Recently, my buddy and I went card shop hopping. both big and small. Even though at some shops we left empty handed, we still received a great customer experience.
However, our the last LGS we went to, after a very successful spending spree, we walked into the worst of the worst.
We were greeted, but all 3 employees weren’t busy. The store was empty. They asked us very rudely what can they help us with. We briefed over the staff in a polite way that we’re here to check out Pokemon singles since our plan was to grade singles, fill master sets. Your usual customer, no? The minute we mentioned our ‘purchase plan’ we were scalded. They ripped on us for grading cards. The employee said he didn’t want to show me more than 1 card at a time (sure), and that if the cards we wanted to see didn’t meet our condition standards, he wouldn’t show us more. He never spoke to us after that. Buddy and I looked at each other, said we’ll take the FA Skyla from Shining Fates and he literally said, there’s a $10 minimum purchase required. We took off.
This was my red flag and this shop made it to our ‘Avoid List’
There is something particularly off-putting about going into a “specialist” store without specialist knowledge.
Let’s say for the sake of argument that I go to a combined kitchenware/baby gear/toy store that happens to sell overpriced Crimson Invasion boosters. No, I won’t be particularly disappointed if the 50-year old woman behind the counter is unable to tell me if they will be getting a particular cosmos foil promo blister the next time the distributor truck comes by. Of course, I would probably not ask in the first place.
But when you go to a huge gaming shop in the heart of a big city and multiple nintendo boomers look confused and bewildered when you ask them if they have boosters from one of the latest sets, it doesn’t exactly encourage further investigation into their selection.
Sounds like the last LGS you went to marked the two of you as either a group of hustlers or potential thieves (given the 1 card at a time restriction). Not necessarily because of anything you did (although your upfront story potentially threw them off, scammers always think they need a good cover story, which can be an easy way to spot them), but probably because of experiences they’ve had in the past. Sleight of hand maneuvers to pocket cards is probably more common than people think, and can be very jarring as a business owner when it first happens to you. Not only is it insanely hard to spot in the moment, but when you have a large inventory, it’s possible you never realize that one or two cards went missing. It’s easy to become jaded when you catch someone in the act or later on camera, because you have to second guess all future customers and be stuck wondering how many times it’s happened before then.
Regarding their comment about not showing you more cards if you deemed one not to be in good enough condition, I’m sure they’ve had their fair share of people that come in their shop looking to make a small profit by asking to inspect 50+ cards, trying to haggle, then buying one or not buying anything at all. This is similar to the other current hot topic thread about eBay buyers asking for additional pictures - from an LGS’s point of view it’s possible they consider these customers to be more trouble than they’re worth.
Now, it could also be that the LGS is owned by a huge asshole and all their other employees are assholes by proximity! Just giving some ideas about why a LGS might behave like what you saw at the last store.
My biggest pet peeve for irl shops is not putting a price on the cards. Theres a large popular shop near me where none of the cards have any prices and if you want a price you have to get an employee to take the card out of the case and look it up online. It’s such a pain in the ass just to have them tell me some price thats like 50% above market value and I tell them I don’t want to the card and they’re annoyed because I wasted their time.
I want to judge if I buy a card based on the price while looking through them all and not have someone painfully tell me the price for every single card.
Ok my LGS definitely does this but they also do have price stickers. Ill ask about something and immediately theyre like yea that price is probably wrong and then spend 5 minutes looking through eBay sold listings to quote me mint prices on played cards so annoying
Avoid these shops. I don’t know why card shops don’t sell cards for 50 percent lower than ebay so I can sell them on ebay and after costs make a tidy profit.
When a shop staff doesn’t disengage in a conversation with a customer who has already paid BUT CONTINUES WITH A NEW TOPIC, whilst there’s a long queue behind.
Its not directly cards but often seen at these types of shops. Placing pricing stickers directly on product. If Im looking at clean condition 40 year old game boxes or product, I dont want you to slap a price sticker on top of what could have been a clean product. Im looking for the best condition I can find but a massively annoying sticker is just a put off. Even more so on plastic wrap that will easily rip when trying to remove the sticker.
Wouldn’t it almost be the opposite if they’re selling singles (i.e. encourage a lookover of their wares)? If they have no clue what you’re talking about, it means they’re not engaged enough with the TCG to keep up with/know marketprice on cards/products, potentially yielding a mix of overpriced and underpriced items.
I would say the vast majority of card shops fall under at least one (and probably more) of the following categories:
a.) having ridiculously overpriced cards; no one is paying $30 for a played condition Base Unlimited Magneton;
b.) not having any truly near-mint to mint cards worth looking at;
c.) keeping all “valuable” cards behind glass which requires you to call over an employee, after which results in you seeing a card that is in MP-HP condition 90 percent of the time;
d.) unknowledgeable staff
With the advent of the Internet and most people getting most of their cards off of eBay or other sites, card shops are truly becoming a relic of the past and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find a good one.
I understand why they feel they need to have higher prices, because otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to compete at all, so I don’t fault them for it. I also completely understand why they put most of their good stuff behind glass. Card shops have always done this to prevent theft. But the difference is that 20 years ago, they would legitimately have mint cards back there. Now, it’s just not the case anymore.
I want card shops to succeed as much as the next guy, and even today, there is still nothing like walking into an LGS and finding some great cards. But since returning to the hobby in 2017, my successful trips have decreased with each passing year. Now I can barely even find anything that isn’t modern.
I’m sure there are still some good card shops out there, but it’s probably time for all of us to accept that 90+ percent of card shops aren’t even worth visiting anymore.
The worst experience I’ve had (with a vendor at a regionals in this case) was being quoted a live ebay price and the guy calling me an idiot after I left shaking my head
Thing is though, you don’t get paid by the hour on eBay. Yes time is money. After a long day of being served by friendly busy staff on selective cards, not 50+ (I know it’s probably an exaggeration) to being scalded was my turn off.
Amen. If I wanted to buy the card on eBay last sold prices I would have, duh. Even if the tag was on it, the guy who tagged it priced it already accordingly to the price he saw. Even if it was 2 months ago. We’re not there to let him know his inventory ‘appreciated’
so annoying
The ultimate pet peeve but definitely not a red flag. I’d be more concerned if an LGS had nice smelling patrons.
smh