Retail Store Selling Guide & FAQ
You're interested in trading or selling your collectible items to Empire Game Center
What items do you acquire at Empire Game Center?
The simple answer is most items from the big 3 trading card games in English language - Magic: the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon singles and sealed product.
Pokemon and YGO are trade only - see store for details.
MTG cards - bulk is trade only, singles are subjective to review. A card like Snapcaster Mage is great for both cash and trade but a stack of $1 retail cards is most likely going to be trade only. MTG Foils are trade only.
Do you quote prices over the phone?
Prices are only given in person.
How to Sell/Trade your items
TLDR:
-Be the owner of the items
-Ensure items are odor free
-Moldy or destroyed items are not accepted
-Items that have heavy pet dander are not accepted.
-Do not bring counterfeit items to the store. We know what we're doing.
Why?
We get a lot of "I'm selling items for my ____" whatever story that says you're not the owner of the items you're trying to sell...let's save a headache - No thank you.
We are only interested in accepting items from the actual owner of the items.
-If items are smoke/vape/incense/pet odor damaged, we should stop now because we do not accept cards with offensive odors (Yes, cards absorb smoke, vape clouds, incense and anything with a strong odor)
-If items are moldy please keep those cards away from the store as at least one person in store is allergic to mold.
-If items are covered in pet dander or smell of animals please keep those away as well.
-If your items are counterfeit we are not interested so don't try it.
(Seriously, you have no idea what walks in the store from time to time. Turn on one of those hoarding shows and scratch & sniff your TV - you'll know what we're talking about then)
Now that we have that out of the way...
"I have bulk cards and don't know what my items are worth..."
If your items are true bulk the answer is most likely "not much"
Collectibles are Quality over Quantity and those sweet bulk lots sold in Mass Market stores and/or on Craig's List are usually worth far less than the price they are listed at.
Please research your items before bringing them in. The number one statement we get is "I have no idea what my stuff is worth" - eBay is a great resource to see actual sales numbers so you'll have an idea of what items sell for.
If you're going to bring in a collection, we do accept cards that are UNSLEEVED and separated as non-bulk VS bulk.
Please separate non-bulk from bulk items before bringing your cards to the store. This will allow for faster processing time for both the store employee(s) and the customer(s)
Bulk c/u is accepted inside 3, 4 and 5-row boxes only. We do not accept bulk in shoe boxes, tubs, containers, stacks, booster boxes, plastic bags, binders, moving boxes or anything else that is not a 3, 4 or 5-row box.
Bulk rares/mythics are accepted in increments of 100.
Do you purchase Comic Books?
Not really. If you have items like high end vintage comics we are interested in making an appointment to check it out.
Do you purchase Sports Cards?
While we do in fact sell sealed Sports Card Product, we are not interested in sports card singles unless it's something awesome.
Do you purchase Toys?
We do not purchase or trade for Toys.
Do you purchase Video Games?
No.
Why don't you open a super center that carries everything that is awesome!?
While this would be really cool, we would need a much larger space and a much larger payroll to carry everything awesome.
Maybe one day...
What items do you acquire at Empire Game Center?
The simple answer is most items from the big 3 trading card games in English language - Magic: the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon singles and sealed product.
Pokemon and YGO are trade only - see store for details.
MTG cards - bulk is trade only, singles are subjective to review. A card like Snapcaster Mage is great for both cash and trade but a stack of $1 retail cards is most likely going to be trade only. MTG Foils are trade only.
Do you quote prices over the phone?
Prices are only given in person.
How to Sell/Trade your items
TLDR:
-Be the owner of the items
-Ensure items are odor free
-Moldy or destroyed items are not accepted
-Items that have heavy pet dander are not accepted.
-Do not bring counterfeit items to the store. We know what we're doing.
Why?
We get a lot of "I'm selling items for my ____" whatever story that says you're not the owner of the items you're trying to sell...let's save a headache - No thank you.
We are only interested in accepting items from the actual owner of the items.
-If items are smoke/vape/incense/pet odor damaged, we should stop now because we do not accept cards with offensive odors (Yes, cards absorb smoke, vape clouds, incense and anything with a strong odor)
-If items are moldy please keep those cards away from the store as at least one person in store is allergic to mold.
-If items are covered in pet dander or smell of animals please keep those away as well.
-If your items are counterfeit we are not interested so don't try it.
(Seriously, you have no idea what walks in the store from time to time. Turn on one of those hoarding shows and scratch & sniff your TV - you'll know what we're talking about then)
Now that we have that out of the way...
"I have bulk cards and don't know what my items are worth..."
If your items are true bulk the answer is most likely "not much"
Collectibles are Quality over Quantity and those sweet bulk lots sold in Mass Market stores and/or on Craig's List are usually worth far less than the price they are listed at.
Please research your items before bringing them in. The number one statement we get is "I have no idea what my stuff is worth" - eBay is a great resource to see actual sales numbers so you'll have an idea of what items sell for.
If you're going to bring in a collection, we do accept cards that are UNSLEEVED and separated as non-bulk VS bulk.
Please separate non-bulk from bulk items before bringing your cards to the store. This will allow for faster processing time for both the store employee(s) and the customer(s)
Bulk c/u is accepted inside 3, 4 and 5-row boxes only. We do not accept bulk in shoe boxes, tubs, containers, stacks, booster boxes, plastic bags, binders, moving boxes or anything else that is not a 3, 4 or 5-row box.
Bulk rares/mythics are accepted in increments of 100.
Do you purchase Comic Books?
Not really. If you have items like high end vintage comics we are interested in making an appointment to check it out.
Do you purchase Sports Cards?
While we do in fact sell sealed Sports Card Product, we are not interested in sports card singles unless it's something awesome.
Do you purchase Toys?
We do not purchase or trade for Toys.
Do you purchase Video Games?
No.
Why don't you open a super center that carries everything that is awesome!?
While this would be really cool, we would need a much larger space and a much larger payroll to carry everything awesome.
Maybe one day...