This week, I talked someone through buying their first collection.

That's as good a thesis statement as any, right?

Your First Collection

The first collection you buy is scary. You have no idea what to do. The seller has an idea of a price in mind, and often you have to artfully disabuse them of the notion that their collection is that valuable. When I was a rookie, one of my first rookie mistakes was allowing the seller's assessment of the collection's value dictate my behavior. I had bought collections before, but for me to play with. "Star City on all of this is $450 and you'll take $275? Great, pleasure doing business." This was the first collection I was buying with the intention of reselling now that I was trying MTG finance.

He said the collection was worth $1,000. I couldn't get that much out of an ATM, so I planned to withdraw the maximum and buy half of the collection and come back for the other half later. I met him at around 11 PM in the motel he was staying in. The situation felt a little weird to me so I was glad I only had $50 cash on me. He had multiple 5,000-count boxes and a fat pack box waiting on the table in the room when I arrived.

I looked through every single card.

The more I sorted and pulled out dime and quarter cards, the more I was eagerly anticipating the fat pack box that he said contained all of his rares. I was saving that for last, like it was dessert and a cognac after a big meal. Only this meal was turning into a chore. If you're obligated to eat your body weight in kale before you can have dessert, you start to almost hallucinate.

I flipped through all of the copies of Child of Night and Lava Axe but my mind was racing. "He's asking $1,000" I thought "so it's more like $2,000 retail, or even $2,500. What's in there that's worth that much? Does he have old dual lands? Power?" Slogging through those boxes was pretty lame, but it would all be worth it when I got to the real reason I was there--the rares and what he called "mystic" rares.

When he said he had "mystics" I didn't know how to feel. I was naive enough to be a little excited because the fact that he said "mystic" rares meant he knew less about Magic than I thought. I thought this meant I might end up underpaying on the collection. On the other hand, having mythics meant that his cards, at least some of them, were from the post-mythic era. It's harder to get to $2,000 with Godsires than it is with Plateaus. It took over an hour, but I pulled out every common and uncommon worth money and put them in piled according to price. It was time for the main event.

I cracked open the fat pack box and plunged in. Merfolk of the Pearl Trident. Battering Ram. Conservator. Goblin Balloon Brigade. Pristine, pack-fresh 4th Edition copies. It was as if they had been removed directly from the booster pack wrappers and placed reverently into the fat pack box that didn't exist in 1996 and sealed for posterity. I was stunned. The cards in the 5,000-count boxes were kinda jacked up. Finding pristine 4th Edition cards where I expected to find a box full of valuable rares was so surreal and confusing that I didn't even register anger or disappointment until I was halfway through the 70 minute drive home.

"Where...did you, you know, come up with the figure of $1,000?" I wondered aloud as I flipped through a stack of 14 Amrou Kithkin.

"eBay."

I waited for him to elaborate. He did not. He said it so matter-of-fact and cocksure that I was dumbstruck. I closed the box gently and told him "This collection is worth $30."

He didn't even get mad. He thought I was playing a bizarre kind of hardball. "I'm game," I could see him thinking to himself.

"How about $400? I need $400 for rent for the last two weeks (this is why you don't live in a motel) and I was selling the cards so I could pay that. I'll take $400."

"How about $25?"

I ended up not being able to pay $25 because all I had were 20s and 10s. Driving home with my new boxes of bulk $30 lighter, I replayed what had gone wrong.

• I'd let a seller who knew absolutely nothing about his collection dictate my attitude about the collection and my own imagination ran wild.
• I had spent way too much time picking bulk to see what the value of all of the dime and quarter cards was.
• I had looked at the "rares" last.
• I went alone and without a weapon.
• I didn't take enough money for a best case scenario.

There's a better way to handle buying a collection like this.

Your Millionth Collection

It's been many years since that incident and I have gotten a lot better at buying collections. I fell victim to a few classic blunders, so let's discuss how to...do...not that.

Assume the Seller Is Wrong About Everything They Say

This is a little cynical, but it helps manage expectations. I forgot this rule recently, and was excited to buy a collection that contained "perfect condition Alpha Counterspells, Dark Rituals and Control Magics". When I showed up, the cards were MP, had beta corners and white borders. Revised Counterspell is not quite as saucy as Alpha Counterspell.

The number of times someone told me they had Alpha and actually had Alpha is one. Ever. Don't assume the seller knows what they are talking about; verify everything yourself. I had a guy tell me, "I'm pretty sure there is a Tarmogoyf in there." Unless they produce a 'goyf, don't change your offer. If you dig through later and find it, score. But who is knowledgeable enough to point out 'goyf as a selling point and too lazy to pull him out?

There is an art to telling people their collection is worth far less than they think. Lately, people have been getting advice online on how to sell. They type every single stupid card in a program like deckbuilder and it tells them the TCG Mid value of everything. The problem with that is that TCG values bulk cards at like $0.12 each, including basic lands.

So when a seller tells me "TCG Mid on this is $800, but I'll take $500" it's tough to convince them that TCG Mid is $800 because they have 4,000 basic Forests valued at a dime each. That adds up. Their forests aren't worth a dime, most of their rares are. There are significant portions of a collection I value at bulk rate and that can really make your offer come in lower than they were expecting. Most people I have dealt with have been reasonable.

Occasionally I will have to pass on a collection because the person has an unrealistic expectation of the value of their collection. It happens. It sucks, but it's better than overpaying and making nothing.

Don't Pick a Collection for Free

Your job is to pick the collection at home and buylist or sell the cards in it. Your job is not to sit in a Starbucks parking lot with a 5,000-count box on the hood of your car and pull out all of the good cards that they may sell to you or may sell to someone else. If they don't pick the good stuff out, they don't know what's what.

This is where making a blind offer can come in handy. The less information they give you, the easier this is, and sometimes the offering process can coax information out of them. I tell people that I pay $5 per thousand cards on bulk and pay buylist on the rares that are above bulk. A surprising amount of the time, people have snapped a blind offer because they just wanted rid of the cards.

If you tell them your assumption is that the entire collection is worth $5 per thousand cards, they will find the stuff that they want you to price separately for you. This is especially useful to tell a seller before you meet with them. Instead of you picking the collection for them for free, they go through it and at the very least they pull out the rares they think are valuable. You make an offer on that stuff, the bulk offer on the rest, round up to a nice, even number and nine times out of ten this seals the deal.

It's quick for you, they felt like they had a hand in getting more money out of you and you don't waste a ton of time or risk overpaying. If you pay the bulk rate on unknown cards you will literally always break even at the worst case scenario. The best part is, though, their collection won't all be true bulk. There are plenty of dimes and quarters to yank out of the bulk. But pick it at home when all of the cards belong to you.

Only the Rares Matter

When someone sells you a collection, they pull the rares, and if they're smart, valuable uncommons. However, they tend to lump everything else together. I've been able to make money on collections where I sold the rares for exactly what I calculated when I bought the collection and made the money picking the bulk.

Granted, paying buylist on cards like Sword of Fire and Ice means there is significant room for you to profit selling on TCG Player if that's your out, but even if you don't, picking the bulk is a great way to make a ton of value and stock your own collection if you're inclined. Even though the rares don't matter a ton to you in this regard, they are all the seller cares about.

So don't dig through everything else. Make a blanket offer on the non-rares and I promise you that your best margins will be in that stuff. Offer them a fair value on the rares. This will make them feel like they're not getting ripped off which is good, because they aren't. If you make an offer they consider fair, or even generous (rounding up is a good way to do this) on the stuff they care about, they will be happy with the transaction.

That is the most important part of buying a collection--making them feel like you treated them fairly. Be generous on the stuff they care about and don't waste your time caring about the stuff they don't care about.

Go With a Friend

It's Craigslist. Be safe.

Plan for a Best and Worst Case

If they do actually have a $1,000 collection, make sure you can actually buy it. If they don't, make sure you have bills small enough.

In Conclusion

This week, I talked someone through buying their first collection. He offered a price on the rares that was roughly half of retail and offered bulk on the rest of the collection. He has spent the last few days digging through the "bulk" and pulling out gems. A whole stack of rares the seller missed. 4th Edition rares like Sylvan Library that don't have the rarity symbol. "Bulk" foils like Lightning Bolt and Chain of Vapor.

All in all, a decent haul. He didn't pay too much, the seller didn't feel like he got ripped off and any profit can be invested in another collection or used to build decks. This isn't a guy who is interested in Magic finance, and he had literally zero idea how to make an offer on a collection.

Most sellers are as inexperienced as this buyer. We need to remember that we too once made gigantic mistakes when we were new. We need to remember how intimidating it can be. We need to remember that we didn't always take this for granted.

I buy collections all the time and it's easy to forget that even though it's my millionth collection, every time I buy one, it's the seller's first time. Walk them through your thought process. Be transparent. Be generous on the stuff they care about. Be prepared to walk away. Above all, remember that you had a first time once and treat them like you would have liked someone to treat you on your first time.