First off thanks Mr. Nightmare, your answers are insightful.Â
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So let me ask this. You have two stores nearby, Store has play space and OP. Store B does none of this but their packs are $1 cheaper, and sometimes they have random singles that are also a little cheaper than store A. Which store do you buy from? Does $1 a pack, and $1 more per $5 single matter to you?
For the most part, I don't buy packs, but to answer as honestly as possible, I buy the majority of my cards as cheaply as possible, at the easiest convenience possible. This translates to, if I decide to go to a tournament at store A, and need cards, then I buy them there. If store B happens to be closer to my home, I don't see a reason to go out of my way to remain loyal to a store, and I don't see a particular reason to pay more. If the opposite is true, and Store A is closer, then I shop for cards there.
Is there a difference in price between ebay and the store that would make spending more OK. For example if the store was say $1 higher than ebay per $20 value, is that OK? What about $2? Where is it that the difference becomes an issue? On older cards, like power, where there is a big issues of fakes, ripping, etc., how much more, if anything, is it worth to be sure about your purchase?
The difference between eBay and store has 2 factors for me personally. 1) How soon do I need the card? Is it something for a deck I intend to play soon? Then I can't rely on the cards being in hand soon enough, and pay thru the store, sometimes regardless of the cost difference. 2) Assuming time isn't a factor, what is the difference in price? Generally, 10% isn't too much to ask if it's a midrange product, ie: $10-$50, including the shipping I would pay on eBay. Anything more and I tend to take the eBay deal. Unfortunately, this is almost every card, since the store I patron is notorious for outrageously high singles (They don't call Altered States "Altered Prices" for nothing).
Let's look at this way. You are going to your local store and are bringing $80 that you plan on spending for a dual, lunch and snacks etc. You get to the store and find that the dual you want is being sold at $40, which is more then you want to pay for it. You start playing and someone has a FBB dual that he will give you for $60 so you go ahead and buy it from him, you spent more than you wanted but got a great deal. So during the day you have lunch and stuff which probably ran about $10 leaving you with $10. Toward the end of the day you start looking around to see if there's anything you want. Your sleeves are fairly new, you have a life counter, you're not interested in boosters, but hey that playmat is kinda cool, oh wait it's $12, can't get that. Then there's the new t-shirts that just came in, oh wait they're $15, can't get it. Oh well, maybe next time.
The store had 3 items you were interested in, one was not at a price you were willing to pay, which is fine, but two of those items were at prices you were willing to pay, but couldn't because of the FBB deal. You would have bought any one of those items, possibly two of them, and I would have had a chance to cut a deal to get you all three. However, because someone who has no overhead, no risk, and no investment in the community, thought they should just take advantage of the situation, the store sold nothing.
What would have happened if you had went to the owner and pointed out that he didn't have a FBB dual but this guy does, can I buy it and flip you a couple bucks?
A couple things. First, I generally don't come to a store with X amount of dollars to spend. If you're at this level of the game, not having the ability to nab a good deal when it comes up is ridiculous. But, for the sake of this discussion I can look past that. Second, the only way I would buy duals is if a) they were ridiculously cheap, or b) I got a good deal on FBB. So I can honestly say that I had no intention of walking in and buying Tundras from the store. In fact, I already had a playset of revised ones, and I contacted this dealer ahead of time, because he said he had extra FBB duals, and he isn't from my town. I don't see how that has any impact on the store at all. It isn't like I was going to buy stuff, then decided to take a different deal. If it were like that, I wouldn't have a second thought about throwing some money to the store. I actually think that's a fair deal. I didn't come in with $80 for a dual, lunch etc. I came in with $80 for
this specific dual, and whatever else. I'm at the store like 3-4 times a week. If I want sleeves, I'll either bring enough money to get those too, or I buy it the next time I'm there.
In this situation though, I bought the cards at the store simply because we both were going to be there. He could have come to my house and sold me the cards, but it was more convenient to do it where we both already were going to be. Should I have to pay extra for that convenience? Maybe. I tend to say no.
