Hello PucaTraders!

I hope this post finds you well! In my PucaTrade By The Numbers article, I mentioned that we secured a developer and that we would be looking at starting development soon. Today I want to expand on that and talk about the first project that we are going to tackle.

Before we get started, let me say that this post will not have all the information that you're looking for. I typically would like to have more information before posting anything, but I've heard some rumblings from our community and it seems best to give you the information that I do have now rather than keep you waiting. What this means is that the stuff I talk about here is not "set in stone." We know what direction we want to head, but we have not worked out all the details. Speaking of the direction we're heading, let's jump in.

Promotion Fee Redesign

The focus of the next wave of development will be centered around redesigning our promotion fee structure. This will also include some work in ancillary areas like promotion visibility and management. Details on the ancillary work will come at a later time. The main thrust of the redesign is to make the two changes that are detailed below.

Currently, power traders are leveraging large point balances to promote a wide spectrum of cards, which is increasing their visibility both on the individual card page and in the package view. The fee redesign will attempt to "level the playing field" for members who cannot leverage a large point balance. We want to allow everyone to compete in the market by shifting the promotion fee from the "front" to the "back" of a trade. This means instead of paying for a promotion when you promote a card, instead, you can freely promote any card without being charged a fee until the card is committed.

Another thing we'd like to do with this restructure is changing how the fee is calculated. At the moment the fee is based on the index price of a card. The issue with this is that index price of a card does not rise with inflation like the promoted price does. By calculating the fee based on the promoted price we can keep in step with inflation. Let me illustrate what this means for you in an example:

Let's say you're a Rare member and you promote a card with a 1,000 point index value to 3,000 points. Under the current structure, you will pay 100 points (10%) for the promotion fee (this would be paid up-front whether the promotion gets filled or not), and if it does get filled the total points paid for the card would be 3,100. Under the new structure, you would pay nothing to promote this card. If the promotion was fulfilled (meaning someone sends you the card) then the 10% fee would be 300 points, and the total value paid would be 3,300 points.

As promotions bonuses rise and fall the fee will follow (like PucaShield). In the example above, if you only needed to promote at 100% then the promotion would be 2,000 points and the fee would be 200 points (2,200 total). A scaling fee helps to keep inflation in check and make the promotions point sink more efficient, which will create a healthier economy for all our members.

This will undoubtedly raise some eyebrows because depending on how you look at it, this is a fee increase. If you promote lots of cards, then only paying fees on the ones that are committed will likely save you on fees, since you will not be charged for unfulfilled promotions. However, if you only promote cards that you're sure will be fulfilled then at the current promotion rates you will be paying quite a bit more. We acknowledge this issue and we're discussing ways to address it. Some suggestions have been made like adding a cap to the fee, or to lower the percentage of the fees. I can't promise either of these approaches, but we want to do something here to make the transition smoother for our members. I'd love to hear your feedback on it see the survey below.

What's Next?

Internally we are meeting with the developer to discuss the technical viability of accomplishing the above changes. Once this discussion happens we will lay out a phased approach for rolling out the changes and I will write you another update with the exact phases and timelines. In the meantime, if you have some feedback to add or some thoughts to share, please fill out this survey. As you know, we are open to feedback and a lot of the aims of this project are rooted in requests from you. We will review your feedback throughout the process of development and rollout. Thank you for working with us to improve PucaTrade and make it platform that we can all enjoy!

I will talk to you very soon.