Commander 2013 clearance sale?
Economics forum
Posted on Feb. 3, 2014, 8:52 a.m. by cr14mson
Hey guys, just saw MTG Lion's post about Commander 2013 going on clearance sale in some Target shops. Anyone here got lucky and managed to buy them for $9?
Personally, I'm looking for these decks, too but I'm not in the US. So yeah, just sharing this with the T/O family :)
Click me
The UPCs don't match up from the receipt and the box. Even if the item has a special sale sticker, the sticker UPC would match the receipt.
February 3, 2014 10:08 a.m.
themindbullet says... #4
Can confirm: I bought a bunch of them. Go to the toy section and they are on a back end cap. They will have a sticker over the barcode that says do not back stock. This was over a week ago and a lot of people know about it so good luck!
February 3, 2014 10:11 a.m.
DrFunk27 As someone who used to work logistics for Target, this isn't unusual, though they may have changed some practices since I worked there years ago. Unlike the booster packs which are handled by a vendor, the Commander items are supposedly stocked by Target itself. Target likes to try and keep things neat and simple with aggressively pushing lingering stock rather than have it sit around. This is done at a store to store level, not as a whole though. So one store might have something on clearance while another wouldn't.
February 3, 2014 10:18 a.m.
Slycne: that's interesting. I also used to work for a major retail chain (in Canada) and I can see the inventory systems where it's not uncommon for "white goods" to hit 40-60% profit. Does this also mean that Target got them for less than $9, or are they simply chalking them up as loss?
February 3, 2014 10:38 a.m.
SkateandDestory says... #7
@cr14mson
I think they must get them for a bit less otherwise they wouldn't go down that much. I could be wrong but thats the way i see it. Boosters must cost retailers less then 2 dollars also because walgreens had a promotion for buy one get one..
February 3, 2014 12:01 p.m.
cr14mson A retail products mark-up can be all over the board, playing these margins is really important for retailers. For instance, I also used to work for Best Buy and laptops have little to no margin what so ever - the market for selling them is too competitive. Best Buy makes maybe $20-50 on a $1,000-2000 computer sale. A USB cable though is like all profit, a cable the company pays $3 when everything is factored in would be priced at $30.
It's a little off topic, but restaurants love to do this kind of stuff too. A steak dinner might be pretty close to what they pay for it, but an expensive steak dinner makes that $10 pasta dish look like a bargain. Paste and sauce can be purchased for practically pennies though, so they make a good return on it.
I can't say for certain what Target purchases them for. Making $20 off $10 is certainly not unheard of, especially when you factor in the other costs of actually getting that thing to a shelf - shipping, rent, employee salary, etc. But they certainly used to price items to recoup whatever cost they could. That shelf or inventory space is potentially more valuable with another product there, so better to just get what you can while getting rid of it.
February 3, 2014 1:44 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #9
When a retailer is trying to push old inventory out of the store to make room for new inventory, it's not uncommon to mark the old inventory down to a loss just to get it out the door. For example, this happens a lot with apparel when the sales seasons are about to change (it's why you can go down to Macy's or whatever during a big sale and get things 60-70% off).
Basically, the costs on all the old stuff still in the store have probably already been covered (and more) by the revenue from the stuff that's already been sold. They might as well get a few more dollars in the register quickly instead of just letting it sit there or throwing it out.
February 3, 2014 2:09 p.m.
Wallisaurus says... #10
I've checked all my local Target's and none have them. But, a little trick for you guys...
Go to the Target and if you look at the 2013 Deckbuilder's Toolkit's, they have a Do Not Back Stock sticker, now those will ring up at 19.99, but it's still better than paying 30 for a commander set, you just take off the sticker (They come right off) and place them over the UPC on either a Commander set or what I do is put them on the Fat Packs (Fuck Commander sets) and you save 20.00 bucks that way.
Just make sure you go to a cash register with a girl or some old lady, they will be clueless and just ring it up and have no idea.
Can't beat Fat Packs for only 20 bucks.
March 21, 2014 12:48 p.m.
@Wallisaurus You are a thief and I hope you get caught and arrested.
March 21, 2014 1:51 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #13
He wasn't joking, that's actually theft. Please, nobody do this.
March 21, 2014 3:33 p.m.
What Devonin said...that's illegal as balls. If you get caught, it's the same as shoplifting.
Good luck in prison with this story:
Bill: "Hey guys what are you in for?"Bubba: "Grand theft."Jimmy: "Armed Robbery."Bill: "Well, I'm in for homicide."Wallisaurus: "I bought some MtG cards from Target."Bubba: "Is that like pokemon?"Bill: "Who cares? WHAT A SISSY LOL! GET HIS PANTS DOWN"
March 21, 2014 5:56 p.m.
AnagonLordofSnakes says... #15
Rofl@ getting raped in prison over 1 mythic rare
DrFunk27 says... #2
I personally think it was either a store employee screw up or a hoax. I've spoken to many Targets and none of them were aware of a Commander 2013 sale or mark down. Many of my friends on the East coast and Mid West were told the same thing.
February 3, 2014 9:28 a.m.