Topic: Question about customary values in trades

Recently I tried to engage in a trade for 2 cards - Jace AoT, and Thassa.  The total added up to like $40.60 or somewhere in that range (not really relevant).  After looking at the person's wishlist, I selected 7 cards on it that added up to ~40.00, proposed the trade, and messaged the person to feel free to look at my list and see if there was anything else he might want, and to feel free to change.

He responded by telling me that he was incurring quite a loss, and that despite the difference in monetary value being ~.60, the fact was that he was losing 2 valuable cards, and gaining 7 moderately valuable cards.  He essentially scoffed at my offer.

Is this the common understanding about the value of trades, or is this few an exception to the norm?  I always focus on the monetary value of trades, and try to get them as close to even as possible.  Is the amount of cards being exchanged typically relevant?

Re: Question about customary values in trades

This would be a situation referred to as "trading down".  More seasoned traders usually don't like to do it unless they are getting value in either the trade (as in they are getting extra value) OR they are trading things like Standard cards for Legacy/Modern/EDH staples that aren't likely to plummet in price at the drop of a hat.

If someone wanted two $20 cards from me and offered 6-7 $3-5 cards I'd probably scoff at the offer too.  It would have to be stuff I REALLY wanted or they would need to give me some additional value (10-20% depending on the cards) to make up the difference.

Hope that helps!

Last edited by Bondidude (2013-11-11 18:57:26)

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

Okay, that helps me a lot for future trades.  Being relatively new to this, I just assumed that tradelists included expendable cards, and wishlists included priority cards, so I based the value of the cards in a strictly monetary fashion.  Trading down theory makes a lot of sense.  Thank you for the help!

Re: Question about customary values in trades

I would also like to add some emphasis to what Bondidude said. Standard cards though they may currently have a price of 25 dollars may not be traded at the price when you are after modern/legacy/EDH staples. When I trade staples for modern, depending on the card I will normally recieve 30-50% extra in value depending on what cards I am trading. Also don't be offended if some people (though the card is on the trade list) just won't trade it for what you have. There are tons of times that I have say a fetch land on my tradelist that I will not trade it for standard at all.

Stuff like that just happens. Also there are tons of people with particular interests and pet peevs so try not to be offended, I find myself just brushing things like that off anymore, not worth my time.

Good luck with your trades!

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

oGsmakeit wrote:

Okay, that helps me a lot for future trades.  Being relatively new to this, I just assumed that tradelists included expendable cards, and wishlists included priority cards, so I based the value of the cards in a strictly monetary fashion.  Trading down theory makes a lot of sense.  Thank you for the help!

No worries, it's the little things you'll pick up, especially when dealing with high value cards.

There's also something else you need to take into account which is liquidity, or how easily a card is able to be traded.  For instance, I can't keep Thalia's in my tradelist for long.  As soon as I get them in, they're shipping out which is why I like trading for them, it's a sub $5 card that's a Modern/Legacy staple and I know I can usually move it into something bigger.

Compare that to something like Gravecrawler.  Same price around (around tree-fiddy) but I've had 6 of them sitting in my binder for months and just recently managed to move 3 of them.  Thalia and Jace both have some amount of liquidity to them on top of their ~$20 price tags.  I'm not likely to trade those unless I'm getting something that I can turn around and move as easily or easier as the case may be if I'm trading down.

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

AmarusCameron wrote:

I would also like to add some emphasis to what Bondidude said. Standard cards though they may currently have a price of 25 dollars may not be traded at the price when you are after modern/legacy/EDH staples. When I trade staples for modern, depending on the card I will normally recieve 30-50% extra in value depending on what cards I am trading. Also don't be offended if some people (though the card is on the trade list) just won't trade it for what you have. There are tons of times that I have say a fetch land on my tradelist that I will not trade it for standard at all.

Stuff like that just happens. Also there are tons of people with particular interests and pet peevs so try not to be offended, I find myself just brushing things like that off anymore, not worth my time.

Good luck with your trades!

You can say that again. I cannot find anyone willing to trade me Tron stuff and I have Lilis and Fetches on my tradelist... which are usually basically cash money on this website.

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

Well the stuff you have in particular on your wishlist is just so bloody useful in every deck (aside from the banned nature of Emrakul in EDH) it's hard to part with any of that stuff =P

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

AmarusCameron wrote:

Well the stuff you have in particular on your wishlist is just so bloody useful in every deck (aside from the banned nature of Emrakul in EDH) it's hard to part with any of that stuff =P

That's true, but my tradelist isn't exactly full of cards that aren't useful! haha

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

One of the more interesting trends I've noticed in my trading is just how much EDH affects cards value and liquidity. If a card is only a modern / legacy staple, but not really used in EDH people are generally more inclined to trade it for same value cards. Example: Remand. Not that great in EDH, but a modern staple. As long as you've got other similar valued staples like Deathrite, etc you can usually find someone trading Remands. Now let's look at the alternative: Kozilek. Kozilek is a a modern and EDH staple, and sees some play in legacy but is usually looked over for Ulamog and Emrakul. People are much less willing to part with Kozilek because he is both valuable and highly liquid, so they will only trade him for a similar value card they really need, or put him in a trade up. Personally when I was looking for a Kozilek a little while ago it took me almost 2 weeks of hunting to get one, even when I was offering a fetch (either Catacomb/Mesa/Flats). When a card is an EDH staple ontop of another format staple I've noticed people are far less willing to part with it for equal valued cards or highly sought-after cards. No real data to back up this claim, just something I've noticed in my 320+ trades here.

Edit: I can grammar

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

UnstableFlux wrote:

One of the more interesting trends I've noticed in my trading is just how much EDH affects cards value and liquidity. If a card is only a modern / legacy staple, but not really used in EDH people are generally more inclined to trade it for same value cards. Example: Remand. Not that great in EDH, but a modern staple. As long as you've got other similar valued staples like Deathrite, etc you can usually find someone trading Remands. Now let's look at the alternative: Kozilek. Kozilek is a a modern and EDH staple, and sees some play in legacy but is usually looked over for Ulamog and Emrakul. People are much less willing to part with Kozilek because he is both valuable and highly liquid, so they will only trade him for a similar value card they really need, or put him in a trade up. Personally when I was looking for a Kozilek a little while ago it took me almost 2 weeks of hunting to get one, even when I was offering a fetch (either Catacomb/Mesa/Flats). When a card is an EDH staple ontop of another format staple I've noticed people are far less willing to part with it for equal valued cards or highly sought-after cards. No real data to back up this claim, just something I've noticed in my 320+ trades here.

Edit: I can grammar


This is one percent correct!

As an EDH player first and foremost, I would have a hard time trading anything that was considered an EDH staple, Kozilek is a great example; but also cards like Maze of Ith, Sol Ring, any of the mirrodin swords, and things like seedborn muse are all going to be somewhat hard to find people trading even though they may not be 100 dollar cards.

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

UnstableFlux wrote:

One of the more interesting trends I've noticed in my trading is just how much EDH affects cards value and liquidity. If a card is only a modern / legacy staple, but not really used in EDH people are generally more inclined to trade it for same value cards. Example: Remand. Not that great in EDH, but a modern staple. As long as you've got other similar valued staples like Deathrite, etc you can usually find someone trading Remands. Now let's look at the alternative: Kozilek. Kozilek is a a modern and EDH staple, and sees some play in legacy but is usually looked over for Ulamog and Emrakul. People are much less willing to part with Kozilek because he is both valuable and highly liquid, so they will only trade him for a similar value card they really need, or put him in a trade up. Personally when I was looking for a Kozilek a little while ago it took me almost 2 weeks of hunting to get one, even when I was offering a fetch (either Catacomb/Mesa/Flats). When a card is an EDH staple ontop of another format staple I've noticed people are far less willing to part with it for equal valued cards or highly sought-after cards. No real data to back up this claim, just something I've noticed in my 320+ trades here.

Edit: I can grammar

This is absolutely true. It would appear that this forum is like 90% EDH players. Makes it very difficult for people like me that are only interested in competitive (Modern / Standard) formats to trade. haha

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

truechill wrote:

This is absolutely true. It would appear that this forum is like 90% EDH players. Makes it very difficult for people like me that are only interested in competitive (Modern / Standard) formats to trade. haha


Hey anything is for trade if the trade is right =P

I have offered guys 100% over value for a card I really needed on multiple occasions. Just depends on where your priorities are at.

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

Just to reiterate what was said:

1. Some folks don't like to trade standard for modern/legacy

2. Trading a bunch of smaller cards for a "big" card (this is subjective but typically $20+) is sometimes frowned upon. It really depends on what you're trading for, though. For example, I wouldn't consider a couple Inquisition of Kozileks for a Jace, Architect of Thought to be outlandish, because JaoT's value is going to bounce around and IoK is out of print.

It also really depends on the person you're trading with. Most of the time the folks who have been trading a while will just tell you if they don't want to make a trade and if you ask, they'll tell you why. If someone freaks out at you don't worry about it too much, most people around here are friendly.

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

A lot of great responses in there.  The only thing I'd add is that getting the trades you want often requires a bit of leg-work.  You need to do your best to make sure the greatest number of people see your tradelist and your wants.  The weekly reddit trade thread works well for that, as does posting here.  Be persistent and good luck.

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

Answered and explained - closed -

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Re: Question about customary values in trades

I'll chime in as well with something no one has mentioned. I find it slightly annoying when people fill up my side of the trade from their list. Just because I have cards on my wishlist doesn't mean I am actively trading for them. Not a huge deal, but its annoying having to remove ten 1 dollar cards that I have on my list as throw-ins. wishlist =! will trade anything for cards. Chat people up, see what their priorities are smile

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