Having been in numerous buying and selling situations (3 sales of my own),
I'd like to offer some tips to prospective buyers/sellers of Magic
cards. Please feel free to mail me your own tips and I'll list them
here for everyone to read.

There are two types of sales formats that you will see:

	(1)	Auction Format
	(2)	Normal Sales Format

	With the Auction Format, prices on some in-demand cards can go
*very* high (usually way above the average, unless there is a buyout
price set). This frequently happens with the more expensive cards
(Lotus, Moxes etc.) and reflects the compressed market-driven 
economics of auctions. Bidding is normally fast and furious, especially
towards the end of the auction. Sometimes the first few weeks are an
'open' auction format in which anybody can bid, but the last few days
are a 'closed' format and exclude new bidders or restrict the number of
bids per person. There are frequent updates and both buyers and
sellers need to be up-to-date with the latest events.

	With the normal sales format, in-demand cards are bought
immediately. There is no waiting period and it's first in, best
dressed! There may be discounts available to buyers (e.g. over $50
= 5% discount, over $100 = 10% discount etc.) or other enticements
(free postage, free cards). Updates should occur regularly.


Tips for Buyers:

	Shop around. Prices for cards will vary from state to state and 
	even from store to store. Price fluctuations can be as
	high as 50%! Sales over the Net are normally cheaper than
	buying from card stores, although the gap has narrowed
	recently (and in some cases, the reverse applies). If you're
	buying over the net and you're not sure about the credentials
	of a vendor, ask for references and contact numbers. Don't
	hesitate in calling a person (I'm always happy to receive
	home/work calls from prospective buyers). Most of the vendors
	have been around the Net for a while and recommendations from
	trusted people is often good advice. If you're still unsure,
	buy a small amount of cards and make sure you're happy with
	this 'initial' purchase (card condition, delivery speed),
	before spending larger sums.


Tips for Sellers:

	There are three major ingredients for sales success:

		Organization
		Pricing strategy
		Timing

	But first, you need to work out which cards to sell and
	how many auctions/sales you wish to hold. You will make more
	money in an auction compared to a sale, but there will be
	more work involved in organizing an auction. You should also
	sell your unwanted/hard-to-sell cards first and adjust the
	prices accordingly. This may take more than one sale/auction
	to achieve, but this strategy should reduce your chances of
	being stuck with hard-to-sell cards. You may also decide to
	sell cards in packages (e.g. expansion sets) -- this is a
	popular format for collectors.

	If you're holding an auction, you will need to determine the
	minimum card prices, buyout prices (if any) and bid increments.
	With a sale, you will need to take into account any discounts/
	incentives you may be offering. You will need to do some
	research to find out what sort of prices are acceptable to
	buyers. Be prepared to sell cards for less than what you
	originally paid for them!!! (It's a win some, lose some
	situation -- I once sold 2 * $45 Elder Dragons for $6 each, post
	Chronicles :-()

	You will also need to work out the ground rules for the
	auction/sale and clearly state them to the buyers. This
	includes:

		Start/End Date
		Open/Closed Bidder Dates for an auction
		Card Conditions/Types and Prices
		Discounts
		Frequency of Updates (daily, weekly)
		Payment Options (see below)
		Postage & Handling (cost, delivery method, card and
			parcel protection)

	I'd also recommend having two sections :- one section for
	cards remaining and another section for cards which have been
	bought out.

	Timing -- it's important! Try and ensure that your sales/auctions
	are not competing with other sales/auctions at the same time (unless
	you're substantially undercutting). In hindsight, the best time for
	selling cards from older expansion sets would have been just before
	Chronicles came out (card reprints). Of course, some OOPS will never
	lose their value (Lottus, Moxes etc) -- but judging by recent history,
	their value will not increase by much either.


Payment:

	This can be done in a variety of ways: cheque, postal money
	order, credit card, international draft etc. Cheques will take
	5 days to clear (in Australia). Include insurance if you want.


For an example of a sale, check my 3rd Australian Magic sale.


John Dargue's Comments:  
	johndarg@hba.trumpet.com.au

	As far as comments on buying and selling:  From talking to a
	number of people recently and from what I have observed, I
	make the following comment.  Sales (with reasonable prices)
	tend to run along fairly quickly and will often sell out
	entirely within a couple weeks.  Auctions, however, tend to
	dribble along for many weeks with the prices only creeping up
	slowly.  There only seems to be a dozen or so keen auction
	buyers in Australia, and they tend to be continually bidding
	against each other.  I also suspect many people couldn't be
	bothered getting involved with bidding, checking bids every
	day etc etc.  From what I have observed, straight sales (with
	reasonable prices) seem to be the way to go.


There can be an enormous amount of work needed to set up an
auction/sale, but the more you put in, the more you'll get out of it!!

Have fun with your trading and Magic playing!

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