Wow, that is getting pretty technical. I don’t think I can answer that question for you.

Is it possible for an app to get SCG prices from a program like how bots work on MTGO? I think its called a virtual machine. It reads what is on the screen manually. So basically I look up a card, app asks computer to look up card on scg pulls it up and gets the price then zaps it back to the app. It would obviously have to be ultra fast and be run by QS or at least supported but couldnt that work?

SCG is very hard to crawl now, don’t expect to find that.

Thanks for these suggestions! Anything for retailers such as SCG or CFB pricing? Anything that enables multiple queries at once? I’m guessing none of these have picture recognition capability.

Followed – do you follow me? @sigfig8 Only fair 😉

Let me know what you uncover. I don’t have any connections but I’ll definitely let you know if anyone brings this to my attention.

i know a local owner that is in good with cardhaus and am gonna run it by him. we can find buyers for options in the secondary market (collector/ investor without inventory) make money on transaction like a Market Maker. I’ll let you know if i find anything please keep us updated if you make any inroads. also follow me @tragicslip on twitter so i don’t dominate your article, or open a thread in the ask an author forum… or don’t 🙂

MTG Trader – MOTL prices

MTG Familiar – TCGPlayer prices

I think a few others do it as well.

In fact, I love using it when I’m trading for bulk. Cards i may have put at $.50 come up at $.30, and I can get a lot more. When trading for larger cards, I like to know my values and not use those apps, because it usually results in them throwing a few more cards in.

Yes I think that makes sense as a starting point. Major dealers are really the only ones with enough stock to support options.

I think some people may be interested in a hedge prior to B&R announcements. Owning a few call options on Mind Twist right before the announcement could pay off nicely. It’d be a gamble for sure, but the options approach allows you to get access to 50 of a card without having to physically buy 50 copies.

I just don’t know how to move an idea like this forward. I am under the impression someone from SCG is subscribed to this site. If they see this comment, hopefully they reply!

IMTG, eh? I’ll look it up when I get home! Can it search multiple cards at once?

Thanks for the kind words! I often find myself in a scenario where I have a good idea of what most cards in a given trade are worth. But there always is just one or two cards that I won’t be as comfortable with, and once you look up one card on SCG then you feel obligated to look up others as well to keep the deal fair. I’d love a way to do this conveniently and consistently!

just realized who we need to sell options to: dealers like star city. allow them to hedge their positions with options and use their inventory as margin collateral.

hedging against an mtg bubble… options would allow that. take bearish positions. any other hedges come to mind?

Thanks for following up on this issue, this is exactly what I’ve been trying to come up with a solution for for the last couple weeks. Well written article, the problems that arise via smartphone trading ring true to me.

Lol, thanks for the thought though! I know Apathy House compares side-by-side trades, but it gets data from a single source and it doesn’t do a terrific job with foils and played cards. I’d love to be able to type the cards out including condition and foil/language (ideally), and then select the site to look them up at.

Of course, taking pictures of the cards would be even better. Seems doable, right? I’d pay $0.99 for that app, wouldn’t you?