SCG vs Dawnglare, MTGPrice, others?

[Sarcomot]

Hopefully it doesn't actually come to that, but I thought this was an interesting read and figured I'd share it and maybe have some discussion.

TLDR: If I read it right, SCG is apparently sending cease and desist letters to price aggregate sites and threatening legal action if they're not complied with.

What the hell? Do they have legal standing or are they just being bullies because people are able to more easily see how much SCG overprices cards?

http://blog.mtgprice.com/2013/12/02/mtg-market-insight-the-power-of-market-leader-information/

[phonics]

So they are threatening legal action for scraping public data, something that all major search engines do?

[Dan Turner]

They don't have a leg to stand on their sell data is public knowledge. Now if you could not see the sell price without signing in they may have a case. If I could figure it out I would make a site just to list all their sell prices just to challenge this. It is no different then googling an item then hit shopping, it list the items and the shops that sell it with prices.

Just another big business wanting to cut down the small guys its why I refuse to buy from them. I have paid a 20% premium over their prices just to not shop there.

[Aggro_zombies]

20% premium over SCG prices? Jesus, just use ebay, you'd save, like, 40-50%.

[ReAnimator]

I think it has more to do with SCG wanting the page clicks and people using their app. Why would they be in favor of a third party thing profiting off of something they have that they are trying to profit off? if you look up a card on SCG you can click and buy it right then and there, you can't buy cards off an agragator right away.
This is why they changed all their prices from text to images, to stop programs from collecting the data easily, though i guess there is a work around that now.

Regardless of whether or not legally people can use their data, i can't think of a reason that SCG would want that to happen, and i can't fault them at all for not wanting to share, why would they? how is it a benefit to them? there are tangible downsides to doing so.

[Technics]

I think it has more to do with SCG wanting the page clicks and people using their app. Why would they be in favor of a third party thing profiting off of something they have that they are trying to profit off? if you look up a card on SCG you can click and buy it right then and there, you can't buy cards off an agragator right away.
This is why they changed all their prices from text to images, to stop programs from collecting the data easily, though i guess there is a work around that now.

Regardless of whether or not legally people can use their data, i can't think of a reason that SCG would want that to happen, and i can't fault them at all for not wanting to share, why would they? how is it a benefit to them? there are tangible downsides to doing so.

That is not legal grounds for sending a C&D however. I may not want people in the world to have a larger salary than me, but that gives me no legal grounds to make them stop. I think thats the issue here.

[ReAnimator]

I get your point but, but your analogy makes no sense.

I'm not a lawyer, but what guarantee is there of this third party not misrepresenting SCG's prices and manipulating them? Does the App link back directly to their site? there is a lot left unanswered here. I can't see why SCG would want to participate and i doubt they were asked, I'll concede that a C&D might be too harsh, but who knows what sort of communication went on before hand if any. I think there is a lot of unknowns about this situation.

[Dan Turner]

20% premium over SCG prices? Jesus, just use ebay, you'd save, like, 40-50%.

Sure no problem and my LGS gets none of that, goes out of business then I quit magic due to having no place to play.

[Barook]

I'm not a lawyer, but what guarantee is there of this third party not misrepresenting SCG's prices and manipulating them?
Since they seem to make money from comparing prices, then delivering inaccurate prices seem like a bad business strategy.

SCG simply doesn't want the general masses to realize how much more expensive they are than everybody else. Other apps and sites are affected as well.

It's not like Ben Bleweiss couldn't comment on this issue why they're sending out C&D letters, but I doubt we would get one.

[ReAnimator]

Since they seem to make money from comparing prices, then delivering inaccurate prices seem like a bad business strategy.

SCG simply doesn't want the general masses to realize how much more expensive they are than everybody else. Other apps and sites are affected as well.

It's not like Ben Bleweiss couldn't comment on this issue why they're sending out C&D letters, but I doubt we would get one.

Fair point on the bad business strategy, but it isn't inconceivable that a company would want to do that, if they were in the business of selling cards themselves or getting a kick back from sites that receive traffic from them.

Pretty sure SCG doesn't care if people know what their prices are compared to others. They work off the fact that they have great customer service, the biggest selection, and a huge buy list. I doubt they are interested in not having any competition out there, and have said as much a billion times.

[dontbiteitholmes]

There's a lot of angles to this you guys don't understand.

Of course it's another excuse to complain about SCG so who would want to pass that by?

[Darkenslight]

There's a lot of angles to this you guys don't understand.

Of course it's another excuse to complain about SCG so who would want to pass that by?

Then perhaps you could explain it to us? If a lot of people don't understand and you do, then by all means, go ahead.

But I've noticed that SCG's sell-list is a near-monopoly influence in Anglophone countries on prices. That fact that SCG are sending C&Ds on public information is a really stupid business move. And remember, we can laud one aspect of the company whilst criticising others.

[cdr]

The effort SCG puts into keeping their sell/buy prices from being analyzed has always been funny. They've spent many thousands of dollars of developer hours into making their site worse just to throw speed bumps in front of price scrapers, and now they're down to (BS) legal threats. Pete/Ben must think the cost is justified for whatever reason.

[Ivank]

I'm the developer of a MTG pricing app for Android that takes prices from some stores (here you can see it (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.themunsonsapps.mtgwishlist)) and I've to say that since the beginning SCG has been very clear on what they want to share and what not...they have always refused to share their prices with 3rd parties, it's not really something new...