If you acquire a lot of cards with any regularity, you're probably leaving a lot of money on the table. I buy a lot of collections, which means that I see tens of thousands of completely random Magic cards each month. After a while, you learn what sells well and what doesn't, but there are still some cards that slip through the cracks. These 0.25-1.00 cards can often be found in large quantities when buying collections, and they add up fast. Many online dealers have robust buy lists, and these lists contain more than the top 50 Standard rares. This week, I'm going to take a stroll down Cool Stuff INC's buy list and share some cards you probably had no idea sold for real money. Remember, dealer buy lists are basically standing offers, so by memorizing these prices, you'll have a good concept of what can be turned into cash quickly. 

Remember that all cards have intrinsic value. Most people don't take the time to do this, but bulk cards are worth at least 3.00 per thousand. Most dealers will pay 4.00, and I've seen as high as 6.00 per thousand. A row of a typical 4-row cardboard box is approximately 1000 cards. I know to add $12 on to the resale price of any collection I buy if it's in a nice 4-row. Once you filter out some buy list stuff, it becomes nearly impossible to lose money.

When you're processing collections, separate out all foils and all rares. Foils often sell to dealers at around 0.05 each, no matter how awful they may be. Basic lands can fetch slightly more. Foil rares move anywhere from 0.15 up to 0.40+, but finding the right outlet for them at this price is difficult. Bulk rares dealer off for 0.10 to 0.15, though budgeting for 12.5 is a safe bet. Bulk mythics usually weigh in between 0.25 and 0.50. If a card dealers for anywhere near the bulk price for its rarity, it will save you time to just file it away in bulk. I regularly prune my collection back fourfold, if not more. The bulk cards that accumulate are just money wasted, and they require sorting and processing which in turn wastes time.

Squirrel Nest is a dollar bill, and at first glance, it's hard to see why. The squirrel tribe is immensely popular among the casual crowd, and almost any squirrel card will fly out of my binder on any given weekend. This, combined with the infinite combo using Earthcraft, allows dealers to sell these for at least $2, which justifies the otherwise high buy price.

Brainstorm (Mercadian Masques) is surprisingly 75c on the list. Brainstorm is a popular card with Eternal players, but really sees no play outside of those formats. They're a dime a dozen in bulk boxes, and you can even find a few in the 25c boxes. A 0.50 profit isn't too exciting, but in the scheme of things, it all adds up. When you buy a collection that contains 20 of the stupid things, you'll thank me. Most dealers pay at least a quarter for this card, so 0.75 is quite generous.

Aura Shards, an obscure uncommon from Invasion, dealers for 0.80, which is quite a lot for a random uncommon. These appear in bulk all the time, since they have almost no "Timmy" appeal and Spikes don't really care about them. They're popular in EDH and similar formats where decks can generate enough creatures to turn this meek uncommon into a manabase-killing machine. The Sliver deck in particular loves to be able to do this, since it combos with Hibernation Sliver that well. Enjoy picking these out of "crap boxes" and take the free money.

Sylvan Messenger follows the Elf Rule, which simply states, "Elves are always worth a few cents, no matter what". Clearly, there are exceptions, but it bears keeping the Elves in mind whenever digging through bulk. 50 cents is once again not a lot of money, but when these things start to appear by the dozen in old collections, you start talking about real money again. Out of a thousand cards acquired at bulk rates, you only need a few of this class of card to make your purchase price back.

Goblin Ringleader is the Goblin analogue to Sylvan Messenger, but since he's played in the competitive Legacy goblins deck, he's worth 1.25. This is another uncommon that ends up in bulk quite frequently, and finding just one pays for your morning coffee. I love the smell of freshly-ground Magical Bulk in the morning.

Tainted Field is an oddball outlier in the 0.50 category. This uncommon land cycle from Torment seems about useless, but clearly someone is buying these somewhere, because most dealers will buy them at 0.50. I have no explanation for this, but I find them so often that it bears mentioning. Tainted Isle and Tainted Wood also sell for a few cents, and occasionally dealers will buy all five. Again, I can offer no explanation for why, but the numbers are the numbers.

Sticking with Torment, Breakthrough has seen play in Legacy Dredge decks despite its poor interaction with Narcomoeba. The ability to discard your whole hand and play "One with Nothing" was a powerful effect, and blue X spells seem to have a certain draw to them. Pun fully intended. For 1.25, I'm happy to sell mine all day long. Most people will never trade for this card, so any chance to get value out is welcome. These cards are bread and butter, and they pay the bills every so often.

Wirewood Lodge, 0.80, is another Elf Rule card. The land sees play in tribal casual decks as well as EDH Elf decks, and it's one of the few lands that specifically focuses on Elves as a tribe. This one's a no-brainer. Soulless One, a "Keldon Warlord" zombie, also sells for the same amount. Other than random casual appeal, I can offer no explanation on this price either. Heedless One, at 0.50, is in the same boat but is propped up by the Elf Rule. Onslaught as a whole has a slew of awesome deals at Uncommon, and these cards will slip by 98% of Magic players who don't know what they're looking for.

Here are some more buylist prices you probably didn't know. Most of these are self-explanatory, either because of tribal favoritism, random casual appeal, or obscure Legacy use. Most require no comment, but this should give you an idea of just how much money is being left on the table when collections change hands. These are the "woodwork" cards, so-named because they arrive in boxes from people who come out of the woodwork to drop off collections. Some of these cards will make you say, "What? Why?" or "What the heck does that card even do?" But don't ask questions. Just pull ‘em out and turn your profit!

Those are some noteworthy cards, all of which are common or uncommon. Some of the cards are obvious, like the Shards of Alara tri-lands, though at 0.50 and up, they seem generously priced. Random cards like Goblin Settler appear in old dusty boxes around the world, and $2.50 is a real amount of money. It'll pay for an entire box of bulk itself. Why Arctic Flats sells for a quarter, I may never know, but apparently someone out there loves snow lands and blue/white a ton! The Standard power uncommons should come as no surprise to anyone, but they bear mentioning since they're easy cards to pick up and flip.

Next time you get a collection, sort it out by set before you do anything else. I suggest sorting in the following manner, which is the process I use at the store. First, separate out cards with new and old borders. This cuts each subsequent sorting iteration in half, and is the first step in our "binary" process. It's not true binary sorting, but it gets us close enough. Once you sort new from old, separate the "new border" piles into pre-Extended and Extended (so, Mirrodin through Future Sight in one pile and Lorwyn through Mirrodin Besieged in another). The old pile should be sorted by block (Core Set, Early Expansions through Homelands, IA Block, Mirage, all the way up to Onslaught. From there, you just sort by Block, then set, then alphabetized. You'll be ready to hit a buy list with your cards all properly sorted. You can then open up 4-5 lists at a time and easily compare the buy prices within each set. From there, just fire off orders to whomever has the best buy list prices and enjoy the awesome cash flow. This recurring source of income should keep your coffers full until the next collection rolls into town. Happy sorting!

Disclaimer - CoolStuffInc.com sponsors ManaNation, for whom I'm writing. I genuinely suggest using their buy list liberally, as their prices are really aggressive and the company is run by cool people. I'm not shilling for them here, promise.