[ Closed ] Site-wide card pricing changes (Page 7 of 8)

I am using this site to price my current collection of around 100,000  Magic cards (estimated). I understand the position that the Deck Box team is in with tcgplayer. I was hoping to slowly get most of my collection up with in the year. I understand it is only temporary. I choose to wait till the new prices are set by the Deck Box team.

I feel amazon is not a good solution even if it is temporary. As stated before there are sellers charging only a cent on commons and charging full price on shipping. It happens on Ebay too.

I think some good options were given as possible solutions to the pricing problem. I think the right approach is being taken to achieve an alternative that is based off of seller statistics and seller prices.

I am choosing to wait not based on the change and how abrupt it had to happen. I am choosing to waiting because I want to see what the future holds and I need a good base line idea of exactly what the price is of my collection. This way I have a good idea for something I want to do in the future.

Last edited by chazdragontamer (2014-04-03 17:44:29)

IIRC, MTGGoldfish.com gets it's information from TCGPlayer so that could cause some issues.

Thanks for your hard work on this and sorry to hear TCGPlayer didn't want to collaborate.

Tenth addition shock is apparently going for $87

This is a sad change for deckbox, I hope it gets fixed soon

That's like saying we can look up prices on TCGplayer.  Yes, we know we can do that.  The problem is convenience of not having to do that, which is what this site offered over its competitors.

Legal cease and desist letters are like that (assuming that was the mechanism used). They don't give you time for an orderly transition.

While IANAL, my work history includes time in retail management, and I can tell you that prices themselves are not protected. Stores regularly monitor their competitor's prices.  While in retail books, I had to kick my former boss (from another chain) out of my store because she was not only logging prices, but also photographing everything (back when all cameras were film-based). I regularly record retail prices when shopping, and keep them in a spreadsheet to track price patterns (e.g., big meat sale every 10 weeks).

The issue here is that we had been using an interface created by TCGPlayer to get our pricing information, so TCGPlayer controlled the terms that allowed us to use that interface.  They didn't like what was happening, so they "took their ball and went home" (so to speak).

<soapbox>

Sebi and company, rather than letting the site sit with no price information, worked hard to get something in place right away--Amazon pricing. It may not be ideal, but it was also not intended to be a permanent replacement. They've invested far too much thus far (time, money, nights, weekends, and holidays) to walk away (though I'm sure they've been tempted). It's going to take time to get things fixed with a new price source--work that needs to get done in Sebi's spare time (outside his other responsibilities in life).

Again, while I am not a lawyer (and certainly no expert in international commerce), I do believe some of the pricing resources others have mentioned may be valid options, even if those resources utilize prices from TCGPlayer.  TCGPlayer's agreement governs the direct (API) access to their pricing information.  Access to the data provided by those other services is governed by the EULA or Terms of Service each has in place. To exercise an abundance of caution, perhaps prices could be aggregated from multiple sources.

As a final thought, the reason so many people trust TCGPlayer pricing is because they aggregate prices from many sources. As this site continues to grow, I can envision other sellers wanting to sell through Deckbox. That would give us the type of pricing data that could make Deckbox the de facto and trusted source for pricing information.  We just need to ride out this storm.

No matter how shocked we were by the change... No matter how frustrated we may feel about the loss of a reliable pricing source... No matter how much any of us may feel like giving up and moving on... we need to remember that we are the Deckbox community! and we are the ones who have helped this site become a rising star. We need to take a collective breath and give Sebi and company time to do what they do. If you've been with us for a while, you'll realize just how far the site has come. You'll recall how attentive Sebi has been to comments and suggestions. And though sometimes we've had to wait longer for some fixes and features [Thanks for the vacation flag, Sebi!], he's kept the updates and fixes coming. He'll do it again in this situation. I look forward to seeing the pricing system resolved, but, more importantly, I look forward to many great days of tracking, trading, and selling ahead.

</soapbox>

First off, i like deckbox, since i started playing MTG again I've been using the service non-stop.  I'd like the option to buy from people on here and the option to sell. Right now i sell locally or on ebay when I can. A "one stop shop" would be ideal.

  I get the time investment, this is their baby, and I don't think anyone can deny the work that's been put into the site. 

Here's the issues.

1.  Amazon prices are crap, they're unstable at best (tcg prices were a bit unstable to begin with but workable).  Honestly, nothing would have been preferable to the mess we currently have.  We've got to look up other more stable prices right now already, zeros would have at least let everyone know you can' trust the prices there are people that don't read the forums.  Bottom line, The prices are completely unusable and a waste of their development time. 

2. I get the money angle, i get the need to make the site independent. No one is faulting them for that. IT's the _execution_ that is the issue here. The problem is 2 fold. 1) The market place going online before they had stable workable prices of their own or made an agreement with another 3rd party to outsource the data.   So bad choice #1.  2) No communication, we are customers (paid or unpaid doesn't matter) using a service they provide.  There was no warning, no heads up, it took everyone by surprise and people don't like that. They have a pretty solid devoted base of people here and blind siding them shakes their confidence.  Bad choice # 2

Visibility, reliability, consistency, and accountability.  The nature of the internet makes it so, you can provide a good service with a minimal staff (which they have been).  but you still have to run it like every other business.   

Hypothetically, If I owned a store and was a high volume trader potentially a high volume seller using deckbox because I loved the service.  How should I feel now?  Can i trust them to be consistent in the future?  What if something goes wrong during a sell? Can they be held accountable?  This transition has been shaky, will they be reliable in the future?  They've been consistent in the past, but now i have to wait and see what happens... which hurts my business as well as theirs.  To me a lot of this seems uncertain.

Honestly letting this discussion be an open forum was a mistake.  Take a tip from some of the bigger cats on the internet. It should have been a single post, with an apology and a list of things they're working on to fix it.  Wasting time holding everyone's hand is just that... wasting time.

Could you have an agreement with a Commercial site like Cardkingdom?

Most people over here use Deckbox for trading, while we use Cardkingdom for buying. I would see that as a mutual benefit for both Deckbox and Cardkingdom, and a tremendous benefit for us

Last edited by Roar (2014-04-04 14:40:10)

It isn't just technology. It is technology, government, social policies, and a host of other things. Parents are too lax, trying to give their children everything they possibly can. Government programs hand out money and food stamps to people who don't deserve them. Companies can be bullied into paying disabilities they shouldn't have to. Credit cards, banks, and so many others foster a, "Reward now, pay someday" attitude. Frivolous lawsuits actually work. Schools can't discipline children. My generation (I'm 27), and even more so the rising generation, expect everything to be handed to us, and we throw temper tantrums when it isn't.

Entitlement and instant gratification are to blame, and technology is only one reason why those twin diseases exist. My generation, and the generation coming after us, could do more damage to the country (and the world) as a result of prosperity than anybody ever did as a result of depressions and recessions.

But that is a "little" off topic.

Last edited by Xan (2014-04-04 16:39:28)

That's like asking what Walmart would do if a single-store business copied their smiley face mascot. Deckbox is too small (in relation to Amazon) for it to be a priority. They might get around to it eventually (though who knows how long it would before they even noticed), but by then Deckbox will have moved to a better system.

Last edited by Xan (2014-04-04 18:04:12)