If you were going to get a gift certificate from an online M:TG card store, which one would you prefer?
I want to buy a gift certificate for my friend but his favorite site, Star City Games, doesn’t offer gift certificates. There’s a bunch of others that do, but I’m not sure which to pick. They all sort of seem the same but I wouldn’t know.
I thought you and the Magic playing boyfriend broke up? /nosiness
On topic: What are the specific other sites you’re looking at besides StarCityGames? I’ve only ever bought online from SCG and didn’t realize they don’t offer gift certificates.
I placed an order from ABU Games and was happy with them. I don’t see a gift certificate option there either. However, they have a brick-and-mortar location as well, so perhaps they do sell gift certificates through the store than they honor online as well. You might email/call and find out.
Sorry – not a great answer I know.
SCG mentions gift certificates on their site, like for trade-ins, I think, but that info must be old. I contacted them and they said they don’t sell them anymore.
I’ve ordered stuff (a couple of booster boxes) from www.wizardscupboard.com before. They sell both single card and packs / boxes.
Looks like they have gift certificates available here:
Star City Games said they don’t sell gift certificates anymore? That doesn’t sound right. Tell you what…you can throw a rock from my house and hit SCG, and I’m pretty sure I still know a couple guys there from my DCI-volunteer-judging days of yore (when Star City gift certs were de rigeur among my friends for all occasions). It’s possible that they don’t sell certs that you can use online; can’t say I ever tried that. I’ll poke 'em tomorrow and see what’s up.
If that doesn’t pan out, I can’t be of much help…never got my cards anywhere else, and I’ve been out the Magic scene so long that any info I had would be out of date anyway. Best of luck, and may Chronatog Jesus bless your every draw.
I looked at Wizard’s Cupboard before posting this thread, and it looked decent enough. I figured I should ask to see if I could get any recommendations anyway. I might go with that one if no one else has any suggestions along the lines of “OMG this other store is the bestus!”
Roland I emailed SCG directly and they said:
“Unfortunately, at this time we do not offer gift certificates. My suggestion would be to look into pre-paid credit cards as we are able to accept most pre-paid credit cards (we are not able to accept the Visa Vanilla as it is not able to be registered with a billing address). I do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please let us know if you have any other questions.”
My guess is just that they were having a hard time getting them working properly on their site. I build ecomm sites, it is a tricky thing to do.
I don’t want to get Dude a Visa gift card because he’s the sort of guy who would either refuse it or use it on gas or something practical. If I got him a gift cert for a Magic shop, well there’s no way he can refuse it - what am I going to do with it? 
I was going to ask here what kind of MTG gift I could get him but I know nothing of his collection, his play style, etc. So I think a Magic shop gift cert would be the best fit.
You could always buy from my auctions on eBay :). I’m selling my entire collection piecemeal.
Seriously though, I think eBay has gift certificates or gift cards available for use which he could then use to purchase some of the 1.5 billion MtG auctions on the site every single day.
Another option might be http://www.cardshark.com/ which is a direct site for buyers and sellers in a non-auction format. I haven’t used them in years, but when I did I had no problem with the people on the other end. They have gift certificates.
Yep, that’s pretty much the same line I got. Apparently a bunch of the old guard left when they switched locations a couple years back, too; the only person I used to know who’s still there is one of the tournament organizers. So much for the “connections” route. 
A friend who still plays suggested Dave and Adam’s Card World, who do seem to offer gift certificates. Looking over their collection, they’re not as extensive as SCG — they’re not dedicated to gaming cards — but if he’s primarily into Type II (the latest core set and expansions) rather than filling his collection with older singles, they should suffice. Again, best of luck.
I’m a big fan of Troll and Toad from way back. They’re more expensive than some of the smaller shops, as is Star City, but they do a really good job and are very professional. They also have a huge inventory of pretty much any card you’d want and reasonable shipping rates. I sent them an email through their site feedback asking if they offer gift certificates. I’d guess they do because they’re a pretty big outfit(comparatively), but you may have to call them to get one.
Star City gets more press because they do more with the gaming community(they publish articles, they have a game center, organize tournaments, etc.), but as far as a store goes, Troll and Toad is their equal I believe.
Enjoy,
Steven
This is what I got back from Troll and Toad.
Sounds pretty much like a gift certificate to me, but a little more involved and harder to gift wrap.
Enjoy,
Steven