Bots for the Comman Man.

When analyzing the economics of a business there are countless variables to be considered. In order to achieve profits the marginal revenue has to be equal to or greater than the marginal cost. These often include the product, its shipment, storage, advertisement, employee wages, etc. Having so many factors makes it difficult to efficiently maximize profit; however businesses on MTGO lack this same burden of marginal cost.

Electricity, internet, and a bot subscription are the only variables to be factored into marginal cost, and that can be done easily. Let’s assume you would be paying for the internet subscription regardless of your bot, you are left with only the bot and electricity. The KW/h usage of computers and the price of the power varies from person to person but it isn’t hard to calculate your monthly cost. I use a basic laptop, which uses roughly 50 watts an hour, multiply that by 730 (hours in a month) and divide by 1000 (to convert to kilowatts) you get 36.5. The cost of electricity in my area is 8.09 cents per KW/h, so if you multiply by 36.5 you get 295.285 cents, so basically $3 a month. A lite subscription to the Mtgolibrary bot is only $5 a month, a total of 8$.

Most people assume that you need a massive collection in order to run a bot, but considering this example that isn’t the case at all. Selling a single card a day at $.50 more than a bot's buy price would make about $15 a month. Considering my electric cost as an example you would still net a $7 a month profit. Even with a small collection you would likely sell much more than this, which could eventually expand into a large bot business. So the next time you sell off your cards to another bot, consider the money you are wasting, and how easily you could be profiting from those cards.