I guess I'll just have to spend my money tomorrow at T11 instead.

Since I just started collecting this year I've never partaken in the "holiday season" sales.  I'm looking for advice on when is the best day to buy. 

A while back I was reading some old posts from Nov/Dec 2012.  I recall some posters complaining that they made purchases on Black Friday only to see even better deals on Cyber Monday.  I know I'd be pretty bummed if that happened to me so I'm trying to avoid that scenario.  Thanks in advance.

I wonder how many folks pledge for a deck of cards, and wind up receiving a huge shipping box with one deck...and shirts, dice, coins, chips, tea, sleeves, medallions, dealer coins, key rings, coffee cups, clips, et cetera. I did like Federal 52, and others, who added additional different decks. If I care enough to pledge for a deck my only add-on will be...more decks! I have nothing against other things, and it's obvious that many other folks are interested, but put up a store. I realize that defeats the purpose of boosting the KS result to increase the odds of successful funding, but wow. Some campaigns (mostly non-card ones that I back) make me have to really think to just figure out the levels, and how to "buy" just what I want to, and maybe an extra or two. Many are crazy. Some are worth the effort, some I just give up on before I click on the pledge button. I'm not even going to delve in to some of the goal amount discussion!

I'm curious about a couple of things;

Who makes all this stuff?  I know USPC makes the cards and the uncut sheets but what about all the other merchandise?  I would think it is all separate suppliers.  It must be a huge pain to have to deal with 1 company making the cards, another company making shirts, another making card clips and so on.

Don't the manufacturers require some sort of minimum order?  For example, the custom engraved card clips.  I would think the project creator would have to place an order of at least a couple of hundred to get them made.  From the KS projects I've followed the clips don't seem like big sellers.

Anyone have any insight to share?  Thanks.

Hello, my name is John (AKA the assman) and I'm a cardaholic.

It started innocently enough, about 5 weeks ago.  I was doing some shopping on Ebay (my preferred dealer) when I came across a cool deck of cards.  It was pretty inexpensive so i figured what the heck, I'll give it a try this one time.  Next thing I know, Ebay started tempting me with more, even nicer cards.  If you liked that deck come and check out this one, they would say.  They also introduced me to other dealers (Ellusionist, Dan & Dave) with even better stuff.  So I gave in and bought 3 more decks from Ellusionist.  They even threw in a free deck, knowing that once I was hooked I'd be coming back for more.  Well they were right.  I was hooked the moment I opened the decks.  Beautifully designed, exquisitely crafted, multifunctional works of art.

At this point I was hooked, but I was still in control.  I spent the next few weeks scouring the internet for a fix, buying a few decks here and there, about a dozen decks in total.  They were enough to satisfy my cravings for awhile.  But at this point I started craving better and better stuff.  You know what I'm talking about.  The Black Artifice, Gold Arcane, White Monarchs.  The really good stuff is what I wanted.

Like I said, I was still in control.  But that all changed this past weekend.  It started on Saturday when I copped 2 sets of Seasons Decks, Platinum Edition.  That was enough to set me off.  Next thing I knew I was on a 3 day buying binge.  Bought a mixed lot of 12 decks on Ebay, some really good stuff.  Then I hit up Dan & Dave for a 6 deck fix.  Before I knew it I was on Ellusionist ordering 20 decks including the really good stuff, Black Artifice.

So, here I am, inpatiently waiting for my 42 decks to arrive. (Wow, writing that last sentence it just hit me, that's a lot of decks!  Just thinking about them gets me slightly aroused, I can just imagine what happens when I'm opening the package!) I'm glad I found this board.  It's good to know that I'm not the only one that has this problem. (Just kidding, I don't see it as a problem at all, at least not yet!)  I hope to be able to contribute to The Discourse in a positive way.  As for my buying binge, it lasted for 3 days but I finally have it under control.  With all these new decks I should be able to control my cravings for a very long time. (Although I do have my eye on a Smoke & Mirrors Box Set).  Who am I kidding?  I'll probably be jonesing for more by this weekend.