Buying Cards Online - Bad Idea?

[slave]

Hi All,

I've been kicking around Legacy for a while, have a handful of decks I like.

A little while back I got myself a set of Force of Will's from a reputable source.
Before I decided to grab them, I looked at all the online sources (evilBay, Craiglist, Gumtree etc.) and I couldn't help but feel that the sheer number of Force of Wills available out there was surprising. I called bullshit.

For big money cards, how real is the threat of paying big money for fakes?
And even from the reputable sources like SCG, CardKingdom, MtgMintcard etc., is there a threat of getting fakes here also?

If you were going to drop cash on some serious big money investment cards, where would you buy?

Cheers

[Lemnear]

Hi All,

I've been kicking around Legacy for a while, have a handful of decks I like.

A little while back I got myself a set of Force of Will's from a reputable source.
Before I decided to grab them, I looked at all the online sources (evilBay, Craiglist, Gumtree etc.) and I couldn't help but feel that the sheer number of Force of Wills available out there was surprising. I called bullshit.

For big money cards, how real is the threat of paying big money for fakes?
And even from the reputable sources like SCG, CardKingdom, MtgMintcard etc., is there a threat of getting fakes here also?

If you were going to drop cash on some serious big money investment cards, where would you buy?

Cheers

Get them from big vendors or known, trusty players/traders. The whole eBay stuff is fucked up

[Fjaulnir]

Well, not sure what kind of numbers you were seeing, but there are actually a lot of Force of Wills in the world :)


Magiccardmarket.eu alone has 900 from Alliances for sale, and 185 from Eternal Masters; so unless you saw 10,000s being offered online, there being a few hundreds you can find in a short online search wouldn't mean anything really.


Then again, I certainly would be careful to not buy fakes; but the number of offers you saw probably wasn't all that unrealistic was what I was getting at.

[Chatto]

MKM, I haven't got any bad experiences. As a collector, I only buy old non-mtg CCG through eBay or similair sites.

[Richard Arschmann]

Force is an uncommon from 1996. The print run isn't that small.

[ESG]

And even from the reputable sources like SCG, CardKingdom, MtgMintcard etc., is there a threat of getting fakes here also?

No. That's why they are reputable sources.

[MGB]

Is getting scammed for fake cards on ebay a real thing? How often does it happen with Magic cards?

[Lord Seth]

Is getting scammed for fake cards on ebay a real thing? How often does it happen with Magic cards?

Probably not that often as I don't hear much about it. But if you do get sent a fake card, you can just complain and get a refund.

[MaximumC]

Probably not that often as I don't hear much about it. But if you do get sent a fake card, you can just complain and get a refund.

Yeah, buying on eBay or using PayPal means you have TONS of power and protection as a buyer. Provided, however, that you do not wait too long to make a complaint.

On my side, I am happy to buy standard / presale cards on eBay, as I suspect there's not a ton of fakes out there for that kind of stuff. I would never buy power or other $100+ cards online except through a major retailer.

[jrsthethird]

I think eBay/TCGPlayer is fine when buying cards. Never bought anything more expensive than Revised Duals on there but didn't have any issues with fakes. Condition matching is a more common risk by far, so if you're absolutely set on NM cards, I would avoid smaller sellers.

The safeguards for buyers are real and as a seller too, I'm even more aware that if someone goes awry (even something out of my control like the Post Office losing a package), I have to cover it. You will find the best deals from new sellers who haven't established much feedback or sales, because people are more apt to pass over them for a more reputable seller. The most important thing is to check the package immediately and confirm that the card is real and in the desired condition.

I really think there's more risk in fakes when trading in person. People online have too much to risk when selling fakes; your entire transaction history is attached to your account, and if you get caught selling a fake, you not only have the deck stacked against you in the resolution process, but your reputation goes out the window too. If you walk into a random LGS and trade your fake duals to someone (or the store), you can finish the transaction and never step foot in the place again and they will never be able to track you down.