[Official] Bitching About Prices, Buyouts and Reprints Thread

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

Revised Seas still sell for more or less 100$ a piece on eBay.

Yeah, like revised Bayous on SCG are $80.

Plenty on Ebay for $60.

[dahcmai]

Just so everyone knows. Hive Mind is sold out at most of the common stores people hit up and Ebay. Do some searching, I found several thousand. No need to pay more than 19 cents yet.



Another casualty of the Providence sheep run is Missteps are going back up again. Ugh, what tards. they were down to $10 a pop for foils and now there's even a set of 4 going for almost $60 a pop with individual ones with BIN's at $27 a pop. Stupid, stupid people. Oh well, I'll wait 2 weeks and get my other 2 for $10 again.

[Jim Higginbottom]

When were they at $10 for foils? SCG has paid $20-25 for them since the set was released.

[dahcmai]

Don't just look on Star City. They are good for some things, but typically higher for anything in high demand.

Here's one example. http://cgi.ebay.com/MTG-MAGIC-NEW-PH...item4159f619ca


They went down to around $10 for about 1 day with not a single one of them over $20 even in the buy it nows. Then the news from Providence started coming in and they shot right back up again. The Sheeples always do that after a tournament. Worst time to buy highly sought after cards ever. Best time to pick up EDH foils though. I managed to get some foil Urza's Destiny Rares and some Starter crap I had been after for a bit for dirt cheap.

Everything goes in waves, kind of like the meta. Just catch them when it's on the lull by avoiding the Sheeples wave.

Best times to buy.

Right before a tournament ends as the top 8 lists are getting entered in. Grab anything that's in the winning decks because the Sheeples drive up the price and you can resell the next day. Yeah, yeah, bash the speculator, but you know you'd do it too if you knew what was coming in advance. At least I only buy play sets for myself and a couple for trade. I don't go hog wild and buy dozens.

Right as the tournament finishes. Grab cards no one is typing into the search at that time. Foil EDH rares, older cards like Arabians, anything you've wanted for a bit that's not in a Legacy deck (or standard if that's the format going on). Need an Argothian enchantress? You buy something like that if no one played it in the top lists and you'll get a great deal almost guaranteed. Sure, you're buying cards that don't seem good at the time, but they always come back later and you'll be happy you picked them up for pennies on the dollar when you could.

When new sets come out. Grab up older cards for dirt cheap. Best time to buy duals and Forces obviously. While everyone spends on pre-orders and pre-release cards coming out, you snag up the staples for much less. Wait for Innistrad and then watch the price of something like Humility for instance. It drops to near nothing for a short period.

3-5 weeks after a new set is out. Everything drops. Sheeples are out of money from buying packs and fat packs. Good time to get foils of Legacy staples.

Hope that helps.

[Koby]

An extension of Adam's buy-guide for MTGO.

Never buy a card from the new set until the middle of the 2nd week of Release Events. There is always a price slump from oversupply and demand being met. The next best time is about a week before set redemption is turned on.

[Solaran_X]

Here is my testament to the rising price of Legacy staples.

This weekend at the Grand Prix, I traded 9 non-blue duals (3 Scrublands, 2 Bayou, 2 Plateau, 1 Taiga, 1 Badlands) for an Unlimited Time Walk from a player at the event. And I then traded 11 non-blue duals (3 Badlands, 1 Bayou, 2 Plateau, 3 Savannah, 1 Scrubland, 1 Taiga) and three non-foil Zendikar fetchlands to a deal for an Unlimited Ancestral Recall.

20 non-blue Revised duals turned into 2 pieces of Unlimited Power. Last year at GP: Columbus, this would have seemed ridiculous.

[keys]

20 non-blue Revised duals turned into 2 pieces of Unlimited Power.

This doesn't seem like that great of a deal to me unless the power is NM and duals are played...

[Solaran_X]

Duals were pretty played. The Time Walk and Ancestral Recall were pretty decent. Probably in good condition overall.

[DTC]

duals are also more liquid, so trading down power for them will be even more common in time to come. Also duals go up together. Next time the price spikes your power might still be the same and that'll seem like too much for them.

as for speculation, these rules all apply, but also

Standard
Buy standard stuff when it falls out of favor, rotates, or before a price bump after a large event.
Sell standard after a standard event before it becomes stable or drops, as it most likely does the latter.
Buy legacy stuff that's not in favor at the time, legacy tends to go in cycles so even when archetypes aren't winning, it doesn't mean they won't. You'll get the non-winning stuff cheap until it wins again.
Sell legacy stuff that's in favor when there's demand, but in the end if you sell or not won't make a difference unless they're extra.
Buy EDH stuff whenever, as it's usually unaffected, but the best times are before new set releases or after an event as others are spending money on other things. Ebay auctions for edh will end lower than usual.
Sell EDH when there's a lull. If no events are firing, and no sets being released, EDH players will be looking to finish their decks off.
Foils are always hot, just buy whenever you get them on the cheap, but also applies the same as legacy/edh, some will be cheaper at different times, but will be sky high when people are looking for them.
Foreign is a different market. I manage to get japanese stuff cheap on ebay sometimes. Some of it from japan directly when the ending times are weird for us americans, but in general the demand might be lower than foils, especially for not big cards. The market is also more limited than foreign so in general you can snag stuff low. If your local area trades hard for foreign you can probably profit just buying it off ebay then selling/trading to people locally. The same goes for foils though.
Extended, buy year round except during extended PTQ season.
Extended, sell PTQ season.
Random rarities, stuff like AN, legends, portal etc won't fire off high on ebay usually when there is an auction around. Unless the card sees play it's mostly collectors snagging these up, which means it all comes down to times of day and year and what's going on in general for magic. However because of the nature of these cards, auctions aren't as frequent on any specific piece you might be looking for, so it's better if you're building these sets rather than completing them.

Trade demand:
Standard/Legacy/EDH have the highest trade.
Foils have a solid market and often times you might be the only guy in the store with a key foil so getting a good trade will not be hard.
Foreign is a niche market. some people love them, others hate them. If you can get foreign by the playset and ship them as such you might be able to get some good trades, but unless you got a set, it's edh, it's popular, or the person really wants the card, they tend to move slowly.
Misc rares, these will be hard movers as the only people who trade for them usually do so for collection purposes. They're cool to pick up, but putting money into them means you have to expect a while for your return on them. The plus side is the collectors who want them really do, so when the time comes you'll get paid if you got it cheap.

[dontbiteitholmes]

Don't just look on Star City. They are good for some things, but typically higher for anything in high demand.

Here's one example. http://cgi.ebay.com/MTG-MAGIC-NEW-PH...item4159f619ca


They went down to around $10 for about 1 day with not a single one of them over $20 even in the buy it nows. Then the news from Providence started coming in and they shot right back up again. The Sheeples always do that after a tournament. Worst time to buy highly sought after cards ever. Best time to pick up EDH foils though. I managed to get some foil Urza's Destiny Rares and some Starter crap I had been after for a bit for dirt cheap.

Everything goes in waves, kind of like the meta. Just catch them when it's on the lull by avoiding the Sheeples wave.

Best times to buy.

Right before a tournament ends as the top 8 lists are getting entered in. Grab anything that's in the winning decks because the Sheeples drive up the price and you can resell the next day. Yeah, yeah, bash the speculator, but you know you'd do it too if you knew what was coming in advance. At least I only buy play sets for myself and a couple for trade. I don't go hog wild and buy dozens.

Right as the tournament finishes. Grab cards no one is typing into the search at that time. Foil EDH rares, older cards like Arabians, anything you've wanted for a bit that's not in a Legacy deck (or standard if that's the format going on). Need an Argothian enchantress? You buy something like that if no one played it in the top lists and you'll get a great deal almost guaranteed. Sure, you're buying cards that don't seem good at the time, but they always come back later and you'll be happy you picked them up for pennies on the dollar when you could.

When new sets come out. Grab up older cards for dirt cheap. Best time to buy duals and Forces obviously. While everyone spends on pre-orders and pre-release cards coming out, you snag up the staples for much less. Wait for Innistrad and then watch the price of something like Humility for instance. It drops to near nothing for a short period.

3-5 weeks after a new set is out. Everything drops. Sheeples are out of money from buying packs and fat packs. Good time to get foils of Legacy staples.

Hope that helps.

Correction, best time to buy Staples... During an American Legacy GP when everyone is playing Magic or driving and not on Ebay...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT
Woot!

My strategy is to buy anything that I think I can trade if I can get it for cheap enough, then flip it. Example, waited, waited, and waited, finally found 3 Badlands for $25 a piece, bought them, just flipped one for a Natural Order, Damnation, playset of Ancestral Visions, and a SpellSkite. Got 2 Seas for $140 a while back traded them and 2x Deltas i got for $40 for an English Tabernacle. Got a miscut Badlands for $33 the other day (hells yes). It's a lot of work and patience finding people to sell below value though, you have to let people know you will buy cards on a moments notice and one day when they need $90 for rent ASAP they call you up and it's go time, Ebay gives it up every once in a while but it's like hitting the lottery and sometimes people won't even ship if you win an auction way below value and you have to jump through the hoops and wait a month to get your money back. If the local shops knew how sharkish I was at buying they would hire me tomorrow.

[MattH]

Right as the tournament finishes. Grab cards no one is typing into the search at that time. Foil EDH rares, older cards like Arabians, anything you've wanted for a bit that's not in a Legacy deck (or standard if that's the format going on).

So true! While everyone was watching the GP T8, I got a Spinal Villain for $1.50...

[GGoober]

so true! While everyone was watching the gp t8, i got a spinal villain for $1.50...

damn you spinal villain!!! Where art thou when i need ye to fry me some fishies!!

EDIT: Wow MTS automatically decapitalize that line..

Anyone has 3 Korean Peacekeepers to help me out? That card is non-existent! I have not been able to find any of them anywhere!

[Rune]

Anyone has 3 Korean Peacekeepers to help me out? That card is non-existent! I have not been able to find any of them anywhere!

I bought a signed one for 5€ when the card got "discovered". Now they cost 30€ O_o

[BenBleiweiss]

Here is my testament to the rising price of Legacy staples.

This weekend at the Grand Prix, I traded 9 non-blue duals (3 Scrublands, 2 Bayou, 2 Plateau, 1 Taiga, 1 Badlands) for an Unlimited Time Walk from a player at the event. And I then traded 11 non-blue duals (3 Badlands, 1 Bayou, 2 Plateau, 3 Savannah, 1 Scrubland, 1 Taiga) and three non-foil Zendikar fetchlands to a deal for an Unlimited Ancestral Recall.

20 non-blue Revised duals turned into 2 pieces of Unlimited Power. Last year at GP: Columbus, this would have seemed ridiculous.

Let's assume that all of your duals were Moderately Played Condition, by our prices:

3x Scrubland ($25) = $75
2x Bayou ($40) = $80
2x Plateau ($25) = $50
2x Taiga ($40) = $80
1x Badlands ($25) = $25
Total = $310
Trade Bonus (25%): $77.50
Total: $385.50
Our Price for UL Time Walk in SP: $400

3 Badlands ($25) = $75
1 Bayou ($40)
2 Plateau ($25) = $50
3 Savannah ($30) = $90
1 Scrubland ($25)
1 Taiga ($40)
3x Fetchlands ($6) = $18
Total: $338
Trade Bonus (25%): $84.50
Total: $422.50
Our Price on UL Ancestral Recall in SP: $450

Long story short - I would have just called it even, and our SP is pretty high grade - plus this is assuming everything of yours is pretty beat up :) Next time, just consider hitting us up, because the trade would be pretty quick and painless (since we have set prices on both ends) :)

- Ben

[Mark Sun]

Anyone has 3 Korean Peacekeepers to help me out? That card is non-existent! I have not been able to find any of them anywhere!

Tee-hee. May or may not have traded 2 SP English Peacekeepers for a Korean one at the GP. Fun day for me. We should talk.

[GGoober]

I bought a signed one for 5€ when the card got "discovered". Now they cost 30€ O_o

Help me out there brah. I want my opponents to ask me what does a Korean Peacekeeper do and see their mouths drop when I tell them what she does :P

@Dual v.s. TW trade. I will take the duals any day. You can liquidate the duals much easier and also get a ton more $$ from desperate people seeking out duals. Also, the thing that shocked me was when Wastelands were going for $60 a piece, you could easily trade 10 Wastelands for a 2 power. Now that's a steal, too bad I traded my 5-12th Wastelands a long time back when they were $30ish

[sigfig8]

Let's assume that all of your duals were Moderately Played Condition, by our prices:

3x Scrubland ($25) = $75
2x Bayou ($40) = $80
2x Plateau ($25) = $50
2x Taiga ($40) = $80
1x Badlands ($25) = $25
Total = $310
Trade Bonus (25%): $77.50
Total: $385.50
Our Price for UL Time Walk in SP: $400

3 Badlands ($25) = $75
1 Bayou ($40)
2 Plateau ($25) = $50
3 Savannah ($30) = $90
1 Scrubland ($25)
1 Taiga ($40)
3x Fetchlands ($6) = $18
Total: $338
Trade Bonus (25%): $84.50
Total: $422.50
Our Price on UL Ancestral Recall in SP: $450

Long story short - I would have just called it even, and our SP is pretty high grade - plus this is assuming everything of yours is pretty beat up :) Next time, just consider hitting us up, because the trade would be pretty quick and painless (since we have set prices on both ends) :)

- Ben

I'm waiting patiently for the opportunity to convert a full set of 40 SP/NM duals for a set of power. I wonder if that will ever be possible. Maybe sans the lotus?

[Ziilot]

Who is playing foil Tower of the Magistrates? ~$30 feels quite high for a bulk rare.

[Sims]

Who is playing foil Tower of the Magistrates? ~$30 feels quite high for a bulk rare.

EDH. It's a Masques foil that gets played in EDH, it's going to be high.

[yawg07]

Card alterers are always in an interesting boat when it comes to card prices.
I remember buying Karns for $35 no matter how dumb I thought it was, because they were selling in the $80 range for painted ones right after the prerelease.

Not every card does well, price doesn't really determine it, and sometimes it simply just depends on your target audience.
Generally $20-30 rares and $10-15 uncommons sell pretty well. There is also a big market of high dollar stuff ($50 and above)
But then again, commons and casual rares that are $2 can fetch big bucks. I tend to cater to Legacy/Vintage and EDH as well. Ext/Standard are less on my radar.