There was a period where I was selling $3k-$5k of Magic cards per month on Ebay. Not enough to live on, but I was hoping to get there some day. It truly was a labor of love. The inner rain man in me enjoyed opening all those boxes and sorting. Then they changed all the fee structures and some of these mega sites started popping up and then the cost of postal services skyrocketed, which killed my international sales overnight. No way having an Ebay store makes sense any more unless you are a major deal. Instead of having a few thousand listings, I list maybe a dozen or so high-dollar items at any given time. Ebay has turned its back on the kind of small-guy seller it was built on. It also has reduced the available inventory to its customers since guys like me no longer list thousands of items. Corporate greed sucks.
Yeah, it's awesome. Everybody can sell their cards. For real money, not for shady pucapoints or something. edit: Is there something like SEPA in the US where you can transfer money for free to pretty much anyone?
Im worried Rudy hurt his back moving that fast at the end and couldn't tell anyone he secretly pulled his back and had to just lay below the camera for hours until someone found him
I sell a lot on TCGPlayer, 3 months ago I ran all my numbers going back 2 years. It total I've made a profit of just about $21,000. In two years with a few hours a day after my normal job and everything else even if I did it full time everyday I wouldn't make enough to like survive, rent, food etc. However since I do it purely to support my magic purchasing habits, it makes sense. This does not make sense to do as a job for me, I think if I even did it full time I wouldn't make enough compared to my normal job. Doing it just to keep buying cards and what not I want makes sense, as a job nah.
@@jakx2ob taxes?! I just get TCGPlayer store credit and never have the money sent to my accounts. The IRS knows nothing! JK, pay your taxes kiddos. It's important.
Rudy gotta tell you as a cook of 10+ years you don't always or often get to take food home. And if you do it's nice. Hell you're lucky to even get breaks
I'm playing that s*** out my mind. Joe Rogan: so are you sponsored by taco Bell in any fashion whatsoever? Also want to try some DMT, make sure to take this elk meat when you go home.
You guys are idiots. As a life long MMA fan, Joe Rogan has no business with this nerdy shit. I play MTG and wouldn't want Joe Rogan inviting Rudy after the likes of Elon and Jones. It's disrespectful.
@@BetterYouNow bruh he has all types of people on his podcast. He had a nobody who rebuilt a Tesla on last week. It's not like they would just talk about magic.
Can only agree with you. I'm professional web developer with variety of top notch skills. When I'm working alone at home with "binary" code. I listen to radio, not just music but the hosting and all to come together. Without that I would go bonkers
I feel Rudy should have mentioned that with MTG he deals with sealed product not just singles. Also from my understanding, his success is supplemented with other business ventures.
THanks to NonCompete you now have a new subscriber due to your honesty and upfront"ness" in your delivery. Plus you kinda look like Brandon Mayhew aka Badger. So Kudos, glad to see You found a new career path.
love cracking packs used to do it without my youtube channel and just sell on ebay, still enjoy opening and selling the bulk and singles though but it is a lot of work to put in but i see it as the only way i can continue to afford to collect cards
There’s an online bidding platform in the UK that has been too greedy and thought they could keep putting up fees. I know for a fact there’s a new startup that’s about to undercut them by a huge margin, with exactly the same service, because there’s no actual reason why an online auction has to incur so many fees, they just get away with whatever they want so long as they have a monopoly.
He dropped off camera 5 seconds too early. And when he's off camera he can let the camera record the bookshelf for hours. Then he takes the footage and edits the ending at 10:00
i buy an sell as a side job. buy collections locally for around 50% of their value, sell online at about 75-80%. speculate on card spikes and buy up when cheap... if you are on top of your game, you can make $500-1000 a month putting in a couple hours a day.
It’s nice that even being kind of a whale you still try to create an environment where everyone can at least get some money. Great man. Keep this work up
I have the skill and prowess to be a seller, to invest in the right cards, pull the right cards, and profit big. My weakness is I just don't want to get rid of the cards. Pulled about $60 from $40 worth of packs, maybe more? Not one card traded in.
I wonder if, in a future video, you could talk about why the rising expenses of sellers isn't just passed on to the consumer. Many might think the cost of purchasing cards online would increase with the increase of paypal or ebay fees.
It's hard taking a step back from this game a couple weeks I had realized I should just be a player and not a collector. and I just started trading with all the cards I've never used and will never use.
In Europe it's actually quite the opposite, lots and lots of 'shops' open up every month. Basically every timmy who has a license and an appartment nowadays decides to give it a whirl selling singles as a business over at cardmarket, causing prices to collapse within weeks of new releases. I'm in the business for quite a while, but honestly, I'm genuinely thinking of leaving, it's depressing and just too much work for too much of a hassle, just like you said.
I’m a small seller on TCGPlayer. Definitely not raking it in, but it’s a fun little thing to do mostly while I have downtime at my real job. I will say that TCGPlayer’s support of their sellers is amazing. I recently sent in an $800 RI that was destroyed by USPS in transit. TCGPlayer covered this entire cost and told me to keep anything I received from USPS. They’re a great company. I wouldn’t recommend trying to make a living off it though. It’s purely for fun and a very small profit.
Those eBay and Paypal fees are getting ridiculous... I trade magic cards and musical instruments 🎸 on the side and have switched to Cardsphere and Reverb because of wire transfers and less fees... Food for thought 💭
I've been thinking about a new project for a while for this exact issue. What if a site is built like TCG player but focus is on Magic and make it local only. Drop the fee's, maybe flat subscription fee model or ads alone might pay for it. Could have tiers for watch list, buy lists, notifications ect in order to give it a freemium model. If the shops used it as there LOB app (another small upsell?) non shops used it as there inventory system, the inventories could stay up to date and anyone could sell there cards. Market value could be auto calculated based on TCG mid maybe, idea is you reduce the data entry as much as possible so the system isn't a huge time sync. I know does some of this tracking but I dont think they have the rest of the features. Once you have all the assets under management, its just a match making algo. Sellers could post there store times and zipcode/meeting place (public/private location)? Then you can do searches based on how far you would drive for the card. Its more than possible sellers could actually get more than TCG player since they are making the transactions instant and you would not have to wait for the mail. Another idea is this type of system could be used to do consignment at a shop, that way a shop could handle the transactions for a bunch of local players take a cut (15-20%?). This way you could make bulk buys and cut down drive time, buyers would not have to worry about coordinating schedules or credit card issues. Let me know what you guys think. I'm currently tied up on another side project (stock algo trader) but as soon as that is done if there is the interest I would be happy to build this.
Highkey is card kingdom driving single card prices up on purpose? Their prices are always waaaay higher on NM than TCG player seller's. I'm wondering if they're just putting up high priced cards and then taking them off the market after a few weeks to make it seem like someone bought these cards thus setting the new price that other sellers should sell at to make profit. If only we could see transaction history on cards to prove there are actual sales happening and not a Fugazi . Just my 2 cents anyone else feel the same?
Honestly, Cardkingdom does a good job (At least moreso than some other large sellers) on predicting trends, and they are much higher pricing wise on cards played more in highlander/edh formats. When they are aggressively priced on cards, usually they are also aggressively priced on their buylist, I've had occasions when I can buy up cards from small sellers on tcgplayer and flip them almost instantly to cardkingdom, and net on their 30% store credit bonus to get cards I actually need. It's a win-win for me.
Card kingdom kinda sucks.. prices always the highest. I go there here n' there looking for boxes my regular site doesn't have in stock and 100% of the time I x out saying fuck that.
They probs offer top trade credit so they don't gotta pay cash and lose money for consuming all the cards on the market and then they sell them back for a higher price which then influences the market price of a card. Just feels like an artificially made price increase on lots of cards and it doesn't seem to me it's from this "new player base" either.
The issue isn’t with PayPal as much as it is with V/MC/DISC/AMEX and the interchange they charge. They charge interchange for the transaction regardless of whether it’s a purchase or a refund. The Durban Act helped with debit (Still high at %0.05 and $0.22 per transaction for most merchants so possibly half for a Paypal service). It sucks but the interchange on cards have crept up over the years and it’s out of control.
I don't get those people that sell playsets for 99 cents with free shipping. Ebay gets 10 cents, Paypal gets 30 cents + 5 cents. Postage is 50 cents. Congrats, you made 5 cents. Oh wait, you need that to pay for the envelope.
100% agree. I hustle cards but only as a side-hustle. I have a full-time career in my 30's, but love Pokemon, so I do it for fun. But I definitely see how awful it would be as a full-time job.
I enjoy handling/sorting cards, but I don't buy and sell a million different things. If I see a card that I think is underpriced, I will buy up to a price I think is worth holding onto for a year or so until I can make a small profit. I have that disposable income. I also do NOT do this as a job, when I am already at home watching youtube video, or listening to music, trying to wind down before bed I do this. And yes, I've made bad specs, but overall I've made enough flipping cards to buy/trade for things I already needed for my collection.
Rudy, please dig deep down inside and pull out your inner TIMMY and do us other TIMMY's a solid and cover the War of the Spark Mythic edition Foil sheet compensation and the pending lawsuit....us TIMMY's need your insight on what to do!!!!!
I gotta be honest Rudy, I find this video disheartening. I'm one of those people who absolutely loves messing with magic cards. My goal has always been maybe make a few bucks to buy a box or kinda keep the magic card engine moving along. The absolute dream would be to do that for a living, but I always kept my expectations grounded. The changes to where it is almost prohibitive for me to do something I love and make some money in the process is very sad. Like you, I really hope someone comes along and makes a service to buy/sell magic cards where it is a little more beneficial to smaller sellers like me. We shall see, magic, eBay, PayPal have evolved a lot over the years, perhaps things will evolve again the coming years and it will get better.
I knew that. Been commenting you haven't made anything until you have the $ in hand. You need to find a buyer which can be difficult. You don't want to sell to dealers because they won't pay full price, maybe they'll buy it from you for 30% - 50% off the price guide price.
What if I'm stealing the cards to make money but I got busted cuz I'm not really that slick at it. Now it has caused a bunch of stress so I started opening them because it's theraputic but I know absolutley NOTHING about any cards Because I don't like sports and I don't play any of the games that relate tothe other cards. However I am sitting on a grip of stacks of cards that I know nothing about. Should I sell them online and if so where?
Mid tier seller perhaps. Top grade hoarder of things I'd love to open. Rudy will make a ton of money someday when he starts quietly selling his stockpile off but for now I can feel all the cards crying because no one is playing with them.
in Moses Lake, WA we just lost our only LGS. Angry Squirrelz was a great store and the War Of The Spark pre release, was their last day in business. I wish in the next few years, hobby stores finally get the treatment they deserve from WOTC and table top gaming culture ceases to be, the shadow of its 90s self
I've noticed a lot of my buddies have stopped selling cards over the years. It's not just Magic card sellers, its like that with the sports card market too. Selling single cards really favors large or high volume card sellers. I don't sell on TCGplayer cause the fee structure doesn't fit with my business plan. Everybody's opinion on who is a large seller is different. A lot of people nowadays think anybody with an ebay anchor store with 5000 listings or more is a large seller. I myself have 2 anchor stores and I get people all the time that consider me to be a large seller. I know several large card sellers that do 2000 times more sales than me. For those that want tips on how to become a large seller. Tip #1 don't open any packs or boxes. #2 Aim for at least the ebay anchor store with at least 6-10k listings. #3 Carry only cards that you can sell for $1 or higher. Am I afraid of more competition? Not really. I know that however many tips I or anybody gives, it's easier said than done. I see a lot of people trying to copy what I'm doing on ebay and they all quit eventually. They can't do it the same way. There are so many things that prevent new or small sellers from becoming large sellers, like ebay's listing limit. And I get card supplies directly from manufacturers, that's already a major thing in my favor. I get 25 top loaders for $0.80 while the people trying to copy me get it for $2. There will always be people trying to become a large card seller, but there are a lot of obstacles that will prevent them from reaching that goal.
Less sellers you say?... Good, less competition! Keep the videos coming, Rudy! Btw, I disagree that EBay and/or TCGPlayer will raise their fees anytime soon. They know they're in competition with Facebook and Discord groups for zero fees. Raising fees is only going to push people towards those marketplaces.
Facebook and Discord has no protection. Yes, you have PayPal G&S, but is that enough? Ebay and TCGplayer's stellar buyer/seller protection offers something over the two you mentioned. Hence the fees.
Hey Rudy, looking for your thoughts on how this topic has evolved over the past year. I'm a small individual seller on tcgplayer selling singles, and have been doing ok ~$200/month as a hobbyist. With the pricing structure changes, is this a viable way to continue building my business, or are there other ways to increase throughput ($$ in -> $$ out) with tcg trading?
As an European seller, I moved all my singles to Cardmarket because no PayPal is involved. They have a quiet fair commission system and allows me to list 100s of cards permanent for no listing fees.
It's easier for me to make profits off singles than sealed boxes. Especially when it's around $10 to ship a booster box and over $25 to ship a case of 6.
We make most of our income with Ebay. But its totally not worth the effort for most singles of mtg pokemon or yugioh. Comics and vinyl on the other hand :)
@Brandon Kick shipping goes up every year, just like everything else inflation hits. I always factor shipping into the value of the item to determine if it's a marketable product. Been at it since 2004 when I was like 19 and seen marked growth every year! It's still a job In a lot of ways and self motivation is a must. I love hunting for product though
Disagree sir... I work at a pawnshop.. As the fact we don't mess with any cards at all... Doesn't stop them from magically appearing in the door... As long as you can effectively control the cost of initial buy... Can still make a boatload selling individuals... But is also a labor of love for me. Keep it up bro.. New sub.. I like your style.
Yep, the key is to offer that poor schlub 200 bucks for his $1500 collection. Once you get there, you can just dump it anywhere for $1000 and make a quick profit.
paypal is going out of bussiness in 5-10 years, there's much much better ways and all you guys know what I mean. People are just not ready yet to use bitcoin or nano or litecoin, there's just not enough implantation at the moment, and people still think banks are safe. But it'll come, just like the creditcard, wireless payment etc. etc. people were so reluctant to use at first. It takes time, but it'll come. good vid Rudy. (Bitcoin almost 7000$ today)
Sold off all my card collection of value accept my battle box decks I’ve been making over the years. It’s actually a blast! Sell me your collections at a low low price, I’ll put them up on eBay for a profit. ;p
If they can just keep making 25 dollar buy a box promos, new sets with cards catered to all formats, mythic cash grab easy money headaches, magic bull market, pewdiepie and this Rudy guy really getting everyone riled up for MTG, and if one has a love for hard work, dedication, perseverance, strong headed.. well then there may be hope for some small fries
Most people buy and sell mtg cards on community fb pages where they pay no fees. I reckon only 50% of people max now purchase mtg carda from avenues like ebay. Most people who have played for a long time avoid it or look up the sellers direct website where they can purchase for a better price anyway.
I fell into it, on April Fools of all days. I also discovered Rudy, that same day, after losing my job of 10 years. My big question for Rudy the Great, is, why, did, you, not tell me to buy mythic Edition boxes??? That would have kick-started my career, instead I'm applying for food stamps! For the Love of Rudy, why?
The only way to make money on singles is to buy A LOT of the same card. To the extent that you affect the supply of that one card. Sit on them. Then eek out a profit, slowly and hope you don’t get a supply dump.
Rudy - On the flipside if there are less competitors and you are determined and adamant to succeed selling cards, then this means you can succeed more long term?
I tend to split between CK buylist and Tcgplayer seller. 95% of the time it goes to CK for cash. Yeah, here and there I make an extra $2 on a card with tcgplayer vs buylist. I maybe get $20 in sales from tcgplayer a month
Hey Rudy I've been watching a lot of your videos for a few years now and I was wondering would it be possible to purchase a booster box with out being a patron ? If so how would I go about that. Thank you for your time.
I think the most interesting thing on ebay is sports and more being strong armed by MTG lovers to "raise" their prices. Who would imagine someone complaining the prices were too low...that's the most interesing ebay story for sure.
I quit eBay bc they hosed me as a buyer (their guarantee is worth shit) and as a seller. I decided it wasn’t worth the stress to deal with eBay. Don’t need the money and certainly don’t need the stress. Now I just donate anything I want to sell and goodwill can deal with it. I use eBay to price the tax deduction.
I see a consolidation happening....I recently had my paypal upgraded with enhanced seller protections....check you paypal account....they upgraded mine to win more disputes favorably....i instantly get the money in my account....it seems if you have been in this for the long haul you are good....new sellers will have a progressively harder and harder time selling anything
I'm one of those people I fucking _LOVE_ it, sifting through cards against prices and selling the ones i don't want to play. Sure, i don't make big bucks, but i usually break even and can get another box. Rudy is right though, as usual lol, this is a hobby and i have lost a few quid here and there and I'm fine with that. This isn't a way to make money.
Selling singles is for suckers! That's why I only invest in Reserved List and cheap Rudy Patron mutual fund sealed boxes. (Was going to go all in on Timmy edition, but Rudy warned me to steer clear of that trap.)
I am having the same issue. I tried dropshipping till ebay flagged me. I had a 45 min convo explaining the problem. If I buy a item for near retail. I have to go price it so far above an compete against wholesalers who can sell below retail. Ebay is going more an more corporate every day. I get 50 messages a day calling me a price gouger yet I make 10 to 15% on all items I sell.
Unhinged cold turkey fighting the urge to open every pack in his inventory Kermit Voiced Chewbacca arms searching for the simple truck driving fishing on weekends Rudy. Survive!!!
This episode has the vibe of a ultimate masters lighthouse
There was a period where I was selling $3k-$5k of Magic cards per month on Ebay. Not enough to live on, but I was hoping to get there some day. It truly was a labor of love. The inner rain man in me enjoyed opening all those boxes and sorting. Then they changed all the fee structures and some of these mega sites started popping up and then the cost of postal services skyrocketed, which killed my international sales overnight. No way having an Ebay store makes sense any more unless you are a major deal. Instead of having a few thousand listings, I list maybe a dozen or so high-dollar items at any given time. Ebay has turned its back on the kind of small-guy seller it was built on. It also has reduced the available inventory to its customers since guys like me no longer list thousands of items. Corporate greed sucks.
It's much better for small sellers over here in EU, not sure why US can't have something like MKM
Yeah, it's awesome. Everybody can sell their cards.
For real money, not for shady pucapoints or something.
edit: Is there something like SEPA in the US where you can transfer money for free to pretty much anyone?
seriously, I moved to the states from europe, and the market here is just ridiculously overpriced. there is no outlet for singles for a good price
As an US create a canadian account on MKM and ask the seller, if he sends to US... No problem (for non sealed MTG products)
@@jakx2ob Yes Zelle and many other options for transfer money with no fees. Most you can do up to $2000.
@@BMXriedl We have a few shops here and there but yeah. USA in general tends to be against consumers.
Im worried Rudy hurt his back moving that fast at the end and couldn't tell anyone he secretly pulled his back and had to just lay below the camera for hours until someone found him
When you own a platform that has little to no competition this is what happens. Not surprised this is happening.
Anyone else here from noncompete?
lol, yeah
Yup
Greed monster is taking over the new Ebay polices.....go TCG player.
I sell a lot on TCGPlayer, 3 months ago I ran all my numbers going back 2 years. It total I've made a profit of just about $21,000.
In two years with a few hours a day after my normal job and everything else even if I did it full time everyday I wouldn't make enough to like survive, rent, food etc.
However since I do it purely to support my magic purchasing habits, it makes sense. This does not make sense to do as a job for me, I think if I even did it full time I wouldn't make enough compared to my normal job.
Doing it just to keep buying cards and what not I want makes sense, as a job nah.
I hope you pay your taxes.
@@jakx2ob taxes?! I just get TCGPlayer store credit and never have the money sent to my accounts. The IRS knows nothing!
JK, pay your taxes kiddos. It's important.
jakx2ob lol go away
@Danman1012 - Do you find you make more money selling the cards that way than selling them to cardkingdom?
Im just starting out - thats why im asking.
@@E-A-Z-Y I mean a lot of people don't understand that they are running a business when they are buying and selling cards regularly.
Rudy gotta tell you as a cook of 10+ years you don't always or often get to take food home. And if you do it's nice. Hell you're lucky to even get breaks
So with eBay’s refund policy, did wizards pay a fee with all the cancelled mythic edition of the war of the spark ?
I was just getting ready to start selling on eBay...I appreciate this vid. Time to turn to sealed product.
You falling at the end of this video literally made my computer blue screen on me, and now its scanning my c drive. I love you Rudy!
Bruh, we need to get Rudy on the Joe rogan podcast.
I'm playing that s*** out my mind. Joe Rogan: so are you sponsored by taco Bell in any fashion whatsoever? Also want to try some DMT, make sure to take this elk meat when you go home.
You guys are idiots. As a life long MMA fan, Joe Rogan has no business with this nerdy shit. I play MTG and wouldn't want Joe Rogan inviting Rudy after the likes of Elon and Jones. It's disrespectful.
@@BetterYouNow Rogan was huge into Quake though so he's a gamer. I'd love to hear him talk finance and wall street with Rudy.
@Rudy’s Brother lol
@@BetterYouNow bruh he has all types of people on his podcast. He had a nobody who rebuilt a Tesla on last week. It's not like they would just talk about magic.
Can only agree with you. I'm professional web developer with variety of top notch skills. When I'm working alone at home with "binary" code. I listen to radio, not just music but the hosting and all to come together. Without that I would go bonkers
I feel Rudy should have mentioned that with MTG he deals with sealed product not just singles. Also from my understanding, his success is supplemented with other business ventures.
Rudy ain't gotta dance he makes money moves
THanks to NonCompete you now have a new subscriber due to your honesty and upfront"ness" in your delivery. Plus you kinda look like Brandon Mayhew aka Badger. So Kudos, glad to see You found a new career path.
In this video Rudy's hair is sponsored by Audi.
Bogdan Popescu 😂
More like Sponsored by Pontiac
Small Ebay sellers died by MTG as fast as Gideon died by tanking Liliana's bullshit
love cracking packs used to do it without my youtube channel and just sell on ebay, still enjoy opening and selling the bulk and singles though but it is a lot of work to put in but i see it as the only way i can continue to afford to collect cards
There’s an online bidding platform in the UK that has been too greedy and thought they could keep putting up fees. I know for a fact there’s a new startup that’s about to undercut them by a huge margin, with exactly the same service, because there’s no actual reason why an online auction has to incur so many fees, they just get away with whatever they want so long as they have a monopoly.
When the vid is exactly ten minutes again
Adsense pays more then.
10:01 exactly, I'm genuinely annoyed.
Bahahahaha
He dropped off camera 5 seconds too early. And when he's off camera he can let the camera record the bookshelf for hours. Then he takes the footage and edits the ending at 10:00
i buy an sell as a side job. buy collections locally for around 50% of their value, sell online at about 75-80%. speculate on card spikes and buy up when cheap... if you are on top of your game, you can make $500-1000 a month putting in a couple hours a day.
Exactly.
It’s nice that even being kind of a whale you still try to create an environment where everyone can at least get some money. Great man. Keep this work up
I have the skill and prowess to be a seller, to invest in the right cards, pull the right cards, and profit big. My weakness is I just don't want to get rid of the cards. Pulled about $60 from $40 worth of packs, maybe more? Not one card traded in.
I feel you on that buddy
Each time I’m looking rudy videos . I feel like a average timmy !!
Enjoyment is the most important!! Great vid!
Yes, I like sorting/selling these cards. Its therapy and I love it. 5 uncommon planeswalkers for $.99. Thanks Rudy!
I wonder if, in a future video, you could talk about why the rising expenses of sellers isn't just passed on to the consumer. Many might think the cost of purchasing cards online would increase with the increase of paypal or ebay fees.
It's hard taking a step back from this game a couple weeks I had realized I should just be a player and not a collector. and I just started trading with all the cards I've never used and will never use.
"If it makes you Happy it can't be that bad." -Absolute Mad Lad of the third dynasty.
In Europe it's actually quite the opposite, lots and lots of 'shops' open up every month. Basically every timmy who has a license and an appartment nowadays decides to give it a whirl selling singles as a business over at cardmarket, causing prices to collapse within weeks of new releases. I'm in the business for quite a while, but honestly, I'm genuinely thinking of leaving, it's depressing and just too much work for too much of a hassle, just like you said.
I’m a small seller on TCGPlayer. Definitely not raking it in, but it’s a fun little thing to do mostly while I have downtime at my real job. I will say that TCGPlayer’s support of their sellers is amazing. I recently sent in an $800 RI that was destroyed by USPS in transit. TCGPlayer covered this entire cost and told me to keep anything I received from USPS. They’re a great company. I wouldn’t recommend trying to make a living off it though. It’s purely for fun and a very small profit.
Joe Rogan + Grind is a good life
a trick : watch series on Flixzone. Been using them for watching lots of of movies lately.
@Ephraim Jake definitely, I have been watching on flixzone for years myself =)
Ebay and paypal is effing up everything. Crypto might change the landscape towards eCommerce that favors the small seller.
Those eBay and Paypal fees are getting ridiculous... I trade magic cards and musical instruments 🎸 on the side and have switched to Cardsphere and Reverb because of wire transfers and less fees... Food for thought 💭
I've been thinking about a new project for a while for this exact issue. What if a site is built like TCG player but focus is on Magic and make it local only. Drop the fee's, maybe flat subscription fee model or ads alone might pay for it. Could have tiers for watch list, buy lists, notifications ect in order to give it a freemium model.
If the shops used it as there LOB app (another small upsell?) non shops used it as there inventory system, the inventories could stay up to date and anyone could sell there cards. Market value could be auto calculated based on TCG mid maybe, idea is you reduce the data entry as much as possible so the system isn't a huge time sync. I know does some of this tracking but I dont think they have the rest of the features.
Once you have all the assets under management, its just a match making algo. Sellers could post there store times and zipcode/meeting place (public/private location)? Then you can do searches based on how far you would drive for the card. Its more than possible sellers could actually get more than TCG player since they are making the transactions instant and you would not have to wait for the mail.
Another idea is this type of system could be used to do consignment at a shop, that way a shop could handle the transactions for a bunch of local players take a cut (15-20%?). This way you could make bulk buys and cut down drive time, buyers would not have to worry about coordinating schedules or credit card issues.
Let me know what you guys think. I'm currently tied up on another side project (stock algo trader) but as soon as that is done if there is the interest I would be happy to build this.
Highkey is card kingdom driving single card prices up on purpose? Their prices are always waaaay higher on NM than TCG player seller's. I'm wondering if they're just putting up high priced cards and then taking them off the market after a few weeks to make it seem like someone bought these cards thus setting the new price that other sellers should sell at to make profit. If only we could see transaction history on cards to prove there are actual sales happening and not a Fugazi . Just my 2 cents anyone else feel the same?
Honestly, Cardkingdom does a good job (At least moreso than some other large sellers) on predicting trends, and they are much higher pricing wise on cards played more in highlander/edh formats. When they are aggressively priced on cards, usually they are also aggressively priced on their buylist, I've had occasions when I can buy up cards from small sellers on tcgplayer and flip them almost instantly to cardkingdom, and net on their 30% store credit bonus to get cards I actually need. It's a win-win for me.
Card kingdom kinda sucks.. prices always the highest. I go there here n' there looking for boxes my regular site doesn't have in stock and 100% of the time I x out saying fuck that.
WE NEED TO REGULATE THE TCG MARKET
They also offer tops trade credit
They probs offer top trade credit so they don't gotta pay cash and lose money for consuming all the cards on the market and then they sell them back for a higher price which then influences the market price of a card. Just feels like an artificially made price increase on lots of cards and it doesn't seem to me it's from this "new player base" either.
Man... Hasbro lucked out before this cancellation/refund fee was in place!
The issue isn’t with PayPal as much as it is with V/MC/DISC/AMEX and the interchange they charge. They charge interchange for the transaction regardless of whether it’s a purchase or a refund. The Durban Act helped with debit (Still high at %0.05 and $0.22 per transaction for most merchants so possibly half for a Paypal service). It sucks but the interchange on cards have crept up over the years and it’s out of control.
I don't get those people that sell playsets for 99 cents with free shipping. Ebay gets 10 cents, Paypal gets 30 cents + 5 cents. Postage is 50 cents. Congrats, you made 5 cents. Oh wait, you need that to pay for the envelope.
Don't forget the top loader, the penny sleeves, the paper you print the invoice on.
100% agree. I hustle cards but only as a side-hustle. I have a full-time career in my 30's, but love Pokemon, so I do it for fun. But I definitely see how awful it would be as a full-time job.
Thanks for finally answering Rudy!
I enjoy handling/sorting cards, but I don't buy and sell a million different things. If I see a card that I think is underpriced, I will buy up to a price I think is worth holding onto for a year or so until I can make a small profit. I have that disposable income. I also do NOT do this as a job, when I am already at home watching youtube video, or listening to music, trying to wind down before bed I do this. And yes, I've made bad specs, but overall I've made enough flipping cards to buy/trade for things I already needed for my collection.
Rudy, please dig deep down inside and pull out your inner TIMMY and do us other TIMMY's a solid and cover the War of the Spark Mythic edition Foil sheet compensation and the pending lawsuit....us TIMMY's need your insight on what to do!!!!!
"Do you enjoy cracking packs and organizing the cards and find it therapeutic" was the question that makes me actually interested in doing so.
I gotta be honest Rudy, I find this video disheartening. I'm one of those people who absolutely loves messing with magic cards. My goal has always been maybe make a few bucks to buy a box or kinda keep the magic card engine moving along. The absolute dream would be to do that for a living, but I always kept my expectations grounded. The changes to where it is almost prohibitive for me to do something I love and make some money in the process is very sad. Like you, I really hope someone comes along and makes a service to buy/sell magic cards where it is a little more beneficial to smaller sellers like me. We shall see, magic, eBay, PayPal have evolved a lot over the years, perhaps things will evolve again the coming years and it will get better.
I knew that. Been commenting you haven't made anything until you have the $ in hand. You need to find a buyer which can be difficult. You don't want to sell to dealers because they won't pay full price, maybe they'll buy it from you for 30% - 50% off the price guide price.
I gave up selling online. So much easier to buylist or wait for a ‘MagicFest’ to vendor cards for cash.
Buylist?
@@davidiswhat A list of cards that a store wants to buy and how much they'll buy them for.
And I thought it might be more profitable selling cards through eBay or TCG Player than to trade them for store credit at my LGS...
awesome video Rudy!!!
There may be some legal issues involved with charging people the transaction fee. I anticipate lawsuits.
What if I'm stealing the cards to make money but I got busted cuz I'm not really that slick at it. Now it has caused a bunch of stress so I started opening them because it's theraputic but I know absolutley NOTHING about any cards Because I don't like sports and I don't play any of the games that relate tothe other cards. However I am sitting on a grip of stacks of cards that I know nothing about. Should I sell them online and if so where?
I use OfferUp, and Facebook groups/marketplace
Funny the ad before the vid was a juicy couture commercial and Rudy is wearing that juicy taco hat
Hey Rudy, isn't ebay dropping paypal as their primary payment processor and moving to their own internal one to help with the fees etc.?
Rudy killing future competition.
Rudy: "I see myself as a med tier seller"...yeah we have seen your wear house bro lol!
Mid tier seller perhaps. Top grade hoarder of things I'd love to open. Rudy will make a ton of money someday when he starts quietly selling his stockpile off but for now I can feel all the cards crying because no one is playing with them.
Synopsis goes like this; quit now while your behind it’s only going to get worse send all your unused product to a wholesaler like me.
in Moses Lake, WA we just lost our only LGS. Angry Squirrelz was a great store and the War Of The Spark pre release, was their last day in business. I wish in the next few years, hobby stores finally get the treatment they deserve from WOTC and table top gaming culture ceases to be, the shadow of its 90s self
I've noticed a lot of my buddies have stopped selling cards over the years. It's not just Magic card sellers, its like that with the sports card market too. Selling single cards really favors large or high volume card sellers. I don't sell on TCGplayer cause the fee structure doesn't fit with my business plan. Everybody's opinion on who is a large seller is different. A lot of people nowadays think anybody with an ebay anchor store with 5000 listings or more is a large seller. I myself have 2 anchor stores and I get people all the time that consider me to be a large seller. I know several large card sellers that do 2000 times more sales than me. For those that want tips on how to become a large seller. Tip #1 don't open any packs or boxes. #2 Aim for at least the ebay anchor store with at least 6-10k listings. #3 Carry only cards that you can sell for $1 or higher. Am I afraid of more competition? Not really. I know that however many tips I or anybody gives, it's easier said than done. I see a lot of people trying to copy what I'm doing on ebay and they all quit eventually. They can't do it the same way. There are so many things that prevent new or small sellers from becoming large sellers, like ebay's listing limit. And I get card supplies directly from manufacturers, that's already a major thing in my favor. I get 25 top loaders for $0.80 while the people trying to copy me get it for $2. There will always be people trying to become a large card seller, but there are a lot of obstacles that will prevent them from reaching that goal.
Came for the title, stayed for the TACO 12 PACK in the background
I like your hat, whats on it/where did you get it?
Less sellers you say?... Good, less competition! Keep the videos coming, Rudy!
Btw, I disagree that EBay and/or TCGPlayer will raise their fees anytime soon. They know they're in competition with Facebook and Discord groups for zero fees. Raising fees is only going to push people towards those marketplaces.
Facebook and Discord has no protection. Yes, you have PayPal G&S, but is that enough? Ebay and TCGplayer's stellar buyer/seller protection offers something over the two you mentioned. Hence the fees.
Hey Rudy, looking for your thoughts on how this topic has evolved over the past year. I'm a small individual seller on tcgplayer selling singles, and have been doing ok ~$200/month as a hobbyist. With the pricing structure changes, is this a viable way to continue building my business, or are there other ways to increase throughput ($$ in -> $$ out) with tcg trading?
I appreciate your prospective.
I enjoyed that Taco Bell advertisement!
As an European seller, I moved all my singles to Cardmarket because no PayPal is involved. They have a quiet fair commission system and allows me to list 100s of cards permanent for no listing fees.
Sell singles in FB groups or direct to resellers via buylist. For Booster boxes, more expensive stuff, eBay still works.
It's easier for me to make profits off singles than sealed boxes. Especially when it's around $10 to ship a booster box and over $25 to ship a case of 6.
Maybe Tcgplayer but not Ebay. I give Ebay a 1 out of 10 floppy tacos!
Tcgplayer only place to sell single cards. My wife & I make 20k a year doing it semi casual.
That's amazing!
We make most of our income with Ebay. But its totally not worth the effort for most singles of mtg pokemon or yugioh. Comics and vinyl on the other hand :)
@Brandon Kick shipping goes up every year, just like everything else inflation hits. I always factor shipping into the value of the item to determine if it's a marketable product. Been at it since 2004 when I was like 19 and seen marked growth every year! It's still a job In a lot of ways and self motivation is a must. I love hunting for product though
@@Omnomax link to your shop
Disagree sir... I work at a pawnshop.. As the fact we don't mess with any cards at all... Doesn't stop them from magically appearing in the door... As long as you can effectively control the cost of initial buy... Can still make a boatload selling individuals... But is also a labor of love for me. Keep it up bro.. New sub.. I like your style.
Yep, the key is to offer that poor schlub 200 bucks for his $1500 collection. Once you get there, you can just dump it anywhere for $1000 and make a quick profit.
@@marcmarc1967 I mean yes.. If you don't know what you have or am open for the get down any way... Why not??
paypal is going out of bussiness in 5-10 years, there's much much better ways and all you guys know what I mean. People are just not ready yet to use bitcoin or nano or litecoin, there's just not enough implantation at the moment, and people still think banks are safe. But it'll come, just like the creditcard, wireless payment etc. etc. people were so reluctant to use at first. It takes time, but it'll come. good vid Rudy. (Bitcoin almost 7000$ today)
I found it easier to buy from Amazon than from tcg
Sold off all my card collection of value accept my battle box decks I’ve been making over the years. It’s actually a blast! Sell me your collections at a low low price, I’ll put them up on eBay for a profit. ;p
If they can just keep making 25 dollar buy a box promos, new sets with cards catered to all formats, mythic cash grab easy money headaches, magic bull market, pewdiepie and this Rudy guy really getting everyone riled up for MTG, and if one has a love for hard work, dedication, perseverance, strong headed.. well then there may be hope for some small fries
Most people buy and sell mtg cards on community fb pages where they pay no fees. I reckon only 50% of people max now purchase mtg carda from avenues like ebay. Most people who have played for a long time avoid it or look up the sellers direct website where they can purchase for a better price anyway.
I fell into it, on April Fools of all days. I also discovered Rudy, that same day, after losing my job of 10 years. My big question for Rudy the Great, is, why, did, you, not tell me to buy mythic Edition boxes??? That would have kick-started my career, instead I'm applying for food stamps! For the Love of Rudy, why?
The only way to make money on singles is to buy A LOT of the same card. To the extent that you affect the supply of that one card. Sit on them. Then eek out a profit, slowly and hope you don’t get a supply dump.
Im glad you tell the truth, only reason i watch
Rudy!!!!! Should I hold onto my Onslaught bosster box??????????
Rudy - On the flipside if there are less competitors and you are determined and adamant to succeed selling cards, then this means you can succeed more long term?
I tend to split between CK buylist and Tcgplayer seller. 95% of the time it goes to CK for cash. Yeah, here and there I make an extra $2 on a card with tcgplayer vs buylist. I maybe get $20 in sales from tcgplayer a month
Well I guess it's a good thing that I'm only buying sealed product for the long term!
Selling direct off FB works. No fees, just emts.
eBay: but....you.... can't do that!?!? REEEEEEEEEE......
What's FB?
@@marcmarc1967 FreeBabes
This video seemed somehow more silent than the others? And it's not my audio output, other videos are louder. Both on this channel and others.
Hey Rudy I've been watching a lot of your videos for a few years now and I was wondering would it be possible to purchase a booster box with out being a patron ? If so how would I go about that. Thank you for your time.
I think the most interesting thing on ebay is sports and more being strong armed by MTG lovers to "raise" their prices. Who would imagine someone complaining the prices were too low...that's the most interesing ebay story for sure.
THANK GOD FOR KIJIJI, I can sell my singles at a decent price, which is better than no price.
The era of decentralization is upon us and there will be auction sites where the fees will be minimal.
Summary of video: Send all the cards to me and buy only to me XD nice try creepy Rudy! nice try.
you are not about that life, i can take it
his ploys get more and more obvious...
Go ahead guys and make a livin out of it.. but i wont be sitting here waiting for you to succeed. Even though I wish you best of luck..
Sorting is extremely therapeutic for me
I quit eBay bc they hosed me as a buyer (their guarantee is worth shit) and as a seller. I decided it wasn’t worth the stress to deal with eBay. Don’t need the money and certainly don’t need the stress. Now I just donate anything I want to sell and goodwill can deal with it. I use eBay to price the tax deduction.
I see a consolidation happening....I recently had my paypal upgraded with enhanced seller protections....check you paypal account....they upgraded mine to win more disputes favorably....i instantly get the money in my account....it seems if you have been in this for the long haul you are good....new sellers will have a progressively harder and harder time selling anything
I'm one of those people
I fucking _LOVE_ it, sifting through cards against prices and selling the ones i don't want to play.
Sure, i don't make big bucks, but i usually break even and can get another box.
Rudy is right though, as usual lol, this is a hobby and i have lost a few quid here and there and I'm fine with that. This isn't a way to make money.
Lotto hat rudy. i like this guy.
Selling singles is for suckers! That's why I only invest in Reserved List and cheap Rudy Patron mutual fund sealed boxes. (Was going to go all in on Timmy edition, but Rudy warned me to steer clear of that trap.)
I am having the same issue. I tried dropshipping till ebay flagged me. I had a 45 min convo explaining the problem. If I buy a item for near retail. I have to go price it so far above an compete against wholesalers who can sell below retail. Ebay is going more an more corporate every day. I get 50 messages a day calling me a price gouger yet I make 10 to 15% on all items I sell.
Unhinged cold turkey fighting the urge to open every pack in his inventory Kermit Voiced Chewbacca arms searching for the simple truck driving fishing on weekends Rudy. Survive!!!
Rudy's dream job and it's....yeah, that's all I got...
It's not really worth it for me to try and use Ebay. I usually just send cards to Card Kingdom for store credit