eBay is king when it comes to getting eyeballs on your cards, but nowadays, I sell more in terms of dollars outside of eBay. It’s been a game-changer for my business. Partly, it’s because it avoids eBay fees—more of my sales money goes to my wallet, even if I accept offers below eBay comps. Partly, it’s because eBay makes it way too hard to do bulk deals (seriously, not sure how they haven’t identified that as a big opportunity). And finally, it’s a lot easier to build up a relationship with my buyers on social platforms.
My favorite place to sell is in Discord groups, and it’s where a lot of my sales happen nowadays. Since starting to sell in Discord, it’s accounted for 53% of my total profit and 25% of my total sales (from a dollar perspective).
Discord’s get a bad rep because of some nonsense that occurred with a particular paid Discord (since re-branded and changed ownership), but for most cards with comps, it’s incredible how easy it is to move inventory. Most of my activity happens on three Discords (affiliate links used so I do get a kickback for these, but I wouldn’t be recommending them if I didn’t find them useful):
BucketCardz. Easily the marketplace I sell the most on. It’s $12.99/month but very worth it for the liquidity and verification/middleman protection. Also, it takes like….one $100 sale for you to come out ahead compared to selling on eBay. Easy decision.
Clymb. This one is a bit smaller, but I’ve sold some stuff here and really like the community. It’s also dirt cheap at $4.99/month.
The Collector’s Keep. No affiliate code needed because this one is free. To be transparent, I do have a harder time moving cards here, but the community is fantastic and the owners have always been very helpful and supportive.
Again, Discord groups have completely changed my business—I can liquidate cards, at better returns than eBay, with a couple days unlocking a lot more volume and quicker inventory turnover. As I’ve gotten to know some buyers, at times I don’t even have to dip into the groups—I just reach out to trusted buyers first via DM and move stuff right away.
And in the case of both Clymb and BucketCardz, because you pay a little each month it lets the owners setup middlemen programs to protect both sellers and buyers and compensate if sales fall through.
However, you do have scammers who will try their best to work outside the group. I’ve had folks try it maybe 3-4 times in the past few months, and the pattern has been identical, so here’s what to look for and how to protect yourself.
The Scam Playbook
It always starts the same. I post a card in the group, usually of decent value, and then I get a DM. That in and of itself is not odd. Some buyers will first reply to you post with a “DM” message. As a buyer, that’s best practice for sure.
But others will just outright DM you directly without any acknowledgement in the group. It’s not necessarily bad that they do and I’ve done sales with folks who have done this, but a DM from someone without any message in the group itself first to let you know it’s coming is flag number 1.
From there, if they’re good, the conversation will seem pretty normal. They’ll ask if the card is still available
Often, they’ll ask what else you’re selling. If they’re good, it will feel like a fairly normal conversation with is the point.
Sometimes they try to negotiate, which is actually a good second red flag because, at least in my experience, the negotiation is too easy.
Negotiation makes it feel legitimate, but they tend to only adjust just a hair because their goal isn’t to get a great fake price, it’s to get you to agree to the sale.
Now comes the biggest tell. Obviously, they don’t want to just send you funds because the entire point is to scam you. So here’s where they try to take advantage of your lack of knowledge around middlemen programs.
How the Middlemen Programs Work
Let’s do a quick sidebar on middlemen programs. They operate the same basic way in each group I’m in.
When you first start selling in a group that provides middlemen and verification protection, you are required to use a middleman to complete each sale.
You start by opening a “ticket”. This is done inside the group itself.
Once a ticket is opened, it creates a private channel in the group that will involve three people: you, your buyer, and an admin or moderator. The admin or moderator will facilitate the deal. In a standard middleman ticket, the buyer will send the funds to the middleman (the admin or moderator) who will confirm receipt. Then you, the seller, send the cards to the buyer. Once the buyer confirms receipt, the middleman pays you, the seller, your money.
If the buyer is eligible, some groups also provide a Pay Upon Arrival middleman program where the seller ships to the buyer, the buyer confirms receipt and then pays the seller directly. In this case the moderator is there to facilitate and oversee and verify the deal.
Back to the scam
Ok. So now that you’ve got a high level process of how the middleman program works, let’s get back to the scam.
The scammer has negotiated a price, you’re happy, things look good. Now they offer to setup a middleman ticket. They may even act as if they’re doing it to protect themselves—they’re the ones worried, supposedly.
And here’s where the big red blaring fire alarm goes off.
The scammer will either send you a link to a group DM, or you’ll get a group DM directly with them and the “moderator”.
But remember: middlemen tickets NEVER EVER happen via DM. They are ALWAYS done in a private channel in the Discord group itself. This is really all you need to know on this particular scam. As soon as you see a supposed middleman ticket via DM, it’s a scam.
More ways to double check
Honestly, if you remember that middlemen tickets happen in the group only, never via DM (have I said that enough?) you’ll avoid 95% of the attempted scams.
But there are a couple other things you can do to protect yourself.
First, click on the profile picture of the user who is messaging you. Discord will show you groups where the two of you are both members.
In the screenshot below, the there are no groups that we are both members of:
Contrast that with what we see from someone I’m in a few groups with:
Now, just because the scammer is in a group with you doesn’t mean they’re legit. In fact, good old Jaider there initially showed as in groups with me (he was banned once I reported).
Another tell is to double check their user name. Don’t just briefly look at their display name. Here’s an example of someone who attempted(and failed) to scam a friend.
Notice the ‘l’ in their user profile name. They impersonated the actual user, but they have to have their own username so they will typically change a character or two. Though in this case, the “are they in the same group as me” check would have also weeded them out as you can see there are no shared servers.
As one final check, in case you haven’t noticed anything but want to be extra careful, go back into the group and search for that user.
When you find a post from them or one that they are mentioned in, click on their username to see their profile, and then attempt to message them from that profile link. If the person you’re talking to is the real user, you’ll see the DM open in the same conversation thread. If not, it’ll be an entirely new conversation, again, a dead giveaway that it was a scammer.
Recap
Selling on Discord is great. I highly recommend it and it’s been transformative for my business, unlocking more liquidity, better margins, and enabling me to make long-term relationships with buyers.
It’s not hard to do it safely, as scary as the idea of being scammed might be. Just keep a little checklist of things to verify that you run through each time:
Did the buyer DM you without replying to you in the group first? Red flag number one, though not a deal-breaker.
Is the middleman happening via DM? Walk away. Game over. That’s a scam. Just don’t.
Click the profile of the person messaging you—does it show them as in one or more groups with you?
If everything checks out but you’re still wary, find the user in the group and message them from there—does it go to the same message thread? If not, walk away. It’s a scam.
If all else fails and you’re still uneasy, just insist on using the group’s ticket system and open the ticket yourself. Easiest foolproof way to never get scammed.
Again, hopefully I’m not scaring you off here. Discord groups are a great way to move cards quickly. Just use a little common sense, and you’ll do plenty of safe, painless transactions.