If TCGPlayer could perfect the "Optimize Cart" feature they kill off the competition. Personally I've optimized my cart and there will still be multiple 15 cent single just chilling with a $1.29 shipping cost. Usually I've hit the free shipping threshold with another seller on that order, so I'll just go through their shop and 8/10 times they have a couple of those 15 cent singles for a few cents more. I can't exaggerate how much money this trick has saved me.
I almost always only use TCG Player. There are two big annoyances with TCG Player. I have found is that when you are putting in a big order someone else can also choose one of the cards I am picking, which then dumps the card out of my basket into the "Save for Later" section. And you won't know this until you go into your basket, but at least then there will be a banner letting you know some cards have been removed. The other annoyance is if you are buying Direct From TCG Player it shows the shop that has consigned the cards to TCG Player. So if you then go and add cards from that shop to your basket, it moves that card that you picked from TCG Player Direct down to the individual store purchase. This can create some frustration if you are trying to meet the minimum for shipping from TCG Player Direct only to have something no longer in that package. Also, you might think that as you are choosing cards and you see that the card is available from a vendor already in your cart that it's a TCG Player Direct card, but it turns out to be from the store directly, which can increase your shipping costs. Only ever had one real problem with a store on TCG Player and it was pretty obvious that the shop had some employees that were not up to snuff. I have had a few things go missing in shipping or the wrong thing shipped, but those were all fairly quickly resolved. But choosing from stores with a high rating and high sales amount usually minimizes these issues.
@@zachbadgett2101 It helps a bit, but with larger orders you generally still end up having to order from like a bunch of diff sellers and winding up with high shipping.
that getting a random card thing is totally legit. one time I ordered a card that was like 1 dollar and got one that was worth 5. I contacted the seller, and they got me in touch with the other guy, who wanted me to ship the card to him and he would do the same for me. He never sent me the card, but I was holding his card as insurance. Dude literally tried to scam me for a dollar, and the store that messed up the orders didn't even offer to pay shipping costs. It was pretty whack, but I'm not stupid so I came out on top, ig
I used to sell on tcgplayer and I'd often included a "bonus" card that had synergy with the card/s purchased. It was a good way to get people to come back and also it encouraged buyers to leave reviews. Usually the additional card was some bulk rare but still had play value. Other times I'd add something a little better at my discretion.
I used to buy from TCGPlayer because the cards prices, as listed, seemed cheaper. But oh my god the shipping pricing complexity drove me nuts. Getting my deck in 10 different packages from 10 different sellers ... trying to keep track of it was not fun. And the last time I ordered from TCGPlayer, it was a deck for my son and one of the sellers was late and missed by son's birthday. So ... yeah, not fun. That was the last time I ordered from TCGPlayer. Plus, even though the listed card prices were often cheaper, once you add on all the various shipping costs from various sellers, it actually all works about the same price as just ordering from Card Kingdom. So I switched to Card Kingdom and couldn't be happier. Yeah, with Card Kingdom, I wait until I have at least $50 worth of cards and get the free shipping. And they arrive on time or earlier and it's much easier. With Card Kingdom, I add all my cards, I know the shipping will be free, because it's over $50, the cards come in ONE package and arrive on time.
What kinda sucks is that while TCGplayer has better prices and more cards. Since your orders are often coming from multiple sellers, a LOT of the time the shipping is like 50-60% of the cost of your order. Where as CK it's all coming from the same place, so WAY less shipping, but....WAY more expensive for each card. I even tried something once where I filled my cart with the order I wanted on both sites, so exact same order on both sites to compare prices. And the funny thing was...it actually ended up being roughly the same price with CK being maybe 1-2 dollars more. While I totally get it's easier said than done for obvious logistic reasons, I would LOVE if we had a website that had TCGplayer's prices but all came from the same seller so you wouldn't run into the issue where like you're ordering a bunch of cards and like a random foil common you wanted that costs like 20 cents, is coming out to 3 dollars because of shipping.
I've found that shipping cost on TCGP is all over the place. Sometimes sellers won't charge shipping if you spend a certain amount, even just for once card. Then sometimes it's only $1-2. But then sometimes you can't predict it at all.
I stick with card kingdom because I live in Seattle and it is my LGS for singles, and I can pick up in store without shipping. The store where I play pre release and commander doesn't sell singles. EDIT: I also appreciate that CC employees are unionized
This! If you live in the Seattle area its worth a trip to Mox to get your cards. Legit one of the best LGS around. Slightly less points just because its hard to get a casual game in there lol
Card trader zero gives the best of both imho competitive prices and the option to have everything shipped to card trader then verified and shipped to you in on big shipment
9:47 Whenever that happens to me, I assume it is a treat from that store to entice me to shop from them again and/or leave them a good review. I've only ever received cheesy things like a Pokemon card or a Zombie token or a basic land or something. I've always just assumed that it's like a free mint at the hostess stand in a restaurant. I've also only received the wrong card once, and the seller was just like "Our bad. We just packed and doubled checked the correct card and put in the mail. Sorry for the inconvenience. Keep the mistake card on us."
I've sold to card kingdom a couple times. It does kinda feel like they do you in on card conditions. I've given them immaculate cards before but don't get near mint prices for them.
NGL eBay seems really good for singles. If I'm buying bulk I'll buy card kingdom because I want a single package rather than like 5+ different packages.
I start with my LGS. They are also online so I can see if they have the card/s I’m looking for. If their price is within 20% of what I can find at TCGPlayer or Card Kingdom (including shipping), or if it’s less than $2, I order from them and pick it up. Otherwise, it depends. If my wife is irritated about how much I’m spending on MTG cards then I’ll go with Card Kingdom because it’s just one envelope. If she’s not then I usually go with TCGPlayer because I can usually get it cheaper.
I've been trying to move away from TCGPlayer. Half of my previous orders from them went to the wrong address or just didn't show up at all. Then after the big EDH ban, they apparently changed their policies so you are just out of luck if your order doesn't show up. Also, yeah, their whole "save for later" thing is garbage. It seems to save the exact card from the exact store. If you try to add it to your cart, if it is no longer at that store, it just goes back to "save for later". They should really just do a "wishlist" thing that will then run the cart optimizer.
I only use TCGP. I did the math, and if I used CK I would have spent an extra $1,000+ by now for the same cards. It's already an expensive hobby, CK makes it worse.
The fact tcg has a grab the cheapest cards without having to go and pick them 1 by 1 on CK i easily would rather wait 1-2 weeks for cars the spend like 50-100$ extra to get it in like 2 days im fine waiting for more packages Edit: like there are times I want a cheap card from ck and there’s a 1000$ card in there when I see ones like 2$ like why is that there
I’ve Been waiting over two weeks for card kingdom to pay out for an order I sold them so I can buy singles for a standard deck I want to use for RCQ it’s not looking like I will make that deadline
Oh no! I'll have to attempt selling through them to see what that process is like. If you haven't ever tried Card Conduit, I recommend trying them. I've used them I think three times now. They give more than you'd get through most stores, actual money sent to your bank account, and only takes about a week
TCG is routinely almost across the board cheaper. Considerably so. Who cares if shit comes in one envelope? That isn't a flex. That isn't a perk. TCG easily.
Tcgplayer's cart optimization sucks. I always go in and manually remove cards and add them from there sellers. Sometimes it will randomly throw a version that costs 50 dollars more than a normal version for no reason.
The correct answer is neither. CK charges too much for their cards and TCG sends your order in 20 different packages. Unless you're playing in sanctioned events/tournaments play with proxies. You can be creative and make better looking cards plus if a card gets banned you don't lose money on those cards
This is great if you're always playing with the same people. However, as someone who goes to cons and does pickup games with random people at the LGS, proxies need to look like the originals so that it's easy for people to understand what's going on
If TCGPlayer could perfect the "Optimize Cart" feature they kill off the competition. Personally I've optimized my cart and there will still be multiple 15 cent single just chilling with a $1.29 shipping cost. Usually I've hit the free shipping threshold with another seller on that order, so I'll just go through their shop and 8/10 times they have a couple of those 15 cent singles for a few cents more. I can't exaggerate how much money this trick has saved me.
CK moving to $50 for free shipping has caused me to buy less from them....
Trinket mage jumpscare?
Yup
I’m a huge fan of buying damaged cards off of TCGPlayer. Someone’s gotta play with them!
I almost always only use TCG Player. There are two big annoyances with TCG Player. I have found is that when you are putting in a big order someone else can also choose one of the cards I am picking, which then dumps the card out of my basket into the "Save for Later" section. And you won't know this until you go into your basket, but at least then there will be a banner letting you know some cards have been removed. The other annoyance is if you are buying Direct From TCG Player it shows the shop that has consigned the cards to TCG Player. So if you then go and add cards from that shop to your basket, it moves that card that you picked from TCG Player Direct down to the individual store purchase. This can create some frustration if you are trying to meet the minimum for shipping from TCG Player Direct only to have something no longer in that package. Also, you might think that as you are choosing cards and you see that the card is available from a vendor already in your cart that it's a TCG Player Direct card, but it turns out to be from the store directly, which can increase your shipping costs.
Only ever had one real problem with a store on TCG Player and it was pretty obvious that the shop had some employees that were not up to snuff. I have had a few things go missing in shipping or the wrong thing shipped, but those were all fairly quickly resolved. But choosing from stores with a high rating and high sales amount usually minimizes these issues.
CK's selection is limited, and TCG is like: 40 cards in your cart, total for cards $36.98; 26 shipments, shipping cost $257.41
Lol EXACTLY this!
Use the optimizer
@@zachbadgett2101 It helps a bit, but with larger orders you generally still end up having to order from like a bunch of diff sellers and winding up with high shipping.
that getting a random card thing is totally legit. one time I ordered a card that was like 1 dollar and got one that was worth 5. I contacted the seller, and they got me in touch with the other guy, who wanted me to ship the card to him and he would do the same for me. He never sent me the card, but I was holding his card as insurance. Dude literally tried to scam me for a dollar, and the store that messed up the orders didn't even offer to pay shipping costs. It was pretty whack, but I'm not stupid so I came out on top, ig
Bruh, not offering to give you a label to ship back their mistake and then scam you for a dollar is insane.
I used to sell on tcgplayer and I'd often included a "bonus" card that had synergy with the card/s purchased. It was a good way to get people to come back and also it encouraged buyers to leave reviews. Usually the additional card was some bulk rare but still had play value. Other times I'd add something a little better at my discretion.
I used to buy from TCGPlayer because the cards prices, as listed, seemed cheaper. But oh my god the shipping pricing complexity drove me nuts. Getting my deck in 10 different packages from 10 different sellers ... trying to keep track of it was not fun. And the last time I ordered from TCGPlayer, it was a deck for my son and one of the sellers was late and missed by son's birthday. So ... yeah, not fun. That was the last time I ordered from TCGPlayer. Plus, even though the listed card prices were often cheaper, once you add on all the various shipping costs from various sellers, it actually all works about the same price as just ordering from Card Kingdom. So I switched to Card Kingdom and couldn't be happier. Yeah, with Card Kingdom, I wait until I have at least $50 worth of cards and get the free shipping. And they arrive on time or earlier and it's much easier. With Card Kingdom, I add all my cards, I know the shipping will be free, because it's over $50, the cards come in ONE package and arrive on time.
Heck yeah
I just started to buy cards online and I really did start to appreciate card kingdom way more as Star City sometimes doesn’t have the cards I want
Merry Christmas to you too! 🎄
What kinda sucks is that while TCGplayer has better prices and more cards. Since your orders are often coming from multiple sellers, a LOT of the time the shipping is like 50-60% of the cost of your order. Where as CK it's all coming from the same place, so WAY less shipping, but....WAY more expensive for each card. I even tried something once where I filled my cart with the order I wanted on both sites, so exact same order on both sites to compare prices. And the funny thing was...it actually ended up being roughly the same price with CK being maybe 1-2 dollars more. While I totally get it's easier said than done for obvious logistic reasons, I would LOVE if we had a website that had TCGplayer's prices but all came from the same seller so you wouldn't run into the issue where like you're ordering a bunch of cards and like a random foil common you wanted that costs like 20 cents, is coming out to 3 dollars because of shipping.
I've found that shipping cost on TCGP is all over the place. Sometimes sellers won't charge shipping if you spend a certain amount, even just for once card. Then sometimes it's only $1-2. But then sometimes you can't predict it at all.
@@geeknseek Yeah, for sure. I def see that as well!
I stick with card kingdom because I live in Seattle and it is my LGS for singles, and I can pick up in store without shipping. The store where I play pre release and commander doesn't sell singles.
EDIT: I also appreciate that CC employees are unionized
This! If you live in the Seattle area its worth a trip to Mox to get your cards. Legit one of the best LGS around. Slightly less points just because its hard to get a casual game in there lol
Card trader zero gives the best of both imho competitive prices and the option to have everything shipped to card trader then verified and shipped to you in on big shipment
9:47 Whenever that happens to me, I assume it is a treat from that store to entice me to shop from them again and/or leave them a good review. I've only ever received cheesy things like a Pokemon card or a Zombie token or a basic land or something. I've always just assumed that it's like a free mint at the hostess stand in a restaurant.
I've also only received the wrong card once, and the seller was just like "Our bad. We just packed and doubled checked the correct card and put in the mail. Sorry for the inconvenience. Keep the mistake card on us."
I've sold to card kingdom a couple times. It does kinda feel like they do you in on card conditions. I've given them immaculate cards before but don't get near mint prices for them.
I'm so grateful that we don't use both in EU. Nearly everything goes through Cardmarket and prices for cards are nearly always cheaper.
I've heard from my EU friends that Cardmarket is great. Apparently they have a sister company that's pretty new in the states, but I haven't tried it
I go CK if im buying a whole deck so i can sleeve it up from one package, and TCG player if im buying singles/bulk rares or staples
CK is easier to use but TCG is cheaper (But only if you find all of the cards you're looking for from the same shop.) Do with you want with this.
Great idea for a video!
NGL eBay seems really good for singles. If I'm buying bulk I'll buy card kingdom because I want a single package rather than like 5+ different packages.
I start with my LGS. They are also online so I can see if they have the card/s I’m looking for. If their price is within 20% of what I can find at TCGPlayer or Card Kingdom (including shipping), or if it’s less than $2, I order from them and pick it up. Otherwise, it depends. If my wife is irritated about how much I’m spending on MTG cards then I’ll go with Card Kingdom because it’s just one envelope. If she’s not then I usually go with TCGPlayer because I can usually get it cheaper.
Meta gaming around the wife checking the mail is a real move
I tend to buy my expensive cards from TCG player and if I’m buying just a bunch of cheap staples I use CK
I've been trying to move away from TCGPlayer. Half of my previous orders from them went to the wrong address or just didn't show up at all. Then after the big EDH ban, they apparently changed their policies so you are just out of luck if your order doesn't show up. Also, yeah, their whole "save for later" thing is garbage. It seems to save the exact card from the exact store. If you try to add it to your cart, if it is no longer at that store, it just goes back to "save for later". They should really just do a "wishlist" thing that will then run the cart optimizer.
Of course I see this after ordering an entire deck off tcgplayer that will come in 16 separate packages-
Hopefully it at least saved you some money 😅
Star City Games and ABU Games are the better places to buy cards due to their larger inventories
I only use TCGP. I did the math, and if I used CK I would have spent an extra $1,000+ by now for the same cards. It's already an expensive hobby, CK makes it worse.
The fact tcg has a grab the cheapest cards without having to go and pick them 1 by 1 on CK i easily would rather wait 1-2 weeks for cars the spend like 50-100$ extra to get it in like 2 days im fine waiting for more packages
Edit: like there are times I want a cheap card from ck and there’s a 1000$ card in there when I see ones like 2$ like why is that there
I’ve Been waiting over two weeks for card kingdom to pay out for an order I sold them so I can buy singles for a standard deck I want to use for RCQ it’s not looking like I will make that deadline
Oh no! I'll have to attempt selling through them to see what that process is like. If you haven't ever tried Card Conduit, I recommend trying them. I've used them I think three times now. They give more than you'd get through most stores, actual money sent to your bank account, and only takes about a week
@ I’ll look into them I sold cards for credit to fund other singles
TCG is routinely almost across the board cheaper. Considerably so. Who cares if shit comes in one envelope? That isn't a flex. That isn't a perk. TCG easily.
Tcgplayer's cart optimization sucks. I always go in and manually remove cards and add them from there sellers. Sometimes it will randomly throw a version that costs 50 dollars more than a normal version for no reason.
Tcgplayer has a guaranteed minimum $100 safety for damage/incorrect orders.
I live selling cards on TCGplayer.
The correct answer is neither. CK charges too much for their cards and TCG sends your order in 20 different packages. Unless you're playing in sanctioned events/tournaments play with proxies. You can be creative and make better looking cards plus if a card gets banned you don't lose money on those cards
This is great if you're always playing with the same people. However, as someone who goes to cons and does pickup games with random people at the LGS, proxies need to look like the originals so that it's easy for people to understand what's going on
Dude spend the 50 bucks n get a better mic
LMAO It's a $400 mic that's the industry standard for podcasting and music recording in several genres
Tcg player is apparently also in hot water for treating their employees poorly; there are currently rumors of long hours without being allowed to sit
Starcitygames is pgood
CK took like 2 weeks to get stuff to me. They’re good with quality control tho.