WotC retailer policy

[berkumps]

Can someone with a b&m store in the US clarify the WotC policy about selling sealed product outside of US?

I was under the impression that the policy applied to in-print product and/or standard legal sets, yet I've had sellers refuse to sell me boxes of Fallen Empires because of this policy, despite the fact that no such policy existed when these boxes were purchased by them.

Thanks for any input.

[Blood]

Some people are weary because they may not understand the policy correctly. I am not 100% sure either way, so I will not comment at this point, but I will ask my wizards rep the next time I talk to him.

On a side note, feel free to pm me for my address and I can get it sent to me and then up to you. Jason

[tap4black]

The condensed version:

1) Retailers may not sell or redistribute any sealed MTG product that is less than 2 years old (current) to anyone other than retail end users. Approved retailers may only purchase current MTG product from authorized WOTC distributiors or Wizards directly.
2) Products older than 2 years (non-current) may be bought and sold on the secondary market.
3) Under no circumstances can sealed MTG product of any age be sold outside of the USA and it's territories. (edit. for US stores)

This was the nuts and bolts of the agreement I had signed last year.

[berkumps]

The condensed version:

1) Retailers may not sell or redistribute any sealed MTG product that is less than 2 years old (current) to anyone other than retail end users. Approved retailers may only purchase current MTG product from authorized WOTC distributiors or Wizards directly.
2) Products older than 2 years (non-current) may be bought and sold on the secondary market.
3) Under no circumstances can sealed MTG product of any age be sold outside of the USA and it's territories. (edit. for US stores)

This was the nuts and bolts of the agreement I had signed last year.

Thanks for the info!

I guess that means the agreement retroactively covers off all the older stuff.

1) & 2) I agree with, 3) not so much. But that's probably because I don't live in the US :p

[Alifromcairo]

Thanks.

Is the third line policy a recent one or has it always existed ?

[l0qii]

Can anyone decipher the legalities of economic geos and why such a policy needs to exist in the first place?

[GlobalBoosterHunter]

It is a real pain for booster collectors! (and for people in the States who kindly agreed to act as a post box for them)

I find it amazing that I can't buy Korean boosters from an American seller, however I have had an American seller sell me some French Boosters and I have no problems with most American sellers on eBay.

Sealed product is far more plentiful in America, the range is wider and the prices are cheaper. I am all for the free market, you have a seller, you have a buyer, why should the Governement or big business dictate how you should intereact, they get their cut!

I could understand if they were cutting into the local company's sealed products business but none of our local businesses seem to want to stock foreign language boosters anyway.

[hammr7]

Item 1 attempts to control distribution so that speculators have a tougher time influencing the market. It also seeks to eliminate unauthorized International traffic at the wholesale level (see 3)

If retailers can only buy from approved wholesalers (including WOTC), and can only sell to retail customers, then distribution has a better chance at getting to actual small purchase customers at something close to regular retail price.

Issues like counterfeiting are minimized or more easily contained.

If WOTC is going to support new products with tournaments and promotions, it provides greater coordination between their promotions and sales.

A number of collectible markets have crashed after speculators were able to control enough distribution to influence pricing and the availability of unopened product. And when the speculators finally dump and leave, the market is typically in shambles for years.

Magic needs new blood, and there is no better way to turn off new blood than to tell them they can never buy anything resembling a hot product.

Item 2 recognizes the collectible aspect and provides retailers relief for anything that rotates out of the most current format. If selling a new unopened product, you have to deal directly with WOTC. If its older product, improvise all you want.

Item 3 acknowledges the realities of the International marketplace. WOTC supplies a host of different products in different languages. Imagine if they are trying to penetrate the Russian market and all the new Russian language cards are being diverted by wholesalers and large retailers tp end up in pimping decks in the US. Individual retail customers can try to play that game, but authorized retailers cannot.

In some cases extra costs or duties are required when cards ship to a country or region. Think VAT in Europe. Unauthorized International sales can not only undercut legal channels for product, but can lead to legal problems for WOTC. If product can go from Singapore or Hong Kong to the UK and undercut official UK supplies (because of VAT) then WOTC may be forced to pay the extra VAT.

[mystical_tutor]

Mark;

The rules listed only have leverage with retailers who must buy sealed product for their business. Once sealed product goes out the shop's door WotC has nothing more to say about it. There are some ebay sellers that must protect that supply rout as they have a business that relies on being able to get the product (i.e. Troll and Toad, etc.). Other ebay sellers are getting their stuff from who knows where and can sell where ever and to whom ever they want to.

Overall these are good rules. Before these rules a LOT of underhanded dealing was going on. Some of it really hurt small overseas markets and is one of the reasons Korean language Magic cards stopped being printed for some years.

Tightening up the system has probably had a very positive effect on non US markets, which, from the big picture, has helped Magic overall.

I have seen first hand the results of shop owners being able to sell English language cards in another country at lower prices than the local language cards.

Gary

[GlobalBoosterHunter]

For sure the rules are not there to penalise booster collectors, it is just one of the unforseen complications.

Is there such a big problem with older sealed product though?

You would think peole would be happy to get rid of old stock and if a speculator wants to hold onto stock for 2+ years on the chance it will go up in price on the foreign market then is that such a bad thing, the other sellers have two years to sell their products in the local market.

If a company forces you to ignore foreign customers when you are trying to sell old stock is that good for your business?

I am not that bothered, most items can be had on eBay or most sellers will happily send it to an American address for you, even though they know it is going to be forwarded overseas.