Customer Reviews

of our Magic collection selling service

While we strive to set expectations for all customers ahead of time, there can be times where expectations aren't able to be met. Unfortunately for this shipment, the high-end old border foils which were 5-10+ years old had noticeable signs of wear and had to be graded as such. When presented with extensive photographic evidence supporting the grades, the customer simply disagreed with the assessment, but would not cite any particular grading criteria to refute the grades.

It can be frustrating when you believe your cards are in great condition, but they don't meet vendor criteria to be assessed as such, as was the case here. We always want to come to a mutually agreeable conclusion where possible, but when offered the opportunity to explore that, the customer declined, instead requesting we pay the amounts assessed while maintaining their disappointment. Markdowns for high end foils can be substantial since NM versions can be in low supply; when sending in high end foils and the grade is uncertain, we recommend requesting the cards be held for review so the results can be properly understood before finalized.

While we strive to set expectations for all customers ahead of time, there can be times where expectations aren't able to be met. Unfortunately for this shipment, the high-end old border foils which were 5-10+ years old had noticeable signs of wear and had to be graded as such. When presented with extensive photographic evidence supporting the grades, the customer simply disagreed with the assessment, but would not cite any particular grading criteria to refute the grades.

It can be frustrating when you believe your cards are in great condition, but they don't meet vendor criteria to be assessed as such, as was the case here. We always want to come to a mutually agreeable conclusion where possible, but when offered the opportunity to explore that, the customer declined, instead requesting we pay the amounts assessed while maintaining their disappointment. Markdowns for high end foils can be substantial since NM versions can be in low supply; when sending in high end foils and the grade is uncertain, we recommend requesting the cards be held for review so the results can be properly understood before finalized.

It is definitely an unfortunate experience when you find out that what you thought were expensive versions of cards are instead more common and far less expensive versions. This is very common for people less familiar with the game using scanning apps which often will identify cards as Summer Edition, which are extremely rare and valuable, but are actually Revised Edition – not rare, and (mostly) not valuable.

In the case here, there were numerous cards submitted as Unlimited Edition that were regrettably Revised Edition. It isn’t an uncommon mistake to make, however, the differences between Unlimited and Revised are still quite distinct (Unlimited cards have beveled (double) lines at the borders, revised has a single between the inner card and the border) – and our staff is extensively trained to detect the differences between versions. In addition to the mistakenly submitted Unlimited cards, there was a card submitted as Alpha, but was actually from Revised – and a card ... Read more

It is definitely an unfortunate experience when you find out that what you thought were expensive versions of cards are instead more common and far less expensive versions. This is very common for people less familiar with the game using scanning apps which often will identify cards as Summer Edition, which are extremely rare and valuable, but are actually Revised Edition – not rare, and (mostly) not valuable.

In the case here, there were numerous cards submitted as Unlimited Edition that were regrettably Revised Edition. It isn’t an uncommon mistake to make, however, the differences between Unlimited and Revised are still quite distinct (Unlimited cards have beveled (double) lines at the borders, revised has a single between the inner card and the border) – and our staff is extensively trained to detect the differences between versions. In addition to the mistakenly submitted Unlimited cards, there was a card submitted as Alpha, but was actually from Revised – and a card submitted as from The Dark that was actually from Chronicles; in both cases, the difference in the border color alone is enough for anyone familiar with cards to identify the difference.

To those considering the service and reading this review: if you have this kind of concern, you should always reach out to us upon receiving your report and we can explain the differences and provide scans to verify we have assigned the correct version. We would just need you to reach out in a timely fashion, as we may not be able to provide scans if too much time has passed after we complete processing your cards. Ultimately our goal is to ensure you have an experience that meets or exceeds your expectations; this certainly can be a challenge when incorrect assumptions exist coming in, but we will do our best to help you make the best of the situation to the extent we can. You should never assume “well they won’t do anything” – always reach out; we’re here to help.

This customer has been contacted directly to explain a few things about the service, but to also address the alleged missing cards. This reply will steer clear of specifics meant for this customer, and focus on what might be useful for someone reading the review.

Regarding the alleged missing cards, we take the chain of custody of incoming shipments extremely seriously. Our service requires enormous trust, and we recognize how important it be that we can definitively say we processed all cards received in a shipment. In this case, we have reviewed all the pictures of the shipment, as well as shipments processed after the shipment had been opened – and we can confirm that Doubling Season was not received in the shipment (and that all cards received in the shipment are accounted for in the final report presented to the customer). In all cases this has happened in the past, the customer was ultimately able to locate the “missing” items either at their residence or accidentall ... Read more

This customer has been contacted directly to explain a few things about the service, but to also address the alleged missing cards. This reply will steer clear of specifics meant for this customer, and focus on what might be useful for someone reading the review.

Regarding the alleged missing cards, we take the chain of custody of incoming shipments extremely seriously. Our service requires enormous trust, and we recognize how important it be that we can definitively say we processed all cards received in a shipment. In this case, we have reviewed all the pictures of the shipment, as well as shipments processed after the shipment had been opened – and we can confirm that Doubling Season was not received in the shipment (and that all cards received in the shipment are accounted for in the final report presented to the customer). In all cases this has happened in the past, the customer was ultimately able to locate the “missing” items either at their residence or accidentally included in a shipment to another person or vendor. We suspect that to be the case here.

Regarding the “estimated value”, unfortunately this was not an estimate provided from our estimate tool, but rather an estimate from what appears to be a third-party application of some sort that uses TCGPlayer Mid as a proxy for value. Unfortunately, TCGPlayer Mid is not a useful metric; we use TCGPlayer Low as a proxy for retail value, as it more accurately reflects the retail value a customer might expect (not factoring in costs/time, etc.). TCGPlayer Low for the full shipment here was just over $3,900. Removing the items that were intended to be sent, but were not, and it becomes approximately $3,760. Those prices assume every card was NM, which was not the case here – and resulted in an assessed value about $210 lower than it would have been had everything been in NM condition.

The crux of the matter here is the expectation of receiving retail value for cards. We work extremely hard to set expectations for all customers before they send cards in. Our estimate tool is a very valuable tool for this, and while the customer in question did utilize the estimate tool, the format provided resulted in the tool not providing an estimate for the customer to consider. We always encourage anyone seeking values closer to retail value to consider alternatives to our service; while our service does optimize buylist prices and does a great job providing payouts that exceed other buylist options (even when factoring in our fees), it cannot be relied upon to provide retail value for cards.

We can certainly understand disappointment when a card receives an unexpected grade, and we regret that the service wasn't able to meet your expectations. Unfortunately in this case, the card is warped, has bends, and also has minor liquid damage. While it is possible that the liquid damage may have contributed to the warping, the card would be defined as damaged by all major vendors, as well as per the TCGPlayer grading criteria.

For those concerned about unexpected downgrades, we do offer the ability to put a shipment on hold for 48 hours after receipt, which will allow for us to address any potential concerns regarding specific cards prior to the finalization of shipments. Even without a hold, we are always happy to provide additional information where possible, and encourage customers to contact us with concerns as soon as possible so they can be addressed while the card is still in our possession.

We can certainly understand disappointment when a card receives an unexpected grade, and we regret that the service wasn't able to meet your expectations. Unfortunately in this case, the card is warped, has bends, and also has minor liquid damage. While it is possible that the liquid damage may have contributed to the warping, the card would be defined as damaged by all major vendors, as well as per the TCGPlayer grading criteria.

For those concerned about unexpected downgrades, we do offer the ability to put a shipment on hold for 48 hours after receipt, which will allow for us to address any potential concerns regarding specific cards prior to the finalization of shipments. Even without a hold, we are always happy to provide additional information where possible, and encourage customers to contact us with concerns as soon as possible so they can be addressed while the card is still in our possession.

As we have already discussed your shipment and options extensively with you, this reply will be to inform anyone reading your review what happened, and how the situation can be avoided. We remain open to resolving the shipment in a mutually satisfactory manner, despite your threats of legal action.

This was a Sorted Shipment of ~800 cards. The near mint value at the time it was created was approximately $3,650. After grading for condition, our assessed value was $2,917. The customer was unhappy that some of his cards were graded at a condition below near mint, and demanded payment of $3,650, or that all cards be returned to him.

Any customer may request – before their shipment is received by us – that their shipment be held for review. If we have advance notice, we can ensure their shipment is processed in isolation from all other shipments, and the customer has 48 hours to review and approve our assessment. Without advance notice, we process shipments into our general ... Read more

As we have already discussed your shipment and options extensively with you, this reply will be to inform anyone reading your review what happened, and how the situation can be avoided. We remain open to resolving the shipment in a mutually satisfactory manner, despite your threats of legal action.

This was a Sorted Shipment of ~800 cards. The near mint value at the time it was created was approximately $3,650. After grading for condition, our assessed value was $2,917. The customer was unhappy that some of his cards were graded at a condition below near mint, and demanded payment of $3,650, or that all cards be returned to him.

Any customer may request – before their shipment is received by us – that their shipment be held for review. If we have advance notice, we can ensure their shipment is processed in isolation from all other shipments, and the customer has 48 hours to review and approve our assessment. Without advance notice, we process shipments into our general inventory, and that makes it extremely time-consuming – and in some cases impossible – to reassemble a customer's entire shipment.

This customer did not make any request that their shipment be held for review. We were unable to return their entire shipment -- both due to the time it would take to pull 800 cards out of many thousands processed around the time, and the difficulty of confirming that specific copies of certain cards were from this customer's shipment.

We offered to retrieve certain cards to better explain our condition grading. When presented with photographic evidence on several cards of the basis for condition downgrades, the customer did not contest our condition explanation but felt "certain" that their cards were near mint at the time of shipment.

At this point we suggested we could track down a smaller portion of the customer's shipment, despite how time-consuming that would be for our team. We could, for example, return the most expensive cards to this customer. The customer refused this option altogether, insisting either full payment for perfect condition cards, or that every single card be returned.

In the end, we made payment to this customer per our assessment. This customer responded with continued allegations, and threats of legal action. We reminded the customer about our terms and conditions, and about the very specific acknowledgments they made with us – namely, that the cards cannot be returned, and that we cannot change the grades for the cards, absent an error on our part. Despite the continued threats from the customer, we have continued to reiterate we are willing to find a middle ground – which is something we promise to all our customers.

It always saddens us when a customer is disappointed with their experience. We take great pains to explain our processes and to set expectations ahead of time. If you plan to use our service (especially if it is your first time using our service), but are concerned that you may be unhappy with the results, we would recommend you request your shipment be held for your review. Even if you don't request a hold for a shipment, however, we are always willing to work with you to find a reasonable solution.

We're sorry to hear you had a bad experience with our service. It is extremely disappointing for someone who has done so many shipments with us (more than 10) to have such a bad experience, though in this case you have frequently complained about our service in the past – despite continuing to use it. In August we asked you why you keep sending shipments when you are not happy with the service, and you simply said "honestly I don't know" and that you'd find another vendor to send the cards to. We have gone very far out of our way to explain our processes and grading to you, and each time the assumption is "another shipment is coming in, so they must understand/agree with the service now." You are consistently receiving the same service from us – one which the vast, vast majority of our customers and reviews praise – and it is okay to say the service is not for you.

We go to great pains on our site to explain our service to potential customers because we want everyone to ha ... Read more

We're sorry to hear you had a bad experience with our service. It is extremely disappointing for someone who has done so many shipments with us (more than 10) to have such a bad experience, though in this case you have frequently complained about our service in the past – despite continuing to use it. In August we asked you why you keep sending shipments when you are not happy with the service, and you simply said "honestly I don't know" and that you'd find another vendor to send the cards to. We have gone very far out of our way to explain our processes and grading to you, and each time the assumption is "another shipment is coming in, so they must understand/agree with the service now." You are consistently receiving the same service from us – one which the vast, vast majority of our customers and reviews praise – and it is okay to say the service is not for you.

We go to great pains on our site to explain our service to potential customers because we want everyone to have their expectations met or exceeded. We offer both a price check tool and an estimate tool so that people know what sort of pricing to expect – and to know what is considered bulk, and what is not. We are the first to admit that our service isn't for everyone, and also that using the service primarily for low-value items and then comparing to retail (like TCGPlayer Low) is a recipe for disappointment.

The shipment in question at full NM using our service would be valued at $532.24; the value as graded was $436.07 before fees. The TCGPlayer Low value on this shipment was $926.26, but the missing link is that cards worth ~$1 retail are overinflated in "value" on TCGPlayer because a ~$1 price tag is less about the card's inherent value and more about the costs of selling – marketplace fees, supplies, labor and most notably, shipping cost. Buylists tend to reflect the true value of the card better for low value items; in this case, our payout after fees was a whopping 32% higher than the next single buylist – and so it is unfortunate you are disappointed with the results. It is also worth noting that we opted to keep your fee structure as Curated even though the shipment did not qualify as that shipment type, which resulted in savings of $50+ in fees through our service.

Lastly, to touch on the grading comment – as noted above, you have utilized our service many times, and you are familiar with how we grade. You have complained in the past and received detailed information about grading and why it isn't meeting your expectations. While we can empathize with the frustration you experienced when many of your more expensive cards are not in Near Mint condition, you have repeatedly not taken suggestions we've made regarding shipment holds which would allow us to provide you specific and detailed information for items you've deemed to be misgraded. Instead, you continue to vaguely suggest that you don't like our grading, and are unwilling to understand why a card received the grade it did. At the end of the day, we must grade the cards accurately in the condition they are received – but we are always willing to share that justification and go out of our way to ensure the customer understands our process.

We’re very sorry you were disappointed with the service; we do our very best to not just meet or exceed customer expectations, but also ensure customers trying our service know what to expect coming into it. When it comes to value expectations, customers expecting to receive full retail value for their cards – especially when “retail value” is applied to cards which are actually bulk (little or no buylist value), as the “retail price” for these cards reflects the cost to actually ship a card, not just the card’s value – will be disappointed. The prevalence of collection valuation tools that use retail values creates a challenge in folks understanding the actual value of their cards. To that end, we offer our own robust pricing tools and collection estimate tool to facilitate customers understanding the types of values to expect from our service prior to actually sending cards in.

In the case of the shipment in question, the full retail value was $250. However, th ... Read more

We’re very sorry you were disappointed with the service; we do our very best to not just meet or exceed customer expectations, but also ensure customers trying our service know what to expect coming into it. When it comes to value expectations, customers expecting to receive full retail value for their cards – especially when “retail value” is applied to cards which are actually bulk (little or no buylist value), as the “retail price” for these cards reflects the cost to actually ship a card, not just the card’s value – will be disappointed. The prevalence of collection valuation tools that use retail values creates a challenge in folks understanding the actual value of their cards. To that end, we offer our own robust pricing tools and collection estimate tool to facilitate customers understanding the types of values to expect from our service prior to actually sending cards in.

In the case of the shipment in question, the full retail value was $250. However, the best buylist price for the entire shipment at Near Mint was $145 (before grading is taken into account). The difference between the two values is a result of the 830+ bulk cards, which do not have significant value to any vendor. With a roughly $114 payout prior to our fees, this is in line with expectations depending on the grading. Unfortunately, we can see even under the very best conditions (that everything is graded NM and zero fees), the potential return for this shipment was doomed to miss expectations of expected value in excess of the full retail value.

Grading is another point emphasized by the review here, and we can certainly understand and empathize with the frustration you experienced when many of your more expensive cards are not in Near Mint condition. One unique thing about our service is that we can use each vendor criteria to assess the cards to attain the best value possible, not just the best grade possible. One thing we stress to all of our customers is that you can always reach out to us after you get your report if you have any questions or need more information on any particular cards; we are always happy to provide pictures and detailed explanations for why cards are graded as they are, and that ensures everyone is on the same page and can feel confident that “coincidences” don’t exist. At the end of the day, we must grade the cards accurately in the condition they are received – but we are always willing to share that justification and go out of our way to ensure the customer understands our process.

Lastly, our fees and fee structure are set up to reflect the labor necessary to process a shipment. For shipments with a very high concentration of bulk cards, the payout for non-bulk cards will be quickly eroded by the effort (and fees) associated with processing the bulk ones. We have our Curated and Sorted shipment types which are available to customers who want to do a bit of the legwork ahead of time and pay less in fees. Of the nearly 1,000 cards here, just 30 of them qualify for those services (that is, they have an expected buylist value of $1 or more at NM condition); ultilizing our Sorted service here instead of the Standard would have resulted in a $104 payout for just those 30 cards, and our fee would have been a mere $2 and change. In addition, for our Standard service we offer “exclusions” which will result in the excluded card types (e.g. commons) not being catalogued, and also waive the fee for those cards.

In conclusion, we apologize again that we were unable to meet your expectations. We appreciate you taking the time to write a review, and we hope that the review in combination with our response will assist future customers in considering how to best utilize our service – and our willingness to work with any potential future customers to ensure their expectations are met or exceeded.

We're very sorry to hear you were unhappy with your latest experience with our service. Meeting or exceeding expectations for our customers is of utmost importance to us, and critical to that is ensuring our customers understand what our service is. We provide buylist value assessments -- so not retail prices; this is something we do our best to explain extensively in the shipment creation process and surrounding literature, and we are always open to suggestions on areas where that could be made more clear. We understand it can be frustrating to see a large gap between a retail price on TCGPlayer and the best buylist price available, but unfortunately that can and does happen - especially on foil cards that are not NM, where the markdowns on buylist are steeper than non-foil versions.

The cards from your shipment were priced at the best buylist prices for the grades assessed, and we feel they were fair given the condition of the cards and the respective offers among our vendor par ... Read more

We're very sorry to hear you were unhappy with your latest experience with our service. Meeting or exceeding expectations for our customers is of utmost importance to us, and critical to that is ensuring our customers understand what our service is. We provide buylist value assessments -- so not retail prices; this is something we do our best to explain extensively in the shipment creation process and surrounding literature, and we are always open to suggestions on areas where that could be made more clear. We understand it can be frustrating to see a large gap between a retail price on TCGPlayer and the best buylist price available, but unfortunately that can and does happen - especially on foil cards that are not NM, where the markdowns on buylist are steeper than non-foil versions.

The cards from your shipment were priced at the best buylist prices for the grades assessed, and we feel they were fair given the condition of the cards and the respective offers among our vendor partners. Each vendor can have specific criteria which may affect the grade - and so we are always seeking the top buylist price for your card, not the best grade. We know that it is disappointing to see cards downgraded, but we must consistently apply the appropriate grading criteria for each of our vendor partners.

Your report provides a full breakdown of the grading assessments. We are always willing to provide additional information (and/or photographs) explaining the grading of a particular card as long as you contact us shortly after your report is received (while the card is still in our hands), so please keep that in mind should you decide to give the service another try. At the end of the day, we want you to be a satisfied customer, and so we apologize again we were not able to meet your expectations on this shipment, as we were able to on the prior two.