Buying P9

[magus888]

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to purchase power nine and not get screwed? My best friend lost $3145.00 on ebay. The guy selling the cards had a 100% rating and a 112 score. If you could give me any buying tips I'd be very grateful.

[BigMac]

Best advise is to buy from shops or actually see the card and be able to touch it as you pay it.

Perhaps it is gonna take more time and perhaps even more expensive, but in the end you actually will have them power cards.

[verduran]

I'd never buy such expensive cards online. Too much risk involved. It's probably best to buy from quitters or tournament winners; they are most likely to sell at a good price.

[magus888]

Do you know of any respectable dealers in the north eastern Pennsylvania area?

[Marton]

best is to buy online on ebay (or magictraders.com trades).

The problem you had is that you: 1-had a bad luck, tho it's more bound to happen when you buy a full P9   2- bought too many at the same time.

Normally I recommend people to buy one big card at a time (think mana drains, workshops, p9 etc). When you buy just one card, first, if you get screwed well it shouldnt really be an issue since you can pay the full card on your credit card. You see, if somebody screws you, then you can call the credit card company and have them cancel the payment to the guy that didn't send you the cards.

Also, if you do buy a lot of big cards at the same time (like 4x workshop), you really should only buy from people on ebay that like have 2000+ ratings. Theres a few magic sellers on ebay that have over 12000 ratings so it's not impossible to find.

[Raven Fire]

(or magictraders.com trades)

If you can find a deal on MOTL, you can arrange a third party exchange through one of the mods.  That should be pretty secure.

[magus888]

Do you know anyone from the forum who has a set P9 and would be willing to cut a deal?

[Mixing Mike]

Do a search for haves for whatever peice you want.  

Also, I know The Gunslinga, Jazaray, and KandyKid are all excellent people for 3ed party trades there.

[normalbrains]

i would recommend buying each piece one at a time. most ebay auctions for full sets on ebay are scams. pay with a credit card and get insurance. ebay all the way. if you buy on motl, use a mod as third party or dont do it at all. on ebay, ask the seller questions about the card (condition, history). if money isnt an issue for you, contact dan bock, but hes a dick.

[VegasJake]

Marton's remark about only buying one piece of power at a time on E-bay is sound advice, otherwise you're risking too much in one transaction.  This is how I got all my power cards (P9, drains, BB duals, 'shops, etc.) and I never had a problem with these.  I've bought over $3000 worth of cards on E-bay in the past 6 years and was only ripped off 3 times during that period for around $150 worth.  That's acceptable to me (around 95% "success" rate).  One of those 3 times was with someone who's feedback was pretty unestablished but it was for a low-dollar item so I threw caution to the wind.  The other 2 times were just bad luck; one of them the guy had good, solid feedback and apparently just decided at the time I was buying the 4 foil STP's from him that he was "closing up shop" and skipped town.

Anyways, a couple quick points about using E-bay:

1)  Know the difference between "good" feedback and "solid" feedback.  % positive feedbacks can be very misleading as it's quite easy to build up a large # of positive's by buying 1-cent book auctions and other low-dollar items.  Look at the actual items won in the guy's feedback.  Also look for someone repeatedly auctioning the same item as a giveaway that he's scamming.

2)  When buying large item like power, contact the seller well ahead of time to see whether he's willing to any safety measures you would require such as using escrow, etc.  If paying by CC or Paypal with a CC, let the seller know that you expect to receive the card a certain number of days after payment, otherwise you will cancel the payment without exception.  Word this very strongly (but politely; no sense in pissing off honest people).

3)  If an item catches your eye but the seller has low/bad feedback compared to yours, ask if they would be willing to send first.  If not, hey, no skin off your back, just move on.

4)  Buying from big dealers (those in the 1000+ feedback range) is usually safe for at least getting your cards, but I've had a number of times when dealing with these heavies where the stated card condition was "exaggerated" to say the least.  As in, a NM card with creases.  So, if card condition is of secondary importance to you, these guys are usually pretty good.  Otherwise, ask for clarification about card condition ahead of time.

-VJ

[DEA]

if you're on ebay, look for emax95 and brapsmagic
it'll cost you, but their stuff is real and graded very strictly

[Vaarkheef]

I agree on brapsmagic, he's reliable. I also recommend you buy one piece at a time and ask lots of questions.

[magus888]

Does anyone know if Card Shark is a reliable source for P9?

[SimpleHiker]

Does anyone know if Card Shark is a reliable source for P9?

I have looked a few times and there has never been any in stock. I would say that Card Shark is less reliable then eBay by far. eBay has been dealing with scammers and con a lot longer and a lot more transactions.

If you worried about fraud on eBay get yourself a good credit card with 0 online liability. Call and confirm with them about eBay auctions. If you get screwed you get your money back... then you can also feel free to bid on the cheap auctions of people with low feed back. This is where online stores clean up buying cards online, they don't care what the feedback is, they just bid.

SH

[johnstown713]

CardShark also has high prices on power since it tends to be dealers that sell there.

[skecreatoR]

MOTL and eBay are both excellent places to buy power, I have picked up aprox. 15 pieces combined on both so I have learned a little.

I believe this is basic stuff, but still I'm amazed buy the amount of people who don't realize this is simply etiquette and guidelines that should always be followed.

First rule is always check feedback, as this is your most reliable source for knowing how to trust a person.
On MOTL you want to first: read the comments and remember that a low # (E.G.: 4 or 3) in overall rating does not necessarily mean that the person is a bad trader. I have a 3 from a guy who thought that recieving 3 days after wasn't impressive.
On eBay that you can check at least about 25 recent references where you can check what the person has sold before.
Often, you might see a lot of MTG references, but do generally not buy power from people who hasn't sold anything before over like 1.29$.

You probably won't need more than 50 MOTL references to trust a guy and from 250 and upwards with recent sales on eBay you should be good.

Bottomline when it comes to references is it isn't that important if people communicate well and act friendly and reasonable.

Second rule: You can always back out of a deal.
This is also such a basic thing that for some reason a lot of people don't do.

Third rule: If it's too good a deal, it is too good - back out.

Forth rule: Be patient. Do not abuse of ripping the first day after, things do take their time and for some reason often things do get in the way.

It is not always easy to figure out who is legit, so i've put together a list of trustworthy people on MOTL with power, for those interested:
(Dealt with all these people)

hispls
Bigballashotcaller (JACO)
Fredrik Haugen
Michael French
Grandeur84
Foilmonger
Buffness4
Refried Jumping Bean
Mr.Volrath

Will update it with more names when I have time.

[mrieff]

On MOTL, I've had good experiences with the following people

Michael French  -   outstanding  
Grandeur84
Mr.Volrath

.