Should I sell to Star City Games?
Economics forum
Posted on April 16, 2014, 7:17 p.m. by FizzleTorch
I was going to sell my Kalonian Hydra and Ajani, Caller of the Pride to Starcitygames.com They only offered me $4 for the Kalonian Hydra and $3 for Ajani. Is this worth it?
actiontech says... #3
Set up a seller account on TCGplayer.com, use eBay, hell even deckbox.org has a seller option now. Any of those is better than selling to a store.
April 16, 2014 7:23 p.m.
The Doctor says... #4
No. They are offering you 1/3rd of what the card is worth. Logically, nobody should ever sell their product for 1/3rd of it's worth.
April 16, 2014 7:23 p.m.
Schuesseled says... #5
No...not even slightly.
Sell them on ebay, my hydra sold for about 12 dollars.
Selling on ebay is easy, just create an account and sell away. Your money will be held by ebay as a first time seller for up to a month, or when your buyer confirms they have received the item.
April 16, 2014 7:28 p.m.
SandyDufresne says... #6
I sold my sp Polluted Delta to channelfireball.com for $72 plus 30% store credit. I ended up getting $93 store credit (tcgplayer's low cost is $100) which I used to fund most of a playset of Snapcaster Mage . If you're planning on buying other cards with it (I guess that's basically trading), I see no problem with it. Don't use Star City Games though. You'll get a better deal at Channelfireball.com.
April 16, 2014 7:34 p.m.
"I sold my sp Polluted Delta to channelfireball.com for $72 plus 30% store credit. I ended up getting $93 store credit (tcgplayer's low cost is $100) which I used to fund most of a playset of Snapcaster Mage . If you're planning on buying other cards with it (I guess that's basically trading), I see no problem with it. Don't use Star City Games though. You'll get a better deal at Channelfireball.com."
Wouldn't you have just gotten at least $100 had you sold it to a player? Selling to a store is silly; it's like hiring a middleman who will just take his own cut of your profit.
April 16, 2014 7:38 p.m.
FizzleTorch says... #8
Thank you all for the helpful comments. I am new kinda new to Magic, and I wasn't sure what people did. I will try to either sell to some of my friends or trade the cards off. Again, thank you for all of the comments.
April 16, 2014 7:42 p.m.
@zandl - if it sold for 100, you lose 10% plus 50c to transaction fees, so 89.50, which you dont receive until about 5 days after they receive the card. now ship it with tracking $4, 85.50, + time +waiting for $ +waiting for it to sell in the first place
April 16, 2014 8:06 p.m.
Stores have to undercut you like that because they have to in turn sell it in their store. If they were to give you $4 for a card valued at $5 then by the time it sits around and finally gets sold the stores's profit is so minimal that it's almost irrelevant. Which is why you should never sell to a store, because in order for it to be worth it for you, it has to be a bad investment for them. Obviously, their goal is to avoid things like that.
April 16, 2014 8:06 p.m.
Selling ultimately comes down to one simple equation, the more legwork you do the more you're going to approach, or meet, retail value.
Trading with friends or at your LGS is most likely going to yield returns roughly equivalent in cost. Example, I trade you a $20 card for 1 $10, and 2 $5. Likewise down the chain, selling yourself online or in person you'd expect to see something a little below the retail price. You might need to say sell a $20 at $15 otherwise there is no incentive to not buy from a more reputable and larger source. Selling to a buylist gets you the least return, generally 50-75% of the retail value - depending on if you take store credit or not.
I don't however think anyone should write buylists off completely. They still have their advantages. Buy lists are expedient. You're essentially playing to not be bothered and/or are dealing in large quantities. A card might very well loose the equivalent value you would have saved by trying to trade it or sell yourself. Likewise, if you're just wanting to flip cards for more cards, trading and such might take you weeks to find the cards you want and not only find those cards but folks with them that want what you have. I've personally been plenty happy with my dealings with companies like Star City and Card Kingdom.
April 16, 2014 8:22 p.m.
Don't make Wal-Mtg stronger.
There's always pucatrade!
April 16, 2014 8:23 p.m.
Uh. I was referring to selling it in person. If you live in a big city, there'll be someone willing to buy it from you. I've sold countless Magic cards over Craigslist while meeting people at various card-shops.
Fees for selling in-person over Craigslist = gas money (orrrr ride a bike?).
April 16, 2014 8:27 p.m.
The only way I would ever suggest selling to a site like StarCityGames would be under one circumstance...
... when your sales meet the following conditions:
- No Individual cards worth more than ~$2.00
- Sell a large number of cards ($100 in sale value, or more)
- You are able to keep a play-set of each card.
- You are offered a reasonable rate (this is subjective)
- If offered store credit instead of cash, in order to get higher trade value, ensure they have stock of something you are looking for.
- No one in your are is at all interested in the cards you are looking to get rid of.
A few people I know do this from time to time at SCG, and only get 25-50% of value... but they never get rid of cards they may need/want, and are pleased with the "no hassle" experience as compare to trading with people who aren't really sure they want the cards, or who often don't have cards they are looking for.
Epochalyptik says... #2
No?
Never sell to stores. Trade to them if you have to. Otherwise, sell/trade to players.
April 16, 2014 7:19 p.m.