tntnorthnj - Anyone a fan? I am NOT!

[mrmopar]

I need to vent a little. I have purchased from this ebay seller a good number of times in the past, probably dating back 15+ years. I recall being a repeat customer in the past with no issues. However, lately as in the last 5 years or so, it's gotten bad. Like another high volume seller, who I now hold in the same regard (Krukcards), they seem to screw up my order at least once every couple of times. It's been mostly minor, missing a card here and there. If I recall, they made it right every time until they didn't! The first order in question was for a timeless teams auto and I am pretty sure I told the story at the time. It warrants repeating to build up to what is to come. I like the set and pick up cards when I can, but this particular card was one of the scarce gold versions, numbered to 5 copies. I got a pretty decent price on the Manny Trillo and was excited to add another gold (I don't have many, but enjoy each one I have landed).

Package arrived, part of a larger order. Everything was there except gold Trillo. In it's place was base auto Trillo. Honest mistake, I suppose. I let them know and they said they'd look into it. I checked and someone else had won the base Trillo, so I assumed a he got mine, I got his deal. After waiting a while, I got the reply that the recipient was not going to return my card. I asked for direct contact info, but was ignored. I was pissed. I assumed that he had not really made much effort. I was at least going to try to reason with someone, who if tntnorthnj was telling the truth about, got a heck of an upgrade for free and was not planning to do the right thing. I didn't even get my chance though. There was nothing I could do at that point except steam, so I decided I just wouldn't buy from the guy any more.

Fast forward and I accidentally bought something from the seller again. Too bad you can't block yourself from bidding with a specific seller, because I would. Honestly, I sometimes don't even pay attention to who I buy from. The transaction went smoothly, although I was a bit irritated I gave this guy more of my money, given his track record. I put him back on BANNED status and went on.

Then a few weeks back, he listed a card I really needed, Archives Purple People Eater Jim Marshall auto in the 1970 Topps design. I saw he was the seller AFTER I spotted the card and said something like "Well, $hit!". I would have preferred to buy from just about anyone else, but I really, really wanted/needed this card. I decided it was worth ending the bad just this once, bid and ended up winning that and a couple other cards (what can I say, I do like to save on s/h when I can?). The package arrived a couple weeks back and instead of the card I wanted, once again like in the case of Trillo, I got a "downgraded" version of the same player, different card (screenshot below, still a good card but not the card I wanted/needed). The card I won went for about 1/3 of mine. WTF!? Twice now he does this to me. I reach out and once again, the answer I get after a week or so is that the recipient is keeping the card and/or they didn't respond. Once, maybe. Twice, not likely!

In the meantime, I stupidly browsed his listings, knowing that I needed to return a card. I should have just stayed away, my bad all the way here. I ended up winning a bunch of cheap impulse crap. That order arrived today and once more, one of my purchases was missing. This time, he didn't even get the player right, but somehow the sport and the serial number were a match. I won a Bob Dandridge auto /10, I got a Chris Boucher auto /10. Who the F is Chris Boucher and how do you mix him up with Bob Dandridge?

I am absolutely done with this incompetent fool. 2 orders in a row where he messed up by sending a different card, 3rd time for sure where I didn't get something I ordered and more instances where my order was just wrong and had to deal with the hassles of it being wrong and him making it right. This guy can't fill a simple packing list! I can't be the only person getting my order F'd up!

I realize he is a power level seller and probably has tons of fans. Maybe he is a 1 man show. I don't care. If you can't get your orders right over and over, you are an idiot! This doesn't happen to me with Probstein, COMC and some other huge ebay sellers who are selling as much, if not more, than this guy. I can also say that out of the couple dozen or so times someone else has sent me the wrong item, EVERY SINGLE TIME I EVENTUALLY GOT MY CORRECT ITEM. Yet tntnorthnj switches 2 cards out and both times he can't get them back. I call BS! This guy's service is crap and whether or not he is even being honest with me about the missing cards almost doesn't matter at this point. I can't promise I won't slip up and accidentally buy from this JO, but it won't ever be purposeful again.

 

[Lancemountain]

A very long time ago he would list his commons and parallels after multiple case breaks. I was buying his utleys with regularity until he caught on and over priced silly commons.

So I stopped. Haven’t purchased from him since at least 2009


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[WizardofOz1982]

He blocked me from his auctions a couple years ago and I'm not sure why. I sent him a couple messages asking what the deal was and got no response.

Thinking back I think I bought a 1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold Ozzie Smith from him and he sent me the base. When I returned it he blocked me.

 

[thelesquad]

I recently won an auction for a lot of 1997 SPx cards, and the photos in the auction showed some Grand Finales. The lot I received did not include those even though the count of cards matched the auction listing. He pulled a bait and switch on me, but I was able to get a full refund. If it's a PC card I really need, I will buy, but I will remain cautious.

 

[smapdi]

I used to buy from him a lot in the 00s. Every few weeks I'd go through his store and get a bunch of low-priced cards from recent products for sets or whatever. Maybe 2 or 3 times I got an incorrect card, or one was missing, and when I'd ask about it he said he'd fix it in my next order. I thought that was weird. On one hand, it seemed like he remembered me and my ordering pattern. On the other, why would I order again from a dealer who would reply like that. But he was right, anyway, I'd order again and include a note about the messup and he'd make it good. But that was a long time ago. My collecting habits changed, as has the hobby since we don't have 6 card companies anymore and don't have multiple sets coming out every week, and it sounds like things have gone downhill in NJ.

 

[theplasticman]

I still buy on a rare occasion. Not much lately that I need/want.

 

[canes78]

He's terrible. I used to buy from him weekly. One week he sent me a card I didn't order in lieu of one I did. Presumably another ebay user got my card and I got his. I messaged him on ebay and got no response. I found 2 email addresses for him and emailed him at both. Again, no response. Finally, I left him negative feedback on my purchase and he blocked me from bidding on his auctions. I'm not saying he is dishonest; perhaps just overwhelmed by his business. Still, if he can't handle communicating with his customers, he needs to hire some help.

 

[mrmopar]

He's terrible. I used to buy from him weekly. One week he sent me a card I didn't order in lieu of one I did. Presumably another ebay user got my card and I got his. I messaged him on ebay and got no response. I found 2 email addresses for him and emailed him at both. Again, no response. Finally, I left him negative feedback on my purchase and he blocked me from bidding on his auctions. I'm not saying he is dishonest; perhaps just overwhelmed by his business. Still, if he can't handle communicating with his customers, he needs to hire some help.

Not an excuse to say you are overwhelmed. He did respond to me though a few times though I am not sure he'll respond to my "I am done buying from you" comment. He admitted he had employees, so he is not a one man show, but still no excuse. He tossed out some big listing numbers as an excuse, but to that I say, staff accordingly or cut back your sales to a level you can manage. Probstein never screws up my order and that guy lists many 1000s of cards constantly.

I blasted him yesterday as I was preparing my return. It was to make me feel better, as i am sure he won't give it another thought. So he loses some small time customer, so what? probably happens weekly, but he is not hurting for bidders. My feeling is that he screws up the order, probably accidentally or carelessly, and then doesn't want to deal with the hassle, so he just refunds cheap cards and forces a return on more expensive cards. The problem is, I am always the guy with the more expensive card, so someone else is making out at my expense and i get to deal with the headache of returns and worse, not getting the card I bid on.

My biggest complaint though, as I can hear people lining up to say things like "At least you got a refund" or something similar is this: I buy a specific item from a seller and don't get it. Meanwhile, I may have missed out on the same item by a different seller and on tougher to find cards, you may miss your only chance because you thought you already had one in the bag! Sellers like this don't see that side though.

 

[chippercards.com]

Ted (tntnorthnj) is a good guy and deals in massive volume. His S&H fee scares a lot of people off. I love him as I can always find great values with him. I will go through fits/spurts buying from him. Right now I am so over-loaded with cards I know I won't touch anything I buy from him for like 3 years, so I haven't bought anything in a few months. If something pops on a saved search then I might take the time to go through a Sunday or Thursday end auction listing batch. For the volume in which he operates he is really spectacular. If you can be a little flexible on condition (sometimes his packing method leaves something to be desired) and are ok with placing a large order with a $40 shipping charge, then Ted is the guy for you! He does a great job of bringing cards to market that would otherwise remain buried so on balance I think he is great at handling the scale and great for the hobby.

 

[jmc855]

bought one or two cards over the years. Prices usually too high for me though.

 

[Letch77]

Bought from him a couple of different times in the past. Didn't have any issues but I was just buying singles.

 

[mrmopar]

Ted (tntnorthnj) is a good guy and deals in massive volume. His S&H fee scares a lot of people off. I love him as I can always find great values with him. I will go through fits/spurts buying from him. Right now I am so over-loaded with cards I know I won't touch anything I buy from him for like 3 years, so I haven't bought anything in a few months. If something pops on a saved search then I might take the time to go through a Sunday or Thursday end auction listing batch. For the volume in which he operates he is really spectacular. If you can be a little flexible on condition (sometimes his packing method leaves something to be desired) and are ok with placing a large order with a $40 shipping charge, then Ted is the guy for you! He does a great job of bringing cards to market that would otherwise remain buried so on balance I think he is great at handling the scale and great for the hobby.

Ted may be a good guy and I respect your take, but you are still excusing him in several areas for providing less than acceptable service. I agree that his packing is usually average at best. I recall getting most of my order stuffed into a couple of thick toploaders when I had won 15-20 cards or so. Normally that is not terrible, but those tend to be more brittle than the regular card toploaders and have had several break/crack in route. The card hobby is one where condition tends to matter to most people. Taking care to properly package items should be a priority to all sellers.

His s/h rates are a joke too. Clearly you can adjust your bid prices to facto in that extra cost if you wanted to, but many sellers don't force you to do that because they charge REASONABLE combined shipping rates! I'll say that same thing for anyone who does the $x per additional item policy w/o any sort of cap or exception for larger orders, even if it is a more reasonable $0.50, quarter or even a dime per. add'l item Eventually it catches up and you are being gouged. That is telling a volume buyer to F off essentially. At a point well before most sellers like to acknowledge, it makes sense to switch to flat rate, which has fixed prices for up to 70 POUNDS! Other then helping to defray their fees or line their pockets with extra profit, why should I be paying $40 for a padded mailer that costs $5 or less to ship? Sometimes you don't have better options to buy a bulk number of cards, but still no reason to gouge. I am not a huge seller, but I always offer very reasonable shipping rates to keep it near cost no matter what they buy. I ENCOURAGE people to buy more from me, not pretend to reward them with a slight discount that ends up ripping them off.

Lastly, I'll once more point out that regardless of your volume, you need to staff appropriately. If you are doing heavier business, then you probably need more help. This CAN NOT be an excuse to mess up orders, ever. Late orders or poorly packed orders...maybe, as that is just you sucking at your job, but still doing it at least. Sending me the wrong damn cards over and over is absolutely inexcusable and is not only sucking at your job, but proving you are not capable of even doing it right.

 

[mrmopar]

I forgot to mention the most important part again, above.

Not once in 3-4 separate times did Ted have my original card to send after I filed a complaint/return, nor could he even seem to obtain them! This is not 1 isolated time. This is multiple times across separate orders and different time frames. Apparently he attracts buyers who are also thieves?

Every other time someone else on ebay sent me the wrong item or left something out of the package, miraculously, they made it right with the missing item! How can this guy NEVER have/get the card he failed to produce in the first place. Laziness? Dishonesty? I don't know, but it sure seems suspect to me.

Anyway, I am done with him as a buyer, forever.