The "It's at home" excuse

[MegoNinja]

Oh man I have been there! one guy at a flea market had some nice vintage loose star wars figures that were over priced, but not too bad when one starts to think about all the costs of shipping if going via ebay. Problem is this guy had modern star wars, mixed in with just as high prices ... anyone want to pay $80 for a loose complete POTF2 Luke Stormtrooper Luke lol . I told him the differences and he did pull them out and set the modern aside, but they were mixed back in with the vintage the next time I saw him. He also out of no where said he had all the figures MOC at him HOME lol. As he found out more about me and what I knew about stuff the less and less he showed up, and would leave his booth when I came to it and had the lady that showed next to him take over for him. Now I don't see him anymore at all. Kind of sucks becasue he would have good stuff mixed in for great deals ... he just didn't know what's what .

I feel that there's an ego issue with some dealers that they need to think they have a "collection that's better than yours" in order to feel better about not knowing the hobby they deal in as well as they should.

But then there are the guys who are awesome that show up at Markets and shows ... but sadly you find them less and less.

I think you are exactly right Russ, I think that they always try to out shine you. Like just because they sell the stuff that should for some reason have every single figure and variation thereof. Now that I think about it almost every seller at markets has said that their collection is better than mine even though they don't know what I have (I think they all assume I have like 2 broken figures and no accessories from all of my toy lines). If only I could show them my collection and shut their mouths.

[Adam West]

Years ago when I bought my first vintage Redskins pennant, it was at an Antique Mall from a guy who had an ecclectic mix of junk most of his stuff was overpriced and bad shape.

Over in the corner I saw an old Redskins pennant that I thought was from the 1960's and the guy was asking $30 for it and thought it seemed like a reasonable price. I get it home and it's not from the 1960's, it's from the 1940's and worth more like $250!

I go back a week or so later and ask him if he has any others and he replies yes lot's of them (said something about his grandfather having season tickets since the 1930's and had all kinds of pennants).

I called him every week for about 6 months asking about finding the pennants and he just either couldn't find them or was too busy to look for them.

I always wondered if he really did have any more and I suspect he might have been telling the truth because the person who ran the antique shop said he had a whole barn full of junk and it was probably buried in there somewhere.

[MegoNinja]

they could just spend 10 minutes looking for the damn thing's, I think they fail to realize that they are going to make money from you if they find the item's you are looking for.

[LadyZod]

Let me play devil's advocate here for a moment.

I've showed at toy, anime, and comic shows. I've worked at comic stores... I've been dealing for as far as I can remember. That being said...

You can only bring so much stuff to a show, or cram so much stuff in your store. And just like the phone will ALWAYS ring the moment you need to go to the bathroom, the only thing people will ALWAYS ask for is the one thing you either didn't have room for in the car or store, or it's the one thing you figured no one would be interested in.

So they ask for it, and you tell them, yes I have that. Will you be back tomorrow? I'll have it here then. And you do. And they don't show up, and leave you hanging.

There's only SO many times that can happen before as a dealer you start thinking "BS" everytime you're asked if you could bring something for tomorrow, or something along those lines. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these dealers get tired and just give it up. Me? I'm a sucker. I always bring it and hope. And I've always lost.

Now as a buyer, I don't mind the "It's at home" line. What annoys me is the "I had that earlier, but I sold it" line. That's worse... especially when you KNOW they are lying because you saw them set up and no one's been at their table browsing much less buying that day.

[Bo8a_Fett]

The best type of seller is the one that says the "its at home" line but then gives you a business card or e-mail address.....unsuprisingly though this doesn'y happen much.
The trouble is the repeated "at home" line when you go to a store/market stall regularly and keep hearing the same old same old.