How was the Vendor At Nats?

[PokePop]

Cleared out the selling requotes.
As noted, we have specific rules for selling on the forums.

I think this was a learning experience.
I was only in the shop for a half hour on the first day, when they first opened up, and I was amazed at how busy they were. I think I can understand how an employee being pulled 10 directions at once can come across as short, but GG also needs to take a lot of what is being said here as constructive criticism. Are there some "ringers" making comments in here? Maybe. I can't say. But if they reflect the policy that was being enforced, then maybe it should be taken as feedback. If it does not reflect the policies being enforced, then it might be worth checking if any employees went "off the ranch" in their behavior. Good to hear from customers, good or bad.

One suggestion I have. As noted, I was in the line at the opening to sell my old cards. There was one couple that was not prepared. They still had all of their cards in their binders and had to pull them all out. There should be a policy that if you're not ready, you step out of the line and get your stuff in order and THEN bring it back. Up to you if you let them back to the head of the line, or if they have to go back to the end, but it wastes your time and your other customers' time to stand and watch people pulling hundreds of cards out of binders.

 

[LegacyEeveeVGC]

Was that what that was? A few people mentioned a second wifi event, and I had no idea what they were talking about.

One of them might have been me asking about it.
Ya it turned out hacked.

Cleared out the selling requotes.
As noted, we have specific rules for selling on the forums.

I think this was a learning experience.
I was only in the shop for a half hour on the first day, when they first opened up, and I was amazed at how busy they were. I think I can understand how an employee being pulled 10 directions at once can come across as short, but GG also needs to take a lot of what is being said here as constructive criticism. Are there some "ringers" making comments in here? Maybe. I can't say. But if they reflect the policy that was being enforced, then maybe it should be taken as feedback. If it does not reflect the policies being enforced, then it might be worth checking if any employees went "off the ranch" in their behavior. Good to hear from customers, good or bad.

One suggestion I have. As noted, I was in the line at the opening to sell my old cards. There was one couple that was not prepared. They still had all of their cards in their binders and had to pull them all out. There should be a policy that if you're not ready, you step out of the line and get your stuff in order and THEN bring it back. Up to you if you let them back to the head of the line, or if they have to go back to the end, but it wastes your time and your other customers' time to stand and watch people pulling hundreds of cards out of binders.

Thank you Pokepop!
You hit that on the dot.

I didn't attend Nats so I can't say I have experience with how you guys acted, but as a business owner myself even ONE DISGRUNTLED CUSTOMER is one too many. I pride myself on keeping every customer happy and if they're not I go to extreme measures to amend the problem. With your attitude I'm not surprised there are so many people complaining about your vendor at Nats.

Thats is something that they should have put into action is that.

The other problem I had was not being allowed to buy cards from other players within the hall. If GG had fair buy prices they would have had no reason to restrict players being able to sell to eachother.

I saw plenty of buying/selling between players even in the vendor area... XD I had to hold back from buying soem stuff from one guy who had tons of EEVEE.

 

[icemelter1001]

I got the Lucario event too... hmm...
Off topic but the Milotic was not available to everyone. You had to be in the event or a "young" kid.
Plenty of the kids who were not in the even had received Milotic, but I was not aloud?

People just needed to purchase items outside of the hall. Not too big of a deal. A friend of mine was contacted by GG about them selling items like they had in the past and he was not aloud to bring his usual merchandise.

I understand supply & demand as we all go through it everyday, but there offers were just ridiculous.

 

[PokePop]

Start a different topic on the hacked doll if you wish.
This is not the topic to discuss it in.

Back on topic.

 

[LegacyEeveeVGC]

Start a different topic on the hacked doll if you wish.
This is not the topic to discuss it in.

Back on topic.

Already did.
http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=103930

 

[The Knee]

AMEN to that!

Listen guys - we knew very well that we were walking into a Lion's den prior to the event. There was way too much speculation and animosity by us being the only vendor. I know a multiple of other dealers who were very upset that they did not have the chance to setup and I have no doubt that a lot of the posts come from their employees/friends as a lot of the things I am reading are a downright lie and never happened. We really did try and bend over backwards in bringing as much stuff as possible and setting it at the right price. I feel like everything we did was to try and please everyone - from buying to selling to selection of product. It sounds like people just want to complain about the entire event. We want people to be happy - If you still have an issue call me and I will try and make it right.

Thanks to everyone else who came and supported us and are sticking up for us. If out of 1200 players we somehow managed to upset a handful I think we did well. Avmozz - you are right one thing we did learn is no matter how hard we try we will never be able to please everyone - some people just like to complain. I think the old saying "Misery breeds company" is a little bit of what's going on here.

Thanks,
Jason

A few points that should be cleared up. One complaint is an Abnormality, but it should not be handled as such. However, as I see it there are now 3-5 people in this thread that have cited the same rude employee/s. Now, i hope i'm reading this response wrong. I hope that you're not dismissing your Clientele, making excuses as to why complaints are being heard, and dismissing any problem as an attempt to sabotage your business, because that's just poorbusiness practice.

I hope that you will return to Nationals next year, but please, don't dismiss complaints, it really gives off the wrong vibe for any business.

 

[LegacyEeveeVGC]

I got the Lucario event too... hmm...
Off topic but the Milotic was not available to everyone. You had to be in the event or a "young" kid.
Plenty of the kids who were not in the even had received Milotic, but I was not aloud?

People just needed to purchase items outside of the hall. Not too big of a deal. A friend of mine was contacted by GG about them selling items like they had in the past and he was not aloud to bring his usual merchandise.

I understand supply & demand as we all go through it everyday, but there offers were just ridiculous.

Like I said tons of that going on.

 

[Chuckles]

Overall, I think GG did the best job possible under tough circumstances. As the one vendor, they were under extreme scrutiny, even before the event started. Also, bear in mind that it's not reasonable to hold shopping in the GG "store" to the experience of dozens of vendors at Origins. Was I disappointed that they didn't have Japanese pokedoll plushies. Sure. But they can't have everything. And remember .... there is not a vendor at worlds! One vendor is better than no vendors!

They had a wide range of merchandise, mostly reasonable prices, and I didn't hear about anyone who wanted to sell cards being turned away. BTW, $5 for an Uxie is about what my local guy is paying for them.

It seems that Jason is reading the posts here, and hopefully will take some of the comments under advisement. Did he have a rude staff member? Maybe, but it's not like every vendor at Origins was all sunshine either. Hopefully he's done a feedback session with his employees about what they thought went well, what didn't and what they would do differently.

I give GG great props for taking my 2 RR sealed boxes (my comp ) and letting my daughter trade them for 2 sealed japanese boxes. At 4:30 on Sunday afternoon. I thought they'd be long gone by then. (and yes, we know she can't play with them after worlds)

Suggestions for next year: Clearly defined "rules" for those selling cards (how to have them organized, etc.). Separate area for card buyer that's away from main selling area. Clearly posted signs about cash only.

All in all a B+

 

[Mama_Schutte]

Cannot write anything nice. Bad experience on Ebay, same at nats. I did not buy anything from them at Nats. Just watching them being rude to kids and prices were increased, Then listening to them snibble and whine to (don't know his name prof) was awful. There should be more venders. Hopefully at World's they are not there and bring in other venders who would be more consumer friendly.

 

[Gathering Ground]

I hear what everyone is saying. I am not trying to dismiss anyone's opinions about their problems or concerns with us or the event. I do not like that even ONE person has anything negative to say about us - I guess I got defensive because I felt like we tried very hard to appease everyone who came to our booth and believe it or not we worked very hard and spent a LOT of time and effort just preparing for this event. It just seems like we were doomed from the start - no matter what we did - and it's irritating. I hear all the criticism and plan on changing several things next year. We all live and learn. Also, as I have said if someone wants to call me with a specific problem they had - please do so we can try and rectify it.

Thanks,
Jason (the bald guy)

 

[yoyofsho16]

They were fine, had everything I needed, but the selling system was a little jacked.
I had 2250 commons/uncommons, for example, and he would round them down to 2200 or something like that. That's only a dollar difference, but I expected to be paid in full. Same thing happened with my holo cards. Had 110 or something of those and he rounded it down to 100. I wanted to be paid in full for that kind of stuff, and when I was making the transaction, I just didn't have time to count out the difference and get the ones I wasn't getting paid for.

That was my only issue, but other than that it was fast and went in, got cash, and left in less than 5 minutes.

And as for the whole "THEY SUCK BECAUSE THEY WERE THE ONLY VENDOR BLARGH I HATE THEM STUPID GG ISSUE," isn't that a POP issue and not GG's fault? GG paid the money and got there first, it happened that POP only allowed one. Collector's Cache could have paid the money first, and they didn't... So why is GG the enemy?

 

[ShadowCard]

They were fine, had everything I needed, but the selling system was a little jacked.
I had 2250 commons/uncommons, for example, and he would round them down to 2200 or something like that. That's only a dollar difference, but I expected to be paid in full. Same thing happened with my holo cards. Had 110 or something of those and he rounded it down to 100. I wanted to be paid in full for that kind of stuff, and when I was making the transaction, I just didn't have time to count out the difference and get the ones I wasn't getting paid for.

I brought cards to sell to GG, expecting 0.02 for the un/commons. I was told I would only be givein 0.01 for each card because they were used. This was not mentioned in the pricing guide post in the Nationals board. Had I known this, I would have not brought the cards. After having been tricked into bringing them expecting 0.02 per card, I didn't want to bring them back to Virginia and therefore sold the cards anyway.

Same bad business practice as last year. I don't expect them to change next year. I got fooled twice. Shame on me. I won't do it a third time.

 

[yoyofsho16]

Six dollars for a Baltoy. I notice a few people were friendly but this one guy was pretty rude. Don't know who he was but we did not go back for the few things we looked at that we thought about buying . Just a couple of things for the kids and we were gone. Then we get back to the hotel and the electivire toy we bought didn't work right.

Don't buy the Baltoy. It's that simple. If you don't want to pay for it, don't buy it. Not buying it will drive prices down until it is a reasonable price for the populace.

As for Jason being "rude..." He is a businessman. There was nothing rude about how he talked. He didn't baby me and say little adding words like "Here you go, come again," or any of that, but he wasn't rude. Rude is saying negative things. He didn't say negative things, he didn't say positive things. He wasn't rude, he was just speaking.

And as for your toy not working, you should've tried to return it. How on EARTH is GG supposed to know that their SEALED toy is broken?

Back to back posts merged. The following information has been added:

I brought cards to sell to GG, expecting 0.02 for the un/commons. I was told I would only be givein 0.01 for each card because they were used. This was not mentioned in the pricing guide post in the Nationals board. Had I known this, I would have not brought the cards. After having been tricked into bringing them expecting 0.02 per card, I didn't want to bring them back to Virginia and therefore sold the cards anyway.

Same bad business practice as last year. I don't expect them to change next year. I got fooled twice. Shame on me. I won't do it a third time.

He said they had to be mint. Yours weren't mint apparently, so he didn't pay in full.
Mine were mint, and he paid the .02 cents. I'm sure that a lot of yours were mint, but if he sees a sample chunk that aren't mint, he won't pay full. He shouldn't sort them out, you should. If some of them aren't mint, he can assume that none of them are.

...and in the end I'm lucky that there is a vendor who will give me even a penny for all of those cruddy commons I will NEVER use like Buizel and stuff.

 

[ShadowCard]

As for Jason being "rude..." He is a businessman. There was nothing rude about how he talked.

You're too young to realize that those of us who work retail would have been reprimanded if we treated customers the way he did.

yoyo, his price guide doesn't say anything about the cards being mint. :/

 

[yoyofsho16]

Well pardon me :/ I just don't see how he treated people that badly. The harshest he ever was when I was in there the 4 or 5 times was "We don't buy cards in bulk when they're in that low of amounts."

When he posted about how he was going to be the vendor at Nats (to my knowledge this was the only place where he said he was buying bulk at Nats), he said they had to be mint.

Here he says repeatedly that they must be mint.

 

[doomsday24]

In his defense, he did say in the thread that they had to be mint on page 2. In the original post though, it was also said "NO collection is too Large or too Small." So it seems that there was a change made during the weekend in that regard if some people were turned away for the low volume of cards.

 

[gamerpaul]

AMEN to that!

Listen guys - we knew very well that we were walking into a Lion's den prior to the event. There was way too much speculation and animosity by us being the only vendor. I know a multiple of other dealers who were very upset that they did not have the chance to setup and I have no doubt that a lot of the posts come from their employees/friends as a lot of the things I am reading are a downright lie and never happened. We really did try and bend over backwards in bringing as much stuff as possible and setting it at the right price. I feel like everything we did was to try and please everyone - from buying to selling to selection of product. It sounds like people just want to complain about the entire event. We want people to be happy - If you still have an issue call me and I will try and make it right.

Thanks to everyone else who came and supported us and are sticking up for us. If out of 1200 players we somehow managed to upset a handful I think we did well. Avmozz - you are right one thing we did learn is no matter how hard we try we will never be able to please everyone - some people just like to complain. I think the old saying "Misery breeds company" is a little bit of what's going on here.

Thanks,
Jason

I don't think it's fair for you the most biased party in this thread to try and say that everyone that had problems with the vendor was biased themselves and just mad their store couldn't be a vendor. Me and my friends had no such bias and all of us were pretty disjointed with the service. Going into nats I was actually excited about the vendor because the posts on pokegym made GG sound great. I was pretty surprised to see that many of the people working were just plain rude and that after saying they would buy anything looked through two of my binders and wanted nothing but the 4 most high demand cards and offered me only a small portion of what I could make on ebay even after fees. I know that you will try to give all these excuses as to why that is but I have dealt with much fairer vendors and they can manage it somehow. It's precisely why I like more than one vendor at events so I don't have to deal with the typical vendors like GG that just make excuses for their bad prices and instead deal with a vendor that buys and sells at fair prices.

 

[Jaeger]

You're too young to realize that those of us who work retail would have been reprimanded if we treated customers the way he did.

+1, Being Polite, Respectful and Thanking your Customer are the basics of selling anything.

 

[Whicker]

I only had two experiences with them, but both of them were bad.
I needed a card to complete my deck so of course I go to buy one. The price was a little more than what I had wanted to pay, but I was desperate so I decided it was worth it. I had no problem with the price. As some guy was getting the card, I asked how much more the holo ones were (for which I had to clarify were the shiny ones) and he said they were the same price. I asked if I could instead have a holo one and he quickly replied with "no.... you get the one that we give to you..." Already somewhat offended, I head over to the register. No one else was in line. The woman at the register immediately starts ringing up someone else's cards. I tell her that those aren't mine and she throws up her hands in frustration and starts muttering about how busy she is. After this I decided not to buy from them again. However, my girlfriend wanted to stop by before we left on Sunday. She picked out a couple of things and also decided to buy a deck box. We went to the register to pay and the woman (same one) put in everything correctly, but then forgot to grab the box for her. Savannah then kindly asked her to get it for her, and the woman flat REFUSED to get it. She once again started muttering how busy she was and how much we were bothering her. Eventually, we were able to ask one of the guys to grab it but we were both offended that we couldn't get our product after paying for it.

Overall, I wouldn't suggest buying from them. You're supposed to make the customer feel as if they were the only one, and that definitely wasn't the case with GG.

 

[ryanvergel]

The buyer was able to recognize me from the previous year via the types of boxes and pre-sorted style I had, so that was pretty amusing and comforting. I was offered exactly as was offered, and my cards were bought very quickly.

I bought sleeves for $3, which is cheap for ultra-pro.

They sold out of apparel by Sunday, but that should be expected.

Inflated prices with a single vendor should be expected. They have to make immediate profit to offset investing in our useless commons. The lack of shipping costs, and immediacy and convenience should make it worth the added cost.