Magic the Gathering is easily one of the most popular trading card games in the world. If you own a board game store or trading card store, then chances are that you are going to want to offer Magic the Gathering cards. So, how do you become a distributor? Well, it is simpler than you may think.
You do have to bear in mind that you can no longer deal directly with Wizards of the Coast in the United States. Instead, you have to work with one of their wholesalers. In order to work with these wholesalers, you are going to need to own a physical store. You cannot purchase from an approved wholesaler if you are an online-only business.
We want to expand on this a little bit throughout the rest of this page, as well as give you a bit of advice on some of the most burning questions that people often have when they contemplate becoming a Magic the Gathering distributor.
Becoming a Magic the Gathering Distributor
We are assuming that by ‘become a Magic the Gathering Distributor’, you mean buying trading cards so that you are able to tell them in your own store. You do not mean becoming a distributor in the sense that Wizards of the Coast mean it i.e. purchasing cards in order to sell them wholesale to other stores.
That is something that you cannot do. Wizards of the Coast only work with the following few companies for that:
Not all of these companies will be available in your state, so make sure that you check out each company to find out what they can offer. Many of them will have their own requirements when it comes to who they sell to too.
It is worth noting that Wizards of the Coast only have one requirement for those that want to buy trading cards through one of the wholesalers. The wholesalers are free to come up with their own requirements in addition to this too. However, you are not going to be able to buy Magic the Gathering cards wholesale from one of these businesses unless you are a real brick and mortar store i.e. they are not going to sell to online businesses.
As you may well know, one of the main ways that Wizards of the Coast managed to get the game as popular as it is was down to Friday Night Magic i.e. a weekly event where you can head to your local store in order to play games.
This is still one of the main ways that the company does business and, therefore, they want companies to try and offer this as much as possible. This means that you need to be a physical store.
Distributors will have their own requirements on who they sell trading cards to. For example, some will have minimum order quantities. Others may specify that you buy a certain number of products a year. You will need to look into the minimum requirements for each company. If you are a legitimate business, then you probably shouldn’t have that many issues finding a company that can sell to you.
Can You Buy Directly from Wizards of the Coast?
No.
You haven’t been able to buy trading cards directly from Wizards of the Coast since August 2018.
In order to sell Magic the Gathering products now, you must purchase the cards from one of the authorized distributors.
Luckily for most businesses, it is probably going to be a lot simpler to purchase from one of the authorized distributors than it ever would to have bought from Wizards of the Coast. This is because there are going to be very, very few requirements other than being a business. In the past, you may have had to have run events, etc.
This information applies to almost every single country now. Up until recently, you were still able to buy directly from Wizards of the Coast in a few countries. However, nowadays, it is only from authorized distributors.
How Much are MTG Booster Boxes Wholesale?
It is dependent on where they are being purchased from as well as the quantity that the retailer is looking to purchase. However, you can expect the price to be around the $80 mark. Of course, Magic the Gathering booster boxes for those ‘better’ collections will probably cost a little bit more.
As you can tell, buy MTG booster boxes wholesale is not actually going to be that much of a saving. It is a few dollars. You wouldn’t be able to profit unless you sold the vast majority of the booster box.
This is actually why many businesses will break down the booster boxes to sell cards as singles. There is a strong chance that they are going to be able to make a profit if they decide to go down that route.
When buying booster boxes, we recommend only buying online from trusted sources, like Amazon. Click here to check the current market prices for various Magic the Gathering booster boxes.
Do You Have to Join the Wizards Play Network if You Are a Retailer?
No. However, it is beneficial.
As you may well know, the Wizards Play Network, or WPN as it is commonly known, is a network of stores that offer Magic the Gathering products. Not every store that sells these products will be under this scheme.
As a WPN company, you can run Friday Night Magic tournaments, as well as other sanctioned events. This can result in Wizards of the Coast giving you free products that you can use (depending on how many people you attract to your store), etc. The company will also advertise you as being a member of the WPN, and this could generate you even more business.
Becoming part of the WPN is not going to be easy, though. In fact, Wizards of the Coast have recently tightened the rules. They will only allow physical locations with large amounts of space inside to join the WPN. This is normally space for at least 12 people, although it is going to be dependent on where you are located. You can’t just have a small room and become part of the WPN, though.
You cannot become a WPN if you only have an online store.
Do You Have to Run Friday Night Magic?
If you are a WPN, then you need to run Friday Night Magic. It is likely that you will need to have a good number of people playing each week in order to maintain your status as a WPN too.
If you are not part of the WPN program then, no, you do not have to run Friday Night Magic. Many companies will do so anyway, though. This is because running Friday Night Magic is a great way to get people through the door and spending money on various accessories.
Although, do bear in mind that you may find it difficult to attract people into your store if you are not a sanctioned company for Friday Night Magic. This is because scores cannot be officially recorded unless you are a WPN.
Can You Sell Trading Cards Online?
You can. However, you cannot only sell them online.
As we said before, if you are planning on becoming an official Magic the Gathering distributor, you do need to own a physical store. This means that you need to have a real outlet where you are selling the cards. However, as long as you pass that test, then you are free to sell the cards online.
You can either sell them sealed, or you can crack open the packs if you want. Just bear in mind that because Wizards of the Coast do not recognize the secondary market, they may ask companies to stop selling cards as singles in the future. However, since this is how many trading card companies make a lot of their profit, we doubt that Wizards of the Coast will ever do this.
If you cannot buy trading cards wholesale, then you have no choice but to buy a physical box directly from a trading card game store and sell the packs online like that. However, since you are going to be paying retail for the cards, you are not going to be making profit like this. Opening the packs and selling them as singles probably isn’t going to be making you a huge amount of cash either.
Final Thoughts
If you want to become a Magic the Gathering distributor, then you need to own a brick-and-mortar store. No wholesalers for Magic the Gathering products will be able to offer their products to companies that only deal online. If you only want to deal online, then you will need to find a secondary market seller. However, you will be paying almost the same price as retail there, so it may not be worth it.
If you do become a distributor for MTG products, then we suggest that you also join the WPN in order to drive people to your store.
If you are a member of the WPN, then always do your best to increase business. This can generate a lot of goodwill from Wizards of the Coast and they will do their best to help you expand your business.