General The Alter Thread

ravnic

ravnic

My girlfriend tried her first alter today. I think it turned out pretty gorgeous! But since I have no place for swiftspear in my cube really, she considers selling it. Could people who buy and/or sell alters from time to time give us an estimation what she could possibly sell it for.

Monastery Swiftspear Alter0001.jpg
 
Velrun

Velrun

It’s difficult to say what an altered card would sell for because unlike all other Magic products, it is the wild west. You cannot look up the prices because the card is unique.

Altering an cheap card will always give the card value. Altering an expensive card from the reserved list will sometimes make the card less valuable although that is rare. Supply = demand.

Here is a group on Facebook you could Ponder through if you wanted:
MTG Alters and Fan Artwork Community
In there she can also ask for advice on how to improve besides selling and buying alters.

I would certainly not mind having that alter in my cube :p It looks very good actually!
 
whydirt

whydirt

Based on the limited looking around I've done in the past, I'd put an extended frame alter like that in the $25 to $75 range, depending on the card, quality of the work, and your reputation as a seller.

I'd suggest doing a bit of research on your own if you want a better estimate.
 
ravnic

ravnic

Okay, thanks guys, we will shot a little higher and see if someone spends 50€ for it. You can always lower the price :p
 
Velrun

Velrun

Suicufnoc

Suicufnoc

ravnic said:
Okay, thanks guys, we will shot a little higher and see if someone spends 50€ for it. You can always lower the price :p
Click to expand...

Honestly I don't think this one is $50 quality yet, I'd guess 20. I've sold a few extensions for $75, but those had perfectly clean borders on textboxes, lots of detail and really good color matching. Most of my extensions still go for about $25...

Original/referenced art replacements tend to go for more than extensions.

But absolutely start high, that's the way to go (for eternal format cards so least)
 
sigh

sigh

Always start high for something like an alter. Almost no mtg card alterer is going to generate enough volume to really benefit from a loss-leading strategy, all they'll get is missed revenue potential and potential undervaluation of skill/time invested. High-low is standard practice across countless industries. Unless the alterer is in the position where they are, for example, short on rent and temporarily need to ensure cash flow, even if sub-optimal. I'm hoping that's not the case here.
https://retalon.com/blog/high-low-pricing-strategy-pros-cons-example
 
sigh

sigh

Making pitiful profits off the cards you are altering is also demoralizing, since your time costs money, your materials cost money, art school if applicable costs money.

You just make the opposite journey as starting low, but get payed a value that is actually worth your input value. Most small sellers don't need to make sales right away. If it's really too emotional for products to not sell immediately, maybe selling isn't for that person in general, otherwise they should always approach it with the best possible strategy.

If it's just a hobby, selling shouldn't even need to be a focus, so might as well make as much as possible even if it takes time.

Trust me, I've both sold cards and other products at an individual level, and sell things on behalf of a company for a living.
 
sigh

sigh

I'm a professional because I was a newbie once.... easy to understand I hope.

https://www.artworkarchive.com/blog/do-s-and-don-ts-of-pricing-your-artwork

First DO: You do have to make your price non-ridiculous. that's pretty obvious. An alter of a Monastery Swiftspear won't go for $1,000 the same way a wall painting could.
DO: Research the Prices of Comparable Artists


First DONT: DONT UNDERSELL YOURSELF!! I'm not just pulling this stuff out of my ass. This is an important concept for a new artist or new seller of almost any kind of ware.
DON’T: Undersell Your Work or Yourself

Quote from that second point:
“if my prices don’t make me feel at least a little uncomfortable that I’m charging too much, I’m probably undercharging!”
 
Zoss

Zoss

As someone who's been a professional (performing) artist, you also have to think about what other people are getting paid. If you undercut the market, you're hurting everyone else who depends on these sales as well. People will let you know if your prices are too high (whether verbally or simply by not buying), but no one will tell you if your prices are too low!

Also, it's good art!
 
Suicufnoc

Suicufnoc

sigh said:
Always start high for something like an alter. Almost no mtg card alterer is going to generate enough volume to really benefit from a loss-leading strategy, all they'll get is missed revenue potential and potential undervaluation of skill/time invested. High-low is standard practice across countless industries. Unless the alterer is in the position where they are, for example, short on rent and temporarily need to ensure cash flow, even if sub-optimal. I'm hoping that's not the case here.
https://retalon.com/blog/high-low-pricing-strategy-pros-cons-example
Click to expand...

Agreed, I start low with my high volume e-commerce products, but I start high with alters.
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Speaking of E-Commerce, I saw this proxy being advertised on one of the banner ads that appears across the bottom of the RTL webpage, and I was actually kind of interested in getting it. What do you think of:
il_1588xN.2762401221_q63j.jpg

https://www.etsy.com/listing/904791798/assassins-trophy-b?ref=shop_home_feat_3&pro=1&frs=1

Is getting a "realistic" proxy a waste of money? I think this is cool but is there a reason to get it over a real card?
 
LadyMapi

LadyMapi

I think that just using the most recent printing for each card for the card image tag has gotten to be a really bad idea in general thanks to all of the alternate frames that WotC is doing. I'm reminded of how a lot of cards were really annoying to use in Cockatrice for a while because their most recent printing was in the Amonkhet Masterpiece thing.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
TrainmasterGT said:
Speaking of E-Commerce, I saw this proxy being advertised on one of the banner ads that appears across the bottom of the RTL webpage, and I was actually kind of interested in getting it. What do you think of:
il_1588xN.2762401221_q63j.jpg

https://www.etsy.com/listing/904791798/assassins-trophy-b?ref=shop_home_feat_3&pro=1&frs=1

Is getting a "realistic" proxy a waste of money? I think this is cool but is there a reason to get it over a real card?
Click to expand...
The card text for this is wrong. It should be: "Target permanent an opponent controls you destroy! A basic land its controller may search their library for, onto the battlefield put it, then their library shuffle!"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top