menu

Gray Areas: Trade Etiquette

Are you a Quiet Speculation member?

If not, now is a perfect time to join up! Our powerful tools, breaking-news analysis, and exclusive Discord channel will make sure you stay up to date and ahead of the curve.

I was trying to drum up something to write about for today, and then I had the horrible idea to check Reddit. I did come across a thread that I think is worth discussing though, so there's that. The thread in question is a follow up to a different threat posted recently, but I'm not too interested in the particulars of the matter. To save you some time reading the actual thread, this is the story about a boy and his Narset.


This boy found himself perusing a bearded stranger's trade binder and decided that he really wanted to get his hand's on the man's foil Goblin Mountaineer. The boy wanted the Goblin Mountaineer so much, that he offered to trade his Narset for it. The man attempted with presumably a non-zero degree of effort to convince the child that he should push to get more value out of his planeswalker, but the boy was convinced that the foil Goblin Mountaineer was the only thing in the world that he could ever want, and a trade occurred.

So the questions is, is it okay to make a lop-sided trade with a child if you try to offer more?

The answer is of course not. I mean, come on. Do you remember what it was like being a child? You didn't know anything, and you certainly didn't learn what you know how by having a brief conversation with a stranger. In a case similar to this one, if you were to learn anything at all it would be reflecting on the fact that you made a bad trade long after the fact. I don't care what it takes to get the kid to get his/her money's worth, sneak cards into their deck if you have to, but don't make a trade just because a child says that they're okay with it. As adults, it's our duty to be role-models to the youth.

Then the other half of the story is that the kid's dad tries to trade back but the bearded fellow won't because the Goblin Mountaineer was ruined... I get it, you shouldn't just give up value for no reason, but ask for the value of the Goblin Mountaineer... Don't keep the planeswalker.


Avatar photo

Ryan Overturf

Ryan has been playing Magic since Legions and playing competitively since Lorwyn. While he fancies himself a Legacy specialist, you'll always find him with strong opinions on every constructed format.

View More By Ryan Overturf

Posted in Free, Gray AreasTagged ,

Have you joined the Quiet Speculation Discord?

If you haven't, you're leaving value on the table! Join our community of experts, enthusiasts, entertainers, and educators and enjoy exclusive podcasts, questions asked and answered, trades, sales, and everything else Discord has to offer.

Want to create content with Quiet Speculation?

All you need to succeed is a passion for Magic: The Gathering, and the ability to write coherently. Share your knowledge of MTG and how you leverage it to win games, get value from your cards – or even turn a profit.

24 thoughts on “Gray Areas: Trade Etiquette

  1. I don’t think there is a grey area here. I make it a rule not to trade with anyone who can’t be trialed as an adult. The guy shouldn’t have even thought to trade with out the child’s father sitting in front of him.

    Also disturbed that the father brought a 7 year old to a cardshop to run around like a latchkey kid. I don’t think it’s appropriate to bring my 12 year old nephew to FNM much less a 7 year old. To many adult conversations. Just so much fail on both parts.

    1. I have to agree that under no circumstances would I trade with a child without his or her parent(s) with them. This is especially important because, in many states, children under the age of 16 can’t enter into a legally binding contract and depending on the amount of the cards in question trading/buying from them could get you into legal trouble if their parents were inclined to press charges.

    2. It’s unfortunate that you’re not comfortable bringing your 12 year old to FNM. Why not try asking the people having inappropriate conversations to tone it down so that your kids can enjoy an awesome game. You could very easily turn FNM into a better community and a positive experience for your family just by speaking up.

      1. That’s exactly his point: it’s not grey because only 1 side can really be argued.

        I haven’t had such situations since I was a kid or not much older myself and I was probably more aware of card prices than 95% of the adults I was trading with. These days I would give the kid the Mountain.

        1. While I don’t see the other side, it’s still true that some people believe. The entire post was inspired by reading the opinion of one such person.

          Gray Areas is just a title. I don’t understand why you would respond to the title.

          1. Counter question -why would you title the series “Grey Areas” if it’s not accurate? It’s a fair question, if slightly off-topic.

    1. Well, it’s “grey” in the sense that there’s probably a spectrum.

      Trading a Mountain for a 12-year old’s Narset? Pretty clearly not OK.
      Trading a Savanna to a seasoned dealer for an Underground Sea? Probably fine.

      There’s a spectrum of what’s ok and what is not okay, and it probably varies depending on the disparity in value and the sophistication of the parties. It’s not rocket science, but it is grey in the sense that people will differ on where the line actually falls in the area between the two ends of the spectrum.

  2. So, if it was a high school kid instead of a small child would that have made it ok? What about if the person looked over 18?

    I think we’re focusing on the wrong issue here. Yes it’s important to not rip off children, but it’s also important to not rip off anyone.

    My solution to the foil mountain issue is to usually find a lower value item and match the value of what they want or at least close to it.

    Many traders wouldn’t feel bad about the trade no matter the situation though (at least from what I’ve seen) and that is concerning.

    1. It is important that it was a child, because children are more likely to agree to something against their best interest without being coerced into it.

  3. If I do make a trade with a youngster, I try to throw in extra cards beyond the value of the trade for them. Some rando standard card that they’d use every day for a year is much better in their hands than it is sitting in my binder where I’ll never use it. I give my draft cards away too unless I know I’ll use them.

    I’m fortunate to have enough disposable income that this stuff doesn’t affect me, but even if money were tight I’d never short someone in a trade. That kind of shark shit bothers me.

  4. Weird, I see no issue, guy tried to offer more kid refused. I was once that kid, made many of the same mistakes, it’s how I learned, had I not dealt with those things, I wouldn’t know half the things I do about magic today, I started at a little older then this kid, I was around 10. My first trade wasd a Vampiric Tutor for some random commons, short term I was pissed, long term I made sure to know better next time.

    1. Oh, come on. Society generally protects small fry because they have neither experience nor impulse control nor good decision making skills. It’s morally and ethically wrong to take advantage of a twelve year old, and if we can’t agree on that, then everyone’s worst beliefs about “speculators” are — at least in part — justified.

      1. Meh, I was never protected and I’m better off for it. That said I don’t advise ripping anyone off, but I won’t go out of my way to not trade with people due to age, as that’s not fair to them either.

  5. I try to make “fair” trades no matter what when dealing with people who are either new or very “casual”

    I have a junk rare binder and whenever I trade up I tell them whats happening.
    – I get a “good” card, that is something that is played in constructed, and they get a lot of cards that while not bad is something that might be harder to trade away. Usually they are perfectly fine with trading away an Ugin for a huuuge stack of 1-2 dollar rares. I also give them a few extra dollar on top from that binder. (I only trade for my personal collection, not for profit)

    For the adult players I also try to give them a few hints on how to trade, and how not to get ripped off by others.

    I will never trade unfairly with anyone by design, child or adult. But people who I know are seasoned traders that will give good trade value because they desperately need a card is another matter.

  6. Okay, so you ought to probably correct your article. It wasn’t a mountain, it was a foil Snow-Covered Mountain. While the trade was still lopsided, as of this articles publication, using SCG as a very quick reference, the Narset is only 5 times the value of the Foil Snow-Covered Mountain and not as bad as you were making it out to be.

      1. Yeah it was a joke. However I do honestly feel that it would make the article stronger if you accurately reported the trade as a Snow-Covered Mountain for a Narset, as I feel that when you excoriate a scumbag who takes advantage of kids, its important to have everything correct so that people can’t use it to take advantage of the argument by nitpicking at the smallest of details.

        1. Do you not realize the obvious hypocrisy inherent in your statement? Also using a thesaurus to make your arguments seem clever only works when what your saying has some merit. The article is perfectly fine. Honestly it’s like people are too lazy to spend more than a single google searches worth of time to even troll anymore.

          1. And because I feel as if you would be the type to bring this up latter so I’ll go ahead and explain it to you now. Although technically grammatically correct, using, “excoriate a scumbag,” in this context is as weird as exclaiming, “I am going to abrogate this sandwich!”, while intending to mean, “really go at it!!” as your currently quite hungry.

Join the conversation

Want Prices?

Browse thousands of prices with the first and most comprehensive MTG Finance tool around.


Trader Tools lists both buylist and retail prices for every MTG card, going back a decade.

Quiet Speculation