TCGplayer Bonus Bucks Predictions for Holiday 2020

The 2020 holiday season is upon us. Thanksgiving is two weeks away, and Black Friday shopping deals are already in full swing. Many retailers are trying to capture consumer spending early this season. Companies involved in selling Magic: The Gathering singles and products are no exception.

TCGplayer, one of the Internet's most massive Magic: The Gathering buying and selling platforms, recently offered an 8% bonus bucks promotion from November 6-7th, 2020. This was TCGplayer's first bonus bucks promotion in almost 10 months. In 2019, TCGplayer had 41 bonus bucks days between January 29th and November 7th. This stark reduction in promotional events could be because of COVID-19, the demand for collectible card game products and singles, or other factors. I have compiled a list of bonus bucks dates between 2018 and 2020. This document serves as a historical record of past bonus bucks events.

TCGplayer offered three bonus bucks promotional days between 11/8/2019 and 1/1/2020. Each promotion offered 10% in bonus bucks on all products. In 2018, there were nine promotional events between November 9th, 2018, and January 1st, 2019. These events averaged 8% in bonus bucks. While the bonus bucks percentage increased 2% between 2018 and 2019, there was a 66.7% reduction in bonus bucks days during the same period.

Following Christmas 2019, TCGplayer did a two-day 10% bonus bucks promotion on all products from January 27-28th, 2020. This event was an anniversary of a four-day 7% bonus bucks promotion alongside the release of Ravnica Allegiance. In 2018, there was a four-day, 5% promotional event from January 19-22, 2018. This particular event coincided with the release of Rivals of Ixalan. 

Looking forward to the 2020 holiday season, one may assume there will be even fewer bonus bucks events than in 2019. On the other hand, re-promoting three days of bonus bucks around Black Friday seems reasonable. I personally believe TCGplayer will run the same event days as last year around Black Friday. This shopping event is too hard to ignore as a retailer. I think TCGplayer will offer 10% bonus bucks events on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. There could be an after Christmas event in January 2021. While this holiday season may be different due to COVID-19, we can likely count on another bonus bucks event soon.