Selling lots of good stuff at reasonable prices; come check it out!

[Reverend Love]

A general rule of thumb is preview the price of given card at Starcitygames, multiply by 2. The end result is what x4 of the same card on ebay will in general go for.

I'd compare Ebay to the stock market, prices ebbs and flow depending on the current type2 (and as of late) type 1 metagame. Usually the big sellers (Starcity, Troll&Toad) are about one to two days behind Ebay. So if your observant you can snatch some deals right under their noses (as I did with Solemn Simulacrum).

Some argue there's a degree of risk when using Ebay's service and with that I'd agree with one caveat. For many selling on Ebay is their chief income. You don't reach a feedback rating of over 1000 by casually posting a few cards here and there...remember not everyone supplies feedback either positive or negative upon receipt and to reach this level your doing serious buisness daily. I'd argue that for some Sellers (with over 600 feedbacks) your taking the same risk in purchase as you are with the traditional internet retailers (Will they ship promptly, will they use my correct address *Troll and Toad couldn't do this with a purchase of over 700 dollars..needless to say I'm done with them*, will they pack it well).

 

[Spiderman]

Hetemti: I see what you're saying. I think it's what I was saying, but it's slightly different in that in your example, you are trading card for card, whereas at eBay you pay money for cards, so you don't get that third comparison. Although I guess it can be argued that you're basically paying + $6 over the value of BoPs, that's how high you were willing to go...

 

[Notepad]

Originally posted by Istanbul
For shame, Spidey. You know full well that magazine prices are laughably inaccurate.

I fully have Istanbul's back on this one. Rarely have I seen cards go for mag prices, except when somebody is ripping off an idiot. Those magazines are inaccurate.

And these prices...jeez man...

Rather than being "negotiable" they should just be a good deal, that way folks come to ya for business and make ya have positive trade/sale references. Being mean and ripping off people who don't know any better than to look at Becket or Inquest is just plain...mean...

 

[Spiderman]

It depends who you are trading with. If you're trading with someone who goes by Scrye/Inquest values, as some here do, then obviously they have some value. If you use them as the "upper limit" of prices as one of your resources, that's fine too. Whatever works.

 

[Notepad]

Whatever works is fine if both parties agree.

Hopefully, though, "whatever works" will not include those ridiculous price guides for much longer. When will Inquest just drop everything price guidey and just do what they do best: Humor mag!

And why doesn't Scrye just do the same but move to a general gaming mag, ala TopDeck or Duelist?

Sheesh, these price guides are sad.
Though, I guess something is needed for the people who never look up stuff online.

Sucks to be one of the unplugged...

 

[Spiderman]

Probably because the price guides are a reason why people buy the mags.

I've found in general that if you're doing a strict compare between one source, it's not going to matter whether you use a mag price or an online price when trading. I mean, if one's inflated, the other is going to be inflated too (or devalued, however you want to look at it). It's only when you compare between two or more sources (Scrye AND eBay prices) where things get kinda complicated.

 

[Notepad]

You have a good point that price guides are handy references for trading, as comparative prices don't fluctuate too much from one source to another. If foil BOP is 200% of real value in a mag, you're right that other cards will likely be overpriced too, and thus a pretty fair trade can be accomplished.

However, selling cards by said mag prices as they are directly stated is a nice way to rip folks off...

 

[Spiderman]

It's too bad we don't know the names or sources of the stores of how the mags gather their prices - like I said, I think they're the average (I actually don't get them all that often) so somewhere, someone's selling higher and some other place is selling lower.

When you buy from eBay, is the shipping taken into account, like what train says? I mean, from magictraders.com or whatever other places might use the eBay prices as their sources? 'Cause it should be... you're paying it in addition to the "winning bid", as opposed to just picking it up in a store.

 

[Notepad]

I personally like to tout eBay as a form of ultimate price guide, but it, too, has flaws. Forget that it moves up and down faster than the stock market. You still have to consider that:

-Shipping definitely is ignored by those looking at the final bid as a price but but...
-Shipping is definitely figured as part of the cost to those who have bid on the items.
-Bidders will punish people with high starting bids, thus causing an auction to close lower than it should.
-Bidders will punish those with a ridiculous BUY IT NOW price.
-Bidders will punish those with a high shipping fee.
-Bidders will punish those who make their payment methods a little too few on the options.
-Bidders will punish anybody with recent bad feedback, even if their overall record is very glamorous.

As for the mags, Scrye does credit their stores. Sadly, it looks like such a small list, and I always wish it would grow. I'd write them down if I had one of my issues with me, but unfortunately, they ain't with me on my travels.

An interesting thing about Scrye's prices are that they are really the middle row of numbers. Almost everyone goes by the high-end prices on the left, but the true "median" value (not "medium," as some noobs think) is that center row with their real price data. Still high, though.

 

[Spiderman]

It looks like Inquest doesn't list them. All it says is check out complete listings and prices at wizardworld.com, which so far isn't working for me.

 

[train]

As a current seller/buyer on Ebay - I can tell you the following:

The shipping rate is almost always higher than the shipping cost.
- This helps get back some of the listing, final value, and possible payment receiving fees that may be incurred.
- This does add to the cost of the item, in that the buyer had to pay it as well, just to get the desired item.

The buy it now prices can be outrageous, but are there for a reason - some people pay them, and the shipping on top of them...

Now - some sellers will offer discounted shipping if the buy it now is used, or if there is more than 1 auction won by an individual, which is what I offer most...

As for the actual shipping - I put a disclaimer on my shipping details letting people know that I am not responsible for delivery of an item once something has been shipped. I do offer signature delivery/delivery confirmation, or other insurance, and keep all my USPS receipts in case something happened and I was accused of something not being delivered...

Fortunately I have a 100% feedback rating still - and will strive to keep it that way...

But everything is taken into account when looking at the starting price, and the shipping cost...

So the next time you pay $8-10 for a bird of paradise - don't be surprised if the shipping is $2-4...

Though the birds won't be coming frmo me - as I need them for my sets...