Your Opinions on Scalpers/Resellers

[sinsandman]

Very true, I started by asking too much for my GC but since then have lowered the price

[vmagic]

I have no problem with someone wanted to sell a couple of decks here and there to make a few extra bucks and I have no problem with the bigger guys like the1eyedjack and bmpokerworld wanting to sell them and make a living off of it, but I do have a problem with those punks that buy bricks of cards, or even a gross, just to make a profit. They are greedy and the more rare a deck is, the more of them they buy.

But we can't just blame resellers. If companies like Theory11, D&D, and E didn't put out limited rare decks then there would not be so much greed and decks would not be so expensive on the resellers.

For card websites like bmpokerworld and the1eyedjack, the only thing I have to question is some of their outrageous prices, like $299 for a White Centurion when you can get them on Ebay for half of that or less. I mean, honestly if you have such a rare and valuable deck like that and you could make money off of it, why not sell it at a price that it will actually sell at instead of having it sit there for such a long period of time. And i'm fairly certain they are not selling many or any of those extremely high priced decks, correct me if i'm wrong though. Unless of course they are merely just trying to display that they have those cards and actually have no intention of selling them.

Also, as far as Theory11 is concerned, they need to find a better way of doing things because what they've been doing lately is obviously not working and only serving to piss everyone off. Even worse is that they display on their playing card page all their rare sold out decks. If they are sold out, take them off your website and stop shoving them in people's faces! Not that I care cause I own them all but others are not so fortunate and must hate seeing Brown Wynns, White Centurions, and now White Monarchs on the page all for like $6.95 but all sold out.

Personally I think my favorite site for buying cards out of all the big ones is the Blue Crown because even though they sell out fast, they don't seem to crash, you are always able to buy their cards at reasonable prices elsewhere, and they actually seem to care about people. They listen to you and help you out when there are problems with orders and stuff. Other companies, especially Theory11, don't seem to give 2 shits about anyone except themselves!

Sorry for the long rant, those are my opinions though.

[K]

Re-sellers will be re-sellers.. I especially detest those who buy large quantities immediately just solely for a large profit (E.g. buy for $5 sell for $50) but on the other hand I support those that resell at a reasonable price to offset their shipping costs and gain a little profit. Living in Singapore which shipping costs from the other countries can easily get a second deck or two, I'm for those that resell their decks for a reasonable price. Ebay just ruins it... I personally feel that those there are just trying to make use of it's popularity to earn a quick buck, like the White Monarchs now. It just spoils the whole market price, since most re-sellers use it as a guide (And prefer to use it as a guide because the prices are marked way higher, original price $5 sell for $50 etc.) but it's only natural to sell it at the 'market price' and earn more, who doesn't want more money? Also, auctioning is another thing that spoils the market price, if there is only a single person setting an auction (White Monarchs being another fine example now) lets say at $50 and 10 collectors want that, the demand rises causing them to fight neck to neck and raising the price to really unreasonable prices.. on top of that if that single re-seller controls majority of the decks they can bend the market prices to their own will (i.e. monopolist..) I can go on and on but the smell of food is making me lose my train of though..  overall I'm against those ruining prices and Ebay in general. Not all re-sellers on Ebay but those 'first time new users' trying to make a quick buck or two.. I do support those trying to resell decks at a fair and reasonable price which is determined by location (Shipping costs) and a few extras for profit.

[jmrock]

Look... T11 created this mess (in the case of the Monarchs)... It didn't have to be this way... They most definitely would have sold tremendous quantities far exceeding the "500" deck run... However, as I've said before, I have it from a reliable source that when people within the company sell decks on eBay for $150 a clip they don't have to worry all that much... So you do the math... $15,000 for 100 decks... Not a bad day's work or they could sell the same 100 decks for $795 and have the hassle of shipping them all out as well...

Back to the question at hand... The saying I stick by is "Pigs get fat - Hogs get slaughtered."  There was a chap selling the deck in question for $79 including shipping in the U.S... Although this was 10X his money... It is honorable compared to the gluttons who are trying to r@pe the card collecting community at $149 to $249... It's sad really... Though I love the deck, the chumps paying these prices is what fuels the bandits looking to buy up all the bricks in the first place... Good to see that T11's 2 deck policy is being enforced when people are picking up 6-10 decks...

[Don Boyer]

Any time speculators (a.k.a. scalpers) get involved in the market, there will be some instability and turmoil.  But there are still people out there with that much disposable income and a predilection to own these decks.  To them I say, more power to you.

The biggest thing people can do to demonstrate that they're fed up with the market as it is would be to exit the market - don't pay the speculator prices for these decks.  So you couldn't get a deck - will it kill you to not own it?  Will it kill you to get it down the road in a trade with a fellow collector of some of your rare decks that you were able to get at the original price or as a freebie?

Speculators participate in the market because there are people willing to buy at their prices.  Stop buying at their prices, plain and simple.  Intentionally pop the playing card market bubble.  Force speculators to lower their prices or be stuck holding inventory few people are willing to buy.

As far as what after-market retailers are charging for their exceptionally rare decks, there's a reason for that.  Often, it costs the retailer the eBay price to get the deck in the first place.  They need to sell at a profit, hence their insanely high prices for things like the White Centurions or the Black Ghost 1st Edition.  Sometimes they'll sit in inventory a while, but eventually someone with deep pockets and fewer working brain cells will tire of trying to get their dream deck by bidding at eBay only to end up getting sniped at the last moment.  That person will pay that price for such decks, not "mere mortals" like us!

I've already put myself on a moratorium for buying any decks from Dan and Dave.  It's ridiculous to pay for their rarer decks at market prices - I rarely spend more than $20 for a non-magic deck, and even that is really pushing it.  I'm also fed up with how big sales get handled, having items in my cart only to watch them vanish as you're trying to check out with them.

If card makers are having so much trouble dealing with limited-edition sales like this, they should simply open a retailer account at Amazon.  The kind of demands card buyers were putting on T11's servers would be little more than a rounding error to a company with the size and reach of Amazon.  They're probably already dealing with that kind of demand several times a day, every day, and their servers don't choke - they don't even hiccup!

I think I've reached my rambling limit for the day... 

[Joshua Robinson]

As everyone has said. If no-one re-sells how would my collection be at 80 so decks? aslo, I bought 18 Vortexes for re-sale and I will only be selling them around original price about $1-10 extra on top, Just for a bit of profit back, but not a HUGE profit like some people.