Scattered prerelease singles continue to gradually make their way to me from around the world. At 63 out of 80, the binder pages are really starting to fill out. Unfortunately, at this stage of the hunt the concept of shipping consolidation has gone out the window—the orders I'm placing now are for individual missing singles.

Alas, this scattershot approach comes with its own set of risks beyond just the price of postage. I have finally had my first instance of a seller listing a card as a stamped prerelease promo, and sending the regular foil version instead.

These things happen. I'm sure most MTG players do not pay as much attention to card treatments as I do. That said, the foil version of this card is only worth 10c, so I requested a refund.

The seller refunded the article value promptly, but not the €1.55 spent on postage.

I chose not to pursue the difference. The cost of postage exceeds the value of the card itself, and I was, in fact, missing the regular foil version anyway. The seller was gracious enough to let me keep it.

Hopefully this is an isolated case, but it highlights the underlying problem with trying to collect prerelease cards: I am reliant on sellers noticing the 2025 stamp and listing their singles accurately. At scale, that dependency introduces friction, and occasional errors become inevitable.

I've already ordered a replacement using the refund amount. Time to wait and see if the next one arrives as described