Which MTG buylist pays the most?
We recently sold a big vintage collection and collected a lot of data to answer common questions about selling Magic cards.
Buylist prices and condition markdown rates vary a lot by vendor. A lot of people dislike the uncertainty of "is this card going to be worth $1.00 at Near Mint or $0.50 at Lightly Played?". So we ran the experiment to work out who is best, and how often.
The short answer
Even with the heaviest condition markdown of 12.2%, Card Kingdom has the best price about half the time (53%) for cards that appear on all four buylists tested. For cards that only appear on two of the four buylists, Card Kingdom is best for 62% of them. But there is a cost to being lazy: you will make at least 12% more if you split the buylist across multiple vendors.
Method
- Split a large collection across many vendors
- Calculate the average condition haircut per vendor
- Adjust advertised buylist prices by that haircut
Every number below is markdown-adjusted. The optimized total for the collection was $9,394.26 across 5,604 cards, priced at Card Kingdom, ABU Games, Star City Games and Strike Zone Online. If you are new to how these offers work, start with what a buylist is.
Individual vendor stats
| Shop | Condition markdown | Total value | Cards priced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card Kingdom | 12.2% | $8,379.36 | 5,460 |
| Star City Games | 6.9% | $5,963.01 | 2,850 |
| Strike Zone Online | 0.68% | $4,122.72 | 1,256 |
| ABU Games | 0.44% | $3,546.84 | 1,496 |
How much you lose by using fewer shops
All four shops
| Shops | Value | Percent of total | Cards priced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card Kingdom + ABU Games + Star City Games + Strike Zone | $9,394.26 | 100.0% | 5,604 |
Three shops
| Shops | Value | Percent of total | Cards priced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card Kingdom + ABU Games + Star City Games | $9,280.17 | 98.8% | 5,688 |
| Card Kingdom + Star City Games + Strike Zone | $9,260.35 | 98.6% | 5,557 |
| Card Kingdom + ABU Games + Strike Zone | $9,189.57 | 97.8% | 5,606 |
| ABU Games + Star City Games + Strike Zone | $6,946.67 | 73.9% | 3,040 |
Two shops
| Shops | Value | Percent of total | Cards priced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card Kingdom + Star City Games | $9,123.24 | 97.1% | 5,650 |
| Card Kingdom + ABU Games | $8,881.12 | 94.5% | 5,657 |
| Card Kingdom + Strike Zone | $8,860.64 | 94.3% | 5,449 |
| ABU Games + Star City Games | $6,598.18 | 70.2% | 3,152 |
Two more two-shop combinations are not shown.
One shop
| Shops | Value | Percent of total | Cards priced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card Kingdom | $8,379.36 | 89.2% | 5,460 |
| Star City Games | $5,963.01 | 63.5% | 2,849 |
| Strike Zone | $4,122.72 | 43.9% | 1,256 |
| ABU Games | $3,546.84 | 37.8% | 1,496 |
Who wins when shops overlap
Cards priced by all 4 shops
308 cards, $3,332.14 of value. Who has the best price most often:
- Card Kingdom: 163 wins (52.9%) — $2,069.82
- Strike Zone: 81 wins (26.3%) — $700.47
- Star City Games: 35 wins (11.4%) — $349.69
- ABU Games: 29 wins (9.4%) — $212.16
Cards priced by 3 shops
529 cards, $3,772.80 of value. Who has the best price most often:
- Card Kingdom: 284 wins (53.7%) — $2,256.39
- Strike Zone: 124 wins (23.4%) — $655.82
- ABU Games: 66 wins (12.5%) — $188.72
- Star City Games: 55 wins (10.4%) — $671.87
Cards priced by 2 shops
592 cards, $1,691.73 of value. Who has the best price most often:
- Card Kingdom: 365 wins (61.7%) — $1,103.04
- Star City Games: 96 wins (16.2%) — $303.90
- ABU Games: 85 wins (14.4%) — $137.44
- Strike Zone: 46 wins (7.8%) — $147.35
Head-to-head comparisons
Card Kingdom
- vs Star City Games: 881W-272L-2T (76.3% win rate)
- vs ABU Games: 421W-219L-2T (65.6% win rate)
- vs Strike Zone Online: 391W-256L-0T (60.4% win rate)
Strike Zone Online
- vs Star City Games: 448W-201L-0T (69.0% win rate)
- vs Card Kingdom: 256W-391L-0T (39.6% win rate)
- vs ABU Games: 229W-127L-3T (63.8% win rate)
ABU Games
- vs Star City Games: 323W-248L-4T (56.2% win rate)
- vs Card Kingdom: 219W-421L-2T (34.1% win rate)
- vs Strike Zone Online: 127W-229L-3T (35.4% win rate)
Star City Games
- vs Card Kingdom: 272W-881L-2T (23.5% win rate)
- vs ABU Games: 248W-323L-4T (43.1% win rate)
- vs Strike Zone Online: 201W-448L-0T (31.0% win rate)
What to do with this
Sending everything to one shop is the easiest option and the most expensive one: Card Kingdom alone paid 89.2% of what the split collection was worth. Prices also move, so check the last update time for each shop before you commit, and read how to ship the parcels so a markdown on arrival does not undo the gain.
See what your cards are worth
Add your collection and CardRouter compares every buylist we track, then splits the cards between shops for the highest total payout.
Price my collection