TCGPlayer Bonus Bucks Promotions 2018 - 2023

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 bonus bucks promotion. Periodically, TCGplayer offers bonus bucks as a percentage of total purchases. The bonus bucks turn into store credit 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. 
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I have compiled a list (updated 4/28/2023) of TCGplayer bonus bucks events from January 1, 2018, through April 28, 2023. This list was created with saved email announcements from TCGplayer. The bonus bucks event list and article are periodically updated to show more recent TCGplayer bonus bucks 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 Bonus Bucks Days
TCGplayer started 2022 with bonus bucks promotions on January 28th, February 17th, and March 24th, 2022. Individuals received 8% in bonus bucks on sealed product and supplies purchases. These promotions may be an effort to advertise and grow TCGplayer's sealed product and supplies sales revenue.

TCGplayer offered an exciting bonus bucks 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 bonus bucks kickback of 7%. The one-day event will probably not be the last time TCGplayer offers bonus bucks for these trading card games. TCGplayer increased bonus bucks 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 bonus bucks events were exclusive to paying subscribers of TCGplayer's subscription program. TCGplayer held a 10% bonus bucks 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 bonus bucks event worked on preorders too.

Before Thanksgiving 2022, TCGplayer offered their first bonus bucks 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. TCGplayer will likely continue offering comic bonus bucks events to promote comics and increase their subscriber base. 

TCGplayer's 2022 Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday bonus bucks events differed from previous years. For Black Friday's promotion, TCGplayer offered 15% bonus bucks on all products exclusively for subscribers. While the bonus bucks percentage was the same as in 2021, it was available to the public. As an additional promotion, TCGplayer offered 8% bonus bucks 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% bonus bucks promotion from 2021 but made the event only for subscribers again.

On December 16th, TCGplayer offered their first bonus bucks event with different percentages for subscribers and non-subscribers. TCGplayer subscribers received 10% bonus bucks on all products; whereas, non-subscribers only received 8% bonus bucks. This particular event is probably one of many where TCGplayer will give different bonus bucks percentages for subscribers and non-subscribers.
 
​2023 TCGplayer Bonus Bucks Days
February 24th marked the first bonus bucks 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 bonus bucks event was repeated on March 30th with an increased range of 13-15% in bonus bucks for subscribers. On April 28th, TCGplayer repeated a similar bonus bucks 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 public received. 
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*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.* ​​​​​