ZENDIKAR BOXES CANCELLED by cardkid

[honestabe]

To whom it may concern

We have just been notified by Wizards of The Coast (WOTC) that apparently a CardKid customer has been recently reselling our boosters to businesses in Germany and/or possibly other restricted areas, which is against Wizards of The Coast/Hasbro policy. We are attempting to internally identify the individual(s).  
 
                        **** In the meantime Wizards has canceled  all CardKid Zendikar PreOrders ****
 
We are pursuing legal counsel against Wizards for canceling their shipments without proper Notice and/or Proof Of Breach.
 
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING VERY CAREFULLY! It is VERY IMPORTANT that EVERY pre-order customer understand what options they have:
 
Option #1 - 'CANCEL'. We will provide a Full refund IMMEDIATELY. Also, at anytime should Wizards release our preorder shipments, any 'Canceled' orders can be Re-Registered AT THEIR ORIGINAL PRICE and shipped ASAP.
 
Option #2 - 'HOLD'. Our purchasing managers are scouring the secondary market for any Zendikar product they can find. Any CardKid PreOrder can choose to 'Hold' for up to 30 days after release, and if we are able to get product in stock, the 'Hold' orders will be shipped ASAP.
 
Option #3 - 'EXCHANGE'. Any pending retail Zendikar booster PreOrder can choose to request a 'same-quantity exchange' for: Lorwyn, Conflux, or Core 2010, WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. We will ship out everything we have left in-stock in order to fulfill the exchange requests. So it will be first-come-first-serve on this option.


 
** IF YOU ARE THE CUSTOMER RESELLING TO GERMANY AND DID SO ACCIDENTALLY OR WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE OF WOTC POLICY, PLEASE CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY. YOU WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE AND WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO RESOLVE THE WOTC SUIT ASAP **
 
There will be an aggregated total of over 6500 cancellations as a result of this, so if you know the individual or individual(s) involved in the reselling, we are offering both a CASH REWARD and/or product reward of $5000 US dollars for information directly leading to the reinstatement of the Zendikar shipments from WOTC & WOTC Dist. Any leading information will be kept Confidential and the provider Indemnified and Held Harmless.
 
Rest assured, we will be pursuing this matter to the fullest extent of the law.
 
J Ira
Regional Executive Director
TheCardKid & CaptainCollect
 
P.S. Those of you on Tiered or Wholesale accounts with 50+ case pre-orders, please contact your appropriate rep immediately regarding your bulk cancellations and/or escrow refund options.

YEAH, I BOUGHT FROM THESE JOKERS

[LotusHead]

What does this mean? The cool vintage cards are a hoax, or people who bought from a German source bought stuff early (ie, illegally)?

[honestabe]

What does this mean? The cool vintage cards are a hoax, or people who bought from a German source bought stuff early (ie, illegally)?

Tis means anyone who bought from cardkid is screwed because they sold cards to gvermany illegally, and wizards decided it was a good idea to just not send them the stuff they bought, effectivley screwing us who bought from them.  Cardkid is responding by suing wizards (good, cuz i want my booster box/crazy-ass vintage swag)

The crazy-ass vintage swag is legit, but if it only lasts the 1st prinit run, those of us who bought from cardkid might not be getting any.............which blows

[Smmenen]

Someone should legally challenge Wizards outrageous policy in this regard as a restraint of trade. 

[TracerBullet]

Someone should legally challenge Wizards outrageous policy in this regard as a restraint of trade. 

.....



If only there were a lawyer in the T1 community, someone with the skills and knowledge of how to challenge just such a policy.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Cardkid was breaking WotC rules by selling outside the US, and they were punished for it.  Someone on MOTL who lives in Canada was allowed to order from them, which is against whatever WotC makes their distributors sign.  The Germany thing may or may not be true, but either way, they broke the rules, the end.

[honestabe]

Cardkid was breaking WotC rules by selling outside the US, and they were punished for it.  Someone on MOTL who lives in Canada was allowed to order from them, which is against whatever WotC makes their distributors sign.  The Germany thing may or may not be true, but either way, they broke the rules, the end.

I agree that they should be punished for it.  But why me?  these seems like foolishness on both sides.

Perhaps Wizards could have fined them, or sent them boxes to only meet the original pre-orders, but myself and others are all getting shafted by this dick move

[TheSundry]

Cardkid was breaking WotC rules by selling outside the US, and they were punished for it.  Someone on MOTL who lives in Canada was allowed to order from them, which is against whatever WotC makes their distributors sign.  The Germany thing may or may not be true, but either way, they broke the rules, the end.

My understanding is that the "region" that these sellers can sell to is the US & Canada, so by selling to Canada they did NOT violate policy.  However, they are also not supposed to sell to anyone if they know that that customer will in turn be reselling outside the region.  So, it is the fault of their CUSTOMER, not THEM, in my opinion.  I hope the jerk is happy with how many people they've screwed over this way.

I will say, however, that this was all quickly learned as I tried to research the WotC policy after receiving my own copy of the email -  so I admit some of my understanding may be flawed.

I just want to say, however, that I have ordered from TheCardKid for every set since Lorwyn.  They have INCREDIBLE customer service, and (with only one exception - M10), I have always gotten my order on the day of release (their distributor had a delay on M10, so my cases arrived the following Monday instead).

That all said, I think that all of the sellers like TheCardKid need to do a MUCH better job letting us customers know what WotC policy is.  I don't think I ever read ANYTHING about limitations on what I could do with the product after it was in my hands!

[vassago]

Cardkid was breaking WotC rules by selling outside the US, and they were punished for it.  Someone on MOTL who lives in Canada was allowed to order from them, which is against whatever WotC makes their distributors sign.  The Germany thing may or may not be true, but either way, they broke the rules, the end.

Couldnt say it better myself.

[TheSundry]

My understanding is that the "region" that these sellers can sell to is the US & Canada, so by selling to Canada they did NOT violate policy...I will say, however, that this was all quickly learned as I tried to research the WotC policy after receiving my own copy of the email -  so I admit some of my understanding may be flawed...

Upon further research it would appear my understanding WAS indeed flawed. The internet retailers can only sell to the country in which they are located (somehow I had gotten the impressions that the US & Canada were lumped together as one "territory").  So if, in fact, TheCardKid sold to a customer in Canada, it seems they violated the agreement.

In which case - I may have to consider finding a new source for my MtG

[vartemis]

Upon further research it would appear my understanding WAS indeed flawed. The internet retailers can only sell to the country in which they are located (somehow I had gotten the impressions that the US & Canada were lumped together as one "territory").  So if, in fact, TheCardKid sold to a customer in Canada, it seems they violated the agreement.

In which case - I may have to consider finding a new source for my MtG

I get a monthly catalog for comics called "Previews".  They also solicit Magic in there, but there is bold print which states "not available outside of the US".  Some stuff in there says it's not available in certain countries, most due to regional distribution agreements.  Companies can set up exclusive deals with distributors in return for a monopoly on the distribution area.

j

[honestabe]

I'm just pissed that the box i ordered WEEKS ahead of time isn't coming to me...

[TheSundry]

I'm just pissed that the box i ordered WEEKS ahead of time isn't coming to me...

I hear you!  I was very much looking forward to breaking open my two cases on Friday and seeing what "treasures" I might unearth!  Now I'm worried I'll end up getting packs from a second print run that doesn't include them.

If you don't mind me asking - did you opt to CANCEL, HOLD, or EXCHANGE?  I went for HOLD in the hopes they'll find another source if their fight with WotC comes to naught.

[honestabe]

I'm just pissed that the box i ordered WEEKS ahead of time isn't coming to me...

I hear you!  I was very much looking forward to breaking open my two cases on Friday and seeing what "treasures" I might unearth!  Now I'm worried I'll end up getting packs from a second print run that doesn't include them.

If you don't mind me asking - did you opt to CANCEL, HOLD, or EXCHANGE?  I went for HOLD in the hopes they'll find another source if their fight with WotC comes to naught.

I chose to "HOLD".


I hear Cardkid is pretty good with thier customer service, and they said they were searching the secondary mrket for boxes, so I'm going to trust them.  Anyway, I hope that a) Wizards gets over themselves and gives cardkid the friggen boxes, or b) the treasures last for more than just the first print rrun

[vartemis]

Anyway, I hope that a) Wizards gets over themselves and gives cardkid the friggen boxes, or b) the treasures last for more than just the first print rrun

I don't think CK will get a first shipment from Wizards.  In fact, they should be worried about getting ANY boxes from them in the future.  Whether knowingly or not, their broke the terms of their agreement with WOTC, and WOTC can't afford to get sued by their other distributors if they don't take action against this.  Even if they do sort this out, they probably won't be able to ship boxes outside the US.  I'm curious to know if this is just the start or something bigger.  I just looked at ebay.ca, and there are a bunch of US and international people willing to ship to me in Canada, which is against WOTC's terms of service.  I wonder how much they can enforce this though, depending on how far down the supply chain these people are.

j

[JThomas]

I filed with the Better Business Bureau.

I chose to cancel and I'm reordering through SCG since they're legit.

They should be paying me for the additional costs I'm incurring since the damages were caused by them going into breach of contract
with Wizards.   So whether deliberate or negligence I believe that they should pay for the harm they caused me.

I would encourage everyone else to file with the BBB as well..

[JackBeard]

JThomas, what all did you have to do to file with the BBB? Did you give them an amount that they owe you and did you include the delta between the price you paid then and what you'd have to pay now?  I'm thinking of doing the same thing.  I'd even add the interest they're gaining on MY money.

[Gryfalia]

For those who wonder why WotC would hold a store responsible if someone they sell to is moving cases overseas, here's a scenario..

1) Large internet store (doesn't matter who) cannot ship boxes out of country
2) Large internet store could make a great deal of extra profit if they COULD, because they could easily undercut the folks buying from the 'correct' distributors for those countries.
3) Someone approaches them saying 'sell me boxes at cost, I'll ship to 'X' country and we'll split the extra profits'.  They agree and sell this guy a ton of product and make nice extra money.
4) Stores in 'X' country start hearing about a flood of product coming in from overseas whose prices they can't touch and eventually they start complaining up the chain.
5) WotC starts digging, finds out who they shipped it to in the first place and starts going back down the chain.  They know the last place they can point to and say 'we know it was here' was the Large internet store above.

We all know that people might in ones and twos do stuff like this, but I'm guessing (total speculation) we're talking about a LOT of them.  Of course, I have no idea at all if this is what happened here, but the possibility of this is why WotC has the rules they have.  For the concept of regional distribution to mean anything, they have to have some way to enforce it...

As for the BBB..good luck on that one...

[Harlequin]

On top of that, WOTC has nothing but a vested interst in the customers of cardkids to be rip-sh!t-p!ssed.  The more angry those "little consumers" are the better job they did making a true disinsentive for breaking thier agreement.  Not only cardkids but every other distributer now can see the effect on thier customer base if they get caught doing the same thing. 

If it was just a little slap on the wrist, or a fine or something.  Then it would have an opposite effect, now these companies could calculate the costs and benefits to getting caught.  How many people plan to buy from cardkids again next release?

[honestabe]

On top of that, WOTC has nothing but a vested interst in the customers of cardkids to be rip-sh!t-p!ssed.  The more angry those "little consumers" are the better job they did making a true disinsentive for breaking thier agreement.  Not only cardkids but every other distributer now can see the effect on thier customer base if they get caught doing the same thing. 

If it was just a little slap on the wrist, or a fine or something.  Then it would have an opposite effect, now these companies could calculate the costs and benefits to getting caught.  How many people plan to buy from cardkids again next release?

Well, according to them, it was a customer who was selling product, but perhaps they were lying...

[Harlequin]

I guess I don't really have the details, but I was under the impression that the "customer" in this case was either dirrectly out of the US or known to be shipping the stuff overseas. 

I'd have to immaging that if the volume here was was big enough to hit the WOTC radar, I'm sure cardkid wasn't totally oblivious to what was going on.  I'm sure we're not talking about a few boxes smuggled over in someone's luggage. 

[JThomas]

In any case file with the Better Business Bureau.
Demand not only your money back but the damages caused by the situation if you had to go to another vendor for fulfillment.
Make sure to provide negative feedback whereever possible.

Remember not to be angry or emotional but strictly provide the incontrovertable facts of the situation.

Join TheCardKid and Captain collectible boycott.

[vartemis]

I feel bad for the people who are getting screwed here, but I don't feel bad for CK at all.  This isn't just something WOTC does... lots of people do it... film studios, other collectible companies, even food distributors.  The players and collectors are unfortunately paying the price for someone else's greed.  Sound familiar?

j

[JThomas]

JThomas, what all did you have to do to file with the BBB? Did you give them an amount that they owe you and did you include the delta between the price you paid then and what you'd have to pay now?  I'm thinking of doing the same thing.  I'd even add the interest they're gaining on MY money.

Just go to the BBB website and they have a form to submit a case.
It's pretty self-explanatory.   I got all of TheCardKid's addresss and info off their website.

They have a spot to explain the issue and then another spot to explain the resolution you want.

See the thing is this.

TheCardKid says they're scouring the secondary market to find product.    They can't be looking too hard because
I found it on StarCityGames.com within 5 minutes of this fiasco.  So what I'm asking them to do is to make up the difference for the
footwork I did for them.

[Smmenen]

Cardkid was breaking WotC rules by selling outside the US, and they were punished for it.  Someone on MOTL who lives in Canada was allowed to order from them, which is against whatever WotC makes their distributors sign.  The Germany thing may or may not be true, but either way, they broke the rules, the end.

Not the end.   I would argue that Wizards policy is a restraint of trade in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman act and a host of other anti-trust laws.   No one has challenged those policies, though.