that is in fact the same Greg Ivey 😀

One thing I'm extremely interested in hearing more about is your journey into becoming a dealer. My wife and I plan on opening our own game shop sometime next year (in fact, this is the whole reason I've started playing Magic again, just so I can learn the lay of the land for what essentially will be our primary product) While it sounds like you're planning on being a dealer at events, while I intend to open up a local shop, I'm sure a lot of it is a similar process. Definitely looking forward to hearing more.

Lastly, I know Corbin is from Oklahoma, as meeting him at FNM was how I first really heard about the site, but are you perhaps from Oklahoma? I just knew a guy named Greg Ivey back in High School (in Wilburton, Oklahoma), who used to play MTG. Would be a small world if it was the same guy.

Anyway, looking forward to reading more.

Good article though, was a good read.

So, what does that mean? First, it's non-corporate. Unless you elect otherwise (and unless you consult an accountant or lawyer, you should not elect otherwise), an LLC in which there are multiple members will be taxed under Subchapter K of the Internal Revenue Code, which means all tax items are passed through the LLC to the members of the LLC. As a consequence, the gain, loss, deductions and credits are allocated to those members and nothing (or almost nothing) is taxed at the entity level (contrast this to corporations where there is a tax at the corporate level before the stockholders can draw any money out of the corporation).

Second, it's limited liability. That means that if someone does business with the LLC, the members of the LLC are not responsible for the LLC's debts and obligations (unless there is a personal guarantee involved). This doesn't protect you from your OWN liability (if you sign something in a personal capacity, you are liable, not the LLC. If you injure someone, it's your responsibility, but it might ALSO be the LLC's responsibility if the injury is in the course of your work.

One interesting attribute of the LLC is that the limited liability works in BOTH directions in a sense. If someone wins a judgment against you, the judgment creditor cannot take your LLC interest (stock could be taken normally, subject to a stockholders' agreement). Instead, the creditor gets something called a charging order, which requires that distributions with respect to the LLC interest must be paid over to the judgment creditor. This is more protection for the other members than it is protection for you, but it's a nice feature versus partnership interests or stock.

Third, it is a legal person. It can sign contracts, sue, be sued, and do almost anything a natural person could do (except as limited by statute), including owning real or personal property.

In the scenario you describe, I would expect to see an LLC of which you and your financial parter are members, with an Operating Agreement providing for an unbalanced payout until he gets all his money back, plus some kind of interest premium (otherwise he loses money). That's your business. One of the keys is to make sure that there are no mandatory capital contributions under the agreement, otherwise you can get squeezed out by a big money partner and those liabilities are enforceable against you personally.

You might choose to form a second LLC, of which the first LLC and some store (probably an S corporation or LLC) are members, which will have an Operating Agreement with similar no mandatory contribution provisions and set forth the exact terms of your deal. This creates a second level of liability protection, but might be too much formality (including annual accounting expenses) when some kind of simple agreement might do the job better.

If you are serious, see a lawyer and an accountant to get you set up right initially. It is VASTLY cheaper than having those same people unscrew it later.

[NB: regarding liability. You must keep LLC assets separate from your own assets if you want to claim limited liability protection, and follow all the formalities required by the LLC Act under which you form the company and your Operating Agreement. If you don't, it's possible for a creditor to "pierce the veil" of limited liability and get at your personal assets.]

Players gravitate to shops that have good singles because it shows the management is involved with the game. They have a place to sell the cards they get playing limited so they can play next week and open more packs.

Should the owner do it, or hire more staff? Yes. Maybe his time or credit is tapped out. Is getting a 3rd party to basically merchandise for you just as good or better since they actually have skin in the game? Yes. Most do take a % of sales or a kickback on boxes you crack. That's part of business. Just don't let it get out of control or you're in the company store. Nothing wrong with giving them 10-15% considering thier credit card machine is taking 4-5% off the top and you'd spend that much selling on eBay. If you are moving 10k in singles through thier store a month that's 1k extra in thier pocket for doing.. nada. Not only that, by working with you they keep you from opening a store 3 streets over and flushing them.

Grocery stores, convenience stores, mall stores et et all have 3rd party merchandisers. It's a business model that works. So while I agree that the store owners should do it, the piles of stores with $10 crap rares from 3 seasons ago tells me they aren't.

I have worked as a consultant for 3 different stores for ways to increase attendance or as their buyer, and having an entity that doesn't directly put money into the store is the worst way to grow business, the store owner should just take out a loan and start singles for himself, no reason to let some one else make the money when they could be.

1) Little to no skin in the game for them. They have to cough up some unproductive rack/counter space and work you into thier PoS. You don't want that store to be part of your LLC. You want a contractual arrangement with your LLC. It changes your nature from "some random guy who comes into my shop to sell singles" to "Whinstons Mad Singles LLC is our affiliate partner."
2) He gets discounts on his purchases due to the amount of product you need to buy. At the same time you can't get discounted presale product w/out him. Watch out for store owners trying to gib you on this, although most people would still do healthy business being able to buy boxes for $5 over wholesale you don't really want to pay for the priviledge of selling cards in his shop.
3) This increases the owners floor traffic. People that buy singles buy packs to draft, or have friends that do. They want tournament space. I advise you to get set up as a T.O.

With all that said, this article mildly undermines your credability. It would have been better if Kelly had tag-teamed with you and written about what it takes to get started, or what it took to get him started highlighting the things he did well, and things he would do over.

i agree this could lead to a difficult situation. one of the problems with European markets is shipping, which can be expensive, as well as buyers who will want an English language card vs. one in their native language. re: the FTV R trade, i think my limit for it would be 3 Jaces and a Baneslayer for the 2 FTVs. that would break about even on value at the moment, but with a much higher potential for an increase in value in the long run, both because you are diversifying your portfolio, as well as trading 2 "cards" for 4

Again thanks for the reply and hope you have a nice day.

No, i don't Jarrett. Gideon was never the best in U/W and i think he will actually reduce in price, especially with the printing of superior 5 cc 'walkers from Scars

Also, with that $10k in start-up, what do you hope to accomplish with that? I would never want to show up at a GP or event with less than $5-$8k to buy cards, $4k is only some random collection you can get off of a message board. For cardstock, I would want at least 4x of each Type 2 single as well as 4x of most extended singles. (If you want more help on this topic, just get my contact info from Kelly, I have done all aspects of the trade business and know most of the numbers)

while that would be a trade i would do an instant, as you're picking up at least 20-40 dollars in value, i'm not sure if anyone would be willing to do that. if you can find someone to do this trade with, that would be great

yes, i like that trade a lot. it is a little risky as jace has potential to go up once pulse and other cheap planeswalker removal rotate out, but cobras and fetches should see a jump with a new format as well

they were preselling for 100 each, which is the route i took. shoul be back up to 100 as the supply goes down