TCGPlayer gone awry
Economics forum
Posted on Sept. 11, 2014, 1:08 p.m. by aeonstoremyliver
About a week ago I ordered a card that was listed in 'Moderately Played' condition for around $20.00. It arrived, and to my dismay looked more 'Heavily played' and perhaps even damaged, as it had the start of a crease at the top of the card.
When asked to rate my purchase, shortly after receiving the card, I was understandably upset. I left some negative feedback, which I feel was deserved. Apparently the seller was notified of the (-) feedback and responded with this message:
"I'm terribly sorry about the negative shopping experience that you alerted me of today via the non-interactive feedback system. I would love to thank you for neglecting to email me about the problem before you left your 2 star negative feedback as well. I'm sure TCGPlayer is proud to have such an outstanding, understanding buyer and I will be sure to block you from all possible future purchases. :) "
To maintain some tact, I will refrain from publically letting the seller's name out, rather he remain anonymous. None-the-less, caveat emptor. This is the only bad experience I've had via TCGPlayer, ever, in 4-5 years or more. The seller is correct that I did not contact him/her regarding the order. In any case, needed to vent a bit.
VampireArmy says... #3
I've had experiences like that buying on E-bay. I think it's beautiful that he blocked you from buying there again like you'd ever want to give him your business anyways.
September 11, 2014 1:12 p.m.
I bought a tarmogoyf recently, supposed to be NM, and was LP, even said it on the sleeve it arrived in. I was a little upset as well. I mean when your buying a goyf, you want your shit straight.
Im always a little hesitant to buy played cards on tcgplayer, as it could just be the sellers opinion, and not mine.
But other than that Ive had no negative exp. on tcgplayer.
September 11, 2014 1:14 p.m.
It's the sellers fault, He should have inquired as to how his card should be rated.
Beside's how would have it been resolved any differently over email?
Either way, It seems you got short changed and he came out up on that end.
Just for next time if it says moderately played just ask for a photo first?
Either way, that sucks mate.
September 11, 2014 1:15 p.m.
Nigeltastic says... #6
Additionally I only really buy from the big sellers when possible, that I think avoids some of the bullshittery.
September 11, 2014 1:17 p.m.
trentfaris242 says... #7
I once sold a playset of Desecration Demon on eBay. Buyer bought them on a Thursday and then emailed me asking if he would have them for FNM. When I told him there was literally no possible way for that to happen (he was on the opposite side of the country), he got nasty with me. Ah, human behavior at its finest.
September 11, 2014 1:18 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #8
Most of the time when i buy LP or MP I've lucked out and received NM cards honestly.
September 11, 2014 1:18 p.m.
trentfaris242 says... #9
@VampireArmy Same here. Only I won't buy MP any more because I had a bad experience once. The ONLY bad experience I've had with LP is when I ordered some LP alpha basic lands from SCG and they were more like MP, but they're 21 year old cards! I'm not complaining. 99% of the time it's more like NM for me.
September 11, 2014 1:26 p.m.
omnipotato says... #10
I've only had good experience with TCGPlayer. I once got the wrong printing of a card and contacted the seller, and he gave me a refund AND sent me the correct version AND let me keep the wrong one. Don't blame TCGPlayer for one of their sellers being an asshole.
September 11, 2014 1:29 p.m.
GreatSword says... #11
While his comment isn't exactly professional, you shouldn't have been so quick to leave negative feedback. You should have contacted him with your complaint, giving him the chance to correct the situation somehow. If he had, would you still give him a 2-star rating?
September 11, 2014 1:29 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #12
@ Caligula Exactly!!! One would think that he'd do something to correct his mistake. It was a Bloodstained Mire , ONS printing, btw. If the card were some BS jank rare or common, I probably wouldn't be as irate. But given I dropped $20 some odd dollars on a single piece of cardboard, I'm perturbed.
On another note, I ordered a Lightly Played Windswept Heath ONS that arrived w/in three days from CA, I live in MI! He added tracking and shipped in a bubble mailer. The card was NM!!!
September 11, 2014 1:29 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #13
I could have contacted the seller, but I've never had the need to... Poor etiquette on my part I suppose, which I acknowledge. Had he responded differently to my rating, I'd definitley change it. As I said, it's the only (-) experience I've had. Not TCGPlayer's fault.
September 11, 2014 1:32 p.m.
trentfaris242 says... #14
@aeonstoremyliver I'm gonna need the seller of that Windswept Heath as I've been looking to pick up some Onslaught copies.
September 11, 2014 1:33 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #15
CloudNine is the seller of said Heath, trentfaris242
September 11, 2014 1:54 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #16
Speaking as both a seller and a buyer, ratings are extremely important. A single negative rating can lose you business. While the card you got clearly wasn't of the condition you ordered, you could have emailed or messaged the seller first to resolve the issue. Most sellers are pretty understanding.
That said, you do still have the right to leave feedback appropriate to your experience, and the seller's response was unprofessional at best.
September 11, 2014 1:57 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #17
If you had a problem, you should have contacted the seller. The seller's response should then have also factored into your final rating.
September 11, 2014 1:58 p.m.
I personally have never had a problem with TCG player, granted I've only boughten 8 cards overall from them ((A playset of Godless Shrine and Path to Exile ) But all the cards i got were listed as LP and they appear NM, or at least, they do to my untrained eye.
September 11, 2014 2:11 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #19
TCG Player Direct launches on Oct 1 and should address issues like this. You will receive your cards directly from TCGPlayer.com and deal with them for customer service.
September 11, 2014 2:24 p.m.
actiontech says... #20
While his response was over the top and unacceptable business practice, as a seller I can relate to his being angry that you didn't attempt to resolve the issue before leaving feedback. It's true that your feedback is very critical so when someone leaves bad feedback without telling you why there's very little you can do. Example: I had a guy buy a card (only around a $5 transaction), which I packed properly and shipped the same day. A week later I get a notice about negative feedback. The feedback said I didn't use a top-loader and the card arrived damaged. Not true. He never asked me for a replacement, then didn't reply to my messages for 5 days after as I was asking him how he wanted to proceed to correct the problem. Only when I refunded his money did the feedback suddenly disappear. I blocked him from future purchases.
I'm saying that while there may be some unscrupulous sellers on TCG there are also THIEVES who will abuse the system to get free cards, or partial refunds. The risk goes both ways.
September 11, 2014 2:24 p.m.
slovakattack says... #21
TCGplayer is not itself a seller, and it pays to remember that it's position within the framework of cards is one similar to Ebay. That being said, I've mostly tried to stick to the big sellers with over 10,000 sales, and if I buy cards from small sellers I try not to get super expensive ones, to avoid these kinds of issues.
That being said, the few small companies that I've ordered cards from have been very polite, and I have yet to have a problem with them.
September 11, 2014 2:55 p.m.
I'm dealing with an issue right now with TCG.
Ordered some Coursers just before the fetch lands were spoiled and the Coursers spiked.
The Coursers haven't come and it's been over three weeks now. I suspect they never sent them because the price of the cards doubled practically overnight, which was right when I ordered them. The seller hasn't been responding to any messages after the first one notifying them the package hasn't arrived yet so I really don't know what to do.
I haven't left any negative feedback yet, but I have a bad feeling I just got beat for not only the price I paid for the Coursers ($8 a piece) but also now the price I will have to pay for them now ($15 a piece).
There are some real crappy sellers out there. Be cautious.
September 11, 2014 2:56 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #23
bigpapa87 have you opened reported this "Negative Experience" to TCGPlayer? If so and they requested that the seller contact you with no results did you pay with PayPal? Paypal is great at hammering out issues like this when all your other avenues are exhausted. Opening a claim will take about a month to resolve.
September 11, 2014 3:24 p.m.
Dalektable says... #24
Wow, that sucks. Entirely the seller's fault. I haven't had a bad experience with TCGPlayer, but I only buy from the big seller's as to avoid such scenerios.
September 11, 2014 3:29 p.m.
I have bought NM from TCG and received played cards, like, to the point of they looked shuffled without sleeves on. I have also purchased LP cards from TCG and received what I would have believed to be NM, so it's a gamble any time really. I always left appropriate feedback and never had a seller whine about it.
September 11, 2014 3:32 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #26
@bigpapa87: If it's been that long and the seller hasn't responded to you, contact TCGPlayer's customer service and report your problem. Like eBay or any other similar service, they have ways to crack down on bad sellers and sort things out.
September 11, 2014 3:33 p.m.
Wow that seller's response is absolutely hilarious and completely inappropriate!
September 11, 2014 3:46 p.m.
00xtremeninja says... #28
like many others, i have had great experiences with TCGplayer and a majority of sellers. some have been cool when i email them and say the product never came (which is why you should always send things with tracking) or there was a problem. One guy though was a dick when I told him nothing had come in and was asking for a refund. He told me to have fun paying higher prices from other sellers, which after I reordered the same cards he sold me from another guy, ended up being $3 cheaper and I showed him the receipt from a screen shot and rubbed it in on how i ended up saving money.
nothing you can do about people's attitudes. Just mark down the store name and know not to buy things from them again.
September 11, 2014 5:09 p.m.
LOL! 00xtremeninja these stories are outrageous! I've only ordered off of TCGplayer a couple of times. I generally hate waiting for cards I want now so avoid buying online. Character flaw I'm working on...
My very first order on tcgplayer, almost everything showed up in about 2 weeks time but the final single took 2 months to arrive. I figured it was just a smaller seller that wasn't paying attention or something and made a point to pay attention in the process for future purchases.
But that's nothing like these stories you guys are telling. I've worked customer service jobs for years and these things sounds like conversations that take place around watercoolers about the things we WANT to say on really bad days. Hahahaha
September 11, 2014 5:33 p.m.
00xtremeninja says... #30
now, in my brief interactions with some (read: NOT ALL) LGS owners, there are for sure a certain amount of them that lack a lot of social skills, which with the line of work I do for a living, I am pretty patient with some of these guys. But when you respond to me in such an attitude when I was trying to be polite, then eff off, I have no problem returning the favor of being a dick.
September 11, 2014 6:44 p.m.
To be fair, that has been my only negative experience in a lot of transactions on TCG. The VAST majority have been pleasant transactions.
One other thing that bugged me was my first real eBay sale, where I sold a Temporal Manipulation for like $70 and the dude claimed it never got there so I had to eat it, which absolutely sucked. ALWAYS put tracking on everything over like $10-20.
September 11, 2014 9:02 p.m.
somebody else search treetop village on tcg player right now. for the gate way promo, there is only 1 seller, and thy are charging 3404.25.
lol wut..?
September 11, 2014 9:08 p.m.
CastleSiege says... #33
This is why I usually try to buy from reputable sellers who have made thousands of sales and have high ratings. I end up paying a little bit more but I don't have to worry about the cards being damaged or not getting them at all.
Sorry you had a bad experience with this particular seller :(
September 12, 2014 11:27 a.m.
canterlotguardian says... #34
Post his name so we know never to buy from him. This is directed at aeonstoremyliver
September 13, 2014 11:06 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #35
@canterlotguardian: Again speaking as both a buyer and a seller, that course of action is uncalled for. In this case, both parties failed to handle the situation according to accepted online trading/selling protocol (there should have been email concact made between the buyer and the seller in the event of a dispute), and, although the seller's response was certainly unprofessional, neither the seller nor the buyer need other people to vindicate one party or another over this event.
September 13, 2014 2:43 p.m.
The_Murderauder says... #36
Sure, both parties failed to handle the situation according to accepted online trading/selling protocol. To be fair though, the seller failed to handle the situation with, you know, basic human decency. If their business suffers, it honestly serves them right.
September 13, 2014 7:50 p.m.
CreationCatalyst says... #37
As said already the response was uncalled for but the proper way to handle this kind of situation with tcgplayer is to contact the seller about your issue via the contact seller button in your order details. If they don't respond within 48 hours or if you are unhappy with how they are handling the situation you can contact tcgplayer directly at sales@tcgplayer.com with your order number in the subject line explaining the issue and they will take care of getting you a refund. This is part of tcgplayer's buyer safeguard which protects you whenever making a purchase on their site.
September 16, 2014 3:20 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #38
Yeah, should've, could've. I was irate and received the email notification to rate my purchase moments after opening the card. I pulled the trigger a bit too early. Granted, I displayed tact with my feedback, however I could've went about it differently.
In any case, one would think the seller would attempt to rectify the situation and keep good business practices.
September 16, 2014 4:43 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #39
The thing is, the seller's primary opportunity to rectify the situation is when the buyer contacts him or her and asks for rectification. Once you leave feedback, the sale is pretty much closed. Some sellers will ask what they can do to improve or whether you would like a partial refund, but rating is typically the accepted final step in a transaction. You're likelier to incite responses of the kind you got than anything else.
September 16, 2014 5:20 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #40
Ah... That makes more sense now. Lessons learned!
September 16, 2014 6:43 p.m.
A couple of months ago I sold a some cards on tcgplayer worth about 40$ and the buyer put down the wrong address. I was able to figure out that the person put the wrong address and explained it to tcgplayer. Even though it wasn't my fault they made me pay the person back their money. I got lucky and the cards did get returned to sender since the person no longer lived at the address but I feared that I lost money.
DO NOT SELL ON TCGPLAYER!
They do not look out for their sellers at all. They should since they are making money off of people selling their cards.
November 11, 2014 1:20 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #43
Eh that's nothing I had someone necro a post from over a year ago.
Nigeltastic says... #2
What on earth? I once rated a seller low because I didn't receive my cards and they didn't get snarky with me, they just fixed the problem and I changed my rating back up... Someone was apparently having a really bad day or is an ass.
September 11, 2014 1:12 p.m.