TCGPlayer to acquire ChannelFireball

[3drinks]

What do we think this means for us, as a whole?

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 83431.html

[BaronCappuccino]

No more easy and reliable outlet to sell singles back to. TCG could ship you a near mint, and you could sell it back unopened as a near mint and they'd reclass it as lightly played or worse. The difference in the seller's grading and the buyer's grading is annoying. I stopped selling after it became too hit or miss whether a sale was going to succeed. Channel Fireball, on the other hand, always took in every single card and the disagreements in card grade were minimal. So, I use TCG to buy from because the prices are the lowest, and Card Kingdom to sell to because the prices are the highest and thus the buy percent is the highest, and they never turn me down. Now I'll still be able to buy at the lowest price around, but I'll have to find another place to sell. Maybe SCG till they get acquired.

[The Fluff]

I never purchased anything at TCGplayer, but a lot of people from my country used "tcg-mid" as a basis of pricing when selling their cards.

so I guess tcg would simply become bigger once they acquire cgb?

[MaritLage]

Wait ... people were only sending their money to TCG and only taking money from CF , and they·re surprised that CF is out of money and TCG has the superfluous income to pick it up? Ka . How did yu think economics worked , did you think there was some kind of money library where all the dealers could share? Ka .

[motleyslayer]

I used to like CFB a lot before they went to marketplace. But marketplace made it harder to shop to Canada as vendors would want more to ship to Canada. I'm interested to see how this impacts the market as a whole though

[BaronCappuccino]

Wait ... people were only sending their money to TCG and only taking money from CF , and they·re surprised that CF is out of money and TCG has the superfluous income to pick it up? Ka . How did yu think economics worked , did you think there was some kind of money library where all the dealers could share? Ka .

As far as this thread is concerned, people only refers to me. When a company gets as successful as CK did, it's a fair assumption that their business model - buying and selling policies - are working well for them. Perhaps said policies actually were working and TCG just offered them a sum they couldn't refuse? Regardless, I'm never surprised when a big conglomerate marketplace that works the Amazon business model beats the competition with rock bottom prices. When I posted this news on a regional Magic community I run on Facebook, the first reply was something to the effect of CK (and SCG) are relics of a bygone era when players wanted to travel to the major tournament destinations. It wouldn't surprise me if most of CK's clout was as a competitive venue powerhouse, and if they were struggling at all, it was because that's not what it used to be - Covid and WotC decisions both.