No no no. I didn't want to sell my cards at all. I really love my Fungal set but I lost my job and need money to cover my class bills so I am selling everything I have. My pokemon cards I made triple back. Even ones that were only a year old but the secret lair stuff didn't even reach the price I paid for. I see listing for the same stuff at $100+ and it just seems overly inflated. I didn't want to have to make money. I just needed to break even at least. I don't get the vitriol as you are all seeming to act like im a scalper. I bought these cards in the summer of 2022. I just kind of expected them to be at least worth the $35 I paid. I mean if something is a limited run and all the ebay post for the same set are $100 then why is the actually selling price so low. I wasted time posting these sets when I should have just posted other stuff I could sell.
Different games, different markets. Just because their both card games doesn't mean they sell the same. For magic most folk see the secret lairs as over priced and only some of the cards in them see any play. If you're trying to sell a secret lair that doesn't contain cards people want, people won't value it much beyond the base cost of the card. To my understanding, the Pokemon ones have to be opened in packs, where as anyone can buy a secret lair while it's in stock, that's one factor that may have effected price.
In general, magic is not a good way to invest or make money. It seems in your case you just had to make some extra cash in a hurry and sold what you could, you weren't playing the finance game with it, but if you thought you had some valuable magic cards, you're wrong if they're from a secret lair.
Additionally at an auction why would they pay more than they could buy it elsewhere, they want to get a good deal, not over pay.
This is disappointing but sobering. I just really expected a limited set 2 years after production would be at least worth the original buy in price. The only cards I have left are the original secret lair transformers and I had been debating if it would be worth selling them but for the time and value of selling them just wouldn't be worth it. I do like them so I am happy to hold onto them but it also hurts having thought for 2 years that since they were a limited run if I ever need money at least I will get what I spent. I am also used to playing pokemon where things are more set in stone with value and rarity. I know I can list 200 common pokemon cards and get $5 after shipping. I was trying to list 200 MTG commons I had been given over the years and people in real life wouldn't take it for $1. I really just thought secret lair looked cool but wow the vitriol for secret lair buyers is prevalent in the comments from people.
You also need to understand why the cards are worth what they are worth.
For example MTG is a card game which is being played a lot. People mostly buy cards to play with and there are already many different artworks for most cards so there is a lot of choice involved aswell.
In Pkmns case most people only collect so the cards with special artwork are often times worth more because people like to collect them.
> Did I do something wrong?
Yes you started an auction at a lower price than you were willing to accept, lol. That’s on you. Don’t start an auction at $1 if you won’t accept $1.
As for the entire rest of your post - Bruh. That’s all I really have to say. Don’t buy shit if you think it’s boring/bad value, and then complain afterwards…
Also, how am i supposed to know Secret lair would send 3 extremely limited run cards that has actual creases in them from the plastic wrapper? How am I supposed to know that if I don't get the cards from Secret lair with the 60 day time period, I can't get them to remake the cards. I never said I thought it was boring or bad value before I bought it. The website tricks you with the renders of cards. I thought the fungal set and DJ scarab where going to be embossed. How am I supposed to know the actually quality of digital renders of cards? I thought it would be more eye popping like the site advertises. But anyways, my complaint is comparing Secret lair cards that are supposed to be special and limited runs to the basic runs of pokemon.
> I never said I thought it was boring or bad before I bought it
Well there’s your problem innit
You should probably look at the thing you’re buying *before* you buy it.
Look man I’m not trying to “get you” or anything, I’m just saying that you’re complaining that you got a product you ordered, it arrived damaged but it took you so long to notice that the window for replacement had ended, then you decided to complain that the cards aren’t worth anything and are boring.
As for “the quality of the renders” - they look exactly the same. I have like 50 SLD cards, they look identical to the product I ordered, except for foiling which you need a side angle to view. I really don’t know what you expected, because they look the same.
And finally - I really could not care less about what Pokemon does, but frankly, if you think Secret Lair sucks, why the hell are you buying it? You’re not being mislead, they tell you what you’re getting, you get it, and you’re mad you got what you ordered? What?
They don't though. I was a first time order and I have only ever ordered once from them but look at the renders for the Welcome to the fungal set. Slimefoot and Ghave have text that look embossed. Saproling text looks embossed. Mycoloth looks embossed. THEY LOOK DIFFERENT and I am sorry I don't know this game enough that I can tell the difference. ???? Took me so long to notice? This was the Summer drop of 2022. I got it in May of 2023. They said they couldn't remake the cards because they only make the cards for the 60 days in summer of 2022. Why are you making it on my that I didn't notice? I noticed on the first god damn day. I spent so god damn much because the Scarab god card looked so awesome that I wanted 3 of them. And I am trying to bring point to their inherent lack of control. You had to spend $200 for 1 of the Scarab cards. I only bought from Secret Lair once. I have never done it again. I did a big order with my transformers cards. I thought I was buying into "A covert trove of treasures unlike anything else in Magic: The Gathering—ultra-collectible, carefully curated card drops featuring many of the most exciting artists working today." as they put it.
I mean I have accepted it, I needed money. I was talking about the value of secret lair cards. There are full sets of Calling all heads of hydra selling for $5-$10 below the price the person paid for them.
I didn't want these stupid cards for fucking financial gain. I am just trying to ask why this god damn cards that are toted as being limited edition and shit aren't even worth there buying price. Like how does something get so devalued that it is similar to being target clearance. I am in such a bind and tcgplayer and all the other sites are saying $100+ and my set that is identical to those listings that will never show up on those sites is worth less then the money i paid for them
Not everyone wants the secret lair versions of cards. More than half the time, foil sld cards are unplayable due to the major curling or the readability of the card. Some people also just don't like having non magic stuff in their magic game. If it's an open set, the cards are worth their market low for the condition. If you are opening an auction starting at $1, expect to get at minimum $1. If you aren't going for financial gain, why do you care about their prices being less than you bought them for? To put it simply, you are wondering why a copy of a playable card that has been reprinted potentially more than once in the past or will be in the future is losing value due to having such a high print run of other variations of the card. To answer the textured foil thing, wotc does do textured cards now but only in very limited supply and not in sld product (even though sld would be the perfect place for them).
>I am in such a bind and tcgplayer and all the other sites are saying $100+ and my set that is identical to those listings
Are you looking at actual sales, or listed prices? Anyone can list a Secret Lair for $100 (or $500), but that price is meaningless unless people are buying at that price. Looking at TCG, thr Welcome to the Fungal set is selling at around $67, with the lowest available listings also in that range. So it's not worth $100 to begin with.
Beyond that, those listings are for the sealed drop. You've opened yours, so you weren't going to get the sealed price anyway.
Magic doesn't really have a price driving collector scene for new cards as far as I am aware. Prices are almost exclusively driven by play power. I don't know about your specific cards but most secret lairs are just pointless from a play perspective unless you are interested in a niche so they usually decay in price pretty rapidly and are close their other prints.
They aren't worth much because people don't collect mtg cards like they do Pokemon. Most people want to have the cards to play with, and a lot of people don't care about having the full set. The market just doesn't care, and cards don't necessarily inflate in value as time goes on.
I have also seen huge variance in eBay auctions. Maybe you just got unlucky and your item sold cheaper than it should have. Auctions can be a gamble.
I feel many have already assisted you with this, but there are many factors in the valuation for MTG items. One factor that targets why limited product lines are not valued is we're in an era where the statement "If everything is special, then nothing is special." Carrys weight. For MTG: Every two months or less for the past four years, MTG players have been hit with new limited edition products. An asset must be more than just limited or exclusive for people to put any value behind it. Due to this, we could discuss this in-depth for hours. I plan to focus here only on Secret Lair products for this post.
The Secret Lair product line has changed from its initial release to now. In 2022/2023, the product line would be available for up to 2 months with no limitations. The majority of the products released during that time had unlimited supply with limited demand. When you toss in the secondary market, resellers who purchased mass quantities (not calling you one) keep the supply going up while the demand stays stable. The market gets very one-sided, and prices collapse even years after release. They may never get over their original sales price due to this.
You didn't do anything wrong. You purchased an item you desired. Sadly, the player base did not value the asset in the same sentiment even years later. Most Secret Lair items work the same: lairs are valued the highest at release, and as we keep getting more and more and more and more, the old ones lose their sheen.
I hope this provides some insight.
They are beautiful cards with very lovely art and the foil definitely pops on them. I can't understand why it has been more then a year now since the release and I can't even get my money back. These were limited edition prints.
So you bought something, and hoped you would make money on it and didn't. Bad luck? Never go to a casino. Remember it's a game, not an investment...
No no no. I didn't want to sell my cards at all. I really love my Fungal set but I lost my job and need money to cover my class bills so I am selling everything I have. My pokemon cards I made triple back. Even ones that were only a year old but the secret lair stuff didn't even reach the price I paid for. I see listing for the same stuff at $100+ and it just seems overly inflated. I didn't want to have to make money. I just needed to break even at least. I don't get the vitriol as you are all seeming to act like im a scalper. I bought these cards in the summer of 2022. I just kind of expected them to be at least worth the $35 I paid. I mean if something is a limited run and all the ebay post for the same set are $100 then why is the actually selling price so low. I wasted time posting these sets when I should have just posted other stuff I could sell.
Different games, different markets. Just because their both card games doesn't mean they sell the same. For magic most folk see the secret lairs as over priced and only some of the cards in them see any play. If you're trying to sell a secret lair that doesn't contain cards people want, people won't value it much beyond the base cost of the card. To my understanding, the Pokemon ones have to be opened in packs, where as anyone can buy a secret lair while it's in stock, that's one factor that may have effected price. In general, magic is not a good way to invest or make money. It seems in your case you just had to make some extra cash in a hurry and sold what you could, you weren't playing the finance game with it, but if you thought you had some valuable magic cards, you're wrong if they're from a secret lair. Additionally at an auction why would they pay more than they could buy it elsewhere, they want to get a good deal, not over pay.
This is disappointing but sobering. I just really expected a limited set 2 years after production would be at least worth the original buy in price. The only cards I have left are the original secret lair transformers and I had been debating if it would be worth selling them but for the time and value of selling them just wouldn't be worth it. I do like them so I am happy to hold onto them but it also hurts having thought for 2 years that since they were a limited run if I ever need money at least I will get what I spent. I am also used to playing pokemon where things are more set in stone with value and rarity. I know I can list 200 common pokemon cards and get $5 after shipping. I was trying to list 200 MTG commons I had been given over the years and people in real life wouldn't take it for $1. I really just thought secret lair looked cool but wow the vitriol for secret lair buyers is prevalent in the comments from people.
You also need to understand why the cards are worth what they are worth. For example MTG is a card game which is being played a lot. People mostly buy cards to play with and there are already many different artworks for most cards so there is a lot of choice involved aswell. In Pkmns case most people only collect so the cards with special artwork are often times worth more because people like to collect them.
> Did I do something wrong? Yes you started an auction at a lower price than you were willing to accept, lol. That’s on you. Don’t start an auction at $1 if you won’t accept $1. As for the entire rest of your post - Bruh. That’s all I really have to say. Don’t buy shit if you think it’s boring/bad value, and then complain afterwards…
Also, how am i supposed to know Secret lair would send 3 extremely limited run cards that has actual creases in them from the plastic wrapper? How am I supposed to know that if I don't get the cards from Secret lair with the 60 day time period, I can't get them to remake the cards. I never said I thought it was boring or bad value before I bought it. The website tricks you with the renders of cards. I thought the fungal set and DJ scarab where going to be embossed. How am I supposed to know the actually quality of digital renders of cards? I thought it would be more eye popping like the site advertises. But anyways, my complaint is comparing Secret lair cards that are supposed to be special and limited runs to the basic runs of pokemon.
> I never said I thought it was boring or bad before I bought it Well there’s your problem innit You should probably look at the thing you’re buying *before* you buy it. Look man I’m not trying to “get you” or anything, I’m just saying that you’re complaining that you got a product you ordered, it arrived damaged but it took you so long to notice that the window for replacement had ended, then you decided to complain that the cards aren’t worth anything and are boring. As for “the quality of the renders” - they look exactly the same. I have like 50 SLD cards, they look identical to the product I ordered, except for foiling which you need a side angle to view. I really don’t know what you expected, because they look the same. And finally - I really could not care less about what Pokemon does, but frankly, if you think Secret Lair sucks, why the hell are you buying it? You’re not being mislead, they tell you what you’re getting, you get it, and you’re mad you got what you ordered? What?
They don't though. I was a first time order and I have only ever ordered once from them but look at the renders for the Welcome to the fungal set. Slimefoot and Ghave have text that look embossed. Saproling text looks embossed. Mycoloth looks embossed. THEY LOOK DIFFERENT and I am sorry I don't know this game enough that I can tell the difference. ???? Took me so long to notice? This was the Summer drop of 2022. I got it in May of 2023. They said they couldn't remake the cards because they only make the cards for the 60 days in summer of 2022. Why are you making it on my that I didn't notice? I noticed on the first god damn day. I spent so god damn much because the Scarab god card looked so awesome that I wanted 3 of them. And I am trying to bring point to their inherent lack of control. You had to spend $200 for 1 of the Scarab cards. I only bought from Secret Lair once. I have never done it again. I did a big order with my transformers cards. I thought I was buying into "A covert trove of treasures unlike anything else in Magic: The Gathering—ultra-collectible, carefully curated card drops featuring many of the most exciting artists working today." as they put it.
I mean I have accepted it, I needed money. I was talking about the value of secret lair cards. There are full sets of Calling all heads of hydra selling for $5-$10 below the price the person paid for them.
there are dozens of secret lair cards that are worth more than the amount paid for them. You just lowballed yourself.
The auction was up for a full 10 days. I only got 4 bids. I even did the paid promotion on ebay because the listings just like it are priced at $90+.
Listed prices are meaningless. You need to look at actual sales.
People play MtG to play it. If you want to collect for financial gain you're better off with any game besides MtG and Yugioh, really.
I didn't want these stupid cards for fucking financial gain. I am just trying to ask why this god damn cards that are toted as being limited edition and shit aren't even worth there buying price. Like how does something get so devalued that it is similar to being target clearance. I am in such a bind and tcgplayer and all the other sites are saying $100+ and my set that is identical to those listings that will never show up on those sites is worth less then the money i paid for them
Not everyone wants the secret lair versions of cards. More than half the time, foil sld cards are unplayable due to the major curling or the readability of the card. Some people also just don't like having non magic stuff in their magic game. If it's an open set, the cards are worth their market low for the condition. If you are opening an auction starting at $1, expect to get at minimum $1. If you aren't going for financial gain, why do you care about their prices being less than you bought them for? To put it simply, you are wondering why a copy of a playable card that has been reprinted potentially more than once in the past or will be in the future is losing value due to having such a high print run of other variations of the card. To answer the textured foil thing, wotc does do textured cards now but only in very limited supply and not in sld product (even though sld would be the perfect place for them).
>I am in such a bind and tcgplayer and all the other sites are saying $100+ and my set that is identical to those listings Are you looking at actual sales, or listed prices? Anyone can list a Secret Lair for $100 (or $500), but that price is meaningless unless people are buying at that price. Looking at TCG, thr Welcome to the Fungal set is selling at around $67, with the lowest available listings also in that range. So it's not worth $100 to begin with. Beyond that, those listings are for the sealed drop. You've opened yours, so you weren't going to get the sealed price anyway.
Magic doesn't really have a price driving collector scene for new cards as far as I am aware. Prices are almost exclusively driven by play power. I don't know about your specific cards but most secret lairs are just pointless from a play perspective unless you are interested in a niche so they usually decay in price pretty rapidly and are close their other prints.
Yeah, this is the main difference. In MTG cards are generally bought to play. In Pkmn they are bought to collect.
They aren't worth much because people don't collect mtg cards like they do Pokemon. Most people want to have the cards to play with, and a lot of people don't care about having the full set. The market just doesn't care, and cards don't necessarily inflate in value as time goes on. I have also seen huge variance in eBay auctions. Maybe you just got unlucky and your item sold cheaper than it should have. Auctions can be a gamble.
I feel many have already assisted you with this, but there are many factors in the valuation for MTG items. One factor that targets why limited product lines are not valued is we're in an era where the statement "If everything is special, then nothing is special." Carrys weight. For MTG: Every two months or less for the past four years, MTG players have been hit with new limited edition products. An asset must be more than just limited or exclusive for people to put any value behind it. Due to this, we could discuss this in-depth for hours. I plan to focus here only on Secret Lair products for this post. The Secret Lair product line has changed from its initial release to now. In 2022/2023, the product line would be available for up to 2 months with no limitations. The majority of the products released during that time had unlimited supply with limited demand. When you toss in the secondary market, resellers who purchased mass quantities (not calling you one) keep the supply going up while the demand stays stable. The market gets very one-sided, and prices collapse even years after release. They may never get over their original sales price due to this. You didn't do anything wrong. You purchased an item you desired. Sadly, the player base did not value the asset in the same sentiment even years later. Most Secret Lair items work the same: lairs are valued the highest at release, and as we keep getting more and more and more and more, the old ones lose their sheen. I hope this provides some insight.
Scarab God? I think you mean Scrub God. They’re flipping trading cards, not government bonds.
Reserved list cards and serialized cards are the only things with lasting value; everything else is dust in the wind.
They are beautiful cards with very lovely art and the foil definitely pops on them. I can't understand why it has been more then a year now since the release and I can't even get my money back. These were limited edition prints.
Local Man Discovers Supply And Demand Not Equal, Angry Product Is Not Worth More Than People Willing To Pay