There are many ways and resources for buying and selling Magic: The Gathering cards. However, and I speak from experience in my early years, there are just as many ways to mess up and get ripped off. An example? Let's say you really need a card for whatever deck you are making, perhaps it is the LAST card you need for this deck. Now, in your mind, you just want this card quickly, and any reasonable price will do. In these types of situations it is very easy to get ripped off and spend to much if you don't do your research. Here are some quick tips for finding out what price is right:

1. Go to your local cardshop. This is the easiest way, usually, to see what the maximum price you will pay for the card will be. If it seems fair, don't jump on it! See what else awaits.

2. Check price guides! Using magazines such as Scrye or internet websites with price guides (try typing in "price guide mtg" in google) can save you a lot of money. Sometimes based on the demand of a card in a particular area the price of the card will sky-rocket. If everyone in your area just has to play with Goblin cards, the shop owner will most likely capitalize on that and pull harder to find Goblins and mark up there price. By using magazines that survey hundreds if not thousands of shops and the internet which sells to a global market you can see the real value of a card.

3. This step is more optional, but can very useful. Check mtg trading websites (try "mtg trade" on google or your favorite search engine) and see how easy the card you are looking for is to find. If a lot of people have it, perhaps all the price guides are wrong, at least a bit. If a card is listed at roughly 2 dollars, but everyone owns a few on a trading post, you can probably pick yourself up one for either a dollar or just offering some of your own cards to them.

4. The most important step: Check eBay! Since it is not only a global market, but also has the feel of the trading posts (its all user-owned cards) it is probably the best place to find the TRUE value of a card. This may sound a little, I dunno, suck-up-ish, as this is being posted on eBay, but it really is true.

After you have gone through these steps (that go by much faster than you think) you will have seen the cards value from many different angles. Now you can find the best price possible.

Now, on to selling.

Obviously if you are a seller you want to gain the most out of spending the least. To do this, buy card lots. There are many gems waiting to be found inside big lots of cards. The initial investment can be large, but many people who are getting out of the game just want to get rid of it all...all at once! You will usually get the best deals buying in bulk in almost any situation, mtg is no exception.

A big perk of buying card lots is that you will sometimes hit what some of us a call a mega-lot, or perhaps a mega-seller. These being people that have no idea what is in their collection. Perhaps they obtained it at a garage sale, or as a present, and have never bothered to get into the game. Sometimes the best deals come from taking a little gamble and bidding on completely sight-unseen big lots.

Once you have cards to sell there is a finer art to getting them out of the door. This comes strictly from eBay research. Lets say you have a card that you imagine will sell well. Don't just throw it on eBay with a price tag on it. You MUST do market research ON EBAY! Research elsewhere is unimportant at this stage. A lot of the time people will have to relist over and over only to realize that no one wants to buy from them when they are selling based on magazine or internet shop price guides. In this case those guides are basically useless and the only tool is eBay.

So, start searching! Enter "MTG" then the name of your card into the eBay search and see what comes up. The best way to make sure something sells is to find the cheapest one and either match it or go lower, either on price or shipping or both. If you see that the prices waiver a bit you can sometimes get away with going with more of a "middle pricing," the price you see most often. Beating the lowest price isn't always most important, especially if their auction is ending soon, meaning their comparison won't be there long. If you can be next best to them you will become the best when their auction ends, unless someone decides to put it up at that lower price again. Selling on eBay is almost always a small game of chance, perhaps more so in MTG sells than other things.

Once you have found your price, start listing! Usually 5 or 7 day auctions are fine for MTG cards. There are some other things you should keep in mind when listing, however:

1. Tell the condition of your cards, and don't lie about it! If you're unsure of the condition of your card simply look it up! Try going to your favorite search engine and typing in "mtg condition guide." Chances are you'll find something that will help you figure this out.

2. Lay down some ground rules! Make sure to lay out very clearly how long people have to pay for things, when you will leave feedback (which should always be AFTER they leave you feedback AFTER they receive the cards they payed for), and other such matters or instructions.

3. Offer combined shipping discounts on multiple purchases, and follow through! Be a good seller, if they buy a lot of things from you, give 'em a little discount. Also, don't offer combined shipping and only list 3-5 things for them to choose from. A good healthy listing amount is around 8-10 items, but the more the merrier!

4. Most importantly, SHIP FAST! No one wants to wait forever for anything, MTG cards is no exception. The faster you ship, the more likely you are to have repeat costumers.

I hope this guide and the simple steps laid out in it are helpful to you when beginning your venture into buying or selling online. Good luck!