I'm Banned From a Local Thrift Store

[Den82]

Yes. A guy I've known for a few years opened yet another new store (his third or fourth so far) in my town. This guy has always been fairly nice to me, but I always sensed he didn't like the idea I bought stuff to resell. Even thought I don't think I ever discussed it with him in detail that I did. His prices got higher and he did some stuff that annoyed me. Like when I wanted to buy something from him once. I asked, how much? He said let me see and took it and looked it up on Amazon right in front of me.

Anyway, this weekend I saw a bunch of garbage outside and saw he was opening a new shop. I explained to him I got myself a space myself and have been on the hunt for Nintendo games. He tells me he has a bunch in his car and takes me over to show me. He shows me, then tells me not all are for sale as they are "Amazon". But if I wanted to buy one or two, let me know. I tell him I want them all and to let me know what he wants for them. I gave him my number. I told him I'd give him 50% of what I sell them for, or a slight bit more if they are good. I sell Super Mario Bros. 3 for $10 in my store (and they take tax out). I told him I'd pay $5 for it. Which is good for him, I think. As Amazon fees and time spent listing and shipping would eat up a big part of the difference anyway.

He then told me and my dad we can go inside his shop and I saw two N64 games. I asked him how much and again, he told me he had to "look them up" and that they would be most likely $4-$5 each. OK.

My dad misunderstood. He told me they'll PROBABLY be $5 each, not that they were or for sale yet. My dad went there yesterday or the day before and picked the two games up for $5 a pop from his niece.

This guy calls me today and tell me to return them. I said they were in my store. He then tells me to never come into his shop again. I doubt they sold yet, but I will be returning them. Screw him.

[mikeMc6]

Ouch!
Sounds like there are layers of subtext to this story. Guy sounds like he's a wee bit sensitive for a junk shop owner. I guess if nayrbgo can be suspended from ebay, any of us are potential demon folk. Hope his stores didn't provide too much product for your place... Bummer

[megomania]

Bummer. Like when Kramer got banned from Joe's Fruit Store and sent Jerry and then George in to buy fruit for him. Send in a covert operator!

-Chris

[Den82]

I'm too tired to contemplate the subtext to the story. But I do there is a moral or two to it. Which are:

Thrift Stores are NOT high end collectible shops. I fully understand a person wanting to get the most for their stuff. Especially with overhead, what he spends on units (he's a storage auction guy), etc. But these guys have to realize this.

Second. If you know or think I want to buy stuff to resell and you have an issue with it or want the most for your item. Then when I ask if you have ____ and you do, don't offer to SHOW me it. If you want to put it on Amazon, then keep it in a hidden Amazon stash. My feeling was that he was showing off. Like "haha, look what I have and you don't".

These guys want the most for their stuff. But do they even take the time to wipe down their product with a Clorox wipe? No. Do they polish the connectors in the game? No. Test them out? No. They want top dollar for game systems without even trying them out and yet have strict NO RETURNS policies.

Now I didn't buy those games because he said he wasn't ready to sell them first. Was it wrong of my dad to go and buy them? That is another issue and one I've considered. He involves himself in my business a little too much for a person my age. But it's not like my dad knew he wasn't going to be there, so it was a clear misunderstanding.

[Zemo]

For 10 bucks, I probably would have just returned them.

[sauce]

What a scene.

Man, it sounds like he just doesn't want to sell at wholesale to his competition. I've done that myself by blocking known resellers from bidding on my auctions. I just don't want to deal with that and can read that in this situation.

It probably feels bad because of your prior relationship, though. Sorry, man.

[MIB41]

It's free enterprise. If you can buy something from his store and resell it, why not? And why should he care if he's pricing it according to his needs? Sounds like a clown. Sorry that happen to you.

[Zemo]

It's free enterprise. If you can buy something from his store and resell it, why not? And why should he care if he's pricing it according to his needs? Sounds like a clown. Sorry that happen to you.

This is true, But the guy has 4 shops and he just got banned for 10 bucks. Win the battle and lose the war situation.

[Den82]

I may sound like a hypocrite, but I do not like people buying to resell from me either....DEPENDING on what is it, that is. If I had a Stereo that I knew was worth $200, I'd sell it for $100 to a guy who specializes it in. Simply because it's not my thing or area of expertize. I just rather not deal with it.

Like I said. I know this guy doesn't clean or test these things before selling them to people. I do. I don't even need to check on eBay or Amazon. I thought I might be doing him a favor. That $5 more he'd get from selling let's say Super Mario Bros. 3 is going to be eaten by amazon fees and time spent on listing/shipping and a lot of the games will sit on Amazon forever being you have thousands of others selling the same thing, including reputable dealers who specialize in games.

This guy is a fool and now I see why he's basically like a gypsy. A new damn location every 6 months. It's actually a joke to us, because we NEVER know where we'll see him next. We'll just drive around and stop at some junk sale on the side of the road or a new thrift store in all different towns and SURPRISE! It's him!

[toys2cool]

I feel you bro....They ban people from the thrift shops I go to all the time.. and some go as far as checking the stuff one ebay and amazon as well, to give the resellers and dealers the price...then a new face walks in and takes if for less then half the price...Funny how something similar happened to me today.

I walked in last friday and they had a nintendo with a bunch of controllers, a gun, and some random stuff for $50, and a bag of 15 games for $30, they know what i do, they're not stupid..So since I buy there a lot I asked one of the ladies who's a sweetheart if the price is firm..she's asks me what would i offer? and that she would ask the manager/part owner..I told her I'd gladly pay the $30 for the games but would offer $35 for the system cause I didn't know if it worked or not and they would'nt check it for me..I come back 30 minutes later and she tells me he said $45is the lowest he'd go..I say I appreciate it but no thanks..today I find a stash at the shop next door and some dude comes up and tells me man i hate you right now, but playing around(he was cool) I say why? he says I need games, I just bought the system and a bag of games all for $30 next door...I was stunned, i said $30 for everything? he said yup! sweet deal right? I'm still ticked off

[toys2cool]

by the way i ended up picking up a nintendo with 1 controller for $12.99, a super nes for $20 w/ 2 controllers and some games..Super Mario 3 , 2 legend of zelda's (gold case games), battletoads,TMNT 2,Dragon warrior ,simon's quest 2 and a few more for $2.95 each...that's the set prices next door..I left

Double dragon
Goonies 2
loki
mario 1/duckhunt/ some motor bike game
jordan vs Bird
wheel of fortune

and like 10 more

007.jpg010.jpg011.jpg

[Den82]

Yeah, well. That's why these people go out of business. They can blame the bad economy, people being cheap, cheap dealers and resellers, but really it's them. All these places near me are cluttered, dirty merchandise, thrown around, extremely bad attitudes, etc. It's as if they want to make a ton of money without any effort whatsoever. Most of them are ran by storage auction buyers. One guy throws out great stuff while he tries to get top dollar for junk. He THREW G1 Transformers and TMNT figures in his dumpster!

They have to realize people go into these kind of stores for bargains and instead of whining that reputable dealers are getting high prices, clean your stuff up and sell it on eBay and if you do, keep in a private stash. Don't let people who patronize you see it and then refuse to sell it to them. As if they are not good enough.

The bottomline is I offered him flat out 50% with no lies or hassles at all. I never went to him with some bull crap like "my son likes these games, but we are can't afford these prices" or played the role of the super fan nerd boy collector or the naive fool. If I tried any of that, I would understand a person getting ****ed.

I heard one story recently of a reseller pretending he was mildly retarded to rip off a seller for years.

[toys2cool]

I heard one story recently of a reseller pretending he was mildly retarded to rip off a seller for years.

I should try that

[Den82]

by the way i ended up picking up a nintendo with 1 controller for $12.99, a super nes for $20 w/ 2 controllers and some games..Super Mario 3 , 2 legend of zelda's (gold case games), battletoads,TMNT 2,Dragon warrior ,simon's quest 2 and a few more for $2.95 each...that's the set prices next door..I left

Double dragon
Goonies 2
loki
mario 1/duckhunt/ some motor bike game
jordan vs Bird
wheel of fortune

and like 10 more

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5365[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]5366[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]5367[/ATTACH]

Those are nice. I am hunting NES like crazy. The amount of wanted ads for old video game stuff is by far bigger than wanted ads for toys though and a few summers ago, I would find an NES almost every weekend. It's getting tougher now and since I have a store, I can now buy common carts and sell them at $6 each. Unlike on eBay where it's not worth the time.

[Bill]

I work at a Thrift Store (church based, part of a homeless project) and people regularly complain because that's what people do. One donor gave us the entire contents of his house, well the executor gave it to us in exchange for cleaning up after we removed the furniture. It was about 16 pieces, mixed Stickley and Lambert. It took us a good three months to move it all, and I was sad that none of them were moved in my direction, but we were able to sell about 80% in three months and brought in about 12k. Now granted some days we're nothing but garbagemen, all in the name of "donations" for the homeless, but every once in awhile we'll get a great score and hold out for some good money. We have everything from a $2,500 Stickley recliner down to a $5 particle board nightstand, so there's something for everyone but inevitably someone will complain about the pricing. We regularly use eBay completed auctions for our price ranges on something that's worth actually looking up, and after a few weeks the price may come down, but we always turn stuff over, always. I'm on the maintenance side of the business as of this week, but I truly enjoyed my year at the store, and the rest of the team all have a great passion for junk as well, so between the five of us someone had just about every category covered. I even started my own vintage toys section, because we're not allowed to sell modern toys because of contaminate issues, and got it started off with some of my own stuff just to get the ball rolling. There was just not anyone there before me with knowledge of old toys, a sector that I now leave in the hands of my trusted friend Dave.
Anyway, those kinda stores are fun, it sucks that your local shops are always the same guy. Eventually he will have burned all the landlords in town and no one will rent to him anymore.