Factory to Ebay?

[MMogg]

I noticed when I searched for "Chinese Noble Hierarch" under completed listings (http://completed.shop.ebay.com/i.html?MA2ShowItems&_ipg=50&_sadis=200&LH_SALE_CURRENCY=0&_in_kw=1&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_samihi=&_samilow=&_fpos=Zip+code&_oexkw=&_udhi=&_udlo=&_rdc=1&_sop=12&_ex_kw=&_nkw=Chinese+noble+hierarch&_dmd=1&_okw=Chinese+noble+hierarch&LH_Complete=1&_fsct=&guest=1), over 60 playsets are listed by the same seller. And that is just completed listings.

I was chatting with another guy who suspects that there is some way whoever is selling them on ebay, is getting them straight from the factory, most likely illegally or through bribery.

How credible do you think it is for someone to sell so many playsets of a card at one time? Keep in mind, when it comes to commerce this is the Wild West, where bribery and connections gets you everywhere. I wonder, if indeed something was fishy, Wizards would even care.

Have there been other stories of factories, theft, bribery, etc. in other parts of the world?

Edit: by the way, those aren't the only cards he has. The seller has pretty much a constant stream of playsets for everything T2.

[Maveric78f]

What makes you think that he does not open boosters? If he had only Noble Hierarches, then it would be suspicious. Maybe he made his business on opening boosters boxes, selling on Ebay what he can and feeding local MTG shops with the rest.

[MMogg]

What makes you think that he does not open boosters? If he had only Noble Hierarches, then it would be suspicious. Maybe he made his business on opening boosters boxes, selling on Ebay what he can and feeding local MTG shops with the rest.

Well that question I already answered in my first post: I got the idea from someone who is into Magic over here. It's possible someone or some people could be opening case after case of product, but then I wonder if they get them cheaply enough that it pays to do it.

Obviously I don't know what goes on, but I do think that is one hell of a lot of playsets to shift. I'd be interested to know if that's common for ebay.

[Skeggi]

Are you sure they aren't fake? Often alot of fake cards turn up that come from China.

[Mark Sun]

Honestly, I saw the keywords China, bribery, and illegal, and I didn't even flinch.

[JACO]

That guy is a reputable seller on eBay. I think he just opens cases at a time whenever he can get them on the cheap. He sells everything, and you can email him asking for specific cards he doesn't list (that most likely aren't worth the time to list on eBay).

[Koby]

It's entirely possible that the bribery might be to get cases cheaper than usual; say with a distributor or manufacturer. His sales however, seem legit; and as long as he keeps getting business, more power/money to him?

[Odysseus]

ok, assuming that you...

get x1 hierarch per box.

6 boxes to a case.

thats x6 hierarchs per case.

so...

thats approximately 40+ cases.

and the lowest price you can get a case wholesale for is ???

[MMogg]

Yeah, his cards are legit as far as not fake (I bought some from him), but as for contacting him, I have and got blanked. If someone has an unfair advantage by getting something cheaper than others then I wouldn't say more power to him.

Bribery is such a common thing over here (like Morbid said, didn't even flinch). Do you know parents bribe the school principals to be enrolled in their school and then bribe the teachers so they will pay special attention to their child in class? Briber is rife and a part of daily life as is getting goods from factories and selling them on the black market

Anyway, I suppose I have been here too long and have grown suspicious and cynical.

How many boxes of product would it take to get, for example, a playset of Hierarchs?

[Koby]

In a small set like Conflux (145 cards total, some 50ish rares) I'd say a a case of product would most of the time get you a playset. So that's $480 for a playset of rares; at $80/box.

[Odysseus]

right, but you're not paying $80 wholesale. you're not going to be buying them by the box to get 60 playsets worth.

[Malchar]

It seems like MtG is becoming really popular in China. Of course, they're very glad to sell us all their foreign cards. In the future, I wouldn't be surprised if they have a larger market for the cards than in the US on account of their larger population. Anyway, I buy more Chinese cards than most, and I've never had any problems whatsoever. As for this specific case, I don't find it any more suspicious than the huge quantities that vendors amass in the US stores.

[xTrainx]

He could have created a "store" within his household - and can therefore buy product from Wizards at a discounted rate?

Shady, but if he doesn't use the cards himself, I believe it is legal.

[Skeggi]

Bribery is such a common thing over here (like Morbid said, didn't even flinch). Do you know parents bribe the school principals to be enrolled in their school and then bribe the teachers so they will pay special attention to their child in class? Briber is rife and a part of daily life as is getting goods from factories and selling them on the black market
Funny how communistic countries are the most money-oriented countries in the world.

[MMogg]

Funny how communistic countries are the most money-oriented countries in the world.

Yeah, well, communism is dead over here. China is a fascist state: totalitarian... check. Close link between the government and industry... check! Use of propoaganda... check!

But I know what you mean. I don't think it's an issue of money, though. Because of the cronie system in place, there is not so much social mobility based on merit, rather it's based on connections, and so, bribes. Communist (or so called) are highly political places and "winning favor" is the key to advancement.

I know an accountant here who gave a car to someone as a bribe to get more accounting clients. Crazy, I know.

[Skeggi]

I know an accountant here who gave a car to someone as a bribe to get more accounting clients. Crazy, I know.
Nah, not that crazy, over here it would be a -very expensive- relationship gift. People usually stay with a good bottle of whisky or wine over here :wink:

[SilverGreen]

=== THE MAGIC SHOP ===??????? To hell with them. If i could make an advice to you, it would be DON'T BUY FROM THEM. They're dishonest and suspicious.

About a year ago I bought a playset of Unilimited Tropical Islands from them, then under the the*magic*shop account, for US$200,25. I paid immediately after the auction ending, and after a month, the cards didn't get here. I then proceed to send several emails asking for information, for about 2 weeks, but they didn't respond to any of them. By the time I was unaware of the 45 days limit for refund requesting, and because of my stupid good will, I waited some more days for a response. When they finally respond my requests, the refund term was 2 days over, and they limit themselves to say "sorry, we can do nothing to help you".

I nerdraged, then they limit to reply something in the lines of "we sell a lot, so we're trusty, live with this", and the matter was over. Shortly after, they started to get a bunch of negative ratings, and promptly changed their account to the current one.

Make an experience by yourselves: do some searches for things that are very rare and expensive. Something like this ("http://cgi.ebay.com/mtg-FBB-TROPICAL-ISLAND-rare-beta-lands-card-DUAL-LAND_W0QQitemZ280461745528QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item414cd29d78[/URL).

You'll quickly notice that this seller owns the larger stock of FBB and Beta dual lands, Power 9s, foil staples and Standard chase rares of all internet dealers. Their cardpool is many times larger then SCG's, particullarly at the most expensive singles. You may argue that they can open an unfair bunch of cases in order to assemble lots of Standard staples playsets, ok. But they can't do the same with Eternal staples and pimpness, and they ALWAYS have this kind of stuff available. I know this because I keep track of it for a long period. Keep an eye on them yourselves and you'll see: the above auction will end at some hundred bucks, and some days after another German FBB Tropical Island auction will follow. They have an unlikely, unbelievable proficiency in getting singles and assemble playsets of all the good and expensive stuff all of us could crave (and they could sell).

[MMogg]

No, not The Magic Shop... visualmail. Scroll down in the link in my original post.

[Artowis]

China gets a certain shipment amount which is gone through and subsequently all of the extra stuff from said shipments gets broken down into playsets or full sets which are then sold off by certain people.