Reputable places to buy power

[jazzykat]

Firstly, I am not asking anyone to sell me anything. Nextly, I don't want to turn this into a spam thread.

I am going to start working soon and as a result will have serious bank to buy power. I would like to know of stores or dealers that you guys feel are honest and have successfully dealt with in the past. I would go on ebay, but I have not had a pleasant experience and as such think it would be about the same amount of money after going through all the ebay headaches to just buy the last few pieces straight out.

I don't want to go through random people at tournaments because I don't think everyone knows if there card is real and my friend got a piece of power that my dealer believes to be fake from a rather prominent member of the mana drain so accidents can happen.

If someone says starcitygames or any other place is a good place to go, then I would like to know why(you bought x, and you had y look at it and it seemed kosher, is useful. try SCG, isn't). The cost is not as important as having a authentic playable card is at this point. Soon I will go to Europe and need to be fully powered.

Oh, and I will never win my power, I am the suck :B

Thanks everyone,
J Kat

[Smash]

Get it in person, or on ebay with a credit card. In case A, if they cheat you, beat their face in. In case B, you do a chargeback and sue.

[Kowal]

Try contacting SamiteHealer.  He usually shows up to my tournaments in Hadley, so meeting him in person isn't difficult.  I'll introduce you next time.

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

I got most my power from Dan A Bock...He's in Madison WI and has a pretty good rep in the midwest area. He's cool as shit, but his prices are usually a bit higher cause of demand and security.

[Chaos Blade]

Well like if they ripped you in the first place with Credit Card and you gave them your card number wouldn't you be screwed? Thats why my mom doesnt let me use it. Also sueing although works real well cost money on your part to in small claims cases that are under 1000 dollars I think. Id go around locally and find players who need cash and buy it from them.

[Lucentspirit]

I've picked up cards from Dan Bock via ebay without difficulty.

[Smash]

No, you use paypal.

Don Bock overcharges like a mother fer.  He is as bad as crap-city.

[jazzykat]

I have just looked around a little on the web.

I was wondering if anyone has ordered anything big from the wizard's cupboard as their prices look decent, and they responded promptly to my email. Anycraze.com also had low prices.

I also checked out star city (no one has ever admitted to buying power from them) and I looked at troll and toad.

As I said before, I don't really want to buy from private individuals any more unless someone I know vouches for them, and ebay is out of the question at this point.  

Thanks for any information rendered.

[nataz]

i met Samite Healer at stokes tourny a while back.
he had an impressive collection, and i bet he would be a good guy to talk to.

Just talking to him about trading i got the impression that he was a pretty sharp dealer/trader. I bet any power you pick up off him will be legit.

anyways,
good luck, i'll be in your position as soon as summer comes around.

-carter

[Ric_Flair]

First,  Samite Healer is a good person to talk to.  He has got everything.  Second, toad and troll is good as is cardhaus.  The latter is less expensive than the former.  Star City is just too expensive on its power right now.  Their prices are about 40% over market.  Ebay is also very good.  I have never had a problem.  I have gotten Drains and a Walk, both of which are in EXCELLENT shape there with no problem.  However, everyone is right, in person is the best.  Stok has good stuff too, but of all the sources Samite Healer is the best in terms of quality, quantity, and price.  And yes I am biased.  So sue me.

[raziel]

jazzykat - Since you've pretty much ruled out buying Power from individuals I would suggest you try Cardhaus.com I've only bought T2 cards from them back when I used to play that format. I've also seen their Power for sale at Nationals and some of the larger events were they have shown up to sell. Some folks don't like them, I've never had a problem with them. All of these online vendors will cut you a deal if find them at these venues. Online their prices are written in stone, at Grand Prix, Nationals or GenCon they'll deal a little on price. If you're not in a hurry and you happen to be going to GenCon try and pick it up there.
If you can find someone like SamiteHealer, with an intro from Kowal than that's probably even better.
I posted in the newbie forum on a simular topic here. Use this info for picking up non power cards. http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16402

[hatfulofhollow]

I guess I'll be the first one to vouch for wizardscupboard.com. I've dealt with them on numerous occasions. I've never bought power from them but I have purchased a mana drain and several other money cards. Never had a problem and my cards were always shipped next day, and in the condition listed on the site. The best thing about them is that they provide an actual scan of the more expensive cards and have the price adjusted for the condition of each card.

PS - they are easy to deal with and nice to boot. I bought a signed alpha demonic tutor from them but I got an email the next day telling me that it was actually beta. they said if i wanted it anyway they'd knock $5 off the price even though beta cards usually go for more than alpha.

[Dante]

Are you going to Gencon??  Lots of the dealers people have mentioned are there every year, with a large selection of power.  If you want to work out a deal with them ahead of time and meet them there (so you can do the deal in person and all that), maybe try that.  

Despite the blood-sucking and gouging I see every year at Gencon over singles, I've gotten good/reasonable deals (upgrading Unlimited to beta power for like $30-$50 per card, depending on condition) on power, IF you establish with them ahead of time that you are a Type 1 player and have checked around for prices....

Bill

[Jhaggs]

About 2 months ago I won 2 auctions on ebay that included all the power except for Time Walk and Timetwister.  In both auctions, I e-mailed the seller about the auctions to open up some communication with them before I sent payment.  I highly recommend this.  Sellers that respond to inqueries about there auctions are usually pretty reputable.  In both auctions, the sellers repsonded in a timely matter and delivered the cards as promised.  For high profile auctions I like to be cautious.  Both occasions worked out great.  I recommend using ebay and buying from sellers with a high volume of sales and a great ebay rating.

[jazzykat]

Has anyone ever done business with the: cardvault.com, on Ebay(they have like 12,000+refs and only and I assume www.cardvault.com(which seems to be unmaintained) as their site. They have some decent prices and I asked them for larger scans for their power, so we will see.

[Dante]

Has anyone ever done business with the: cardvault.com, on Ebay(they have like 12,000+refs and only and I assume www.cardvault.com(which seems to be unmaintained) as their site. They have some decent prices and I asked them for larger scans for their power, so we will see.

actually its http://www.thecardvault.com

[Petey4335]

http://www.cardshark.com is also a decent place to buy power.  Even though cardshark does use paypal, you can get your money back quite easily if there is some sort of problem.  Cardshark basically holds your payment for a month before they pass it on to the seller.

Looking for cards on cardshark is alot like lucking out on findin low ebay "buy it now prices".  For instance, right now there is an unlimited "good" condition lotus for $699 while about a month and a half ago I picked one up for $395.

[OPColby]

Does anyone know where to buy some mildly expensive cards for cheap prices?  Such as Dual Lands in NM condition for under 15 bucks?  I checked all the sites that you've given me, every one has a volcanic Island for like 20 bucks.  I'm looking for about $12-13 each.  Please let me know if you wouldn't mind helping a brother out.

[xzero]

I'm looking for about $12-13 each.

Sorry, it's 2004.  Vintage Magic is more popular now than in years past.

[MisterShark]

I've purchased some cards up to the value of Unlimited Illusionary Masks (4 of em) from http://.shuffleandcutgames.com and have had a good experience with them.
When they didn't have enough stock, they quickly did what they had to do and acquired the rest of the order.
Good packaging, quick delivery time, and friendly staff made it easy.  You can also pay via PayPal so if you want to be extra careful or just want a little extra peice of mind, you can probably elect to use the PayPal guaranty.  I'm not positive that it's offered with Shuffle and Cut Games purchases, but that's because I feel secure doing biz w/ them, so I've never looked out for it.
Good luck.

[sachmoe]

Speaking of buying power.  I am partialy in the market to get some power.  Unfortunatly due to cash restraints I'm on a limited budget.  I am on the other hand possibly looking to get rid of 4 Unl Illusionary Masks towards power.

There is a chance I will be hitting the Hadley tournament tomorrow, depending on what I have going on (Although I won't be playing if I do show up).  

I'll know either later tonight or early tomorrow morning if I'll be able to show.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Does anyone know where to buy some mildly expensive cards for cheap prices?  Such as Dual Lands in NM condition for under 15 bucks?  I checked all the sites that you've given me, every one has a volcanic Island for like 20 bucks.  I'm looking for about $12-13 each.  Please let me know if you wouldn't mind helping a brother out.

MOTL.  www.magictraders.com

Go for played ones.  NM doesn't matter unless you use clear sleeves.

[Googleboots]

For whoever asked, http://www.wizardscupboard.com is safe, as a friend got his Ancestral there for 170 way back. [/url]

[chainer]

Hi there, I play in the UK and we have a very good trader who usually comes up with near mint p9 if you need it. Obviously prices are in UK pounds but they take credit cards. They usually attend all major English events. Their site is http://www.ccgs.co.uk/.

Hope this helps.