Customer Service department, and she has said that this issue has since been resolved! We made sure to check back through our records, and it appears that this is both an isolated incident, and that we were quickly able to put measures in place to make sure it stays as a one-off problem.
Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for bringing this to our attention so we could fix it for you!
- Ben Bleiweiss
- Director of Sales, StarCityGames.com
I know, I called. But it is not a bad practice to be double checking. Ill admit they made it right.
Modern:
Affinity
EDH:
Rhys (Tokens)
Karrthus (Dragons)
Bruna (Auras OP)
Honestly, you are accusing SCG of being shady and it's pretty clear that the problem is on your end.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Yes i am the same guy who trades/sells on MOTL AND Wizards of the Coast and i trade on POJO.
NO problems accepting Paypal as a payment.
NO problems with my non-us IP.
NO problem with different shipping and billing addresses.
I have ordered for about 2000$ from Starcity in 2009 through my friend's account. So I am sure their service is not as good as before.
In e-mail I also asked why I can not pay with credit card. It is verified by them and they already send me couple orders payed by credit card.
As for other methods. Well, I personally know a man here in Russia who paid by wireless transfer and there was delay about MONTH before they shipped. So, no thanks.
I am not using paypal. The issue is about credit card.
I have positive history on site and also my credit card payment was accepted for previous orders. Very nice to change their policy to gain profit.
I read this thread overnight, and I've forwarded it to our Customer Service department. They are more familiar with our shipping/payment policies than I am, so they'll be the ones who can best respond to this later today (It's 6:40am now, and we don't open until 10am).
I can say two things without hesitation:
1) In the nine years I've been with StarCityGames.com, it has always been our policy that we do not accept payment through Paypal from foreign countries, period. No exceptions - our system is hard-wired to not allow this payment type, and we'll be investigating as to how this was able to happen on your order.
2) Whether it's you or someone else, those Routs are selling at $19.99 and Aura Shards at $14.99. The prices on those cards WILL NOT CHANGE. Period. I hope that you are able to work it out with Customer Service so that you are able to buy these cards in the end, but we're in the business of selling cards at the prices we have them listed for on the website. If we didn't want to sell Foil Rout at $19.99 and Foil Aura Shards at $14.99, we wouldn't list them on our website at $19.99 and $14.99.
- Ben Bleiweiss
- Director of Sales
I am sorry for the issue.
Now, it looks like some misunderstanding. So I deleted my previous post.
Hope to resolve it soon.
~Andrey
SCG packed up and went home early on Saturday (honestly, I can't remember if it was around 5pm or 8pm, but it was well before the end of the event) and didn't bother showing up on Sunday. Rumour has it that they ran out of buy money, so saw no reason to stay and vend.
This just smacks of arrogance on their part. It is almost like saying that it is not worth the money to Starcity to remain and sell cards to the public if they cannot afford to buy cards. Rather than acting like a true retail establishment, they are basically saying they are only interested in buying people's cards on the cheap so they can sell them on their website.
I know that several other vendors (smaller vendors) ran out of money over the course of the weekend for buys, but they still stuck through to the very end. Incoming cash from sales were put towards buys, as well as offering 'store credit' on buys when cash was not available.
I've always been a fan of SCG, but this incident just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It seems like a real slap in the face of the general player base and the organizers of the GP.
Maybe they didn't have cards to sell? Maybe they figured they would get there for the start of the event and serve the legacy player base, but they had places to be and people to pay somewhere else after that.. IE they didn't bring a lot of standard stuff with them.
Why is everyone so quick to judge?
Right, but instead of saying...
...couldn't you have simply posted and asked why they did leave early to actually allow for Ben to "chime in and clear things up" instead of making an inflammatory post that automatically assumes the worst?
I've found that when we have (very rare) shows where we run out of buy money, we have two options:
1) Stay at the tournament, to only sell and trade, or
2) Leave early
Based on experience, people are very, very disappointed when we are set up at a tournament and don't have money left to buy cards - the majority of people who come up to our booth are looking to sell to us, and most are upset that we are still at the tournament and cannot buy their cards. I've found it's better to thank everyone for a fantastic tournament, and head on out so we don't give the impression we are still set up to buy cards.
Couple this with us needing to make an 11 hour drive, and turn around the entire inventory we have in time for our Invitational in Indy this next weekend, it seemed better to cut the trip short a day and get everything back to Roanoke, than to stay on Sunday, and frustrate customers.
The last time we ran out of money on a Saturday of a GP was Columbus last year, and we brought twice as much money this year to Rhode Island as we did to Columbus. The lesson here is that for the next Legacy GP, we should bring double that amount again! At least this time, we made it to around 7pm, instead of running out at noon on Saturday like last year
- Ben
PS: It is interesting whether you say it is or is not worth it to stay and still sell/trade cards to the public. From a strict financial standpoint, it's MORE worth it for us to have stayed for the last couple of hours on Saturday and all of Sunday - all of our booth people were already up in Rhode Island, our hotel room was already paid for, and our booth was already paid for. We had no additional costs to staying (meal stipends were already paid out to employees, etc), so leaving was only a negative. Again - I've found that many customers find it a great disservice to them if we are set up and can't buy their cards, so the majority of this decision came from me experiencing the negative customer experience of us still being at a tournament, but running out of money to buy cards.
I went back and re-read my original post. I wasn't trying to be inflammatory. SCG is still one of the most reputable shops out there. It just left a bad taste for me when I went to look for something to find that they left because they ran out of money to buy cards, that is all.
I think the comments that Ben brings up in his PS are the same thoughts that I had at the time--"its not like its costing them anything to stay and provide a service to the folks as a seller only."
But, like he says, even that pisses off some people. To each his own, I suppose.
Keep up the good work overall.
Thanks, and I totally understand where you're coming from here. Generally as a rule, if we're the only vendor at a tournament, we will stick it out until the end no matter what, as a service to the players. If there are lots of other vendors at a tournament, we may be looser with our leave time, because there are still other vendors around who can service the players.
- Ben
Also when a retailer says "always buying" then run out of money and aren't buying, players tend not to like that. Part of the customer service of larger vendors is to know you can take your cards to them and get cash right there. Some players actually stock up all year to get rid of their bulk and parts of their collections when they go to events like these because it's cash now and a way of getting rid of excess cards you'll never use. Had i gone to the GP i would probably have sold off everything that was rotating in the fall since I can't play standard for a while and might not be able to trade everything away before the rotation. Better to put the cash towards cards i need then and i'd be disappointed hearing "I can't buy those now, we're out of money"
If possible, I'd like a comment on Jonathan Medina's latest article. He describes some very shady trading practices in it.
A snippet as example:
IMO, this is nothing but being a bad trader trying to rip someone off. And he's explaining it as if it is something that more people should try.
It's disappointing because I've always enjoyed your finance articles, but Medina's articles just seem to be training people on how to rip others off. Frankly, that type of article and trading technique is just bad for everyone.
There's been more than enough discussion about medina and his trading methods for value, so i'll just leave my usual 2 cents on the subject.
What is the value of NM Tropical Island?
If you ask any player, their numbers will be similar but not always exact because there's a lot behind this.
To buy from SCG.com, they are charging $110 for NM.
If you go look on TCG Player they are between $105-125, with the only store selling a playset+ being channel fireball (they have them for $120)
If you go to ebay you can find them between $75-85 a piece.
Their motl pricing is $75, and i'm sure if sellers on there have them on their list, that's what they're asking at minimum.
SCG has a buylist where they are $70. This means rather than pay ebay fees, shipping, and what have you i can go to them and sell them my trop for $70. So for a "liquid" number $70 would be accurate.
Will you trade me trops at $70 NM? If so talk to me asap as i will take them all.
So then tell me, what is a tropical island truly worth? Because it seems like anywhere between $70-125 can be a right number, that's over $50 difference, and that's where grinders will get value.
When people ask me what i value their cards it's a tough question. What I value a card won't be what someone else values it so it comes down to making sure the numbers add up for both people. Also it's hypocritical to call it a ripoff when someone values my cards. Want to value my goblin guide at $10? Who's going to say no? If they value their stuff above retail it's not even a problem because you're getting double the card's value.
Even with the different pricing systems i come across this:
"What do you value Card X at?"
"$15"
"$15?"
"Yes."
"Ok."
If they undervalue my stuff, or its just too far a gap (as in i put markups on my stuff so it evens out and they think its too much, or they start the pricing game and i use tcgplayer/scg and they are pricing higher) then i usually give them the skinny and say "you're pricing way above retail, i'm pricing my stuff at retail, there's no way we can make it even." and start to close my binder, often times it follows.
"well what do you think is fair?"
"Retail on the card is $Y, so that works for me."
and continue this until we can agree. On some cards they may say no or not believe me. One others they'll be okay with.
Case in point everyone has a number, but unless they're getting it that doesn't matter. I've gone under retail on cards because the trade still worked out. I get a lot of stuff at ebay prices or below. I've even got stuff cheap enough i could sell it at buylist pricing and still make a tidy profit on it all.
So all in all who can say what's a rip off or not? The only prices that matter is what the buyer is paying the seller when the card is sold, and anyone can make up any number they want. If they want to get rid of it in trade/sale bad enough they'll adjust accordingly. Likewise I intentionally overvalue some cards of mine because i simply don't want to trade them unless i have to. I'm not a fan of "that's not for trade" bullcrap, so instead i give it a number that most will pass on. If I had a black lotus and intended to keep it, i'd want $1300-1400, most people will pass as you can get U lotus for $900-1100 usually. It's a way of saying i don't want to get rid of it but will if someone wanted it bad enough to give me that price for it. If I wanted to ship the lotus i would price it around $1,000 as this seems fair market value for most people. If I wanted cash now, i might even sell for $850-900 just to move it. Now i've given 5 different prices on the same card and none of them matter unless i get that number. So how can i trade fairly if there's 5 different ways to put it on paper? I'm sure it'd only be truly even 1 out of 5 times, maybe less than that, and if that's we're all ripping each other off, so why is trading still a very popular sector of magic? why is financial interest in the game at its highest in years?
Hey there! If you'd like to discuss this either over Private Message or on the SCG boards, I'd be happy to discuss this with you - but since this thread is about SCG the business (Market Street Cafe and all), I'd like to try to keep discussion about authors and individual articles out of it
- Ben
Hey Stan:
You should be getting an e-mail from one of our inventory representatives today to clear up this situation!
- Ben
I've had this happen at all the major retailers. Sometimes they dont notice the foil tag. Everyplace this has happened to me has sent me out the foil one when I contacted them.