9700377 wrote:Obviously I'm one of these value traders. Maybe *the* value trader on this site and some others.
I'm "entitled" to this extra value because because I'm providing a service that requires a substantial amount of time and money investment - I need to keep my inventory updated, I need to prepare packages, I need to pay shipping fees. I have a day job and the margins I make do not really justify the amount of time I put into this - it's still largely a community service and not a profitable endeavor. If you reduce those margins than I quit the site. If I quit the site then who wins? Certainly not the people with whom I've completed over 1000 trades with on those terms. I don't have a store but this is exactly the sort of argument that an LGS would use to defend the notion that it should be able to charge margins that allows it to pay its employees and keep the lights on.
So, I dont want to quote the whole thing you wrote, but in a nutshell, I do agree with you on the aspect you have outlined. I think obviously that if you are trading away Modern/Legacy/high end stuff for a bunch of standard stuff that will go down in price, yes you, and everybody should be able to ask for a bit of extra value, I am completely ok with this as I have done it.
What I dont get or condone (but I dont blame anyone or think differently of them) is the people that ask for this same premium when trading Modern for Modern/high end card for high end. These people are what I dont understand why they are asking extra for those trades. We are trading cards that have basically the same value. I think these are the people that most users complain about.
These is just my two cents. People are going to trade how they want, and as long as they are upfront about it, I dont fault them.