Early last year (2006) - for a variety of reasons - I had decided to exit the hobby.
Not because of the expenses - although the Sidiots had brought pricing to a ridiculous new level - but more due to other reasons. Among the reasons were that there were only 2 local hobby shops left, their prices were ridiculous and they did absolutely no trading unless they totally bent you over the table first.
I was also having a hard time digesting the state of Yzerman collecting in the Hobby as his retirement loomed. He was the focus of my collection, and since he did not sign for Upper Deck - there was obviously a very limited amount of new items entering the pipeline for him. That is truly evident this year as UD has pretty much elinated Yzerman from it's offerings period.
Flash forward and after I had sold off about half my Yzerman collection as well as 20% of my trade pages for some very nice coin, and had taken my usual summer of golf away from the hobby for the most part - I decided to begin again to pursue hockey. I missed the gambling aspect, I missed the Boards and my love of the game had certainly not abated.
That brings us to the mention in my mail post - of a new problem.
Two months ago - I noticed a new Howe Auto in my local shops Hobby case.
It was a nice hard to find 1999/00 UD Ovation Super Signature #/99. These were impossible to find when the product was released. I asked them if they would consider trading for it - or sell it for half book. No - sorry the Howe's sell too well and no need to trade other items since they would rather sell.
I reminded the manager that I spent a pretty fair amount of coin in the shop - and that I was not asking to steal it.
Forward to last week Sunday - I bring in a couple of nice cards as an offer for the Howe. SPGU Malkin RC selling at $50/60 easy on the Bay, along with a Holmstrom, Zetty and Lidstrom Game Used that they can sell in about 10 minutes for $10 apiece. Here is what he offered me:
Howe Auto = $150
Less my 20% discount for being a store club member
$60 in trade for my cards......
So it would be $150-$30=$120 -$60 (trade) = $60 purchase price.
His assistant looked up at him and actually snickered - even he could not believe that he was actually asking me to do that deal.
I looked at the manager - and had a 2 minute reminder conversation about - what a ridiculous offer that was, long with a reminder what had happened last time I felt that I was not being treated fairly. I , of course, left with no Howe.
I went in Thursday to pick up my 6 boxes of Hot Prospects that I had comitted to from a pre-sell ( they normally do not make me pay in advance - as they are a HUGE Michigan distributor). Sorry - no boxes they sold them since I had not paid in advance. Well - they would have more on Saturday for me - BUT I wanted to open some NOW!!! Well that irked me a little more, especially since I had never been asked to pay up front before.
Now - let's go to Sunday Night.
I am cruising the auctions and go to Howe, and what do I see......
But of course - I see the Howe from the shop on their Ebay auctions.
The same Howe that sells too well in the shop - and that I should not be given any consideration for. I thought about ignoring the auction out of principle - but since I wanted the card in the first place - threw in an Auction Stealer Bid for $60.
Of course I won the auction for $51.
I went to the shop last night to pick up my card - and the Assistant Manager was there. He thought I was there to pick up the boxes - that he set aside for me. I explained about the Howe - and could he call down to the Distributor office to bring me the Auction win??? He looked at me dumb-founded and said what Howe???? He realized immediately which Howe - and the only words out of his mouth were ...
"That is really not cool to do that!!
I told him right there - that I agreed and that I did not think that I wanted any of the HP boxes at that moment - or maybe in the future. He totally agreed and asked me to give him a few days to see why this happened in the first place.
So I ask you my friends... Am I over-reacting???
1) If you follow my posts - you know that I crack my fair share of wax. I also sell a fair amount of my items that are not traded at auction - so I go through supplies as well. I do not publicize what I spend - but you can safely assume it is far more than a SUV payment. Every month. A very lasrge SUV... with 21's!
2) I buy 75% of my wax at this shop - with inflated prices since I am a kind of 'want it now' kind of guy. I do not like to wait for internet wax to come in. I can just as easily save 10-15% but I like dealing locally - as I sell to local people in my business - and it is 'good business' to do so.
3) please take this little poll and let me know what you think!!!!
PS: For everything I do spend there - they NEVER - EVER - NEVER throw me a bone. I mean - no specials, no neat cards once in a while - not a freaking thing.
Not because of the expenses - although the Sidiots had brought pricing to a ridiculous new level - but more due to other reasons. Among the reasons were that there were only 2 local hobby shops left, their prices were ridiculous and they did absolutely no trading unless they totally bent you over the table first.
I was also having a hard time digesting the state of Yzerman collecting in the Hobby as his retirement loomed. He was the focus of my collection, and since he did not sign for Upper Deck - there was obviously a very limited amount of new items entering the pipeline for him. That is truly evident this year as UD has pretty much elinated Yzerman from it's offerings period.
Flash forward and after I had sold off about half my Yzerman collection as well as 20% of my trade pages for some very nice coin, and had taken my usual summer of golf away from the hobby for the most part - I decided to begin again to pursue hockey. I missed the gambling aspect, I missed the Boards and my love of the game had certainly not abated.
That brings us to the mention in my mail post - of a new problem.
Two months ago - I noticed a new Howe Auto in my local shops Hobby case.
It was a nice hard to find 1999/00 UD Ovation Super Signature #/99. These were impossible to find when the product was released. I asked them if they would consider trading for it - or sell it for half book. No - sorry the Howe's sell too well and no need to trade other items since they would rather sell.
I reminded the manager that I spent a pretty fair amount of coin in the shop - and that I was not asking to steal it.
Forward to last week Sunday - I bring in a couple of nice cards as an offer for the Howe. SPGU Malkin RC selling at $50/60 easy on the Bay, along with a Holmstrom, Zetty and Lidstrom Game Used that they can sell in about 10 minutes for $10 apiece. Here is what he offered me:
Howe Auto = $150
Less my 20% discount for being a store club member
$60 in trade for my cards......
So it would be $150-$30=$120 -$60 (trade) = $60 purchase price.
His assistant looked up at him and actually snickered - even he could not believe that he was actually asking me to do that deal.
I looked at the manager - and had a 2 minute reminder conversation about - what a ridiculous offer that was, long with a reminder what had happened last time I felt that I was not being treated fairly. I , of course, left with no Howe.
I went in Thursday to pick up my 6 boxes of Hot Prospects that I had comitted to from a pre-sell ( they normally do not make me pay in advance - as they are a HUGE Michigan distributor). Sorry - no boxes they sold them since I had not paid in advance. Well - they would have more on Saturday for me - BUT I wanted to open some NOW!!! Well that irked me a little more, especially since I had never been asked to pay up front before.
Now - let's go to Sunday Night.
I am cruising the auctions and go to Howe, and what do I see......
But of course - I see the Howe from the shop on their Ebay auctions.
The same Howe that sells too well in the shop - and that I should not be given any consideration for. I thought about ignoring the auction out of principle - but since I wanted the card in the first place - threw in an Auction Stealer Bid for $60.
Of course I won the auction for $51.
I went to the shop last night to pick up my card - and the Assistant Manager was there. He thought I was there to pick up the boxes - that he set aside for me. I explained about the Howe - and could he call down to the Distributor office to bring me the Auction win??? He looked at me dumb-founded and said what Howe???? He realized immediately which Howe - and the only words out of his mouth were ...
"That is really not cool to do that!!
I told him right there - that I agreed and that I did not think that I wanted any of the HP boxes at that moment - or maybe in the future. He totally agreed and asked me to give him a few days to see why this happened in the first place.
So I ask you my friends... Am I over-reacting???
1) If you follow my posts - you know that I crack my fair share of wax. I also sell a fair amount of my items that are not traded at auction - so I go through supplies as well. I do not publicize what I spend - but you can safely assume it is far more than a SUV payment. Every month. A very lasrge SUV... with 21's!
2) I buy 75% of my wax at this shop - with inflated prices since I am a kind of 'want it now' kind of guy. I do not like to wait for internet wax to come in. I can just as easily save 10-15% but I like dealing locally - as I sell to local people in my business - and it is 'good business' to do so.
3) please take this little poll and let me know what you think!!!!
PS: For everything I do spend there - they NEVER - EVER - NEVER throw me a bone. I mean - no specials, no neat cards once in a while - not a freaking thing.
Last edited:
Now imagine he overhears you getting it offered at $60, pretty crappy day...
