Rembert Parker of Reader Copies in
Daniel McAbee said, 'I checked with a friend who goes direct through Upper Deck and they are getting one case instead of their normal three (that is still more than my allocation, but not worth the extra effort of dealing with another distributor).'
Upper Deck routinely offers Tournament stores one case of first edition boosters and three cases of unlimited boosters. Perhaps your friend confused normal sets with reprint sets like Dark Beginnings which have only unlimited boosters and offer direct accounts the opportunity to buy three cases for the initial release.
Daniel McAbee said, 'All the distributors that I spoke to told me that UD had recently announced to them that their allocation of Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG product for 2005 was going to be slim. Furthermore, there would be no unlimited edition product for the direct market either.'
Perhaps Tangled Web needs different distributors - last week we were able to buy an additional case of first edition boosters with one simple phone call; granted, the boxes cost $9 a box more than we pay Upper Deck, and they arrived one day after our direct shipment, but we still had plenty for the weekend - BEFORE the local mass market got them. Once our unlimited boosters arrive from Upper Deck we can sell the packs cheaper than Wal-Mart does in addition to offering customers a wide selection of single cards that no mass market store will carry.
As for Unlimited boosters being available, Upper Deck already offered direct accounts three cases of Unlimited boosters for the new set. Of course, demand for the unlimited boosters may well be overshadowed by Dark Revelations in a few weeks!
Daniel McAbee said, 'Hey tournament players! Go spend all your money at Target and Wal-Mart and then come on over and hang around my shop all day!'
They can spend all the money they want there, but they won't be able to buy Tournament Packs that offer them the chance to get highly-prized cards like Needle Worm. You already have a large number of players, why not sign up to run official events for Upper Deck products so you can get the prizes non-sanctioned events can't offer? Being able to get other product directly from Upper Deck is just an added bonus.
