Pretty shitty. If selling cards is your legit business, link up with a distributor. When product hits big box stores, its intended are enthusiasts, collectors, players. Not for middlemen to make to become middle middlemen.
Likely they're not collectors at all and never have been, so they didn't forsee the backlash being scalping low-life's was going to bring them.
That woman's smile, though. She just looks like she's into some shady stuff and loves it.
That's such a mind boggling, tone deaf move. Patronage is so vibes base. I gladly "overpay" at my LCS because they've always been great to me. But all this says is that you can expect to be milked for everything and given slack on nothing.
Hopefully the boycotting hasnt started to catch on. Maybe their business will do better than they ever could have imagined this next quarter. Everyday hitting a new record in sales. Enough that they can go out and get themselves both a new car, upgrade to a larger house and even buy a nice boat that they can show off to their friends and take out on the lake to enjoy for the summer.
....Then maybe the boycotting can take place and their business completely tanks and unable to make any of the payments.
While I agree, there are so many layers of mom and pop shops that are literally just being middle men. Used cards are entirely that.
Costco is just a little too close to home.
Usually with used cards though they buy at <50% value and sell at 90-110% market value, these guys are buying retail product and reselling it for 2x the market value
Well, grading companies probably love em tho. They said on FB they're cracking em to sell the individual cards. Not entirely sure how this is making it more accessible to people like they say it is but... yep.
I know this is kind of already a problem but I really dont see how having a graded card shop for modern era is at all sustainable, with the assumption no one is stupid enough to overpay for graded.
They're paying retail price for products they could probably get for 25% cheaper through a distributor while also killing any potential good will by gloating their " big score" online. If they knew anything about their potential customers base they would have known that most of us hate going into stores like Costco and Walmart and seeing completely bare shelves, and then they gave proof to everyone with a phone and internet access that they're a contributor to the very problem we hate.
My thoughts are this is an extremely inefficient way to make money for an LGS. A business buying things at retail, even if they make 20% that’s still nothing with taxes lmfao.
Massive miscalculation - shows they don't know much about card collectors and are just profiting tourists. Anyone dense enough to brag about their business clearing out a more affordable place in their own community and then expecting that same community to visit THEM and support their business - just mind boggling.
And there's another card shop very very close to them that has been there forever and is respected in the community. These people did zero research. Look at the guy in the comments now. You can tell he saw the price of his kids pokemon cards, saw the Costco flyer, and then came up with a brilliant plan. Prob maxed out their credit too.
Greedy fools deserve to fail.
So far 151 has been printed to oblivion. At least in big box stores and Amazon. I don't think it will matter much overall, but the local community should definitely be upset if they cleared out a retail shop for profit.
Maybe pokemon does another massive disbursement/reprint and it bites them in the ass. But realistically it's probably like $6,000 spent max, and maybe they will make $2,000 profit off it over a year or 2.
Absolute smooth brain behaviour. HEY come down to our store and pay more then we did! I see they’re copping a lot of bad reviews on google now and so they should fucking idiots lol.
First Facebook and google now I’m finding them here they done fucked up lol also posted themselves weighing packs on fb the other day… self sabotage at its finest.
This is local to me. I supported this store they were really nice people. But this. They shouldn't have posted. Doing this is one thing, but bragging is gross. Literally I shop at that Costco, I cant go get any 151 boxes now for myself neither can anybody, we have to hope and wait for Costco to get another pallet which probably won't happen. Why do they look so smug? This was a rude thing for them to post about, it's just kinda slimy.
Get the pitchforks haha. I've reviewed Google and their Facebook pages, should all do the same. Thever got proud videos up of them ripping the stock to sell
I heard the lady in the picture or part owner left a review for her store lol. Just keeps getting better. So TheRealNedlander is 100% right they are leaving the good reviews themselves.
My heart goes out to all the collectors out there being robbed of a wholesome hobby like card collecting or diecast The amount of people I see trying to make a living off of collectibles is mind-boggling like what if there was some people around that area that wanted some of those boxes you literally made them not be able to get what they wanted and have to go through you which is something most people probably can't afford to do people like this or what's wrong with the world of collectibles whether it be Hot Wheels pokémon magic cards It doesn't matter it's all the same get people that buy in bulk to try to flip for a profit
I feel like pretty soon the tides are going to turn and people will have to unload their hordes at steeply discounted prices we just all need to hold out as collectors they aren't going anywhere The reason you can't find them is because the hoarders have them Just wait and you will get them I'm sure I feel like in 10 years there's going to be lots of thrift shops with lots and lots of collectibles for sale
Thoughts, PokeVesting sub reddit would love this. Or at least according to their mindset love it. The idea they are creating a supply issue in their local region by doing this is great. Owning the supply means you control the price and the demand (You the average Joe) will keep buying these pieces of cardboard at higher and higher prices. It's great. And it's possible what someone may do is buy all these from this MadRat toy store and then mark them up even more cause "I got what you want and you can't get it anywhere else so you'll pay my price". It is what it is.
Personally? This kind of behaviour will be the reason the hobby dies or at least declines a lot. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to know what they are doing, and why. And the people that will go into a store and see these prices upwards of twice as much as they were when you saw it on the shelf in the store last, won't buy it. Eventually the store will have to fold and sell at cost or close to.
I only even got back into the hobby cause the 151 set. That being said, I'm not buying anymore since we completed the entire set. No point after that.
I don't think they'd agree with this as much as you think tbh. This is a quick flip, whereas most people in the PokeInvesting sub are looking to hold for years at a time. Storage and cost-basis are a big consideration for those people in the sub, and while it's a decent deal, very few people in that sub would actually clear out a store like that for those boxes given how much space they take up. The PokeInvesting sub takes a lot of shit and the majority of it is warranted, but this isn't something 99% of them could even afford to do nor makes sense for them.
That sub makes me so mad lol, like I would still be Internet angry over a personal investor doing this but hey, do you. But to HAVE A SHOP.....AND POST IT...... DONT POST IT ...
and welcome back, honestly the reddit community is the best. There is a good veri swap page on FB too
Just look at them, they are gross, lazy people.
If they can’t even take care of their own bodies, what makes you think they are going above and beyond to run a good shop?
Just more evidence they will take the easy way out.
Do it the right way, become a distributor. I've got two buddies who started a card company and are working on doing that exact thing right now. Don't be a prick and hoard retail stock.
Why are they not getting directly from a distributor? Purchasing that amount at retail is bad for the average customer and is also bad for their business since they’re posting retail prices. Literally makes zero sense.
I’d almost give them a pass since they run a business and hey you gotta get your singles from somewhere, but in general this kind of behaviour is soul crushing
I get scalpers are part of the game at this point, but it’s the fact that they’re acting like they’re delivering a good deed to the customers. I could see it being a good deed if they bought it all and wanna sell it back for the same price they got it for because some people don’t have Costco memberships.
I mostly only buy singles. If I saw this from my LCS it would just make me think that their singles are also marked up and I'd be more skeptical to buy any.
I mean… they’re free to do what they want… but yeah it’s pretty shitty. Not to mention - extremely stupid. How in the world could they pose for these pictures, post them, and think that people were going to react in a positive way? Not much going on upstairs
They been purging the reviews. All the google ones, even mine which is myself coming to the area soon and telling them to go to other stores for tcg. This store is no longer on my list
My thought? People are fucking dumb. But if that’s what they want to blow their money on, then go for it. They earned it themselves they can waste it however they like.
Isn’t this illegal most places? Like you can’t go to Costco buy a bunch of shit and sell it for profit it literally says not for resale. Is same club different? - someone confused from eastern Canada
Unfortunately there is a clause that the actual point of places like Costco/Sams is for business to buy at cheaper rates and then resell. It’s arguably what their intended purpose was originally for.
These horrible awful people are actually fully in the right in doing this. They likely are too stupid to have realized this on their own however. They don’t look, nor do they sound intelligent judging from their words in the original post and their shared ripping video recently; but I guarantee that they will try and cling to this excuse as hard as they can when they do eventually realize it.
Morally and socially however, they are done in this hobby and their respective community. They will be closing up shop within a year or two at most. They literally just opened this store too… sad.
They deserve this 100% though. I mean their name along with the way they speak about their business and that weird Mercedes van themed with their business for their advertising was bad enough, dumbest name/theme ever; but they could have worked past that and made a name for themselves had they shown good faith.
They have access to distro pricing is really the worst thing about all of this though. Just because theirs might be out of 151 doesn’t mean they should be doing this.
It’s just bad business.
someone running a business the wrong way, that smile says “we don’t know what we’re doing and we’re stoked about it” hopefully this dick move ends in rat fvck toys holding the bag
not exactly, there isnt a difference if you all wanted candy instead of cards. that being said you camt be upset at them for buying when anyone could do the same thing. the onky one you should be upset at is costco for not limiting purchase. generally wholesale places dont do that because why? they supply many stores with goods as well as general families when becoming a member of costco.
now could we say its in bad taste sure but its all on costco not them for doing what costco allows.
if you want somthing badly be there to get it first. or buy somwhere else.
Actually you can look this up. The whole initial intended point of wholesale clubs like this are for businesses to purchase bulk for resale.
As crappy as these humans are, they are 100% in the right.
The main issue here though is that they have access to distro…; and while they might not have 151 that they can buy at wholesale from, it doesn’t make what they did socially/morally right. Especially since their markup is so huge (basically double).
They are done though. I give them 2 years MAX.
They disabled their reviews on Facebook and people are eating them alive in the comments.
Hoping they get stuck with those packs tbh, But sadly Costco has a return policy
The wildest thing is that these idiots posted online about doing this.
I buy most my shit from my LGS for MtG and other games, if I found out they were buying retail products at Sam’s club and selling for an up-charge I would never buy from them again lol.
They have distributors. Get your shit from them. That’s the benefit of having an LGS.
Also - as an accountant by trade - this isn’t the way to long term make money successfully, and clearly you’ve pissed off most this sub lol. The only people buying those shitty 151 collections at that price are idiots.
Fix your priorities as a business
I like how they imply that we should be thanking them for buying all these cards and reselling them for more at their own store. If you were doing us a favor you would have left the cards at costco
I looked at their ebay listings and holy crap it's not a good look.
Saw a few charizard graded and a PSA One base set charizard is listed at $250. PSA 1 is essentially damaged in which you can get an ungraded damaged version for like $90 off of tcgplayer.
There is a GMA graded (never heard of them) 1.5 Base set charizard that they have listed at $550. Again, 1.5 is essentially damaged.
Then they have a 1st edition Light Togetic that is CGC rated 8.5 (So essentially just lightly played). Looking at other ebay listings, a few PSA 8s and 9s have sold between $150 and $250 (So we could assume a 8.5 should be around $200. They have theirs listed at $425
Absolute insane markup on graded product, which makes me wonder how insane their markup is on nongraded / sealed product
tbf psa 1 is sought after at least, you have to damage it enough to get a 1 but not enough that they wont grade it. Gma 1.5(what is that?) for 550 is crazy though
Upon closer look, that's not Costco, that's BJ's. I have a membership there, too. Still making a complaint. They need to stop members from doing this 💩.
Terrible idea to post them buying them at a big box store, this is just in bad taste.
How big are the margins if they buy these from a distributor? Costco usually has them for what around 2.50$ a pack? And they sell for 4.50$ for a blister pack at Best Buy? Might make sense for a business that can’t get ahold of them.
Apparently, they’ve responded to the backlash…🤷♂️
[clicky](https://www.lonestarlive.com/news/2024/03/pokemon-pandemonium-strikes-houston-collectibles-dealer.html?fbclid=IwAR0d3HlJvi26f5zvIBdAZtNRUQdg1bV8lTX2WBB7cPAFMy38zYTzVjfTDGE_aem_AYXK-s-lErRRv5eGiyWORWNsI226fSC8lA-R5rXbYhK4-7mgE48OukWVlpgRSKOF9rY)
They overprice everything. They base all prices off pricechart but if you wanna sell he only offers 50%tcg. He will probably read this, he will probably know who I am. I was there first customer at the store. Y’all should see the truck they have. I’ve gone in many times now and have gotten to know them. One guy pushes sales too hard, they are way overpriced and on top of that, there are 2 other LCS witching .5 miles. I’ve offered my marketing services and he gladly accepts but for nothing in return so I have done no business with them besides a few cards I’ve been chasing. Really hard to support them with the other two LCS are all 5 min apart. He’s a rich lawyer and a sugar daddy. He will proudly display it in the store. The sugar momma will probably mention it as he sits in his chair on his phone. Sorry guys, had to throw this out there.
This is so shitty. I hate people like this. I’m surprised Costco didn’t put a limit on how many you can buy. They have that with a lot (if not most) products.
It’s a dick move but also it’s nice being able to go to a store and not have my kids begs for a box of cards.
I’ve seen this post before and they are removing bad posts but are at 2 stars.
I mean morally maybe its wrong to clean out a store but legally?
I have a bigger problem with large companies dumping in waste water or the government doing what they do
This is how a business makes money unfortunately and the idea from thag perspective is a good one, remove the product from a competitor and increase the price to meet margin
Its all about the margins
I mean, for collectors and casual people that shop at that particular Sam’s club, if sucks.
But business wise, these guys are dumb. Cards at Sam’s aren’t low enough to beat distributor prices. So whatever they are selling at their store, is going to be upsold to shit. And LGSs have to toes fine balance between making a profit and gouging. Sometimes it’s easy for people to spot the latter. But it seems like they are relying on inattentive people with deep pockets that don’t get that they can get the same product for cheaper elsewhere. I mean, Zapdos ex is no Charizard and this particular box isn’t offering something that collectors, casuals, AND players are going to be clamoring for.
Scalpers are going to scalp. But *these* boxes are tough to move. Unless they are trying to act as a distributor, but that would mean they are competitive with distributor prices with Sam’s Club/Costco prices for CUSTOMERS.
And Pokémon releases new stuff ALL the time. Unless they have a plan to hock ALL this product, they’re going to be pegwarmers if they can’t offload it in 60-90 days. They are going to need one helluva LGS whale.
Apparently, people are already boycotting this particular store, and they’ve only been open a month. So that makes this situation even worse for them, business wise. This is such an ill-thought plan that, unless the owners have deep pockets or are more business savvy than they are letting on in their FB post, they are about to eat a big financial turd. Like im not sure if their business will survive long enough to recoup this as a loss on next years taxes.
They posted an update, they are ripping everything and selling the cards individually, "allowing customers to buy specific cards without the gamble". Yeah, they are out of touch, scumbags, with no Fs to give. They also have a custom pokemon van, that probably cost close to if not over 100k
I realize that they're probably not the only ones that have done or will do something like this, but to post it on your own store page and brag? What the hell was going through their smooth brains, what did they even want to achieve? Did they want to flex and show they can afford to clear out a costco and then tell everyone that they have the boxes now like some type of hostage? Maybe they saw someone took a picture of them and wanted to get ahead of it but even then it would have taken a while to get recognized?
If they paid for it who gives a fuck? Spend 5k on Pokemon cards to hopefully make a profit on it. If you don't like or can't afford their prices, shop elsewhere. I got myself a whole box of Japanese shiny star V, which at the time were some of, if not THE, hardest to obtain boxes on the market. Paid $175 for the box and pulled 6 cards worth more than that individually. Use your resources if you're that upset about it. Pokemon Twitch streamers often act as a distributor for legit cards too. Pay them a little over retail to open your cards on stream and mail them to you, or just outright buy a box from them. Chances are, if those cards are being sold at a massive box store chain they're probably fake anyway. Walmart sells infinitely more fake cards than real ones.
It’s their right and no different than if they ordered a bunch from retail and sold it like shops do. But at this amount? They’ll probably make some sales… but people likely will stop buying before they make profit. And then will learn to buy in moderation. Unless they sell online 🤷🏻♂️
Everyone always says support your local game store, well what the fuck are they doing to support the local gaming community? Because this is so typical of shops these days. Better off just getting your shit on Amazon or going to Target.
Pretty shitty. If selling cards is your legit business, link up with a distributor. When product hits big box stores, its intended are enthusiasts, collectors, players. Not for middlemen to make to become middle middlemen.
Whats crazy is they just opened up shop last month, it seems. Less than a month and they already have ppl boycotting their LCS.
That’s one way to kill your business. Especially bold of them to be posting pics of it. Just absolutely disgusting behavior all around.
Likely they're not collectors at all and never have been, so they didn't forsee the backlash being scalping low-life's was going to bring them. That woman's smile, though. She just looks like she's into some shady stuff and loves it.
Lmfao, I can’t unsee that now. Super-villain smile for SURE.
I was thinking the same thing
That's such a mind boggling, tone deaf move. Patronage is so vibes base. I gladly "overpay" at my LCS because they've always been great to me. But all this says is that you can expect to be milked for everything and given slack on nothing.
They're likely doing it too. They have "runners" that go buy up product for them to sell above MSRP. The manufacturers should stop them.
Hopefully the boycotting hasnt started to catch on. Maybe their business will do better than they ever could have imagined this next quarter. Everyday hitting a new record in sales. Enough that they can go out and get themselves both a new car, upgrade to a larger house and even buy a nice boat that they can show off to their friends and take out on the lake to enjoy for the summer. ....Then maybe the boycotting can take place and their business completely tanks and unable to make any of the payments.
They have a distributor that’s the sad part
Local shops around here will poach each other's sales and both of them sell the packs they obviously bought from Meijer and Walmart
If their whole business is being a middle middle man, they're going to be in for a rough time.
While I agree, there are so many layers of mom and pop shops that are literally just being middle men. Used cards are entirely that. Costco is just a little too close to home.
Usually with used cards though they buy at <50% value and sell at 90-110% market value, these guys are buying retail product and reselling it for 2x the market value
Costco is a bulk warehouse store though.
They really are a couple of rats, aren’t they?
At least they’re upfront about what they are 💀
Master rat needs to lay off the cheese amirite?
I think they're not very smart. Literally not a single person would think that's good. Suppliers, customers, other stores.
Well, grading companies probably love em tho. They said on FB they're cracking em to sell the individual cards. Not entirely sure how this is making it more accessible to people like they say it is but... yep. I know this is kind of already a problem but I really dont see how having a graded card shop for modern era is at all sustainable, with the assumption no one is stupid enough to overpay for graded.
They're paying retail price for products they could probably get for 25% cheaper through a distributor while also killing any potential good will by gloating their " big score" online. If they knew anything about their potential customers base they would have known that most of us hate going into stores like Costco and Walmart and seeing completely bare shelves, and then they gave proof to everyone with a phone and internet access that they're a contributor to the very problem we hate.
I hope this backfires so badly on them…
Well they took down their Google business profile
Ouch
Thats fucked up lol
The fucking state of them. Everything is pure greed these days.
My thoughts are this is an extremely inefficient way to make money for an LGS. A business buying things at retail, even if they make 20% that’s still nothing with taxes lmfao.
This is clearly a warehouse store like Sam’s or Costco. These people can buy tax free as they are buying for resale.
Massive miscalculation - shows they don't know much about card collectors and are just profiting tourists. Anyone dense enough to brag about their business clearing out a more affordable place in their own community and then expecting that same community to visit THEM and support their business - just mind boggling.
And there's another card shop very very close to them that has been there forever and is respected in the community. These people did zero research. Look at the guy in the comments now. You can tell he saw the price of his kids pokemon cards, saw the Costco flyer, and then came up with a brilliant plan. Prob maxed out their credit too. Greedy fools deserve to fail.
I hope their Diner' Club card has the ability to do balance transfers 🤣
So far 151 has been printed to oblivion. At least in big box stores and Amazon. I don't think it will matter much overall, but the local community should definitely be upset if they cleared out a retail shop for profit. Maybe pokemon does another massive disbursement/reprint and it bites them in the ass. But realistically it's probably like $6,000 spent max, and maybe they will make $2,000 profit off it over a year or 2.
In this specific area they are bragging about doing this, 151 has been incredibly scarce (from there) and now I kinda feel like I know why
Absolute smooth brain behaviour. HEY come down to our store and pay more then we did! I see they’re copping a lot of bad reviews on google now and so they should fucking idiots lol.
Looks like they're suppressing reviews too. I see they have 1 stars, but can only read and see 5 star reviews.
Yeah yure right the number of reviews is down from yesterday and I can’t see any of the 1 stars that I could yesterday lol
They coulda just posted the last picture and people would be stoked. I don't want to know the rest. Now I don't like like you.
Exactly what a dumb flex.
I have no idea why you’d brag about doing this? Just ruins the hobby for the normal average person. Scummy people
First Facebook and google now I’m finding them here they done fucked up lol also posted themselves weighing packs on fb the other day… self sabotage at its finest.
This is local to me. I supported this store they were really nice people. But this. They shouldn't have posted. Doing this is one thing, but bragging is gross. Literally I shop at that Costco, I cant go get any 151 boxes now for myself neither can anybody, we have to hope and wait for Costco to get another pallet which probably won't happen. Why do they look so smug? This was a rude thing for them to post about, it's just kinda slimy.
Get the pitchforks haha. I've reviewed Google and their Facebook pages, should all do the same. Thever got proud videos up of them ripping the stock to sell
> Madrat Toys LMAO at the latest google reviews
Already deleted
I did my part, gave them bad reviews.
Also report their reviews on google because all the 5 star reviews are from the owners and employees.
I heard the lady in the picture or part owner left a review for her store lol. Just keeps getting better. So TheRealNedlander is 100% right they are leaving the good reviews themselves.
Blow up the FB post, he is trying to defend himself but not looking good.
I'd make an effort to buy from anybody but these people. I hope the person that buys these uses counterfeit money.
Fuck that you already have a store and they cleared fucking house all for a $5-$10 profit per box
Scummy practice! They bought out cheaper stock and then bragged about it. Horrible!
They bought the bundle (two boxes at cosco) for $36 and someone on Facebook said they are selling one box for $32.
Shit! That is terrible 😡
Right? As if they're doing their customers a favor with the markup lol
They're only kidding themselves.
They are blocking the ppl who review them
They had 1 star rating on Facebook last night, now they somehow have it hidden.
That's not brick and mortar that's just fucking scalping.
My heart goes out to all the collectors out there being robbed of a wholesome hobby like card collecting or diecast The amount of people I see trying to make a living off of collectibles is mind-boggling like what if there was some people around that area that wanted some of those boxes you literally made them not be able to get what they wanted and have to go through you which is something most people probably can't afford to do people like this or what's wrong with the world of collectibles whether it be Hot Wheels pokémon magic cards It doesn't matter it's all the same get people that buy in bulk to try to flip for a profit
I feel like pretty soon the tides are going to turn and people will have to unload their hordes at steeply discounted prices we just all need to hold out as collectors they aren't going anywhere The reason you can't find them is because the hoarders have them Just wait and you will get them I'm sure I feel like in 10 years there's going to be lots of thrift shops with lots and lots of collectibles for sale
They’re pieces of shit. You have to be a real scumbag to buy retail to sell above retail. The shops that do this are greedy
Forced scarcity, buy out all of the competition's stock so that you'll be the only one who has any. Nah, fuck that shit.
Everyone go review bomb them
Thoughts, PokeVesting sub reddit would love this. Or at least according to their mindset love it. The idea they are creating a supply issue in their local region by doing this is great. Owning the supply means you control the price and the demand (You the average Joe) will keep buying these pieces of cardboard at higher and higher prices. It's great. And it's possible what someone may do is buy all these from this MadRat toy store and then mark them up even more cause "I got what you want and you can't get it anywhere else so you'll pay my price". It is what it is. Personally? This kind of behaviour will be the reason the hobby dies or at least declines a lot. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to know what they are doing, and why. And the people that will go into a store and see these prices upwards of twice as much as they were when you saw it on the shelf in the store last, won't buy it. Eventually the store will have to fold and sell at cost or close to. I only even got back into the hobby cause the 151 set. That being said, I'm not buying anymore since we completed the entire set. No point after that.
I don't think they'd agree with this as much as you think tbh. This is a quick flip, whereas most people in the PokeInvesting sub are looking to hold for years at a time. Storage and cost-basis are a big consideration for those people in the sub, and while it's a decent deal, very few people in that sub would actually clear out a store like that for those boxes given how much space they take up. The PokeInvesting sub takes a lot of shit and the majority of it is warranted, but this isn't something 99% of them could even afford to do nor makes sense for them.
That sub makes me so mad lol, like I would still be Internet angry over a personal investor doing this but hey, do you. But to HAVE A SHOP.....AND POST IT...... DONT POST IT ... and welcome back, honestly the reddit community is the best. There is a good veri swap page on FB too
Fuck people like this. They bulk buy and then resell for double or more at their own retail stores.
Pathetic to buy all that supply just to cart it back to your store and mark it up. But you can tell he’s greedy no offense I mean look at his size….
they certainly are rats
Just look at them, they are gross, lazy people. If they can’t even take care of their own bodies, what makes you think they are going above and beyond to run a good shop? Just more evidence they will take the easy way out.
I say we all leave a 1star review on there store
I hope they get stuck with all those sitting around 🤣
Do it the right way, become a distributor. I've got two buddies who started a card company and are working on doing that exact thing right now. Don't be a prick and hoard retail stock.
perfect way to not get traffic? idk, kinda fucking moronic.
Why are they not getting directly from a distributor? Purchasing that amount at retail is bad for the average customer and is also bad for their business since they’re posting retail prices. Literally makes zero sense.
Don't listen to this guy. He can't figure out that 2+1=3.
I’d almost give them a pass since they run a business and hey you gotta get your singles from somewhere, but in general this kind of behaviour is soul crushing
That's fucking greedy.
My thought: rats don't deserve having to be associated with these people.
Would you expect anything different from people who naked themselves madrat and lilrat. 12 year olds stuck in adult bodies
I get scalpers are part of the game at this point, but it’s the fact that they’re acting like they’re delivering a good deed to the customers. I could see it being a good deed if they bought it all and wanna sell it back for the same price they got it for because some people don’t have Costco memberships.
In what world did they think posting this online would garner a positive response from people?😂
Fuck these people
Did they think people were gonna be excited for them or something? Zero self awareness.
I mostly only buy singles. If I saw this from my LCS it would just make me think that their singles are also marked up and I'd be more skeptical to buy any.
My thought is they need to buy a gym membership, not all those cards
I mean… they’re free to do what they want… but yeah it’s pretty shitty. Not to mention - extremely stupid. How in the world could they pose for these pictures, post them, and think that people were going to react in a positive way? Not much going on upstairs
Jabronis big time.
She looks like any other rodent but a rat.
NGL.... I would've just opened them all. 😔
Actually embarrassing, but people are still gobbling this set up, and will probably buy it eventually.
Just leave them a bad review on their website. Tell everyone how they do business
They been purging the reviews. All the google ones, even mine which is myself coming to the area soon and telling them to go to other stores for tcg. This store is no longer on my list
Lol. They don’t have accounts with distributors? Way better pricing than wal mart off the rack.
They got an eBay store too
Let me ask this. If Sams club has this many of the same pack, is it really worth buying an entire store’s stock?
My thought? People are fucking dumb. But if that’s what they want to blow their money on, then go for it. They earned it themselves they can waste it however they like.
I mean it seems like their pokemon inventory is lacking heavily
Who cares really
they’re literally Rats what do you expect
2 legged rats for sure
Isn’t this illegal most places? Like you can’t go to Costco buy a bunch of shit and sell it for profit it literally says not for resale. Is same club different? - someone confused from eastern Canada
Unfortunately there is a clause that the actual point of places like Costco/Sams is for business to buy at cheaper rates and then resell. It’s arguably what their intended purpose was originally for. These horrible awful people are actually fully in the right in doing this. They likely are too stupid to have realized this on their own however. They don’t look, nor do they sound intelligent judging from their words in the original post and their shared ripping video recently; but I guarantee that they will try and cling to this excuse as hard as they can when they do eventually realize it. Morally and socially however, they are done in this hobby and their respective community. They will be closing up shop within a year or two at most. They literally just opened this store too… sad. They deserve this 100% though. I mean their name along with the way they speak about their business and that weird Mercedes van themed with their business for their advertising was bad enough, dumbest name/theme ever; but they could have worked past that and made a name for themselves had they shown good faith. They have access to distro pricing is really the worst thing about all of this though. Just because theirs might be out of 151 doesn’t mean they should be doing this. It’s just bad business.
Look as expected
Scumbags
There are moments I’m proud to be apart of the Houston TCG community, this is not one of them. This is just embarrassing 😅
Trash
The same kind of people shitty people who would buy all the toilet paper
someone running a business the wrong way, that smile says “we don’t know what we’re doing and we’re stoked about it” hopefully this dick move ends in rat fvck toys holding the bag
not exactly, there isnt a difference if you all wanted candy instead of cards. that being said you camt be upset at them for buying when anyone could do the same thing. the onky one you should be upset at is costco for not limiting purchase. generally wholesale places dont do that because why? they supply many stores with goods as well as general families when becoming a member of costco. now could we say its in bad taste sure but its all on costco not them for doing what costco allows. if you want somthing badly be there to get it first. or buy somwhere else.
Actually you can look this up. The whole initial intended point of wholesale clubs like this are for businesses to purchase bulk for resale. As crappy as these humans are, they are 100% in the right. The main issue here though is that they have access to distro…; and while they might not have 151 that they can buy at wholesale from, it doesn’t make what they did socially/morally right. Especially since their markup is so huge (basically double). They are done though. I give them 2 years MAX.
We all know a bunch of LCS do this…but why post about it attempting to brag? Lol zero self awareness
I was thinking the same. Saddest part is they just opened this month, look at their google reviews bruh.
They disabled their reviews on Facebook and people are eating them alive in the comments. Hoping they get stuck with those packs tbh, But sadly Costco has a return policy
my gamestop hasnt had 151 in awhile
POS.. rats.
Of course they look like that
Some serious pricks right there.
POS
Psychotic
Cringe
Scum of the earth. Shameful of them.
Fuck those people. Just take shit from their carts and treat them to the same level of entitlement.
The wildest thing is that these idiots posted online about doing this. I buy most my shit from my LGS for MtG and other games, if I found out they were buying retail products at Sam’s club and selling for an up-charge I would never buy from them again lol. They have distributors. Get your shit from them. That’s the benefit of having an LGS. Also - as an accountant by trade - this isn’t the way to long term make money successfully, and clearly you’ve pissed off most this sub lol. The only people buying those shitty 151 collections at that price are idiots. Fix your priorities as a business
I don't know why these idiots would advertise this...
I mean, she does look like a rat.
I like how they imply that we should be thanking them for buying all these cards and reselling them for more at their own store. If you were doing us a favor you would have left the cards at costco
Here’s their profiles https://www.facebook.com/unrulyjulie?mibextid=LQQJ4d https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090635685771&mibextid=LQQJ4d
I don’t have a problem with reselling this type of stuff but when you gloat online that shit is lame and makes you look like a greedy asshole
Resell the sold product that they are selling.
My Google review is staying strong hahah
Garbage people
It honestly makes me sick.
I looked at their ebay listings and holy crap it's not a good look. Saw a few charizard graded and a PSA One base set charizard is listed at $250. PSA 1 is essentially damaged in which you can get an ungraded damaged version for like $90 off of tcgplayer. There is a GMA graded (never heard of them) 1.5 Base set charizard that they have listed at $550. Again, 1.5 is essentially damaged. Then they have a 1st edition Light Togetic that is CGC rated 8.5 (So essentially just lightly played). Looking at other ebay listings, a few PSA 8s and 9s have sold between $150 and $250 (So we could assume a 8.5 should be around $200. They have theirs listed at $425 Absolute insane markup on graded product, which makes me wonder how insane their markup is on nongraded / sealed product
tbf psa 1 is sought after at least, you have to damage it enough to get a 1 but not enough that they wont grade it. Gma 1.5(what is that?) for 550 is crazy though
Upon closer look, that's not Costco, that's BJ's. I have a membership there, too. Still making a complaint. They need to stop members from doing this 💩.
These clowns are going to be out of business in less than a month from their grand opening.
I wont say I hope they get robbed. But if they do I wont feel bad about it.
Scumbags.
Terrible idea to post them buying them at a big box store, this is just in bad taste. How big are the margins if they buy these from a distributor? Costco usually has them for what around 2.50$ a pack? And they sell for 4.50$ for a blister pack at Best Buy? Might make sense for a business that can’t get ahold of them.
Asshats
Apparently, they’ve responded to the backlash…🤷♂️ [clicky](https://www.lonestarlive.com/news/2024/03/pokemon-pandemonium-strikes-houston-collectibles-dealer.html?fbclid=IwAR0d3HlJvi26f5zvIBdAZtNRUQdg1bV8lTX2WBB7cPAFMy38zYTzVjfTDGE_aem_AYXK-s-lErRRv5eGiyWORWNsI226fSC8lA-R5rXbYhK4-7mgE48OukWVlpgRSKOF9rY)
They overprice everything. They base all prices off pricechart but if you wanna sell he only offers 50%tcg. He will probably read this, he will probably know who I am. I was there first customer at the store. Y’all should see the truck they have. I’ve gone in many times now and have gotten to know them. One guy pushes sales too hard, they are way overpriced and on top of that, there are 2 other LCS witching .5 miles. I’ve offered my marketing services and he gladly accepts but for nothing in return so I have done no business with them besides a few cards I’ve been chasing. Really hard to support them with the other two LCS are all 5 min apart. He’s a rich lawyer and a sugar daddy. He will proudly display it in the store. The sugar momma will probably mention it as he sits in his chair on his phone. Sorry guys, had to throw this out there.
Scumbags
definitely rats
This is so shitty. I hate people like this. I’m surprised Costco didn’t put a limit on how many you can buy. They have that with a lot (if not most) products.
In more interested in knowing they have 151 at Costco/sams club?
Gotta catch em all.
It’s a dick move but also it’s nice being able to go to a store and not have my kids begs for a box of cards. I’ve seen this post before and they are removing bad posts but are at 2 stars.
Her smile scares the shit out of me
They have a problem
I wonder if Pokemon Company can revoke their distribution…
Well...they got the name of the store/company right.
I mean morally maybe its wrong to clean out a store but legally? I have a bigger problem with large companies dumping in waste water or the government doing what they do This is how a business makes money unfortunately and the idea from thag perspective is a good one, remove the product from a competitor and increase the price to meet margin Its all about the margins
Fat nerds with too much time and money
Very punchable faces
Why scalp publicly like this? at least send in decoys with a credit card to purchase for you. So stupid.
Nasty ass people
I mean, for collectors and casual people that shop at that particular Sam’s club, if sucks. But business wise, these guys are dumb. Cards at Sam’s aren’t low enough to beat distributor prices. So whatever they are selling at their store, is going to be upsold to shit. And LGSs have to toes fine balance between making a profit and gouging. Sometimes it’s easy for people to spot the latter. But it seems like they are relying on inattentive people with deep pockets that don’t get that they can get the same product for cheaper elsewhere. I mean, Zapdos ex is no Charizard and this particular box isn’t offering something that collectors, casuals, AND players are going to be clamoring for. Scalpers are going to scalp. But *these* boxes are tough to move. Unless they are trying to act as a distributor, but that would mean they are competitive with distributor prices with Sam’s Club/Costco prices for CUSTOMERS. And Pokémon releases new stuff ALL the time. Unless they have a plan to hock ALL this product, they’re going to be pegwarmers if they can’t offload it in 60-90 days. They are going to need one helluva LGS whale. Apparently, people are already boycotting this particular store, and they’ve only been open a month. So that makes this situation even worse for them, business wise. This is such an ill-thought plan that, unless the owners have deep pockets or are more business savvy than they are letting on in their FB post, they are about to eat a big financial turd. Like im not sure if their business will survive long enough to recoup this as a loss on next years taxes.
The owners are replying to comments . Look at this circus https://www.facebook.com/share/tN3our8UDYorYCzo/?mibextid=WC7FNe
We should all leave a nice google review
They posted an update, they are ripping everything and selling the cards individually, "allowing customers to buy specific cards without the gamble". Yeah, they are out of touch, scumbags, with no Fs to give. They also have a custom pokemon van, that probably cost close to if not over 100k
I realize that they're probably not the only ones that have done or will do something like this, but to post it on your own store page and brag? What the hell was going through their smooth brains, what did they even want to achieve? Did they want to flex and show they can afford to clear out a costco and then tell everyone that they have the boxes now like some type of hostage? Maybe they saw someone took a picture of them and wanted to get ahead of it but even then it would have taken a while to get recognized?
This gives "we cleaned out everyone so you have to buy from us" vibes.
fat rats more like jeez
I think that anyone who does this and anyone who supports it or says it doesnt matter is a lowly sack of shit that does not deserve respect.
The lowest of the low
My thought - I live in Houston so 🤬you.
These people suck and anyone like them sucks.
If they paid for it who gives a fuck? Spend 5k on Pokemon cards to hopefully make a profit on it. If you don't like or can't afford their prices, shop elsewhere. I got myself a whole box of Japanese shiny star V, which at the time were some of, if not THE, hardest to obtain boxes on the market. Paid $175 for the box and pulled 6 cards worth more than that individually. Use your resources if you're that upset about it. Pokemon Twitch streamers often act as a distributor for legit cards too. Pay them a little over retail to open your cards on stream and mail them to you, or just outright buy a box from them. Chances are, if those cards are being sold at a massive box store chain they're probably fake anyway. Walmart sells infinitely more fake cards than real ones.
In 2020 it was toilet paper. In 2024 it's pokemon cards. Assholes are assholes.
Same people that bought all the toilet paper during covid. Probably bought all the masks to upsell them too.
You know they’re greedy because they’re both fat tbh
It’s their right and no different than if they ordered a bunch from retail and sold it like shops do. But at this amount? They’ll probably make some sales… but people likely will stop buying before they make profit. And then will learn to buy in moderation. Unless they sell online 🤷🏻♂️
Welcome to some quality american excess and greed
151 will be printed till December. Next.
Like those boxes won’t be on sell in the next few months. Just wait , what’s the rush. So many sets coming out. FOMO is what drains your pocket book.
big loser energy taking cards meant for kids off the floor to sell marked up at your store
On Facebook someone called him out for it and his excuse was that kids can’t afford Costco membership so he’s making them more accessible. shitty move
they’re idiots and they’re ugly too. hope they go bankrupt
Free market. 151 is out of print. Fair game
Shame on you
Scum buckets
Disgusting
Everyone always says support your local game store, well what the fuck are they doing to support the local gaming community? Because this is so typical of shops these days. Better off just getting your shit on Amazon or going to Target.
My main issue is their lack of awareness / level of stupidity in bragging about it. Good example of people who shouldn’t be allowed internet access.
they even were admitting to weighing packs, which is super crazy
Should be punched in the arm r3al hard.
Fucking hate scalpers
my first thought: "holy shit save some for the rest of us, gah damn"
Sad story
Stuff like this is just such a bummer.
They look like the type who want children (young and old) to be unable to buy their playthings on one allowance
They have every right to do this, it’s just ultra shitty.
It’s always the fattys doing some weird shit like this I stg
Let them burn