PSA Amazon Sells Tainted MTG Product In Recent Dump! - What To Look Out For?

Unfortunately, bad or tampered-with MTG products coming from Amazon are nothing new. In the three years they've been seeing Magic: The Gathering cards, there have constantly been damaged products or, worse, repacked boxes. There seems to be a massive amount of tainted (meaning repacked) boxes in Amazon's most recent Prime dump. Today, I'll cover what a repack is and what you need to know to tell if your boxes are legit.

What Is A Repack

A repack is when someone buys sealed boxes of MTG product from Amazon (or another seller, but Amazon notoriously has issues), opens the box, goes through the cards, and gets what they want, reseals the box with their own plastic wrap (and sometimes even the individual boosters) and returns it to Amazon.

Many Amazon employees don't know what to look for to spot a resealed box and think they're legit returns. When this happens, the products are deemed ok for resell and go back on the shelves where unsuspecting customers buy them. If you don't know how to spot a repack and they've resealed the boosters, you may open the box and never know that it was resealed, aside from it missing all the good cards.

Often, they don't go through the trouble, and you'll see loose cards when you open the box. At this point, the scammers have already taken the valuable cards, and now it is the new buyer's problem to do another return and try to prove they aren't the ones who tampered with the box.

How To Tell If Your Boxes Are Repacks?

Now that we know what a repack is, let's look at a few things you can check for to ensure your recent Amazon purchases are legit.

The Wrapper

First, let's start with a simple but effective method. The plastic on all main MTG products has the Wizards logo on the front. The exceptions are some supplementary products like bundles. Your legitimate Draft, Set, and Collector Boosters will have the symbol on the front. Here is a picture. The logo can be seen on the box to the left - Note how it's missing from the one on the left.

Start there. Look at the products you recently purchased from Amazon and ensure it says "Wizards" on the front. It's ok if it's missing from the sides and back, but it should be on the face without fail. If it's not there (and it's a Draft, Set, or Collector Box) you know you've got an issue before you've even opened the box.

You'll also be able to feel a difference. In my experience, the wrap on repacks is more rigid. It is usually less flexible and won't wrinkle when you run your finger over the surface. Furthermore, when handled, the repacks usually make much more of a "crinkle" noise.

That said, resealing the original WOTC wrap with a heat gun is possible. So, this method won't 100% protect you, but it's a significant first step. So, what next?

The Shake/Sound Test

Next, you need to shake your product. When you do, you should hear the packs inside shifting and down slightly, and there likely won't be much movement from side to side if everything is legit.

If the box is filled with loose cards, you'll hear them moving around without packages, and there will be significant movement from side to side as well as up and down. A severe "shifting of weight" can be felt with loose cards, as large stacks move around in the package.

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This may seem hard but if something is really off, you'd be surprised at how easy it is to tell just from how the cards behave, even within the "sealed" box.

Go To Your Local Game Store

If you're unfamiliar with the game or can't feel confident that the product you're dealing with is tampered with, taking it to an LGS can be a great option. They'll probably more or less go through the same steps I've mentioned, but they handle many products and really know what to look for. They'll also have other boxes of legit products that can be compared to yours.

Is that weird crease in the corner on every box in the store too? Well, it was likely just how they were sealed. Maybe everything looked ok, but the box felt noticeably lighter than others in the store. Having a box that you can be sure is legit to make direct comparisons with can help a ton.

Open The Box - Are The Contents Correct?

If everything checks out so far, and you don't want to err on the side of caution with a preemptive return, you'll probably want to open the box. However, do it on camera, so you have proof that you weren't responsible for anything that may be amiss inside the box. Things to look for are opened or loosely sealed booster packs and cards that shouldn't be there.

It's common for resealed products to contain high numbers of the same card or cards from a completely different set. The tampered-with Brothers' War Box pictured above was opened on video and contained all Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty cards. Opening on video may not be 100% necessary in all circumstances, but it can only help your case. Most times, Amazon is willing to issue customers a refund (and sometimes a replacement), but plenty of customers run into issues where they're blamed too.

Conclusion

There you have it, my friends. I've heard many products coming from the recent Amazon fire sale have been tampered with in some way or another. If you recently bought MTG products from Amazon, check your boxes with the steps here and ensure all your stuff checks out.

If you find issues with anything, you can call Amazon customer service (have your order number ready and prepare to be on the phone for a while), and you should be given a refund. Considering how common this has become, be sure to tell whoever you speak with that this isn't a simple case of buying something "new" and receiving something "used." And if possible, escalate the case to a supervisor so there is a higher chance it can be corrected at the warehouse level.

Until next time, take care and be astute with your purchases.