[Official] Bitching About Prices, Buyouts and Reprints Thread

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Originally Posted by Kich867

Things like that always boggle my mind, I don't doubt the accuracy in that but it always feels like that should be logically impossible--that any given time is better than another and it's in any way shape or form predictable. Because if that were true, and it was known, then it would immediately be untrue. If everyone knew that November was the best time to buy, always, then November would be the worst time to buy because everyone is then..buying.. in November.

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It seems you got hung up on the claim that one time is better or worse to buy than another, and didn't look at the context he provided. We could go on to further demonstrate his points, and I'd even add that before and after Pro Tours would be a bad time to buy. Anyways, it kind of makes sense, and the market does flucuate given Holiday seasons/huge tournaments/etc.

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Originally Posted by jandax

It seems you got hung up on the claim that one time is better or worse to buy than another, and didn't look at the context he provided. We could go on to further demonstrate his points, and I'd even add that before and after Pro Tours would be a bad time to buy. Anyways, it kind of makes sense, and the market does flucuate given Holiday seasons/huge tournaments/etc.

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Direct quote from my post: "I don't doubt the accuracy in that but it always feels like that should be logically impossible"

I recognize it is true, I am saying that I feel like it shouldn't be given that it's common knowledge and if all people acted accordingly on that common knowledge, the inverse should be true. -- It's just something I find to be a curiosity.

I think it depends on how many people know this trend. I doubt many do or have the patience to wait. I know I don't

I don't think knowing the trend has anything to do with what actually happens. If you are short money around Christmas time, are you really going to say to yourself "I had better buy some Magic cards because it's the best time to buy?" Probably not. There are always people buying, but those numbers do tend to drop around the holidays. It may be worth noting the amount of fixed price auctions on eBay during the holidays. I offered quite a bit of fiixed price or buy it now auctions with high starting bids since I did not want to lose my shirt when my items did not receive many bids.

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Originally Posted by thegrinningdemon

I don't think knowing the trend has anything to do with what actually happens. If you are short money around Christmas time, are you really going to say to yourself "I had better buy some Magic cards because it's the best time to buy?" Probably not. There are always people buying, but those numbers do tend to drop around the holidays. It may be worth noting the amount of fixed price auctions on eBay during the holidays. I offered quite a bit of fiixed price or buy it now auctions with high starting bids since I did not want to lose my shirt when my items did not receive many bids.

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This.

It doesn't matter that people "know" that mid-November through December is the best time to buy.

#1: If I am preparing for an event that is in a month, I can't wait until the end of the year to buy cards.
#2: Most people need their money during the holidays for other things. For college kids it's the end of the semester and they need to save money for buying books next semester. If they have kids all the money goes to presents. If they are young and get money from mom and dad they will likely have to wait to get extra spending money for a Xmas present.
#3: The cards still aren't free. I mean you might see around a 10-20% drop in prices but enough people know that it's a good time to get deals that not much will slip through the cracks and go for like 1/2 what it's worth. That said the people who are bidding are looking for deals so not many people are willing to get into bidding wars to bid up to "normal" prices.


Basically the same time of year where people have the least money is also the slowest time of year for MtG events. It's not that big a deal though, if you plan on playing the cards in lots of events between now and then just get them. The price of duals and other legacy staples tends to rise slightly over the year so if you get them before GP fever hits (if it hasn't already) they will probably be similar if not less than what they end up selling for next winter.

So apparently the price of Full art Mutavaults has skyrocketed, unfortunately. Looks like I may be priced out of collecting the card I collect :P. BTW, I am not one of the people who spent over $600 on one.

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Originally Posted by SmallFish

So apparently the price of Full art Mutavaults has skyrocketed, unfortunately. Looks like I may be priced out of collecting the card I collect :P. BTW, I am not one of the people who spent over $600 on one.

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Is there an estimate as to how many of these full art foils were actually printed? I just don't understand how it can go up to $600 considering Merfolk is poorly positioned right now.

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Originally Posted by mrjumbo03

Is there an estimate as to how many of these full art foils were actually printed? I just don't understand how it can go up to $600 considering Merfolk is poorly positioned right now.

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It's a combination of hype from Modern and a small number of people collecting them in bulk.

LOL

Le sigh.

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Originally Posted by Ertai's Familiar

LOL

Le sigh.

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Sighs... Talking about WAY overhyped. I know Korean cards are incredibly hard to find, but sure does not deserve the hype that it's being listed as. Anyway, glad I took the decision to go the 'unpimp' non-foil Korean route. Meh, fits nicer with my awesome old-bordered Korean non-foils.

I'm just sad Korean went the way of Jap foils as well, but that was kind of expected.

Ditto on non-foil Korean. That's the only way to go. :D

I think right now, I'm comfortable with 2x price premium on English -> Korean on Standard cards. Anything more than that is just gouging.

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Originally Posted by Ertai's Familiar

LOL

Le sigh.

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Gentlemen the cake has been taken.

I'd like to point out that no Korean Foil should ever approach the price of the Snapcaster/Liliana. There is a ton of new print Korean product on the market, domestic LGS's can even order boxes. I gotta say if you are paying this kind of price for Korean Foils that are not M12 and you haven't been time warped 5-10 years in the future - you're doing it wrong.

Edit: Oh man it sold for 650.00. Haha

There's a small problem with Korean cards. I have three friends in Korea trying to find me the cards. They just aren't popular there. Korean hobby stores are packed with Gundam stuff (whatever that is). To make it worse, Magic has a few things lost in translation that make the game very hard to learn for a newer player. So it's practically a dead game to them.

My friends tried and tried to buy up some boxes for me, but they plain couldn't find it since the stores kept dropping the product. They didn't sell so they refused to buy more.

Yeah, that's one way to drive up the price.

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Originally Posted by dahcmai

There's a small problem with Korean cards. I have three friends in Korea trying to find me the cards. They just aren't popular there. Korean hobby stores are packed with Gundam stuff (whatever that is). To make it worse, Magic has a few things lost in translation that make the game very hard to learn for a newer player. So it's practically a dead game to them.

My friends tried and tried to buy up some boxes for me, but they plain couldn't find it since the stores kept dropping the product. They didn't sell so they refused to buy more.

Yeah, that's one way to drive up the price.

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QFT. I spent a year there teaching English (i.e. drinking) and all I managed to find was one halfway decent store in Seoul with extremely overpriced singles. The only lively tournament scene was on the American military base and they only played draft, standard, and extended.

Would be interesting if the majority of the Korean print run is going to the US/Europe. Sounds like Wizards has a struggle on their hands for market share, though they had to have good reason to believe printing in Korean again was worthwhile.

I've heard similar accounts of players living in Korea. It's also important to point out that market share is what originally pushed WotC to stop printing in Korean the first time. This "difficulty" is all hype - people keep saying the same thing about it being hard to find new Korean sealed product, personally I think it's bs. I knew two people in Korea at the time of the M12 release and they had no issue finding product in addition the amount of sealed Korean on eBay and similar auction sites over the past few months has been astronomical. My LGS is able to pick up 2-3 boxes every PO as well which speaks volumes to me. Really people are just price gouging, no surprise here.

Question for y'all: how much should I actually be paying on a Korean Volrath's Stronghold?

-Matt

Auctions go for around $40 but I would pay ~$30 for an EX-EX+ Stronghold (NM may be ~$40). I got mine at $20 6 months ago :)

Anyway Ertai, regarding the $650 Liliana Korean foil, do people not click the 'completed auctions' button?

On a side question, what is a fair price to pay for a Korean Snapcaster? I'm thinking $40-50 is alright since that's around x2 the enlighs price.

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Originally Posted by Metalwalker

Auctions go for around $40 but I would pay ~$30 for an EX-EX+ Stronghold (NM may be ~$40). I got mine at $20 6 months ago :)

Anyway Ertai, regarding the $650 Liliana Korean foil, do people not click the 'completed auctions' button?

On a side question, what is a fair price to pay for a Korean Snapcaster? I'm thinking $40-50 is alright since that's around x2 the enlighs price.

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I was bidding until the last minute on the completed 2x auction, but wasn't going to go above $90 shipped... it ended at 91 lol. I think once more product gets released, it will settle at 30-35. Keep in mind all the shops are still getting about a box or 2 per shipment, so we're not at the choke point yet.

I think $45 is fair for a Korean Snapcaster, and $50 is ok if you *really* want it, but anything beyond that is a no go.

@Matt,

I say $35 is good. I know auctions have been hitting $40, but the handful I have seen at events and such, people have tended to value them slightly lower.