Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Gathering Grounds and The Presence of Only 1 Vendor

Status
Not open for further replies.
P

Pokemon--Foo

New Member
This, I believe is an issue that I believe should immediately be handled by PUI. Not only does only having one vendor hurt any other stores in the area but it also hurt 100% of the players who attended the 2009 National Championship in St. Louis Missouri. I have heard multiple sources say that the service by Gathering Grounds was mediocre at best. I will not name names, but there are those who believe they were ripped off during their transactions with the Gathering Grounds. Some examples of this are that the Gathering Grounds would not pay the full amount of money that a rare card was worth, such as only paying a few dollars for a Luxray G Lv. X! Also, that the Gathering Grounds would not buy all of the cards that they promised they would when they specificaly said that no collection was too small or too big and we will buy it all. This seems to be a complete lie and I hope that PUI will give other vendors a chance to set up shop there should St. Louis be given another chance to hold a National Championships.

Please state your experiences with Gathering Grounds, express your opinions, and discuss what could be done for future National Championships

Thanks
Pokemon--Foo
 
As I said in the thread about nats being in St. Louis again I completely agree with what you said about the vendor. That bald guy was beyond rude and he seemed to be the only one of them that knew anything. After multiple times saying they would buy anything they looked through two of my binders and said they didn't want anything except for 4 cards and then they offered me less than half of what those cards sell for. I also got less money for my bulk stuff then advertised and I didn't want to buy any singles because I can get them online cheaper at troll and toad and I only have to pay a dollar in shipping. I also lold when somebody asked them if they had booster boxes and the guy goes ya we have all of them and she then asks for a Legends Awakened box to which he says they didn't have any lol.
 
LOL the bald guy is the owner who is terribly rude and every time i come in he says i'm dirty because when i was about 10 i accidentaly called his store dirty when. Its a wherehouse not a store, but still i was young so its kinda my fault. They said they would buy everyghing but they bought close to nothing. I also agree with what you say 100%
 
It's one thing to complain about service and salespeople being rude but it's quite another to complain about buy prices. Offering half of what a card sells for is more than generous. Businesses have overhead and need to turna profit to pay said salespeople, rent, insurance, etc. When they buy your product they have to keep it on inventory and hope someone will pay their price for it. If they paid 90% of retail they would be out of business very quickly.

I'm not excusing any poor behavior and completely agre that one vendor is ridiculous (isn't this a monopoly?). But at the same token, nobody was forcing any player to buy or sell cards from that vendor.
 
Face it most events are sponsored by one vender, the store owner of the card/game store that you play at, even states and regionals. Some sell singles and some don't. Some buy cards and some don't. You can't ever expect to get a "retail price" from a retailer the have to pay wholesale to account for overhead and stock that doesn't move. I didn't confirm but I think that their on-site prices were similar to their web prices (with no shipping or wait time). They were well stocked and I don't think there were any in format cards that couldn't be had, "for a Price". Their store was shoved in a back corner of the convention center and I would have been a little peeved if I knew where I was going to be stuck. The set-up was not pleasant for shopping and you constantly had to consider if you might be late for pairings. As far as what they would and wouldn't buy I didn't try them out because the last thing I needed to do was carry a couple thousand cards to St. Louis.

What none of us know is how many other vendors wanted in on the action and what they were willing to pay to get selling space. (I don't guess that it was many)

No one had to pay Origin entrance fees everyone and anyone could simple walk in off the street. Why anyone thinks they would get a great deal at event like this is completely beyond me. What did you pay for a hotdog and soda at the last ball game you went to. I think mine was about $10.
 
Mewtant said:
It's one thing to complain about service and salespeople being rude but it's quite another to complain about buy prices. Offering half of what a card sells for is more than generous. Businesses have overhead and need to turna profit to pay said salespeople, rent, insurance, etc. When they buy your product they have to keep it on inventory and hope someone will pay their price for it. If they paid 90% of retail they would be out of business very quickly.

I'm not excusing any poor behavior and completely agre that one vendor is ridiculous (isn't this a monopoly?). But at the same token, nobody was forcing any player to buy or sell cards from that vendor.
Click to expand...

I mean like buying a card for 25-30% what it's worth or less. Also had there been competition I am sure that either they would have bought stuff for more or a competitor would.
 
gamerpaul said:
I mean like buying a card for 25-30% what it's worth or less. Also had there been competition I am sure that either they would have bought stuff for more or a competitor would.
Click to expand...

That's actually about what I'd expect a business to purchase a card for...I'd assume you'd have to sell on e-bay or some other auction-type situation to even think about getting a better price.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top