Amazon's "1000 cards for $20" shady as hell?
Economics forum
Posted on Dec. 1, 2013, 8:04 a.m. by MonsterFinder221
Hello, I've seen these kind of "Deals" where the seller supposedly gives you 1000 cards for about $20 on Ebay or Amazon, promising rares, uncommons and commons of all sets and names and that there will be no repetition of cards among them.
From what I've also read in the comments and reviews, they are NOT to be trusted, What do you guys think? have any of you ever bought any of these? what's your say in this? I say they're shady as hell.
I bought a bulk box of 500 cards from amazon when i first started playing, and I had a fair experience with it. there were no more than 4 of any one card, and there were a couple cool rares. Got a Decree of Pain out of it. If your just starting out and playing casually, its a good way to start building a collection.
December 1, 2013 9:43 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #4
I've bought things like this before, as have several people I know, and the grand majority of these deals are legit. Technically, the total value of the cards you get might be as much as $30-$40, but the reason they're being sold like this is because many of the cards are things that don't sell very often as singles. Because of that, the only sure way to make money off of them is to instead sell them in lots of 500/1000/etc. If you're new to the game, don't have a very expansive collection yet, and play a lot of casual games with your friends, then something like this might be worth it.
Sometimes you get lucky and find a for real case of a player just selling off his collection to make fast money and not caring about the value of what he puts out there. I got a couple of these where the rares alone ended up being worth 4-5x what I paid for the box. However, if you're buying from a dealer who knows what they're doing then don't expect to hit it big time.
December 1, 2013 9:48 a.m.
shady would be if you buy a box and you get arrested because the box was used to smuggle stolen goods. Now buying a box is more like buying a sealed set box, only it's a lot cheaper fore equal to more cards, but with a much smaller chance of getting your money's worth.
There is always some gambling in anything one buys.
December 1, 2013 10:56 a.m.
crystalizeq says... #6
I've bought one of these when I first started off, and I was extremely disappointed. They said 20 rares, and the rares I got were like Liar's Pendulum or Mercenary Informer or Slag Fiend . The other cards that I got where not very repetitious, but were very spread out and not too useful to me. To this day, I still don't think that I have used a single card from that, even though a few of the infect cards that I received made me think of creating an infect deck (Which I did end up doing). However, it is a great thing to buy if you are just starting out
December 1, 2013 12:28 p.m.
My friend bought one, got 50 10 cent rares, and the rest was commons. There was usually 20 copies of each common. Bad idea to buy it.
December 1, 2013 12:34 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #8
They are not shady unless they promise a chance at getting good stuff. If they just explain what it is, then that is what you should expect. Crappy rares, and many commons. I would stay away from the ones promising Mox's and Jace though.
December 1, 2013 12:44 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #9
Sorry, promising a chance at those, not promising those.
December 1, 2013 12:45 p.m.
you are buying bulk, i would only spend .5-2 cents per card 1000 cards for $20 is reasonable
December 1, 2013 1:24 p.m.
TheLameSauce says... #11
What Azure124 said. As long as the price per card comes out to less than 5 cents, and all you really care about is expanding your collection, it's a great way to do just that. I once got a nice big lot of cards for about 70 bucks, and there was a japanese Doubling Season in it. Unfortunately this was long before I realized how much it was worth and ended up selling it for a buck... But anyways, you can get some good stuff from these.
Arvail says... #2
They're pretty shade, I'd say. I've never gotten any, but it's likely you'll get cards, if any, from sets a few years back that local shops wouldn't take. I'd expect maybe 900 commons there... Feeling adventurous? Might be worth it, especially if you've got a group of friends willing to do a draft out of that thing. I'd be up for it.
December 1, 2013 8:20 a.m.