question about buying single cards online
General forum
Posted on Sept. 16, 2012, 2:28 p.m. by CarryOnMyWaywardSon
- What site?
- How much do cards cost?
- How long would I have to wait for the cards?
- Any other details I need to know?
- Lots of them. Star City Games (expensive, but they have nearly everything in stock), TCG Player, Troll and Toad, Cool Stuff Inc., etc., etc.
- Depends on the card.
- Depends on the card availability, your chosen shipping method, and the company you purchase from. 3-10 business days seems like a fair estimate.
- Shop around for the best deals. Some stores offer a rewards program for the more stuff you buy from their site.
September 16, 2012 2:41 p.m.
1) well, if you want a good cross-section of different stores that sell stuff, you can go to www.tcgplayer.com and it will match up what you want with version, foil or non, and condition. They are usually pretty competetive. You can also go to the source at www.starcitygames.com. They are normally towards to upper part of the mid-price, but they have a great selection and you can get everything from one vendor.
2) Depends on the card for singles, packs are pretty standardized.
3) usually they show up within about 3-4 days for CONUS. Don't know about international.
4) not really, it's pretty easy.
September 16, 2012 2:41 p.m.
- I personally prefer Channel Fireball
- That really depends on the card, if it's a common it can be as low as 10 cents, if it's a rare, it can be as low as 50 cents.
- That also depends on how much you're willing to spend. Every website I've been to gives you options for shipping, though usually next day shipping is pretty expensive.
September 16, 2012 2:41 p.m.
CarryOnMyWaywardSon says... #7
from what I see TCGplayer seems the best for me. Thanks all.
September 16, 2012 2:45 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #8
I will warn you not to EVER buy loose packs from online stores. Booster mapping makes it possible for these sites (particularly the larger ones) to estimate which booster packs in a box have the highest probability of containing expensive rares. Those are the packs the store opens. The other packs are sold off and aren't likely to contain something great.
September 16, 2012 2:46 p.m.
Hell ya it's a real thing.. Machines can never be random. They have to be told what patterns to print period.
September 16, 2012 3:46 p.m.
So on a serious note I hated TCG Player. I went on there the cart was only like 25$ but because of shipping it tacked on like an extra 15$. From my short experience of online card buying I really like Cool Stuff Inc., specially seeing as how it's conveniently on each of your decks' pages.
September 16, 2012 3:52 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #13
I personally think CSI has a rather limited selection of cards and their prices are a bit all over the place.
The extra shipping charge was likely caused by ordering from a bunch of different stores. If you buy 10 cards from 10 different stores, you'll pay more for shipping than if you buy those same 10 cards from 4 different stores.
Epochalyptik says... #2
1) StarCityGames is the largest and most popular store. Troll and Toad is decent. Also, if you search for cards on TCGplayer, the listings display a bunch of different stores, prices, and conditions. TCGplayer also has a cart optimization feature that helps you minimize shipping costs.
2) It depends on the store. I find SCG to be fair about most of its prices but if you aren't looking for specialty cards (ultra-rare, foil, foreign, etc.), TCGplayer will probably save you a few bucks.
3) It depends on the store and the shipping option. SCG is located in VA and ships pretty quickly to anywhere on the East Coast. ChannelFireball is the West Coast equivalent. Many stores offer various shipping options that affect the ETA of your package. For example, SCG offers a bunch of USPS and UPS shipping methods with varying prices and speeds.
4) If you're new to buying online, check around at a bunch of different stores and decide which one you like best. Consider things like inventory, reputation (check this thread out), location, shipping options, prices, etc.
September 16, 2012 2:39 p.m.