Thanks for the feedback. I tend to trade in with my LGS a lot..as they do 90% credit for a lot of my speculation targets..I usually sell on ebay because it’s easy enough and I haven’t had too many bad experiences.

Everyone has their own set of circumstances but mine have made LGS buylisting the default out. I have a new kid and a new job so I don’t have time to hit the trading floor while international shipping costs and shipping time to Australia further erode my selling options.

Also really enjoyed the quiz. Without having access to the QS forum, I wouldn’t have known why four of those five spiked, plus I didn’t know the story behind Staff of Domination at all.

There’s a very solid core of great writers on QS, including you Mr Lewis.

I read every article on QS, insider and free and there are honestly very few articles that I finish reading and I feel disappointed with.

As you’ve mentioned, it’s difficult to forecast which articles provide ‘value’. How do you measure value anyway? In terms of page views, positive comments, amount of social shares or potential money made from spec advice?

I work in an entirely different industry but our writers are given two requirements – surprise the readers with something that may not have known and give them something that they can action easily.

A significant proportion of QS articles meet that criteria IMO. I recommend QS to every Sydney MTG trader I meet.

It’s not a nitpick if it’s accurate. I was under the full impression that it was someone trying to manipulate the market. After reviewing the MTG stock page on Hall, I still think it was one that was manipulated (there was no sudden spike in demand in 1-2 days), however, like Digeridoo, I think the market has floated the price upward because of perceived demand, rather than actual demand. The card may go for it’s higher price now, but I’m curious how many people are actively seeking them or if the price will eventually trickle back down to it’s original price. The same concept is often seen with gasoline prices. War/Instability erupts in the middle east and the gas price can jump 50 cents in a night…and then slowly trickle back down if supply isn’t interrupted (by said War/Instability). It’s not as though long term demand for gasoline suddenly increased by 10% overnight, but people get worried they won’t be able to get any and buy accordingly..they then realize their irrationality and the price drops to a more stable price.

Thanks for responding. I certainly didn’t think you were being rude (as I mentioned I thought I was). It was nice to meet you and talk (for the little time we did get to) and I look forward to many future trades.

We call this “the myth of making profits.” And it must have been a really smart guy who came up with that 😉

Nice article as always!

The article, like many on here from the whole QS community, brings up excellent points. I always have to make a mental note to come back and check these basic points so I don’t lose track of the actual profit-making routes as opposed to feeling like I doubled up on pretend money.

Thanks again for your time at the show, hope to run into more of the QS community in person in the future. 😀

It’s all about a balance. But in reality, I try to tailor the focus of my articles depending on what I’m actually doing during a given season. Six months ago I wouldn’t shut up about Shock Lands and Supreme Verdict for example. Now these are on the rise – I can’t advocate acquiring these as much here. So naturally I shift focus to selling.

But when I start to get heat in the forums for selling and I observe people’s over-bullishness, the need for conceptual articles like David’s and mine this week becomes overwhelmingly evident. Glad people are finding these worthwhile! 🙂

I agree, there’s a kind of internal pressure to justify paid for material when one writes, I want to provide value in terms of speculative picks! However, I’m often surprised at which articles receive positive feedback and which ones pass by like a tumble weed. So, given that I am bad judge about which articles I write that are worthy of positive feedback, I try to focus on ideas that are interesting to me and explore those.

I see your unlocked reddit article is getting rave reviews on the mtgfinance subreddit. Keep up the good work! =)

Thanks. I always appreciate feedback (especially positive). It’s actually difficult to write these sometimes, as I often feel (not sure if other writers feel the same) that we “owe” the readers ideas that will directly generate money for them (i.e. hot spec targets) because they (the readers) are paying the site for access to the insider articles and the forums. But I’ve found that just because people got the “hot spec target” they often aren’t sure what to do with them (hence this article).

I don’t speculate much on cards, but articles like these and the forums make my monthly subscription fee worth it.

Yep. I had to really highlight that when I had some guys going through my “bulk” boxes and pulled out some 50 cent cards and they wondered why these were bulk…I explained that the amount of time it would take me to go through the box every couple of weeks to pull out the slightly above bulk wasn’t worth the time to me. Besides, if you don’t have “gems” in your box people stop wanting to go through it.

This is so true. There are so many challenges with actually moving profitable cards, that one shouldn’t consider themselves profitable until they actually have more cash in their account than what they started with. And don’t forget to pay your eBay fees and withdraw money to cover shipping costs before talking about your “net sales”. These shouldn’t count!

Great article – price:effort can be your greatest ally when making sell decisions but also your greatest nightmare if you waste hours trying to move $5 worth of cards.