The secondary
market in YuGiOh is built like any other capitalistic society. It is a market built on supply and
demand. The market value of cards will
fluctuate based on what is popular in top decks in the current format, reprints
of a high value card, new ban list announcements, or hype. These fundamental alterations signify changes
in the demand of the product. The
increase in demand or decrease in demand that these changes can bring will
ultimately have a correlating effect on the supply of the product. If demand goes down, supply goes up, and
vice-versa. For instance, if a deck that
is considered to be decent does significantly well at an event, the prices of
cards in that deck will go up, because it is likely that they are more
desirable after the event. The reverse
can occur as well, if a deck is expected to do very well at an event or if a
card is expected to perform very well, but then underperforms, it is likely
that the value of the card will drop after the event.
In general, if a
popular card is reprinted it normally has a negative effect on the current value
of that card. This is primarily for a
few reasons. The first is that players
who own the card panic and believe that the price of the card will begin to
drop to the basement, so they offload whatever stock they currently have of
that card. The second is that players
who do not care about rarity or are not using the card will tend to try to
offload theirs as well as to get the greatest return that they can out of
them. The third is that most importantly
the demand will drop. This is simply
because players who do not have the card will not want it, as they know that it
is getting reprinted; therefore, only players who have to play the card will
generally be looking to pick them up.
When a new ban list
is announced it can have an extreme effect on the secondary market. If a popular card is released from the
shackles of the forbidden list, high rarity versions of that card will normally
appreciate the most from its new found legality. Conversely, if a card’s usage is limited then
its price usually shrinks, and generally, the higher the rarity the bigger the
drop. It can have an extreme effect on
cards that are not even named anywhere on the list as well. This effect is caused by speculation that
these cards will be highly sought after once the list has taken effect.
Hype is a huge
reason for many of the fluctuations that happen all the time in YuGiOh. If a new card is announced that the player
base perceives to be “broken” or overpowered, then cards of a similar archetype
will quickly skyrocket in value. The
same can be said about cards that are perceived to be counters to the deck that
just got support. A good example of this
is Droll & Lock Bird. Upon the
announcement of Spellbook of Judgment, it was quickly hailed as one of the most
broken cards to ever be released. Once
announced, players began looking for ways to counter and stop Spellbook of
Judgment. Enter Droll & Lock
Bird. Droll & Lock Bird is a rare
from the low-printed Starstrike Blast.
Due to Droll & Lock Bird being completely irrelevant prior to the
announcement of Spellbook of Judgment they were available for as low as
$0.10-$0.25 each. Those who invested,
cashed in huge when the card rose to just under $10 each during nationals
season 2013.
Besides supply and
demand, there are other factors that can affect how effectively you can sell
cards. The most important two, however,
are your market and your price point.
The market simply refers to who you have available to you that you are
able to sell to. Secondly, your price
point is incredibly important, because if someone can get it cheaper somewhere
else, chances are, they will. In order
to make money efficiently and effectively, one has to price and market themselves
accordingly. If people do not know that
you are constantly buying and selling, how can you expect them to know to come
to you when they need something? Pricing
yourself efficiently can be a difficult task.
You want to price your cards at a price where they will move quickly,
but you do not want to undersell yourself either. Why sell for $5, if every single person is
willing to give you $10? What many YuGiOh
players fail to understand is that if you are always looking for the maximum
amount of profit, you are actually leaving money on the table. For instance, if market value on a card is
between $75-85 and you hope to get $80, but you only paid $50-60, if you are
trying to sell it as efficiently as possible, the first person to offer you
between $70-75 should be who you are selling it to. If you manage to get $80, great. The trouble is that the amount of time you
are holding on to the card trying to get $80, the card value can change and you
may end up with less. You are also
unable to put that $70 back into cards that will in turn make you more profit.
The cheaper you
buy, the cheaper you are able to sell. Do
not be greedy. It is actually quite
simple and they are words to live by. The
entire business is about turnover. If
you are not turning cards over, you should ultimately consider a different
operating model. In short, the quick
profit is always the best profit. There
is no shame in making a few bucks here and there on small cards. Those few dollars here and there all add up
and they are all profit as far as you are concerned.
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