TCGplayer is an online platform for buying and selling trading card games. The website also provides a pricing reference for individual Magic: The Gathering cards. One of the biggest draws for players eager to purchase trading cards is TCGplayer's store credit (formerly bonus bucks) promotion. Periodically, TCGplayer offers store credit as a percentage of total purchases, which appears in accounts a few days after the promotion ends. The store credit has historically varied between 5% and 15%. Promotional events are commonly advertised just before an event's start date and occur for a limited time.
I have compiled a list(updated 5/17/2024) of TCGplayer bonus bucks and store credit events from January 1, 2018, through May 17th, 2024. This list was created with saved email announcements from TCGplayer. The store credit eventlist and article are periodically updated to show more recent TCGplayerr promotions.
2018 TCGplayer Bonus Bucks Days
In 2018, TCGPlayer ran bonus bucks promotions on 63 different days throughout the year. The discounts per bonus bucks promotion varied between 5% and 15%. On average, the bonus bucks percentage offered was 5.6%. In addition, there were restrictions on earning bonus bucks for 22 of the days. These restrictions were either direct orders only or photo listings only. The chart below illustrates bonus bucks promotion dates and discounts during 2018.
2018 bonus bucks promotions
In 2018, only 8 of the 63 promotional days offered more than 5%. The highest bonus bucks discounts were offered on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the release week of Commander 2018. One commonality of the bonus bucks days is that they all fell on release weekends for Standard sets. They also fell on the release weekend for Masters 25 and Battlebond.
2019 TCGplayer Bonus Bucks Days
As of December 18th, 2019, TCGplayer has offered a bonus bucks promotion on 51 different days. This is 7 less days over the same time period in 2018. The average bonus bucks discount throughout 2019 is 7%. An interesting fact is that the bonus bucks percentage has reached 10% on 10 different days.The only days bonus bucks were 10% or higher in 2018 were around Black Friday. It appears that TCGplayer is getting more aggressive with bonus bucks percentages.None of the bonus bucks days in 2019 have had restrictions regarding direct orders or photo listings. Additionally, the Standard set releases, as well as Modern Horizons' release, have featured a bonus bucks promotion. There are 11 other days that anniversary a bonus bucks promotion from 2018. The chart below highlights bonus bucks promotions and discounts during 2019.
2019 bonus bucks promotions
The historical information contains 114 different bonus bucks promotion days over the span of 718 days. During this time period, bonus bucks promotions occurred on 15.9% of the days. The average bonus bucks percentage was 6.2%, a 0.6% increase over the 2018 average. All of the Standard set releases during the historical time period have had a bonus bucks promotion. In addition, 3 specialty sets have had a bonus bucks promotion.
2018 and 2019 bonus bucks promotions
One assumption from the data suggests that TCGplayer will offer bonus bucks promotions on future set release weekends. They have offered a promotion for each Standard set and specialty set release since the beginning of 2018. If you are planning to pre-order individual cards, it may be advisable to wait until release weekend before purchasing them.
Looking at the 2018 data, there were 5 bonus bucks days from December 1st, 2018 to December 31st, 2018. Another assumption is that TCGplayer will have 5 additional bonus bucks promotion days between now and the end of the year. If this happened, there would be 7 less promotional days in 2019 than in 2018. There is a high probability TCGplayer would anniversary the days just before Christmas. The chance for another promotional day on December 31st, 2019 is not too farfetched. The 5 remaining days could potentially occur in November. In actuality, TCGplayer offered five bonus bucks promotional days between 10/21/2019 and 12/31/2019. These promotions averaged 9% in bonus bucks.
2020 TCGplayer Bonus Bucks Days
TCGplayer did a two-day 10% bonus bucks promotion from January 27-28th 2020. No other promotional days were offered in 2020 until November 6-7th, when a two-day 8% promotion on singles occurred. On November 27th, 2020, TCGplayer held their annual Black Friday bonus bucks event with 10% on all products. The event was followed by a 30% bonus bucks promotion for Ultra Pro Supplies on November 28th. The last 2020 bonus bucks event happened on Cyber Monday with a repeat of 10% on all products.
2021 TCGplayer Bonus Bucks Days
2021 did not have any bonus bucks promotions until October. TCGplayer offered 15% bonus bucks on all products between October 1st and 2nd. However, the event was plagued with issues as TCGplayer's site was unable to process checkouts. The original sale period from 6 p.m. to midnight on October 1st got extended through noon on October 2nd to provide extra time for customers to make purchases. Another bonus bucks event occurred on October 26th with 10% off all products.
Following the events in October, TCGplayer ran multiple bonus bucks promotions throughout November. A six-hour event happened on November 5th with 15% bonus bucks on all products. This particular 15% event did not suffer from the same technical issues experienced in the prior month. Following tradition, a 15% bonus bucks promotion happened on Black Friday. The last bonus bucks promotion in November occurred on Cyber Monday with 10% on all products.
2022 TCGplayer Store Credit Days
TCGplayer started 2022 with store credit promotions on January 28th, February 17th, and March 24th, 2022. Individuals received 8% in store credit on sealed product and supplies purchases. These promotions may have been an effort to advertise and grow TCGplayer's sealed product and supplies sales revenue.
TCGplayer offered an exciting promotional event on March 8th, 2022, for fans of Digimon, MetaZoo, and Flesh and Blood. All singles and sealed product purchases for the three trading card games during the event earned a store credit kickback of 7%. The one-day event was probably not the last time TCGplayer offers bonus bucks for these trading card games.TCGplayer increased store credit kickback to 8% on sealed products and supplies for promotions on May 26th and June 24th.
On April 15th and 28th, TCGplayer offered 10% bonus bucks on all product purchases at or above $35. However, the April promotional events were exclusive to paying subscribers of TCGplayer's subscription program. TCGplayer held a 10% store credit promotion for subscribers on July 15th, August 19th, September 8th, and October 13th for all products. The promotional event on August 12th only included Yu-Gi-Oh! singles and sealed products. Interestingly, the September 8th event worked on preorders too.
Before Thanksgiving 2022, TCGplayer offered their first store credit event on comic books. Anyone could earn 8% bonus bucks on comics and trading card singles purchased between 9 am and 10 pm ET on November 11th. In 2023, TCGplayer discontinued their comic book business.
TCGplayer's 2022 Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday promotional events differed from previous years. For Black Friday's promotion, TCGplayer offered 15% store credit on all products exclusively for subscribers. While the store credit percentage was the same as in 2021, it was available to the general public. As an additional promotion, TCGplayer offered 8% in store credit on sealed products and supplies for the general public on November 27th. An obvious omission of Sunday's promotion was the exclusion of singles. On Cyber Monday, TCGplayer repeated the 10% store credit promotion from 2021, but made the event only for subscribers again.
On December 16th, TCGplayer offered their store credit event with different percentages for subscribers and non-subscribers. TCGplayer subscribers received 10% in store credit on all products, whereas non-subscribers only received 8%. This particular event type continued where TCGplayer gives different store credit percentages for subscribers and non-subscribers.
2023 TCGplayer Store Credit Days
February 24th marked the first store credit event in 2023. TCGplayer offered an 8% kickback on sealed product and supplies for everyone. TCGplayer subscribers received 10-13% depending on their tenure. The same promotional event was repeated on March 30th with an increased range of 13-15% in store credit for subscribers. On April 28th, TCGplayer repeated a similar promotional event structure but expanded it to include all products. Interestingly, the base kickback percentage for subscribers is 2% - 5% higher between the three events, respectively, than what the general public received. June 30th marked another 8% kickback for the public and 13-15% for subscribers on sealed product and supplies. Lastly, September 29th marked a store credit event for sealed products and supplies with a 10% kickback for everyone.
For Black Friday 2023, TCGplayer gave 10% store credit to everyone for purchases of all products from November 24-27th. TCGplayer subscribers got 15-17% back in bonus bucks on all purchases depending on their tier. Four days of store credit offers is sure to spur many purchases between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. TCGplayer's second promotional event happened on May 17th from 9 a.m. - 11 p.m. EST. Non-TCGplayer subscribers received 10% in store credit on purchases of all products and singles. TCGplayer subscribers earned 13-15% in store credit instead, depending on their existing Loyalty Bonus.
2024 TCGplayer Store Credit Days
2024's first TCGplayer promotional event occurred on March 22nd. The general public received 8% in store credit on sealed and supplies purchases, while TCGplayer subscribers got 11-13%. Although this particular promotion did not include singles, all trading card games and relates supplies were included.
*The information in this article is of my own knowledge and opinion. It is meant for informational purposes only. I am not a registered financial professional or trying to act as one.*
