TCGPlayer
TCGPlayer, formerly Brainburst.com, is a website based around an online marketplace for Magic and other trading card games; the website advertises itself as an online collectible gaming marketplace that connects buyers and sellers. Additionally, it features numerous Magic strategy articles by prominent players such as Seth Manfield, Raphaël Lévy, and Craig Wescoe.
History
In 2008, Chedy Hampson founded TCGplayer after it transformed into the modern company from a web design company started in 1998.[1]
In July 2022, TCGPlayer.com took over ChannelFireball.[2] Only a month later, it was itself acquired by eBay.[3] The agreement allows the company to continue operating independently within eBay.
In 2023, workers at TCGplayer formed eBay's first union but had to contend with stalled negotiations and near-endless union-busting efforts.[4]
In Spring 2025, the Wizards Play Network partnered with TCGplayer on a new program to highlight WPN stores on the TCGplayer marketplace.[5]
After management went 600 days of no-communication with the union, the company announced in May 2025 that it would move its operations from Syracuse, New York to Louisville, Kentucky, cutting more than 200 jobs.[6] In a reaction, the union backing TCGplayer employees accused eBay of terminating the employment of workers to avoid bargaining.[7][8] The union followed up with a call for a boycott of TCGplayer.[9] After several intensive days of bargaining, sustained pressure from the boycott, and the solidarity of their members, the union was able to win a substantially improved severance package for TCGplayer workers.[10]
References
- ↑ Rick Moriarty (January 17, 2016). "TCGplayer, funky Syracuse company, finds gold in Magic, Pokemon games". Syracuse.com.
- ↑ TCGplayer to Acquire ChannelFireball and BinderPOS. Businessinsider.com (July 11, 2022).
- ↑ eBay Inc. (August 22, 2022). "eBay has Entered into an Agreement to Acquire TCGplayer". Prnewswire.com.
- ↑ Ramenda Cyrus (December 8, 2023). "A Gaming Company’s Workers Unionized. But the Union Busting Didn’t End There.". Prospect.org.
- ↑ WPN (February 25, 2025). "Wizards Play Network is Teaming Up with TCGplayer!". Wizards Play Network.
- ↑ Emma Roth (May 27, 2025). "eBay is cutting more than 200 jobs at TCGplayer". Theverge.com.
- ↑ Missourimtg.bsky.social (May 22, 2025). "This was the easiest way to bust the union I guess.". Bluesky.
- ↑ Rick Moriarty (May 23, 2025). "Union accuses eBay of closing TCGplayer office in Syracuse to keep the company ‘union free’". Syracuse.com.
- ↑ TCGunion-CWA (May 27, 2025). "EMERGENCY CALL TO ACTION". Twitter.
- ↑ TCGunion-CWA (June 9, 2025). "We have an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.". Twitter.