What WOTC did wrong with the sale of the SDCC Planeswalkers

This post was supposed to be done on Monday, but I forgot over the weekend to write this. So here we go:

I think everyone who is involved in Magic, whether collecting, playing, or just completely admiring the game is what the foil black-on-black planeswalkers from SDCC were made for. They were made for you.

The SDCC Planeswalkers were NOT made for people who showed up at the Hasbro Toy Shop booth to buy something else and figured they could cheat MTG players, collectors, and enthusiasts out of a few hundred dollars.

So they were only available at San Diego Comic Con. I'm okay with that. What I'm not okay is the fact that you could buy 2 and that anyone could buy them. It should have been limited to 1, and limited as to who could buy it.

I would assume that if they sold it for a few days, then you could also come back the next day and buy two more. So as long as you had the money, and the time to stand in line and then another line all day for a couple of days, then you would have four boxes of the planeswalkers to sell for about $400+ online.

This could have done much better. But this was at a Comic Con, and people should be allowed to buy anything there, it could have been done by DCI number to restrict who could buy it to Magic players (and when these were announced online, it could have been noted that you would be required to have a DCI number. WOTC already cracks down on limiting one DCI number per person and allow people to combine their DCI numbers in the event someone has multiples). So yes, I believe this should have been available to Magic players or collectors.

Now, online, it was worse. At some point on Thursday, about 3:22 Eastern Standard Time this past week, they sold out in under five minutes. They told me that they only sold 1 per buyer. But could people who went to SDCC camp out online (since they had time to stand in line to buy these at Comic Con, maybe they had time to camp out online, hit F5 every second, and then buy them online too). If they had done this by DCI number, there could be no repeat purchases.

Now, further online, anyone wanting to buy the collectible/exclusives on HasbroToyShop.com. Now, some of us with full time jobs don't have time to watch online every second, so people who legitimately want/wanted the items couldn't buy them. Now this is a first for Wizards doing something quite like this, so what should have been done was an online lottery/raffle to have the chance to buy the item. They could have announced a place to sign up with your DCI number for a chance to win the opportunity to buy the SDCC Planeswalkers instead of them going to just about anyone.

Consider the I Heart Radio party, or whatever it is that tickets sold out in under a minute. But, then all the stations that are affiliated with I Heart Radio have tickets to give away by contests such as texting the station or being the nth called to the radio station.


So that's about it. It should have gone differently. Only Magic people should have been allowed to buy. I'd feel better knowing only people who have played or collected Magic would be selling it online for more money, than the chance anyone could have purchased it. And then, on top of that, online sales should have been done by lottery where you have the chance to buy the box, but don't actually win it. That is a better way it could have been done.

But that's just my opinion.