We Tried Video Selling with Journey’s End Games — Is it Worth It?

Split Screen | Illustration by Simon Dominic

Greetings, planeswalkers! Have you ever tried to sell your cards online? There are many options available, with some of the bigger ones that include TCGplayer and Star City Games. Today I’ll try a smaller competitor, Journey’s End Games, that offers a unique feature: video selling.

I’ll walk you through the entire process to navigate their website, schedule, conference, and eventually the card-selling process. Though this article is indeed sponsored by Journey’s End Games, the opinions presented are entirely my own.

I can’t say I’m expecting much difficulty to begin with, but you never know!

What Is Journey’s End Games?

Journey's End Games store interior

Journey’s End Games is a card store based in Moscow, Idaho. Like most local game stores, they sell all sorts of cards, sleeves, and accessories for various popular card games, like Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon. Their stated missions is to “go above and beyond to ensure every interaction is an experience; not just a transaction.”

Journey's End Games MagicCon booth

If you’ve been to any Grand Prix or MagicCons recently, you’ve likely seen them as well. I remember one of their vendors trying to buy my Cloud, Midgar Mercenary promo from Pro Tour Final Fantasy (though I ended up selling it elsewhere).

What Is Journey’s End Games Video Selling?

Video selling is much like it sounds; rather than having to manually list your collection in an e-mail, you can simply show it to the merchant via video call. This highly convenient feature is our primary focus today, and it seems that most of their competitors don’t offer it.

Why Sell To/Use Journey’s End Games?

To reiterate: convenience! This image is a small portion of the cards I sold for this review. If I were to e-mail Journey’s End Games rather than video call them, then I’d have to type card names manually for each (non-bulk) card I sell. This is certainly a hassle, especially if you find yourself strapped for time.

Journey's End Game Video Selling – Scheduling date and time

Moreover, it’s free to schedule a video call, and carries zero obligation or commitment if the offered prices aren’t enough. Think of it like bringing the MagicCon Vendor experience to your home, and you’ll see the appeal!

Video Selling Process

Any sale begins with the product you’re selling. I’ll sell a big stack of (mostly) Standard cards. I have no use for these cards, as I mostly play online and don’t really have much of a local scene in my area (especially not for Standard). The cards I’m selling are a mix of:

• Non-bulk rares/foils (some examples: Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, Summon: Bahamut, foil Godless Shrine)
• Full-art Tarkir: Dragonstorm lands
• Many copies of two $4+ uncommons (Untimely Malfunction and Sheltered by Ghosts)
• Bulk rares
• Bulk foils (such as the promo Lightning Helix pictured)

I’ve spent a little time organizing the stack, keeping these categories roughly together. I also have a Logitech webcam ready for the call once I schedule it.

Scheduling a Video Call

To schedule a video call, I’ll first need to start at the Journey’s End Games website. I then click Menu, then Sell Cards, which takes me to this screen.

Now I can click “Schedule a Video Call”, which opens up their Calendly page here.

Journey's End Game Video Selling – Entering basic collection details

It’s pretty simple to schedule a meeting, which I set for 12:00pm the next day. I then filled out the basic personal and collection information up above, and click Schedule Event.

A Bit of a Snag

Unfortunately, my first meeting did not go as planned. At the time scheduled, I clicked on the link I was sent via email, then ended up waiting in the lobby for about 15 minutes. I left and rescheduled for 1:30pm the next day, as I’d looked up the hours for their store and noticed it opened at 1:00pm.

Customer Service

One of their reps reached out to me afterwards to confirm the new time. I was then given an apology and explanation for their absence without prompting. It turns out their rep mixed up PST and EST, which led to them missing the meeting. That’s… something that happens, so no problems here. I’ve noted this because I want to document the process honestly, but I’ll also freely admit that I wasn’t all that inconvenienced. Writing from home is a comfy gig!

Editor's note: Journey's End has informed us they have since fixed their calendar setup and anticipate that there won't be any more issues like this in the future.

Video Call Process

Guy in the Chair | Illustration by Zoltan Boros

Anyways, we can now get to the moment you’re waiting for: the call itself. I was greeted the next day by a young guy with glasses wearing a MagicCon hat. His name was Jason, and he answered some of my initial questions about the selling process. The main questions I asked were:

• Is this always done from their store? Or was he remote?
  • Answer: He was remote.
• How does the process work?
  • Answer: I lay the cards out, he notes them and totals them, plus there’s a conversation with some room for minor haggling of prices.
• Are they aware of Draftsim/our sponsored article?
  • Answer: Yes to the first part, no to the second.
• Do you take Final Fantasy Play Booster Boxes as well (I remembered I had 10 lying around from a recent Arena Direct event)?
  • Answer: Yes.

Jason was helpful and knowledgeable, with a demeanor reminiscent of some of my better experiences with MagicCon sales. With those initial questions asked, we began the process of evaluating the cards I planned to sell. The call looked like this from my end (this was taken from a moment when Jason was away from his keyboard, so that I don’t have to publish his face).

The message typed there is roughly the order we went in, with some minor mistakes on my end (two Mountains instead of four, 10 boxes instead of nine). I started by counting the uncommons in front of the camera, then the rares, and so on. He looked up prices while we were talking about the cards and occasionally made offers (such as offering $1 for 4 Esper Origins, which was otherwise counted as bulk).

It was a rather relaxed, easy experience, and one that didn’t actually require me to type anything. However, I wanted to keep track of everything so I could document it for you, and also so I could double check once the sale was done. When we were wrapped up, the cards totaled about $236, and the Final Fantasy Play Booster Boxes totaled $1,750 ($175 each, 71% of $244 market). I was given a final offer of a flat $2,000 for everything listed, which I happily accepted.

I was then told that I’d be e-mailed a link with shipping information, and then we said our goodbyes and wrapped everything up. The entire process (including all initial questions) took a little over 30 minutes, which was pretty impressive given that it was online. In-person MagicCon vendors have the advantage of being able to physically touch and sort your cards, so your own organization can be crucial to the call’s pace.

Shipping/Selling

I received this e-mail within minutes of the call wrapping up. I then grabbed an old deck box, put the cards in it, and prepared the Play Booster Boxes to ship out the next day via UPS.

Sending The Order Out

I decided to ship all the boxes and cards in an old traveling bag (cat not included). As I prepared to ship out the cards, my doorbell rang with more Arena Direct prizes. I’d just had nine Edge of Eternities Collector Booster Boxes dropped at my door. I decided to ask Journey’s End Games if I could include those and be compensated for them with my order. My request was quickly granted.

They offered another $2,250, bringing my grand total to $4,250 for the transaction.

And with that, I packed the rest, drove over to UPS, and dropped off the cards. Shipping was quite expensive at $158. All that was left was to wait.

Payment

The order finally arrived after days of transit. I then e-mailed Journey’s End Games to ask them if it was delivered. This was their response:

I… probably should have packed that a bit more carefully. I said that was fine and asked them about shipping, to which they generously said they’d pay $50 for it. That put me back to $4,200 total for everything, which was wired to my bank!

The Verdict: Is Journey’s End Games’ Video Selling Worth It?

I’d say so! I had a great experience with this sale, despite the slightly awkward start. Jason was very professional and friendly, and he was willing to accommodate two last-minute changes. I’d recommend this to anyone who has a pile of cards to sell that they want help going through. The strongest advantage of the video format is that you don’t need to list everything, and you can also do some light haggling on the spot.

You can avoid some of my mistakes by packing your order more carefully; I probably should’ve just picked up separate boxes at UPS for it all rather than risk damages. I honestly don’t ship out cards very much, but I wanted to document the full process for maximum transparency.

Wrap Up

Oreskos Explorer | Illustration by Winona Nelson

Thanks again to Journey’s End Games for sponsoring this article, and I hope they have more customers in the future. And to you, dear readers, give this feature a try!

What have your experiences been like when selling by video call to Journey’s End Games? Leave a comment below, or continue the discussion on Draftsim’s X or Discord.

Until next time, stay safe.

This post is sponsored by Journey's End Games. We will never work with a brand we don't love and trust, and by supporting them you also support Draftsim.