priceguides, which do you use?

Economics forum

Posted on Sept. 3, 2013, 6:32 p.m. by Panda213

Recently I have noticed and been apart of some trades that fell apart due to both players using different price guides and as such valueing cards differently. Personally I use starcitygames.com which some people despise and I've also noticed a lot of people use tcgplayer.com median price, so I am just wondering what price guides do y'all go by and why? Also, would you end a trade or refuse to trade with somebody just because of a difference in priceguides? Thanks!

xlaleclx says... #2

The standard for trade value is pretty much always Starcitygames unless their prices are completely whack on something

September 3, 2013 6:36 p.m.

Ohthenoises says... #3

Scg is usually despised because their method of driving up their prices. TCG takes its median price from the lowest and highest from hundreds of stores. I wouldn't end a trade for a difference but I will end a trade if they are not being flexible about it. For example, if there is a 10$ difference between TCG and SCG I expect a compromise.

September 3, 2013 6:38 p.m.

Ohthenoises says... #4

SCG has a tendency to inflate their prices by flagging a card in demand as "out of stock" for weeks at a time and then putting it back on the market for an inflated price, I've seen it a few times.

September 3, 2013 6:40 p.m.

Datestamp says... #5

I usually reference an average between 1) the lowest Buy Now price on Ebay for a single of the card in question, 2) the price on ChannelFireball, and 3) the tcg player median price.

September 3, 2013 6:43 p.m.

Panda213 says... #6

I've heard that scg does that but haven't personally witnessed it, does anybody have an example of their price gouging?

September 3, 2013 6:44 p.m.

Panda213 says... #7

Oh true, I see what you mean. Again, never personally saw it but I don't doubt that it happens... greedy asses :p

September 3, 2013 6:49 p.m.

RickyHoeppner says... #8

I have had the same thing happen. So they inflate their prices? The way I see it is that if my cards price is inflated on SCG, then yours is too. So long as we are looking at the same site, we should have no problems.

September 3, 2013 7:06 p.m.

gufymike says... #9

As long as both people agree on the price location, be it tcg, scg, abay or some app, it's all good.

My LGS uses tcg low (the current lowest price for the quality + shipping, if any, and ignores the price data). They feel this is the most accurate because if you buy from tcg, this is what you'll pay. A lot of stores will skew the avg. price on tcg buy putting the cost much lower than the next seller and adding the difference in shipping. The various apps use the price data which doesn't include shipping. EBay also has this issue.

It's time consuming to make this work on person to person trades, so we agree on an app and do it that way.

September 3, 2013 7:31 p.m.

sylvannos says... #10

@RickyHoeppner: ...except they aren't inflated by an equal amount. For example, SCG has Ancient Craving from Portal: Second Age listed at $10, while TCG Player has it listed at $7. Both sites have Supreme Verdict listed at $5. Now, would you trade two Supreme Verdict for one Ancient Craving , assuming you needed one? Probably not, because you're losing out on $3, which is almost an entire booster pack.

September 3, 2013 7:44 p.m.

Panda213 says... #11

Just to clarify though, these price differences go both ways... for example Snapcaster Mage tops out on scg at $20 while on tcgplayer it tops out at $35 and the median price is still more at $22...

September 3, 2013 8:02 p.m.

miracleHat says... #12

i personally like tcg and hate scg. i will also use abugames and channel fireball.

September 3, 2013 8:42 p.m.

willsm87 says... #13

I use tcgplayer, or when I'm using my phone, I go with mtgbro (which I think pulls from tcg player)

September 3, 2013 9:41 p.m.

DaggerV says... #14

I use a variety of sites, but I make the other person aware of the value on multiple sites as I make offers. TCGPlayer and Ebay is where I tend to buy online though.

September 3, 2013 10:43 p.m.

Cobthecobbler says... #15

TCGPlayer or Amazon. If I can buy the single for a lower price, why would I trade it for $10 more? That's just how I see it. With SCG, they inflate the prices of the staples, while actually being fair on everything else. For example, Kalonian Hydra on SCG is $24.99 while on TCGP it's $20.98.

September 3, 2013 11:35 p.m.

KingSorin says... #16

I use troll and toad. They seem to be good.

September 4, 2013 5:55 a.m.

rache says... #17

At my lgs we use tcg, we trade at the mid price and usually buy/sale at the low. There high is often skewed though

September 5, 2013 4:14 p.m.

HarbingerJK says... #18

I usually use Card Kingdom, I find the prices are pretty solid

September 5, 2013 4:55 p.m.

abenz419 says... #19

I personally use TCG, because these aren't prices they have come up with on their own. It technically isn't a price guide though, it's simply information that has been collected from multiple sources and put together in one place for convenience, a big reason why I use it. Similarly to how those travel site's help you book hotel's and air fare. For instance, their High price isn't actually how much the card is worth in mint condition fresh out the pack. It's the highest price they've found listed from the hundreds of shops/online stores that they check. So that means if a store has a Plains from RTR listed at $20.00 then the high price will show $20.00. The same with their low price. It's not that absolute minimum that the card is worth, it's simply the lowest price they have found it listed at. This is why you see all the comments about how some of their prices seem skewed or inflated. The reason I like using TCG is because of their median price. It's an average of all the shops that they check. Which means it's usually a good representation of what real card shops from all around actually value the card at. No matter which site you use, though, you just got to use some common sense if something seems overly suspicious or out of place.

Just remember that like with anything you are selling, you can ask any price that you want, but it's only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.

September 6, 2013 12:29 a.m.

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