Advice for trading expensive cards?
The Trading Post forum
Posted on Aug. 28, 2019, 8:06 a.m. by Colonel_Kink
Hi everyone.
i have expensive cards that i want to trade such as "boxtopper" cavern of souls and "BT" liliana of the veil, blightsteel collosus etc. i desire to trade for reserved list cards such as the ABUR dual lands, like badlands etc. (helm of obediance bogardian anvil)
however i am uncertain of the protocol of trading such cards, whether online or in my LGS. if you guys could help my with some advice and tips to ensure i dont get scammed by fake cards or am polite in trading that would be great.
any advice helps :)
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #3
The easiest way to move $50+ cards is through the facebook trading groups. If you trade there, since you'd be new, only trade with people who have hundreds of references. Especially with high-value cards. Always ask people for their references. If you restrict yourself to well-established members of the community, it's very safe. They will ask you to ship first because you're new. This is normal and okay. If you're really worried you can trade through an admin (both of you ship to the admin, then the admin ships to each of you after he receives all the cards).
There was a series of attacks on the facebook groups by some scumbags trying to get the group removed, so now all of the groups are secret. As in, you need to be invited in to find them. You can't find them by searching. If you're interested in facebook trading, I can get you into the groups.
The easiest tests for fakes are the light test and the loupe test. There are plenty of tutorials online of how to do these tests. For the loupe test, a good smartphone camera is usually strong enough that you don't need a jeweler's loupe.
If you haven't traded online before, there are a few things you need to know. First, for expensive trades, use a padded envelope or bubble mailer and track your packages (and send the tracking number to the other guy too). Second, always always always use proper protection for your cards. Put the cards into a sleeve, then put the sleeve into a toploader, with the open end of the sleeve going into the toploader first. Put tape over the top of the toploader. And if you fold the end of the tape back onto itself, you can make a small handle to make the tape easy to remove. If you've ever bought cards online, they ship with a toploader, so you can re-use those.
August 28, 2019 11:53 a.m.
Last_Laugh says... #4
Assuming you have a local shop you go to... Hold onto them and trade other local players for expensive cards you DO want but can't justify buying. Don't accept 5x $10 cards for a $50 card.
August 28, 2019 12:14 p.m.
Colonel_Kink says... #5
thanks for the advice, ill try my LGS to start with, is there any etiquette to in person trades? like can i ask the store to verify if they are real? or is that a no no? im thinking of starting with LGS's to see if i can find the cards i need now. also, what should the value of NM/compared to LP and HP in expensive cards be? like full price for NM/ 75 % LP and 50% HP?
August 29, 2019 5:34 a.m.
Last_Laugh says... #6
Not much etiquette to local trades... 'You have a trade binder?' 'Mind if I pull stuff out?'. Also no real set value for damaged cards, that's more of a work it out on the spot sorta thing. Unless the card is super rough I wouldn't drop below 70% though.
August 29, 2019 9:24 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #7
For high end cards, usually in trade people value them at tcg low per condition. As in, the cheapest copy of that card listed on tcg player in a matching or better condition. Asking a store to verify authenticity is fine. The person you're trading with might get a little offended (some people are like that), but just politely explain that you're new to dealing with high-end and want to make sure.
August 29, 2019 11:15 a.m.
TheRealSpecialK says... #8
For online trading, try deckbox.org. I have had great success there. For your trades, only trade with people that have 100% feedback and plenty of reviews to back it. I have never had a bad experience trading there, and I have made several $100+ trades. If you're new, they might ask you to send first, but that is just because you won't have the demonstrated trade history they will. I have used deckbox for a while now and absolutely love it - feel free to ask me any questions about it if you would like to know more.
Into_The_Void says... #2
In my experience, I've traded with a few big online stores actually, and had great success by taking a lot of pictures beforehand. I always try this as my first avenue just to avoid scamming altogether. I've made one expensive trade at my own lgs, but its been based completely off trust as it was someone in my playgroup, but I know all the cards are authentic. One way that can help you tell when you start looking at ABUR cards, is watching this channel on YouTube called Alpha Investments. He's a guy that invests in magic the gathering, and just opens booster boxes on his channel all the time. However, there are plenty of video's of people sending him cards to determine if they are fake, and he will compare them individually to his own collection looking at things like artists lettering color, or the rosette pattern on the card. It's really interesting stuff, I started there and it has done well for me as he shows multiple ways to look at the different runs of cards.
August 28, 2019 10:50 a.m.