No.
As brutal, and short, as that answer may seem, we've been echoing this since the founding of our store. In this post, I'd like to dive a bit deeper into the inner-workings of our crates and products, and why we consider ourselves a "premium" service rather than a budget service.
Mystery MTG has always leaned towards the Amazon approach. Meaning we've crafted certain crates knowing we'd be losing money with every purchase, but betting on the customers to continue supporting the store with subscriptions, event attendance, and more due to the quality, value, and guaranteed authenticity we provide. Our internal system works around a 92% RTB [Return-to-Buyer] outline, meaning 92% of funds are returned to customers over the span of a year [value received back in crates] and 8% is used to further the service and invest in new TCGs/product. To this day, not a single dollar has ever been taken from the business, and that day will likely not come for a very long time. The 8% we take alone wouldn't be enough to cover authentication, handling time, and storage fees associated to carrying so much product. [So yes, we've been running at a loss for almost 2 years]
So why the hell are you running the service still?
Great question.
Luckily, prior to opening a store, we had very little overhead and we all have full-time jobs outside of Mystery MTG. Meaning the lack of profit didn't really mean anything, we were building a large community and it was fun. Who doesn't want to say they own an LGS and online store? we've poured quite a bit of money into the project and will continue to do so to make sure it's running for years to come.
However, we now have a physical store. This doesn't really change anything for us besides allowing for the creation of in-person events, and for us to carry other TCGs and singles. We'll always continue to do crates, and the value will ALWAYS be there - however we'll actually start hiring people and working to create a respectable LGS outside of our subscription service and offer faster shipping.
So in general - no, we're not a budget service. We dedicate A LOT of time, money, and effort into making sure all of our inventory is authenticated, that value is being provided to our customers, and that we continue to improve the service.
For those of you who were with us back when we had the monthly MMC Crate, we would send boxes of Onslaught and Avacyn Restored out for a $200 crate. [To be fair, if we knew Onsalught would hit $2000 a box..we probably would have second guessed putting it into the randomizer] But certain individuals would get RTR or Conspiracy instead, and that was the value difference we loved having. Now we've reduced the variation a bit and added minimum value guarantees, but we're still not closing to being a budget service for cheap singles and product like Ebay or other marketplaces claim to be. However..we offer a 100% money-back guarantee on all our items being authentic, and that's something almost no service offers without restriction.
So that sums it up. Our crates will always be the best, but they're still only meant for those who enjoy RNG. If that isn't you, check out our singles! [We have some spicy newly listed reserved list cards up this week!]
We hope you guys love our products and hope many of you come visit us in person this winter!