I was in town today and decided to check for sports card shops. I inherited a collection of about…read more30,000 cards a few years back and although it sounds impressive, I'd say out of the 30,000 cards, only about 3,000 have value and the average value is about $2, so nobody is quitting their day job.
In Seattle, we got a place called DJ's, and those guys are great, friendly, helpful and an impressive selection of anything you would want or need related to the trading card hobby.
Never having been here before I read the reviews and people talked about rude and cold behavior, but the overall score of 3.5 was enough for me to pop in. The card selection here was really small, had this been the first card store I ever visited, I doubt I would have visited another. That said, I was the only person in the section and a couple people looked at me, even walked by me multiple times, but no one ever spoke, welcomed me in or offered to explain the layout.
After browsing for about 10 minutes, I found some interesting cards in a consignment area My experience with consignment is it's items owned by a private seller, but sold by the business for a commission. When I asked about prices since nothing was marked, I was told the items are for auction and I needed to register to bid. 1) The guy had an attitude when I asked for help despite him doing nothing but twiddling him thumbs. 2) Is it consignment or auction. 3) You are killing your business, those items are not moving, which means they are taking up real estate. Your goal with any item, especially used is to sell it as fast as possible. Can you imagine cars sitting on a car lot for 30 days, then selling to the highest bid. You may have been able to sell that car In a couple days instead of clogging your lot for a month.
In addition, I asked some other questions and people working there were clueless. I'm sorry, if you work in a card shop or card counter, you need to be an expert. If I ask if you have a specific team or player, you shouldn't have to ask anyone else. Even if you are unsure, you should at a minimum be able to say, check this area, but then again, from what I saw, the store had no organization.
I think 3.5 stars is generous, I have no reason to return here. The cards are probably about 25% maybe even 20% of the store, so they have other hobby items, but if you are headed here from sport related memorabilia, I'd say keep driving.