Welcome to our community

Be apart of something great, join today!

The Tri Star Show & the Case of the GRUMPY Dealer

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

mouschi

Featured Contributor, Bridging the Gap, Senior Mem
May 18, 2012
3,105
170
The Tri-Star show is something that I look forward to like Christmas. I always am able to make lots of deals, have a TON of fun, and come home with a haul of cardboard to go through & enjoy.

That didn't happen this time.

Friday was fairly dead for me, and I ended up spending about $20 or so on a few Canseco cards for the collection, and a few cards to resell. I ended up picking a Mike Lowell printing plate, a Bobby Doerr bat card and a Tony Perez bat card for 50 cents each . Those were great deals, but worth the price of admission? No, not really.

The coolest thing of the evening is I got to meet and talk with John Kinsella for quite a while - John was an actor in the Field of Dreams. It was very cool! I got to try on his dad's baseball glove from the 1920's. We spoke about how it was to work with Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones and more.

10959386_10205976706479595_434459931855624943_n.jpg


A funny/potentially embarrassing thing that happened was a guy selling a nice rare 90's insert Jeter card. It was a PMG from the 90's. As I had purchased a bunch of Canseco stuff, I knew that the PMG's were rare and desirable, so I thought I'd branch out a bit. It had the Beckett RCR holder and said it was $70. It had some chipping on the side, but I thought to myself "self: I wonder if he would take $50 for it. I know nothing about the value of these, but I think that would be a great buy!"
I requested to see it, so he got it out of the case and showed it to me. Upon closer inspection, I saw the grading was 7.0. Did I mix up things in my head about his asking price? Did he not quote me $70 and I just saw 70 on the holder and assumed it was $70? Hmmmm....I better not offer $50. I better go ahead and ask what the lowest is he'd go.

He informed me he is asking $1,000 ... but he would take $800.

WHOAAAAA. Glad I didn't offer! If you know about 90's inserts, you were probably smacking your forehead when I first said I was about to offer $50. Welp...now I know. PMG's ARE valuable ... much moreso than I knew.

Saturday, I opted to spend the day with my wife since it was Valentines day, so no cardboardy goodness there. We did hit a few garage sales and actually picked up some things that probably will yield more of a profit than cards would have, had I gone to the show.

Sunday, we went to church and my wife said she would go with me and my son, so we just left church and went to the show.

It was rough.

Nothing too eventful happened - I got some one touch holders for some of my custom work, and an autographed card for another project I'm doing. My wife and son were getting restless and I was feeling guilty about dragging them along (imagine being 12 years old, no interest in sports and NO IPOD!!!)

I took him to the corner dealer who I knew had a Darth Vader. My son was asking about Star Wars stuff so I wanted to show him. As he and my wife were looking at that, I went to another table. When I was done, I went back to the dealer with the Darth Vader, and saw my son was digging in some of his pokemon cards. He pulled a star wars figure and a pokemon card that the dealer quoted $2 for the card, and $3 for the figure.

While I was there, I asked the dealer what he would take for his box of basketball cards cards. He said $200, and I said I'd think about it. After a while, I decided not to counter, because that was just way more than I knew I could even sell them for myself, so I didn't want to offend him by offering $60-80.

As for the pokemon card and star wars character, I asked my son what he thought and he was undecided, so I asked him if he wanted to think about it over lunch. He said sure, so I told the dealer that is what we would do. He didn't really respond, so I assumed he didn't hear me. No biggie.

My son said to me "Dad, do you think he would take $1 for the pokemon card he was asking $2 for?" I said I don't know, son - maybe - you should ask!

A little background - my son has a hard time talking to strangers, so this is a bit of a big step for him to ask something like this.

We finished our food and went to his table. My son went up to him, and as timidly as he does normally, he said to the dealer ...

"Ummm, I was wondering if you would take $1 for the pokemon card."

The dealer looked him straight in the eye and gave him a very sharp "NO" answer, then walked away. I was a bit shocked, but as the dealer walked away, he said "I'm tired of you all bothering me."

I bit taken aback, I asked him to repeat what he just said. He turned to me and said "I said, I'm tired of you all bothering me." Then walked off.

I admit, I was not happy with this grown man who decided to talk to my son like this. We walked off in a bit of disbelief, I told my wife I had to go back and say something. I was part rage, part wanting to smooth things out ... perhaps he misunderstood, was just having a bad day, etc.

So I went over there and we talked for about 10 minutes.

- He was tired of me asking him pricing in bulk, him quoting me a price and me never pulling the trigger. (I have asked for pricing 2 other times in the past) I told him his pricing was too high for me, and I didn't want to insult him with a counter, but he didn't take it.

- He was very upset apparently that I didn't buy his basketball box. He even went as far to try and take me to another dealer to back him up saying the cards were worth it. I tried to tell him once again that it was simply that I would be buying to re-sell and I wasn't confident I could sell for a profit at that price.

- He didn't like that my son offered $1 for something he said $5 for (I corrected him and said he was asking $1 for the $2 card, but he didn't back down anyway).

- My wife and son were in his space and probably cost him $45 due to lost sales because they were in the way looking at things he had for sale.

- He inferred that I was raising my son poorly by having him negotiate. (Again, this is after I corrected him saying he was trying to get the card for $1 instead of $2).

In the midst of me going over to him to clear the air (in a spirit of peace), he still decided for some reason it was a good idea to stick to his guns and blast me. I'm very disappointed with how he handled my son, and the situation in general. I wrapped up the conversation with him with a hand shake and assured him we won't be stopping bye to bother him again in future card shows that he is at, I walked away...still in disbelief.

That wraps up this year's winter edition of Tri-Star. It was the my least favorite one I've gone to, but I do hope if you went, you had a great time, and scored some great deals! If you ever run into a grumpy dealer, don't let him get you down - just spend your money elsewhere!
 

A_Pharis

Active member
The only thing I would have explained to him would be that your son has a difficult time even talking to people in public, and that his response in front of a child is very degrading to confidence. Then you could have welcomed him to speak to you like that all day since it only demonstrates the type of person that he is.

What a scumbag.
 

gt2590

Super Moderator
Aug 17, 2008
38,655
3,239
Near Philly
Way too many Grumpy dealers out there. I always wonder WTH they even do it, setting up, selling, dealing with customers etc., especially over and over again...
 

RStadlerASU22

Active member
Jan 2, 2013
8,881
11
Unfortunately were in a hobby where shops / shows etc are filled with people who feel entitled and lack people skills. Sorry for the experience.

Ryan
 

Topnotchsy

Featured Contributor, The best players in history?
Aug 7, 2008
9,446
168
If we remembered the impact we have on other people, our ability to lift up or crush the spirit of others, we would at once be more careful, and also feel more positively about our own value and ability to make a difference.
 

mmier118

New member
Jan 29, 2010
536
0
Thanks for the show report, glad you didn't let this guy get you down. Always enjoy your write-ups, even when they aren't about the best of circumstances.
 

Topnotchsy

Featured Contributor, The best players in history?
Aug 7, 2008
9,446
168
Let your son know all of us know it takes real guts to go over to an adult and negotiate and he should be proud of himself for it!
 

Austin

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
5,706
41
Dallas, Texas
The coolest thing of the evening is I got to meet and talk with John Kinsella for quite a while - John was an actor in the Field of Dreams. It was very cool! I got to try on his dad's baseball glove from the 1920's. We spoke about how it was to work with Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones and more.
LOL, you didn't really call him John or Mr. Kinsella, did you?
 
Last edited:

predatorkj

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
11,871
2
Yeah, there were some funny types up there for sure. I wouldn't worry about it. Just sucks your son had to deal with what we normally encounter. Kinda makes for the possibility of growing up with a skewed view. Just make sure he knows not everyone is like that in this hobby.
 

swish54_99

Well-known member
Dec 12, 2012
1,160
221
That's too bad. Sorry it happened to your son (and you). On the bright side, it would be a good teaching moment for your son. Also on another positive note, you can now probably get your son to go check out card shows with you if you know he'll look at pokemon or action figures...might just be the "in" to get him involved in shows.
 

DeliciousBacon

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2011
3,444
94
Warwick, RI
The best thing I've found is make a dealer like that watch you give another dealer money. Last show I was at, a crotchety old vintage (in both ways!) dealer was being brutally douchy to me over the fact that I was standing at the far corner of his completely vacant table as I picked through some 75 Topps at the neighboring table. Such a ****** that other customers made comments about it. Well, he had most of the 71s I needed to finish my set, but after that, I wasn't giving him a penny. Looked him in the eyes as I paid his neighbor for a pile of 75s (priced a lot better than the old man had) and walked away.

What Lowell plate did you pick up? I'd be interested if you're thinking of moving it.
 

mouschi

Featured Contributor, Bridging the Gap, Senior Mem
May 18, 2012
3,105
170
The best thing I've found is make a dealer like that watch you give another dealer money. Last show I was at, a crotchety old vintage (in both ways!) dealer was being brutally douchy to me over the fact that I was standing at the far corner of his completely vacant table as I picked through some 75 Topps at the neighboring table. Such a ****** that other customers made comments about it. Well, he had most of the 71s I needed to finish my set, but after that, I wasn't giving him a penny. Looked him in the eyes as I paid his neighbor for a pile of 75s (priced a lot better than the old man had) and walked away.

What Lowell plate did you pick up? I'd be interested if you're thinking of moving it.

it is the black printing plate of the 2005 topps chrome card #284 - feel free to make me an offer!
 

jeff_bichel

New member
Nov 4, 2010
1,463
0
Houston, Texas
Tanner - Hey, I'm a little slow but I just looked at the picture of you and realized who you are. Duh. I think that I am pretty much responsible for the card habit that you now have. (Aside: at one point maybe 5 years or so back, Tanner bought Hundreds, if not Thousands of memorabilia cards from me). At least you are still having fun with it. Still pretty ill, but I do spend some time in a Katy LCS. If you get the urge to splurge hit me up and we'll head out and meet up there! Church is a possibility also.
 

mouschi

Featured Contributor, Bridging the Gap, Senior Mem
May 18, 2012
3,105
170
Tanner - Hey, I'm a little slow but I just looked at the picture of you and realized who you are. Duh. I think that I am pretty much responsible for the card habit that you now have. (Aside: at one point maybe 5 years or so back, Tanner bought Hundreds, if not Thousands of memorabilia cards from me). At least you are still having fun with it. Still pretty ill, but I do spend some time in a Katy LCS. If you get the urge to splurge hit me up and we'll head out and meet up there! Church is a possibility also.

Hey Jeff! While I had been addicted to cardboard for quite some time before our deals, the cards you supplied me with definitely didn't help anything if I was ever trying to quit, lol! I certainly appreciate the good deals over the years you have given me. Anyway, it is good to hear from you. I am sorry to hear you are still ill but hope to do more deals with you in the future. If ever you run across any cool Canseco stuff, please let me know!
 

brian26

Member
Nov 12, 2010
679
10
If we remembered the impact we have on other people, our ability to lift up or crush the spirit of others, we would at once be more careful, and also feel more positively about our own value and ability to make a difference.

This is powerful. Great words.
 
Aug 7, 2008
821
6
Tampa, FL
What an idiot and a complete scumbag and the reason this hobby is struggling to attract the younger generations...ugh. Just horrible.

On another note, did someone mention a Doerr bat card?!? ;)

Thanks,
Jeff
 
Apr 23, 2012
405
0
New Orleans
What a surprising story... all the baseball card dealers I know are such well-adjusted, socially apt, pleasant people to be around!

(not.)

Sorry to hear this happened, I totally remember being a shy 9 yr old at a show and my folks having to encourage me to talk to dealers (back in the late 80s the shows were a lot more crowded too!). I was definitely intimidated. I grew out of it and I'm sure your son will too... and sensitive / shy kids tend to turn into better people IMO :)
 

Topnotchsy

Featured Contributor, The best players in history?
Aug 7, 2008
9,446
168
What card was it? We can get it for him (plus some extras...)
 

mouschi

Featured Contributor, Bridging the Gap, Senior Mem
May 18, 2012
3,105
170
What card was it? We can get it for him (plus some extras...)

That is very nice of you! It was pokemon dark somethingeruther. I don't think he really knows much about what is what. He just likes the cards.
 

Members online

Latest posts

Top