Opinions on MOTL

[Gryfalia]

The only experience I have with large scale trading/trade auctions of magic cards comes from WAY in the past when everything of this sort was done via USENET.

I have taken a look at MOTL and am somewhat interested, but I am looking for the opinions of people here about it in general.

I will more likely be trading/selling away cards, as it seems a better way to get rid of smaller value cards than places with large overhead, like Ebay.

Anyway, please post your feelings.

Gryfalia

[Erl00]

Hy Gryfalia,

I think you got it about right. MOTL is the place for the daily trading of standard, low to mid-range value (i.e. $0-200) cards.

Really a nice place to complete sets, to find traders in foreign countries (for foreign packs, did you already try to get foreign packs? Trust me, it's amazingly fun ;D), to trade stuff you wouldn't have believed to trade one day, etc.

MOTL is really a great site, but not for finding ultra-rare or ultra-specific stuff (you may find through MOTL people who know people who have heard about someone you knows), neither to purchase $15k-worth collections.

You need to be a bit careful at the beginning: there are rippers and also infamous mods that will seize any ocassion to ban you because you break the rules (Lol Inca ... j/k ... I was just thinking about Han ...)
Seriously, you need to be carefull about potential rippers and about not breaking the rules too much.

If you need any further advice, feel free to ask through e-mail or Pmn, I'll be glad to help.

;)
Eric.

[dragsamou]

Hi Gryfalia.
I'm also a MOTL Member and I have to say that it's a very Positive experience for the moment.I have to admit that since I only look for Magic Rarities,I'm one of The Only Guy having a "Looking for Magic Rarities" Post
written in Small letter(For Inca911  ;)) and everytime I make a research about them I end up 97% on Inca911 Posts as he have Magic Rarities mentioned in his Signature  ::) :) .The variety of International Members is extremely interesting for me as I collect MTG Products from the All world.I agree with Eric the Number of Banned Members is Very Impressive and you have to Really Respect the Rules.Like on Ebay when you have to trade ,watch carefully the References.That's my opinion.

[mahdishain]

greetings

another happy motl member. i have had many positive experiences and very few bad ones. one cool thing that i have done is asked traders to put their name and state or country on a land card and include it in the trade. i now have over a hundred "trade" lands from all over the world.  even though i have over a hundred references i almost always simulsend and the results have been positive. if you use common sense and stay way from deals that sound too good to be true you should do all right.  try it, it works.

[sylvanstu]

Well what can I say tried 2 trades both times because i was new had to send first both had high ratings both from Canada both ripped me off. so MOTL is a definate 2 thumbs down for me

[Tha_Gunslinga]

Well, as some of ya'll might know, I'm on MOTL under the same username.  I've been around for over two years, and am one of the higher-reffed members of the site.  I've picked up miscuts, misprints, crimped cards, small collections, large collections, power, junk rares, bulk commons/uncommons, and even traded off, and traded for, non-magic items.

MOTL has always been good to me.  You can find almost anything there, except for some of the more obscure misprints.  Even then, anything is possible.  I just picked up a set of Chinese "V" Cities of Brass on there, and some of the members have summer magic, "V" stuff, prerelease misprints, etc.

The trick to MOTL is to be careful.  It's easy to get ripped off, but if you're careful, you should be able to avoid it.  Trade with reputable members, or use a third party.

[Bas]

MOTL is a piece of shit. First they ban you for no reason, and then ignore EVERY kind of communication you attempt to get it resolved. (Yes, Inca, if you are reading this, this includes you!). Even various attempts of moderators are ignored. THat is you thanks for a couple of years of being a respected member of their community.

[bigfatkitty]

MOTL is a piece of shit. First they ban you for no reason, and then ignore EVERY kind of communication you attempt to get it resolved. (Yes, Inca, if you are reading this, this includes you!). Even various attempts of moderators are ignored. THat is you thanks for a couple of years of being a respected member of their community.

I have to agree.

I signed up and was banned the same day.  I have no posts or any other activity.

To date they have not responded to several e-mails.   :-[

I have dealt directly with people there before with success, but without a user name set up.  

[dry cereal]

I've had good luck so far.  The first time I joined was good and I lasted for 9 wonderful trades.  Then I got banned.  I was banned 2 more times.  Now I'm back on and it's still good.  As long as I get the bad end of the deal, I usually don't get shafted.

[inca911]

MOTL's rules are few and are very straight-forward.  It is true that it is rare for a banned member to be reinstated.  My personal opinion regarding the reinstatement of a member is used to decide the matter when the staff is undecided.  Yes, to save my personal time I do ignore emails from those who were banned and who do not pass the first level of staff review for reinstatement.  It's nothing personal, just a cold impartiality that my volunteer position on the site requires.

I feel it is logical to conclude that those who choose to express their feelings that the site is a P.O.S. are generally not the best candidates for reinstatement.  In your particular case, Bas, had the matter eventually made it to me I'd likely have reinstated you.  Your recent comment in this thread, however, apparently indicates I would have likely made a regretfully poor decision had I done so.

Anyway, back to the question at hand.  I find MOTL to be a great place to trade and the efforts to identify Bad Traders are very beneficial only if one remembers to search names, towns, streets, zip codes, etc. in the Confirmed Bad Trader List prior to trading.  Also, always protect any items that you send that you cannot afford to lose with insurance.  Only insurance protects your property from theft, damage, loss, etc.  Delivery confirmation and registered mail will not pay for your lost Lotus or Foil Survival of the Fittest.  If you protect yourself for those items you can't afford to lose, and trade the smaller stuff based on trust, you'll find MOTL to be a great place.  Buy hey, that's just one guy's opinion....

[Gryfalia]

I feel it is logical to conclude that those who choose to express their feelings that the site is a P.O.S. are generally not the best candidates for reinstatement.  In your particular case, Bas, had the matter eventually made it to me I'd likely have reinstated you.  Your recent comment in this thread, however, apparently indicates I would have likely made a regretfully poor decision had I done so.

Erm, no...

It is logical that those who feel they have been given the shaft will harbor ill feelings towards those they feel 'shafted' them in the first place.  You shouldn't be trying to protect 'the sanctity' of the place, you should be making sure that good traders are the norm, bad traders/scammers are ejected and the environment is conducive towards the goal at hand.

Of course, we're not really getting the 'flip side' of things.  WHY were the above people banned, etc.  If they were for reasonable reasons, well, that's life I suppose.  If they were banned for petty reasons, that would concern me, as I have no desire to spend a lot of time and effort building a good reputation (which, I assure you, I would have), knowing that a pissed off admin on a bad day can just axe me and 'I lose'.

Obviously I don't expect you to tell me why they were banned, that's personal really.  But your general comments seem to reinforce what I was thinking.  It does seem like a good place to do low end to middling trades/sales, especially if you take the time to actually research the people you are dealing with, using the tools available to you.

I am a little confused as to where to find the 'unwritten rules' as it were (obviously, they are unwritten).  There are the obvious rules, which make sense to me (saw them as I signed up - the big ones, as it were), but I saw some things about 'no cash auctions' (tho it seems you can have trade auctions and cash sales...) but can't find any backing behind the statement.  Just don't want to tread on rules I can't find.  

Gryfalia

[sylvanstu]

Inca, what advise can you give someone who has no rating on MOTL  my experience was bad i traded small first so if i got ripped it wouldn't matter to much when i found the site i got excited a new form to trade world wide but being new your at the mercy of other traders til you get a rating. now i have traded with people here on this forum and had nothing but great experiences. I'd like to give it another chance. will my password and username still work i have not been there in over a year

[Bas]

MOTL's rules are few and are very straight-forward.  It is true that it is rare for a banned member to be reinstated.  My personal opinion regarding the reinstatement of a member is used to decide the matter when the staff is undecided.  Yes, to save my personal time I do ignore emails from those who were banned and who do not pass the first level of staff review for reinstatement.  It's nothing personal, just a cold impartiality that my volunteer position on the site requires.

I feel it is logical to conclude that those who choose to express their feelings that the site is a P.O.S. are generally not the best candidates for reinstatement.  In your particular case, Bas, had the matter eventually made it to me I'd likely have reinstated you.  Your recent comment in this thread, however, apparently indicates I would have likely made a regretfully poor decision had I done so.

Anyway, back to the question at hand.  I find MOTL to be a great place to trade and the efforts to identify Bad Traders are very beneficial only if one remembers to search names, towns, streets, zip codes, etc. in the Confirmed Bad Trader List prior to trading.  Also, always protect any items that you send that you cannot afford to lose with insurance.  Only insurance protects your property from theft, damage, loss, etc.  Delivery confirmation and registered mail will not pay for your lost Lotus or Foil Survival of the Fittest.  If you protect yourself for those items you can't afford to lose, and trade the smaller stuff based on trust, you'll find MOTL to be a great place.  Buy hey, that's just one guy's opinion....

Yeah right, after dozens of email you all of a sudden want say you would have re-instated me. I am just realy upset with motl politics and the way you guys ignored me.

[inca911]

Yeah right, after dozens of email you all of a sudden want say you would have re-instated me. I am just realy upset with motl politics and the way you guys ignored me.

I said if the staff recommended your reinstatement, I would have agreed.

sylvanstu:
I can check and see if your username is still active.  You can submit the emails of those with whom you have traded to build references.  Other than always protecting what you cannot afford to lose, my only other advice is to always check the BTA and the Confirmed Lists prior to trading.  Best of luck!

[Bas]

It really doesn't matter if one of my various usernames is banned. I have enough (about 9).