Never judge a book by its cover

lilmule

Well I went to a card show today up near Clevland OH. When I go to card shows I dont dress to try to impress anyone just relax, Plus I have a real babyface so I look like I'm 20 even though I'm over 30. I went to this one card dealer and asked him if i could see his older cards, He replied Which years, I said what ever you have in the 60s, He replied any specific player, I just said no Just would like to see them. What I was wanting to do is start a brand new set whatever year i liked I would of bought all of his cards from him the year that i picked, He didnt want to show me any cards so I left to the next dealer rigth next to him and bought all of his cards Im starting a 1960 Topps Baseball . What a loser lol. Anyone else ever have this happen to them? or something similiar

Downtown1974

When I was a kid there were card shows at the malls. Vintage guys would not give me the time of day. Congrats on doing a 1960 set! I am thinking of doing a raw set of those.

ripkenintheminors

It's not card related, but me and my wife had a similar experience last year at an art gallery. I am a fan of Thomas Kinkade art and always wanted to buy one of his works. We had gone to an amusement park with a group and had stopped at a mall so everyone could get dinner and have some free time. With that being said, we certainly didn't look like the crowd one would expect in a gallery. I was told to "Have a nice day" at least 3 times before we had enough and left.

lilmule

That happened to me as well when I went to the Thomas Kinkade Gallery, Ive always wanted a painting of his, Then i finally saw one I really liked and finally had the balls to buy it when I went to the gallery the treated me different like I was very poor or something I saw the painting that I wanted Low Number Artist Proof, The Painting is "Heading Home" It has a soldier with his back turned walking towards the light well lets just say I bought the painting and yelled at the sales people and let the head boss know. Lets just say they are not working there anymore

ripkenintheminors

What's really cool is that the painting you mentioned was the very one that I wanted to buy.

Griffins

I used to have it happen at shows all the time. It taught me to never judge anyone based on looks- one of the most knowledgable collectors I know is 16, and is a walking encyclopedia. I"m sure he gets the brush off from dealers all the time, even though he'll forget more than they will ever know.

lilmule

">Heading Home Here is the Painting I have.

67standup

I'll probably ruffle a few feathers by saying this, but I don't really care for the average card dealer. I said this as a kid attending card shows, I say it as an adult with more disposable income. For every one really cool guy, there's ~ five rude, nickle & dimer jerks.

There's a dealer smugness that I find more in this hobby than in others.

lilmule

">Heading Home

Blackborder

<< <i>I'll probably ruffle a few feathers by saying this, but I don't really care for the average card dealer. I said this as a kid attending card shows, I say it as an adult with more disposable income. For every one really cool guy, there's ~ five rude, nickle & dimer jerks.

There's a dealer smugness that I find more in this hobby than in others. >>



I used to collect coins. 90% of coin dealers are Alpha Hotels. Go read the coin board experiences with dealers, and in fact, read some of the posts by a multi-million dollar dealer, and you'll see what I mean.

BigDaddyBowman

lilmule How was that show? I wanted to go to it but my wife had other plans for me today.

This use to happen to me all of the time! I have always looked pretty young for my age. When I was in my early twenties and received my first teaching job I could finally starting dumping serious dough on vintage cards. I can't tell you how many condescending dealers I dealt with. One time I asked a dealer to see a Unitas Rookie and he had the balls to say to me "I'm busy here...serious customers only!" (Or something like that) I gave him a F U look and kept walking. About an hour later I went back to his table and asked to see the Unitas again. He replied something like "I don't allow browsers." I pulled out a Unitas Rookie from my jacket pocket that I had just bought from another dealer and grinned at him and walked away.

I have seen him at numerous shows since then and everytime I go past his table I stop for a second, say sarcastically "Just browsing" and I keep walking.

Stone193

Best story...

Went into a store in San Antonio in 1992 - called Stats - he doesn't retail like that anymore.

Me and my son looked like two nobodies.

I asked to see a couple of RCs - the guy behind the counter flung them at us.

I looked at the cards on the counter top - looked at my son - looked at the bozo behind the counter - did an about face and walked out.

Would never go near the store again.
mike

lilmule

Big Daddy it was a alright show huge mall the dealers were in the center of the mall by the foodcourt bottom floor, as well as the top floor. There Is a dealer who is very nice Im not sure of his name but he has a crazy daughter that puts on alot of makeup on and they argue all the time it cracks me up. He's at alot of card shows you have probally seen him. Very nice Dealer though always treats the customer with respect. I go and see him everytime If see him at a card show and buy something from him.

Carew29

What irks me is when i try to sell cards at shows that are already graded 8's,9's and 10's, and they look at the cards with facial expressions like they are 3's,4's and 5's

ripkenintheminors

ha ha, nothing like dealers that rip on the graded stuff.

I took a card to a shop and showed it to a dealer. He proceeded to rip on the card and the fact that it got the grade that it did. He then went on to call PSA a joke and take great enjoyment in the fact that he sent a counterfeit card to PSA and it came back as authentic.

5STAT

Not card related...but same circumstances..

I was an Operations Manager of a trucking company...so I worked in jeans and t-shirts! Somedays, I was in the office doing paperwork..most days I was in the warehouses....driving fork trucks..or driving big rigs around the yard. It was a messy job.

So we get our yearly bonus...and I had cashed in some stock options also. I wanted a new pickup truck and went into a Ford dealer to buy one. Ok...dirty shirt...ripped jeans....grease on my coat....
"Can I drive that F250?"

"um sir, how are you planning on paying for that truck...it's $24,000"...."would you like to talk with our finance manager 1st?"

me, "no, I'd like to drive that truck...now please..."

"sir, I'm going to have to ask you to wait...I have another customer looking at a van"

Ok...so the guy in his golf shirt and dress pants..with his wife dressed to the 9's needed a Windstar van to drive their grandkids around....big deal.

After 10 minutes, the owner walks by me and doesn't even look me in the eye..
So I clear my throat and ask if he could help me....

"He politely says he's late for a meeting and that a salesperson would be back with me in NO TIME"

It was then that I reached into my coat pockets and pulled out $25K in cash and told him where to go!!

The next day I drove my new F250 right up to the front door and tooted the horn....and I asked him how his sales were..

Never judge....

Stone193

<< <i>I'll probably ruffle a few feathers by saying this, but I don't really care for the average card dealer. I said this as a kid attending card shows, I say it as an adult with more disposable income. For every one really cool guy, there's ~ five rude, nickle & dimer jerks.

There's a dealer smugness that I find more in this hobby than in others. >>


I don't think you're far off base in many instances.

At the National in the money days - you could actually be ignored by some of the big guys who were there to buy and schmooze.

My mental picture from a small Sunday show is the sticks?

Male - in their 40s but looks 60 - 75 pounds overweight - untucked wrinkled shirt and dirty blue jeans - reclined back in his chair - precariously perched - ready to fall on his big fat ass - needs a shave and haircut - missing his lateral incisor - but he has a cigarette cleverly wedged into the space - so he can similtaneously talk and smoke - speaks barely with coherence - thinks that a Turkey Red is something you serve at Thankgiving and if ya can get him off his dead ass - he'll show you an overgraded - over-priced gem which he rudely insists ya won't find a better example on the planet!

mike

ripkenintheminors

On the flip, I can recall a time where because I was a young kid that a dealer thought he could take advantage of me. I had some card (can't remember) but I do know that it wasn't worth over $10. However, since I was a kid and had the card, a dealer thought he would take advantage of me. He made an offer and I held out. Before I knew it, the offer was for a ton of great stuff. I got a great trade and he got to feel cool for taking advantage of a kid.

I also remember giving $5 for a terrible '75 Topps Nolan Ryan. The card had creases, tears, all kinds of great stuff. Later, a dealer saw it and thought he could take it to me. I got a Jerry Rice RC for it, which was a big deal at that time.

AlanAllen

I usually dress very casually at shows, like jeans or shorts and a t-shirt. Last year I went straight from work to the Chicago Sun Times show, and the dealers were being really friendly. It took me a few minutes to realize why: I was wearing khakis and a dress shirt. Not tie, no suit, just khakis . I've never heard so many "can I show you anything, sir?" "how are you enjoying the show, sir?" "looking for anything in particular, sir?"

Joe

fandango

<< <i>

<< <i>I'll probably ruffle a few feathers by saying this, but I don't really care for the average card dealer. I said this as a kid attending card shows, I say it as an adult with more disposable income. For every one really cool guy, there's ~ five rude, nickle & dimer jerks.

There's a dealer smugness that I find more in this hobby than in others. >>


I don't think you're far off base in many instances.

At the National in the money days - you could actually be ignored by some of the big guys who were there to buy and schmooze.

My mental picture from a small Sunday show is the sticks?

Male - in their 40s but looks 60 - 75 pounds overweight - untucked wrinkled shirt and dirty blue jeans - reclined back in his chair - precariously perched - ready to fall on his big fat ass - needs a shave and haircut - missing his lateral incisor - but he has a cigarette cleverly wedged into the space - so he can similtaneously talk and smoke - speaks barely with coherence - thinks that a Turkey Red is something you serve at Thankgiving and if ya can get him off his dead ass - he'll show you an overgraded - over-priced gem which he rudely insists ya won't find a better example on the planet!

mike >>



are you a dentist?

tennesseebanker

<< <i>ha ha, nothing like dealers that rip on the graded stuff.

I took a card to a shop and showed it to a dealer. He proceeded to rip on the card and the fact that it got the grade that it did. He then went on to call PSA a joke and take great enjoyment in the fact that he sent a counterfeit card to PSA and it came back as authentic. >>





This dealer wouldnt happen to be in our neck of the woods would he Ripken ? I think I know who you are talking about.

67standup

Mike, good reply.

There's certainly good and bad in every hobby, industry, etc. Probably best to stay upbeat and remember the positive transactions. However, the following seem to plague my mind when I think of card dealers:

* You send them money before they send you merchandise when buying, but you send them merchandise before they send you money when selling. We're all "sellers" in this virtual world, so what earns someone more status than others? A dealer recently admitted he sent me the wrong card, but still insisted that I return the card first, before he would ship me the correct one.

* When I want his card, it's "hot", "rare", etc. When I try to sell mine, it's "inflated", overgraded, etc.

* Tired of the cliche, "I got overhead", "table cost", blah, blah, blah rhetoric, get some new material when trying to screw me.

***My favorite is someone who looks like the guy Mike described: has a sign that says "Joe Loser, Incorporated or Investments.", put his hand up when you try to ask a question because he's on the calculator figuring his last $4.37 score, tries to charge me tax, has no one at his table, but won't budge 1% from his overinflated price guide.

Love the hobby, like the collectors, dislike most dealers.

ripkenintheminors

<< <i>This dealer wouldnt happen to be in our neck of the woods would he Ripken ? I think I know who you are talking about. >>



Yep, he's not far from you.

TheCARDKid

I can remember in the early 90's, a few stories come to mind about my age and how it hurt me.

-At a show in Anaheim (I think '95), I was walking the floor, trying to sell alot of modern cards that I had accumulated a few years earlier. Some fairly desirable stuff...like '84 Star Bird (worth about $400), some other Star singles and some key modern rookies (Griffey, Yzerman, Ripken).

I walked up to this dealer in the back, showed him my box of singles....and then he tried to rip me off by 10%, even as he had a calculator in front of him!

I think he quoted 30% of book. I did the calculation in my head, I've always been good at math. He turns his calculator around...and it's 20%, which was a few hundred dollar difference.

And it was obvious too. Like 30% of $3k is $900. Then he quotes $600...WTF?!?

I enjoy the hobby, but man there are some low class dealers out there. Seedy and low.

RipublicaninMass

Had a bad experience with kruk in person. Looking at a nice key card 1955 John Podres PSA 8. I asked to see it, and get "it's 1200.00 dollars, do you still wanna see it?"

hotmush

I have this happen at antique stores all the time.
I'm a writer by trade and don't always have time to put on my sport coat, y'know?
I collect Stickley Arts and Craft furniture. I walk into antique stores all the time and ask to see a piece up close or the underside of a chair. They look at me like I have sh*t for brains and proceed to tell me about how I don't want that piece. Very unnerving.
As far as card shows, when I was 17 I used to be a 'dealer' as a hobby (buy cases and vintage) and take them to shows and sell them and stuff. I always had TONS of people at our table becuase a) I treated everyone with respect (from the 10 year old to the 50 year old) and b) I always looked approacable and was friendly.

Then again, I have to play Devil's advocate. These dealers often are just making it by. I'm sure there's a lot of bitterness over the 'choices' they made way back when.

I'm surprised to hear that dealers today are like that. I can maybe understand 15 years ago when the hobby was at it's peak and they were raking in money hand over fist. But today, with the schisms of collector's preferences and 'singularity' of collecting focus.

That being said, I honestly haven't been to a card show in about 15 years. So...

Brian

DeutscherGeist

I don't ever really dress sloppy, but I enjoyed hearing all your comments and experiences. I will keep this in mind when I do shopping of any kind. Sure, people do judge on appearances. I will use that to my advantage.

I have suits and ties and will consider using them when I go to the Mercedes-Benz dealer or other posh place to ensure I get the right treatment even though I am way out of my league.

ArchStanton

I was told by an Allegheny County detective that in the mid 1980s in Pittsburgh, we had a guy that cashed about $100,000 in bad checks at various banks between the Shadyside and Oakland neighborhoods. When he was finally caught, he admitted that he would just dress well, put on a white lab coat and a stethescope then go into a bank and cash a personal check for a few hundred or a couple thousand dollars. If a teller even questioned him, he would just walk out of the bank in indignant disgust, but that almost never happened.

rana

Many years ago, I was a young (14 or so), but fairly savvy collector. This was during the Bob Uecker craze, when he was on TV in every commercial. His 1962 RC was on the quick rise, and I happened to have one that was very nice (maybe a nicely-centered 7/8, though grading did not exist at the time). It may have booked at $45 or so after a few "double up arrow" Beckett months. I found a dealer at a show who had some football cards I wanted (football was not really collected at the time, and even a nice Payton RC was $45 or so). I asked about credit/trade for the Uecker card. The guy sold Beckett monthly, but he intentionally pulled out an one of those thick old Beckett yearly price guides from the previous year and proceeded to look up the card and said it was worth $5. I quickly left and mentioned the incident to the show organizer. There was another dealer at the show I often talked to with one glass eye. He was, on the other hand, a great guy and we both got a good laugh out of the incident because I learned this had done that to others who didn't look like experts.

I also had a dealer just 2 years ago tell me the local "wax pack expert" dealer had examined his 1970 basketball packs, and verified them as legit, and offered to sell them to me at a reasonable price. I asked the local wax guy at the next show, and he said he had never examined the packs, just quoted an approx value, and in fact believed the guy also sold trimmed cards, and I agreed on that point as well.

Of course, most dealers are great, we just occasionally get mixed up with the bad ones. I moved recently, and the shows around here are pathetic, so I'd settle for a bigger show, even if there were a few bozos behind tables.

cardpool

Having experience on both sides of the dealer table, I've learned something:

As a dealer, it's schmooze or lose.

As a customer, if you haven't cut your fingernails in a month, wear clothes that need to be washed and have a tendency to talk up a storm when you're asked a simple question like "may I help you," don't expect much from the other side of the table.

I've had great experiences as a dealer giving customers my attention and it's paid off.

ArchStanton

I hate to revive this thread in such a crude and juvenile manner, but I have to share. I ran home for lunch today and ended up changing my two-year-old's diaper. What she made in there really looked like chocolate chip cookie dough, but my nose and past experience told me that the similarities were most likely only in appearance. I did not investigate further.

Sorry. I had to.

aro13

I think most people have stories about being ignored. Car dealerships are classic examples. Drive a nice car into a BMW dealership and see what service you receive. Drive a used beater into the same dealership and see if anybody will talk to you.

I have been on both sides of the table and I learned my lesson very early about judging people when selling. At one of my first shows a young boy, maybe 8 or 9 came up and started checking out some vintage hockey. I debated letting him take the cards out of the case especially after he picked out about 10 or 12 cards worth about $200-$500 each. I was glad I did because he than called his grandfather over who checked the cards out before paying.

Guru

I must admit that I used to sell cars. But, I felt that I was too honest for the dealership that I was at and had to leave on moral and ethical issues. That being said, the biggest sell I made was to a "country bumpkin" that pulled in in an old pink Geo metro. He came in as the doors opened on a saturday and I just happend to be standing in the right place. We sat down and he told me his story and I let him talk for a good 2 hours about who he was and what he was about. My manager was giving dirty looks because he thought I was wasting time. But I had a good feeling about this guy and was willing to eat crow if I was wrong.
Turns out he owned the largest farm in the county and that was his daughters car. He drove it in because it was at the end of the driveway and he didn't want to wake up his family to move cars that morning so he could get out. Here's what he bought as I recall, it may not be everything...

2005 or 06 Ford King Ranch
3 Expeditions
Used 04 Chevy Diesel
06 Fusion

I had just switched to commission. Think about it. Yea, $$$. Goes to show you that if you want the big payoff in life, be nice to everyone no matter who they are.
Just recently a gentlemen who comes in to where I work every day in his work clothes gave me an $80 tip because I was the only one who treated him with respect even when he was dressed in filthy rags.

It pays!

magellan

Great thread guys! The moral is Treat everyone the way you'd like to be treated. Or is it Never judge a book by it's cover?

lilmule

These are some great stories. Its pretty funny, I wonder what are going through peoples heads when they start talking down or like there sh** dont stink or something?

spazzy

One last one...In 1992 My wifes car was demolished on the highway. She had a flat tire and a fall asleep driver hit the car. She was not in it. A few days later I go to my local dealer (BILL DOHERTY) > I look at a car to purchase with the insurance money. I tell the young salesman that I am purchasing a car for my wife. I picked out the car which was new and offered 300.00 less than their sale price. The young man goes in with my offer. Ten minutes pass. A drop dead gorgous lady in a short skirt comes out to see me. She gives me a book to read.I look at the book and it says "A buyers guide for woman buying cars" She informs me to bring my wife next time and walks away.As you can imagine, I have purchased 4 new cars since then and none from this dealership. I went down to another dealer who took my offer for 100.00 more than I bid that day.