talkmagic.co.uk

by **intimaterush** » Mar 22nd, '14, 20:44

Hey guys,

I've 'invented' a new trick and I'm thinking of marketing it, but I need a few blank decks.
Do any of you guys know where I can buy them cheep?

Cheers
W

by **mr invisible** » Mar 23rd, '14, 08:14

Ebay, is probably your best place.

by **intimaterush** » Mar 23rd, '14, 16:21

The cheapest I've found on eBay are £5.99.
I thinks it's a bit crazy that you can buy normal Bikes for just over a pound a deck, yet blank are way more expensive.
Surely it's cheaper NOT to print the face on.

by **soveda** » Mar 23rd, '14, 23:43

intimaterush wrote:The cheapest I've found on eBay are £5.99.
I thinks it's a bit crazy that you can buy normal Bikes for just over a pound a deck, yet blank are way more expensive.
Surely it's cheaper NOT to print the face on.

Economies of scale plus a captive market I suspect

by **FTHO** » Mar 24th, '14, 00:22

These are very low quality, but good for practicing, testing, prototypes...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-cards-b ... ying+cards

I use them to practice anything which will require me destroying a blank business card, mostly folding or tearing...

by **Mandrake** » Mar 24th, '14, 00:39

Excellent tip, thank you! I also like:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-cards-n ... VM745XX8QD
and
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-cards-b ... VM745XX8QD

The blank dice at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dice-blank-pack ... VM745XX8QD could be useful as well!

by **intimaterush** » Mar 24th, '14, 01:28

Thank for those guy. Good thing to know, but for what I want they need to be Bikes.
Out of interest, before I open a new thread, can anyone recommend a good company I could present this trick to that might license it?

A magician friend of mine who is a walking encyclopedia of magic hasn't seen this take or routine before and everyone I've shown it to has said something along the lines of "How the ---- could you know that?"

I admit the technique is nothing new (what is these days?) but the routine is and came about because it's something I've been looking for for ages, but everything else was always very complicated and could so easily go wrong!!

What I believe make this good is you don't touch the cards. you leave everything is their hands. The reason I need blank decks is because something different is written on EVERY card. This is not a force deck or Phil/fill deck!!

by **Mandrake** » Mar 24th, '14, 11:48

You could try the big name firms who advertise on TM, as well as those who don't (!), but whether you could actually licence it is another matter. Sometimes they will expect to take full title to the routine and your payment might be a number of free sets of the props and instructions which you need to sell to get your payment. This works well for those who tour and give lectures with back of the room sales but not so well for others. Bear in mind that few magicians make any serious money from selling their effects and, as always, once released others can copy and sell their own versions with little regard for your innovation.

by **Lawrence** » Mar 24th, '14, 17:56

I get through loads of blank face deck.
Unless you can get a wholesale account then £5 a deck is about the best you can get them anywhere

I buy in 12 at a time and don't get much of a discount

by **bmat** » Mar 25th, '14, 17:11

intimaterush wrote:The cheapest I've found on eBay are £5.99.
I thinks it's a bit crazy that you can buy normal Bikes for just over a pound a deck, yet blank are way more expensive.
Surely it's cheaper NOT to print the face on.

It is much cheaper not to print anything...sort of. Seeing as they print millions of decks of cards the production line is set up in a very specific way. When they have to change everything to do a run for speciality cards it creates an additional cost.

It all comes down to volume.

by **bmat** » Mar 25th, '14, 17:20

intimaterush wrote:Thank for those guy. Good thing to know, but for what I want they need to be Bikes.
Out of interest, before I open a new thread, can anyone recommend a good company I could present this trick to that might license it?
!

There are a few ways to go. If you can manufacture the effect and put out the instructions, (professionally) then you can market it yourself. The next easiest is to find a magic shop willing to purchase the effect outright and in the contract you get to keep your name on the effect. So you get a one time fee and the packaging will read something to the effect of: Super magic presents an intimaterush effect.... Now they own it and you lose all rights to the effect. Of course you don't have to deal with manufacturing and packaging and marketing.

You can give away the secret and the performance by submitting it too one of the many magical publications. Sure you dont' get money but you do get name recognition which in turn will eventually allow you to more easily sell your creations.

Right now one has to ask: Who are you? How many times have you performed this effect in a real world situation? Why would I buy your effect over another?

The trick in magic is to get that name recognition.

As to which company? It's pretty much a krap shoot.

by **Mandrake** » Mar 27th, '14, 14:17

FTHO wrote:These are very low quality, but good for practicing, testing, prototypes...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-cards-b ... ying+cards

I use them to practice anything which will require me destroying a blank business card, mostly folding or tearing...

Just going back to this very useful tip, I bought some double blanks and also the number and letter cards I mentioned in my subsequent post. Mrs.M and I look after our 2 year old grandson three days a week and he's well into numbers and counting so those cards are coming in very handy. He's also beginning to recognise the various letters of the alphabet so we'll be using those cards as well very soon. Thanks again FTHO

!

by **FTHO** » Mar 28th, '14, 09:44

Glad to be of service Mandrake! Nice to hear that my tip will be helping your grandson learn to read!

I was thinking about buying some number and letter cards too, what are they like in terms of quality etc?

by **Mandrake** » Mar 28th, '14, 10:02

Same quality as the 200 blank cards I bought but the corner rounding is slightly different - possibly ideal for introducing a 'different corner' card for ease of location! The alphabet cards include five blanks so you could put additional letters or possibly upper case ones. The number cards don't have any additional blanks with them.

I was intending to print out my own number and letter cards to help the little 'un read but at £1.99 plus P&P a set, I figured it was better to buy the ready printed ones. According to the reviews,those blank cards are either easy to print/write on or they aren't so perhaps the quality and finish has varied. Again, at such a low cost, it's worth a punt to try them out. The cards which are blank with a card back design (grey and white) might also be useful to use as business cards if you can print on them. Probably best to print stuff onto printer compatible labels and stick them to the cards?

Hope all that helps!