The "It's at home" excuse

[MegoNinja]

I have to make this thread because one too many times I have had this happen to me.
You go to a market/toy show/fare and you talk to some seller who has say, a broken fonz Mego. So you approach him and say some thing like "so err....do you have any thing else like this?" and their reply is "I have Kresge Shazam, Aquaman and shark MIB, RM Robin in his packet and a few more". As quick as you can you say (while jamming your hand into you pocket and grasping you wallet) "where are they!" and their reply is ALWAYS "oh they are at home some where, I will have to get those out some day and sell them".

This has happened to me so many times! I have missed out on boxes of case fresh vintage he-man MOC, boxes and boxes of MOC vintage Star Wars, and even things like The Hulk Rage Cage.
But today just pushed me over the limit. I went to a local market today to see if I could find some vintage toys. After 5 minutes I see this big Darth Vader head (I knew it was the vintage carry case right away) so I ran to the table and started talking to the seller (I ended up buying some loose vintage SW stuff in the process). I said to him "gee, most of these figures are missing their weapons, don't you have more that are complete?" and his reply was "yeah, they are around 15 dollars though because they are harder to get with weapons", I said "that's fine where are they?" he's excuse (as always was) "oh at home some where".
Any way after some more small talk he finally says "OH! I have a heap of vinyl cape Jawas from my collection, I want to sell them". My reply to that was "oh...but they are obviously a lot more expensive" (I thought he was going to charge me hundreds of dollars, you know what market people are like). Then he says "yes, they are really rare so asking 20 dollars each for them".
I put my hand on my pocket, like a cowboy ready to draw, and just about pulled out my wallet but not before saying "so can I see them first" and again it was "they are at my house, I should have brought them hey?".
That is easily the most annoying thing yet, the guy (who is obviously collectible illiterate) just offers me 700 dollars worth of VC Jawa's for mere dollars and then gives me that excuse.

Has any one else had this experience? It happens almost EVERY single time I ask a market seller "what else do you have?".

[Marvelmania]

I hear that excuse a lot too, either that one or "I have a friend who has one". I don't know how many people I've ran across who have all 4 AE figures "MIB and you should see how cool the packaging is" Then there's all the prototypes they have.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

I need to start going to some toy shows.

[cjefferys]

Just like the kid at school who would claim to have something like a Mego Flash, you ask to see it and of course "I didn't bring it with me, it's at home"

[MegoNinja]

Just like the kid at school who would claim to have something like a Mego Flash, you ask to see it and of course "I didn't bring it with me, it's at home"

yeah but at least the kid wasn't offering to sell it to you so it wasn't crushing your spirit as much.

[megoat]

The guy is "collectible illiterate" yet he's savvy enough to refer to the Jawas as "vinyl cape"? I bet he was either pulling your leg or his vinyl cape Jawas were repro.....

[MegoNinja]

The guy is "collectible illiterate" yet he's savvy enough to refer to the Jawas as "vinyl cape"? I bet he was either pulling your leg or his vinyl cape Jawas were repro.....

yeah I suspected that the latter is true. I might be seeing the guy again in January at a toy show, I can tell the difference between real and fake VC Jawa's (being an avid SW collector), so I'll see if he is trying to rip me off, if he is he better be prepared to face my wrath.

[Bo8a_Fett]

Maybe its just a ploy to keep you coming back in case he does have them that week...all the while you're buying from them. If I was a seller, I would only mention what I had if I was gonna add "but i'd never sell them/that", just to build a rapport with the buyer. I remember at school we always used to catch people out over new film releases...when you were talking about a new film you'd seen at the cinema..some smartarse would always butt in saying they'd seen it..so you'd turn round and make something up and say "what about that bit where the helicopter crashed into the truck..wasn't that brilliant"(even though it never happened in the movie)...and when they'd say "yeah that bit was brilliant" you'd crush them by telling them that didn't happen at all.
Pity we all couldn't come up with a version to sellers who say "it's at home"

[PCofmisfittoys]

It always works weird like that for me too. When I have extra money to blow on good thing at a show , there's nothing to buy there. When i'm broke and attending a show there's all kinds of things.

[MegoNinja]

Maybe its just a ploy to keep you coming back in case he does have them that week...all the while you're buying from them. If I was a seller, I would only mention what I had if I was gonna add "but i'd never sell them/that", just to build a rapport with the buyer. I remember at school we always used to catch people out over new film releases...when you were talking about a new film you'd seen at the cinema..some smartarse would always butt in saying they'd seen it..so you'd turn round and make something up and say "what about that bit where the helicopter crashed into the truck..wasn't that brilliant"(even though it never happened in the movie)...and when they'd say "yeah that bit was brilliant" you'd crush them by telling them that didn't happen at all.
Pity we all couldn't come up with a version to sellers who say "it's at home"

lol I used to do that to kid's all the time at school. Maybe I should say to the guy "oh VC jawa's! are they the ones with the double photon phasers!?" and see if he is stupid enough to say yes.
If they are real, and he does bring them, then hello eBay and hello more mego!

[Bo8a_Fett]

Talking of them i've got some vc jawas with double photon phasers....oh wait a minute...they're at home...

[jwyblejr]

I've heard the old "it's at home" excuse on top of one dealer telling me he had plans on putting said item on eBay.

[MegoNinja]

don't you wish you could just say (I should one day as well), "well I have nothing to do with my time, how about after this I can go to your house and see what you have, Ive got plenty of cash for collectibles" and see what they say to that.
They would probably say some thing like "you can't come to my house, I left that at home

[RG]

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.

[mitchedwards]

I always carry a business card with my Cell # on it. When I hear the its a home excuse, I leave thema card and ask them to call me.

Of course I never get a call back