I feel what is lacking in this hobby is sellers not using something like rubberbands in all instances where they use tape in packaging. Getting cards to each other without damaging them while opening the pack is so vital in this hobby and so many sellers just don’t deem the shipping step as very important. It’s the most important part of the process though imo…
Tape is the worst possible thing I can see in a package ANYWHERE in the package. It’s annoying trying to tear it off, pull it off sleeves, cut it without damaging cards etc… You can get a grab bag of 200 different rubber band size for $2 at the grocery store and they do everything tape does, without residue, without struggle, etc.
Please for the love of god, stop using tape in packages, use rubberbands or something.
@smpratte Unfortunately I will not be able to make it to worlds this year, but I will DEFINITELY make time for a efour event no matter what!! This is a awesome idea man. So you can count me in on your gauging!
P.s. I’ve already planned ahead for going to worlds in 2019 no matter what life throws at me, I will be there!
I want an official Pokémon book with lists of cards including their variants.
There’s just so many special stamped, unique holofoil cards. Which ones are official, which ones are not? Which ones are errors?
Other TCGs need to invest in more consumer facing interaction than Pokemon.
Pokemon sells itself with a legion of fans who keep buying subpar product and the playerbase is arguably smaller than most other TCGs. The core demographic is Sheryl who likes eevees and will keep buying product to complete sets, not Steven who just needs 4 Buzzwole and 4 Tapu Lele.
DBSTCG is still a new product and could easily fail, the game has serious power creep issues. Most card games bandai has made have failed so now that they smell blood in the water with DBS’s success they’re going to throw money at it. The prize support for the game is amazing but TCG players are fickle, it’s not something picked up by children. It’s primary demographic are teens to young adults. It’s really hard for companies to introduce players to TCGs (or any tabletop game requiring a huge monetary investment) so it makes sense for a newly released game (1 year is pretty young) to keep throwing money at it’s game.
The other issue with DBSTCG is that card prices evaporate days after sets are released. Opening the product is just setting money on fire and I believe it comes down to too many stores opening product to sell to a relatively tiny playerbase. LGSs and online stores are so desperate for a new revenue train that they’re happy to take short term losses and sell singles but secondary markets are extremely important for the success of TCGs. People aren’t going to keep buying product unless they perceive value in that sealed product. When the EV of a box for the new DBS set is $40 2 weeks after release and the RRP is $100 why would they buy more?
Final Fantasy is in the same boat but with a declining playerbase and terrible business decisions. They just decided to start reprinting older sets (think roaring skies asspull) for no reason.
MtG Players hate spending money frivolously because they’re grown adults. They are aware about bad product more than any other TCG, they dislike WotC’s corporate culture and the cutbacks they’ve made in the game. They NEED to market the game every chance they get. This year only HALF of the vendors showed up to GP Vegas, MtG’s largest tournament compared to 2017. Card stores are closing everywhere because MtG has these razor thin margins and WotC has now made the product more expensive on a wholesale level.
Konami is being smart with Yu-Gi-Oh! they know the app (Duel Links) is a good gateway to buy paper cards and Yu-Gi-Oh! has an incredibly strong brand considering Yu-gi-oh! should be dead as a TCG due to how terribly the game is managed. Casuals/Normies/bad players will continue to buy bad product, prize support is nonexistent and it’s hard to retain players when the game changes so drastically year after year. You can slap Yugi and kaiba or Blue-Eyes on anything and it will sell. It’s still not nearly as ingrained in regular consumer’s psyche as Pokemon so they have to make an effort at events like these.
Might not be able to write a book but plan on doing something similar… i describe it in more depth in the article/guide section for Dutch Pokémon cards
Mjisaacs
I haven’t read any prior responses to this post so forgive me if I’m repeating someone else.
I wish there was less pack opening super wow factor channels in the YouTube pokemon community and more in the realm of MTG finance. I know Magic has it’s problems and generally has an older audiance but I really enjoy watching content creators like vintage magic and the all mighty Rudy. There’s just no one that I’ve found yet to really scratch that itch in pokemon on youtube besides Scott and gemmintpokemon.
Wrong. It is against their terms. It is inherently against their terms in all cases as well in that they are mandating someone either pay F&F (against terms) or pay G&S PLUS fees (surcharge, against terms).
You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as a payment method. You may charge a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge and is not higher than the handling fee you charge for non-PayPal transactions."
I’m strongly against this practice, but how is Paypal to know a $52 invoice includes a $2 surchage to cover fees on a $50 sale? There are sellers that do this on a daily basis and I have yet to see one get in trouble. Do people even report this?
I’m sure its reported rarely/occasionally but I’m sure Paypal wouldn’t care to take as big of a stance against it as they do for using F&F payments for G&S. That costs them a lot more money and people do that every day too. I’m not sure how some people get away with it at the scale at which they do it.
That’s funny, because that rule doesn’t apply to me, as an Australian.
PayPal Australia User agreement, exert;
“represent and warrant that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting our Services as a payment method that exceeds the amount you pay us for that payment as a percentage of your total price.”
@ozenigma my other point still applies. Almost anytime I have seen “you pay fees” it has followed “friends and family or”. So that part of it is always a no-no.
I guess as an Aussie to another Aussie or whatever other countries have similar terms it’s all fine but anyone dealing with a US seller it isn’t fine according to their terms and hasn’t been for as long as I’ve known. It makes sense too as they don’t want their brand associated with additional fees and expense. They want customers to feel free to use it at no cost to them.
It’s the cost of doing business, so ANYONE that is a buyer that complains about the cost of running a business should get themselves checked.
The current culture of expecting everything for free is ridiculous. The fee associated with PayPal offers buyer and seller protection. If any buyer can’t understand that they need to pay in part for their own protection, maybe buying things isn’t for them.
