...and then raised it at the last minute to $80. As far as I know, verbal agreements can be held up in court, should I go through with it? And what are the chances of winning?
Do you really want to go through that much effort for $45? The only thing you could do is take it to small claims court, and that would cost a lot more than it's worth.
Well it would actually be for $135, because my friend was promised two and one for me. But I haven't been to small claims court before so that's why I'm wondering if it's worth it. If not, the best we can do is boycott the store.
Well it would actually be for $135, because my friend was promised two and one for me. But I haven't been to small claims court before so that's why I'm wondering if it's worth it. If not, the best we can do is boycott the store.
It's not really worth it for even that much to be honest. It's BARELY worth it for $500, so take that into account.
Personally, I wouldn't bother, the best I would do is not buy at the store anymore and make sure everyone you can that shops and plays there knows what they did to you.
You'd have to proved they said what they said. Without proof, all they have to do is say they never agreed to that and you're just making it up. Then you have to prove they're lying.
...and then raised it at the last minute to $80. As far as I know, verbal agreements can be held up in court, should I go through with it? And what are the chances of winning?
You should not, it will cost you more than $80 to do so. Also, you would lose.
Tricking someone to agree to a bad deal and then getting mad when they back out is really not the correct response.
If I get you to agree to sell me your black lotus(that you bought 16 years ago for a dollar) for $5 and on the way to your car to get it someone else tells you they will give you $1000 for it, you are in fact, within your rights to sell it to the other guy. If I want, I could try and smear your reputation over it, but that would be about all I could do. (and it would be rather piety of me)
Is it worth it to you to spend money to send the message "hey, if you feel like doing this, you might just get dragged through the mud?"
I don't think you'd "win" win, but the store owner probably won't show up for court. You'd be surprised how many people don't take this seriously, and then you just end up with a free win.
Or they'll just sell you the packs for the correct amount so they don't have to pay *their* lawyers.
The real question is: do you have extra money to spend on making a point?
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It is not worth it to go to small claims court. I would recommend threatening the owner on going to small claims court. If he also thinks that it is not worth it he will give it to you at the original promised price. But there is a high chance he will call your bluff. But it's worth a shot.
One of my LGSs did this. I asked him what they'd be selling for and he said "$35, I don't want to rip off my customers." He said he knew what the set was worth but wanted to do something nice for his customers, and he wouldn't take preorders.
Of course, I call him shortly after they opened on release day and another worker said they sold some at $35 and then jacked it up to $90. When I told them I had been informed otherwise they pretty much gave me a "whatever". So of course I go to my normal LGS later in the day (where I play FNM) and pick up 2 boxes at $50 apiece. Guess which store I buy my boxes at, play most of my tournaments, and help judge/TO at? That's right, the latter.
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Same thing happened here. I have 2 shops in town both said MSRP, pre-paid at both but only one shop honored the price the other jacked it up $15 (which isnt all that bad in the long run but still a little rude once you've taken the money imo). Not worth fighting over but still. There was some grumbleing in the local comunity and the shop will likely loose business over it for the next few months but I cant see it causing them any significant repercusions so I guess they can get away with it if they want.
Also @taylor while if someone backs out of the lotus example you proposed above its one thing. If a business your pre-paid at changes the price of a product after the fact its quite another. At law business are heald to different standards then individuals.
Also as shop conduct arguments normally get to the point where both side agree they cant agree and while its sketchy behavior theres nothing you can do about it there are only so many times a shop can pull stuff like this before it totally trashes its reputation. If I were an otherwise sucsessful shop keeper that would be of more consern to me then then $180 dollars I stood to make jacking up the price of 12 relics boxes.
"Community Issues" refers to the MtGS community. Moved to...Market Street Cafe?
Why do we want to deal with this?
Sellers as entities do not owe you anything until the point of your exchange where money is traded for goods and/or services. I'm sorry your retailer failed Business 101, but my sympathies for your claim end when the result is thinking your case is worth wasting tax dollars on. He said he would charge you one thing presumably before he had the product, got the product, when you went to buy it it costs more. If you're not okay with it, don't buy it. No one put a gun to your head and said you had to buy the box there.
This reminds me of the recording of the woman calling 911 when a Burger King did not have the advertised "Western Bacon Cheeseburger." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0p6QVBqAXA
I hope that the OP did not overreach as much as that woman, but it's along the same lines.
I agree with many of the other opinions stated here; the only real recourse you have in this is to do business elsewhere, and warn others of what happened to you, so that they can avoid the same experience with that store. Individual laws on this sort of thing vary by state, but generally speaking, you stand little chance of having it stand up in court as any sort of binding agreement. Businesses are subject to numerous factors on a daily basis that affect both markup and availability, and this is pretty commonly understood.
What your seller did is terrible practice for a brick-and-mortar, and violates one of the cardinal rules that keeps this kind of store in business long-term (not screwing over your customer base to turn a fast buck on hot product), but it's done and over with. You'll have to move on and either pay fair market value at this point, or just do without.
You should not, it will cost you more than $80 to do so. Also, you would lose.
Tricking someone to agree to a bad deal and then getting mad when they back out is really not the correct response.
If I get you to agree to sell me your black lotus(that you bought 16 years ago for a dollar) for $5 and on the way to your car to get it someone else tells you they will give you $1000 for it, you are in fact, within your rights to sell it to the other guy. If I want, I could try and smear your reputation over it, but that would be about all I could do. (and it would be rather piety of me)
I did NOT trick them into a bad deal. Also many other stores sold them for $35. This isn't the first time he's done this either. This one time he sold me a playset of Stoneforge Mystics for $4. He took my money, then raised the price.
Battle Den just does bad business. There was even one time when they wouldn't take cash money just because someone left with the register key, when I've seen other people there just put it in their pocket.
As for proof, I saw him write it down, but he could easily throw it away. I know what I'm talking about, I'm a criminal justice student. I just wanted to know if it would be worth it to bring it to small claims court, and after hearing that it isn't, I'm not going to. One person in the thread said to do it no matter what, but my altruism doesn't like wasting money.
One person in the thread said to do it no matter what, but my altruism doesn't like wasting money.
It's not altruism when you have a monetary incentive. Quite the opposite.
The guy's action was dishonest, and might appear sketchy. It might be sketchy, and it might make you angry. But WotC prints this product as basically free money for themselves. It costs almost nothing to make one of those boxed sets, and they sell for $35 MSRP. $35 > $2 (all that fancy packaging does cost something), so WotC makes a very healthy profit on the exchange. The values of the cards contained therein do not synch up with the MSRP, so dealers then mark them up and sell them at market rate, thereby profiting.
As far as I can tell, FtV is one of the first products WotC has released with the secondary market being a legitimate secondary concern (primary: making money. secondary: secondary market. tertiary: introducing new cards into MTGO (here's looking at you, sol ring). Although it may feel distasteful to pay more than MSRP, the dealer's mistake was in agreeing upon a price with you and then changing it, just like he did with the stoneforge mystics. This is wrong, and it's rude, no doubt, but it's not worth suing someone over. He made an error in judgment, and it made him look really bad in the eyes of you and your friends. It may not sound like much, but that's actually quite a punishment for an LGS that may be struggling.
I just don't really feel like I can come down hard on a guy for doing this, when I sat around for weeks all excited for the FtV release to get my one copy at $35 (got it! score!). The problem is, now I have it, and the greedy in me wants to flip it for 70-80, and make a 100% profit. In my mind, he did the same thing as I'm doing, only from the other side. Imagine you agree to sell someone something for $35, and then when the time comes people are offering $75 for the same thing. Which one are you really going to take?
Finally, if you're a legal studies student, you ought to use the resources at your disposal seeking legal options at this juncture, and not a forum full of magic nerds. Not that you'll get a different answer, but because it's better practice to consult experts with questions like these.
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I’m standing on my Monopoly board
That means I’m on top of my game
And it don't stop 'til my hip don’t hop anymore
Ok. If you say so...
...But, just one question:
At the time your buddy made this verbal agreement with the store owner, who know more about the true ebay price of the box?
Don't get me wrong, I drove to 6 stores on Friday looking for FtV's for $35, and I too was a bit miffed when I did not get one. Especially since one of those 6 stores told me two weeks prior that he would sell me a box for $35. But, I knew of I did buy one for $35 who would be getting the better end of that deal, and I did not begrudge the store owner that had become more enlightened to the true value of what he had.
Well, clearly they messed up this whole thing. I agree with you that it's bad business to say you will do something and then not do it. Additionally, its NEVER a good idea to upset a costumer as much as they clearly upset you. That's the platinum rule for me: Never let the other guy walk away upset.
No one is arguing that they didn't handle themselves poorly. They did.
It's not altruism when you have a monetary incentive. Quite the opposite.
The guy's action was dishonest, and might appear sketchy. It might be sketchy, and it might make you angry. But WotC prints this product as basically free money for themselves. It costs almost nothing to make one of those boxed sets, and they sell for $35 MSRP. $35 > $2 (all that fancy packaging does cost something), so WotC makes a very healthy profit on the exchange. The values of the cards contained therein do not synch up with the MSRP, so dealers then mark them up and sell them at market rate, thereby profiting.
As far as I can tell, FtV is one of the first products WotC has released with the secondary market being a legitimate secondary concern (primary: making money. secondary: secondary market. tertiary: introducing new cards into MTGO (here's looking at you, sol ring). Although it may feel distasteful to pay more than MSRP, the dealer's mistake was in agreeing upon a price with you and then changing it, just like he did with the stoneforge mystics. This is wrong, and it's rude, no doubt, but it's not worth suing someone over. He made an error in judgment, and it made him look really bad in the eyes of you and your friends. It may not sound like much, but that's actually quite a punishment for an LGS that may be struggling.
I just don't really feel like I can come down hard on a guy for doing this, when I sat around for weeks all excited for the FtV release to get my one copy at $35 (got it! score!). The problem is, now I have it, and the greedy in me wants to flip it for 70-80, and make a 100% profit. In my mind, he did the same thing as I'm doing, only from the other side. Imagine you agree to sell someone something for $35, and then when the time comes people are offering $75 for the same thing. Which one are you really going to take?
Finally, if you're a legal studies student, you ought to use the resources at your disposal seeking legal options at this juncture, and not a forum full of magic nerds. Not that you'll get a different answer, but because it's better practice to consult experts with questions like these.
Thanks for the response. I wasn't really looking for legal advice per say, just advice in general. Even though I'm a law student, I have no experience suing people or even if it would be worth it. After reading the replies and thinking about it, I'm not going to sue the store.
I honestly wasn't going to resell the set. I wanted to enjoy the cards but if I'm going to pay $80, it's going to a dealer I can trust.
Ok. If you say so...
...But, just one question:
At the time your buddy made this verbal agreement with the store owner, who know more about the true ebay price of the box?
Don't get me wrong, I drove to 6 stores on Friday looking for FtV's for $35, and I too was a bit miffed when I did not get one. Especially since one of those 6 stores told me two weeks prior that he would sell me a box for $35. But, I knew of I did buy one for $35 who would be getting the better end of that deal, and I did not begrudge the store owner that had become more enlightened to the true value of what he had. Well, clearly they messed up this whole thing. I agree with you that it's bad business to say you will do something and then not do it. Additionally, its NEVER a good idea to upset a costumer as much as they clearly upset you. That's the platinum rule for me: Never let the other guy walk away upset.
No one is arguing that they didn't handle themselves poorly. They did.
Whether or not we knew about the eBay price didn't matter. I was there with my friend a few months ago when we made the preorder, and only four cards were revealed at the time and we were excited just for those. And it's not like they're not making a profit selling these for $35 each, they actually get them for less.
You're wasting your time with a so-called "promise" to sell you something since the store owner will not remember ever making such "promise"
Now, if you had a pre-sale receipt (ie you paid for it up front) or some other type of documentation you'd have a much better position. My local store owner said he'd hold sets for 2 different people...then they came out and he sold them all to two other guys because he forgot he was supposed to hold them.
Even though I'm a law student, I have no experience suing people or even if it would be worth it.
You do not need to be a law student to see that $35-45 is not worth your or a judge's time. The amount of time spent in court alone would be more profitably spent working one day at a minimum-wage job. If you don't mind me asking, is this your first year in law school, or?
I honestly wasn't going to resell the set. I wanted to enjoy the cards but if I'm going to pay $80, it's going to a dealer I can trust.
If the product contains all of the things it is supposed to (ie contains the cards and die), the dealer is as trustworthy as a person selling the boxed set for $80 can be. If you are paying $80 for this boxed set, the clear message you should be getting is that dealers can't be trusted because the motive to sell the set at more than MSRP is purely profit-driven. You cannot fault a business for being profit driven -- and you shouldn't, otherwise we wouldn't have businesses because there is no way to profit off of everyone paying exactly the cost of production and whatever's enough left over to keep the lights on -- but saying you then trust them for being forthright with their willingness to screw you and more than double the MSRP of a product just to turn over more money comes across as naive.
Whether or not we knew about the eBay price didn't matter. I was there with my friend a few months ago when we made the preorder, and only four cards were revealed at the time and we were excited just for those.
The answer to this question is kind of irrelevant, since the final word is completely the discretion of the seller, but did the seller write your name down and confirm the final price was $35 with a receipt? Did you give him $35 and pay in full for the product?
If you'd paid for your preorder (ala GameStop and online stores that offer presales of product), your purchase and payment for your purchase is more or less binding at that point -- you paid, in full, for a product then that you were guaranteed, by way of your then-payment, in the future. Reneging on THAT deal is quite shady and enters a legal front that is dubious at best (still not worth your time pursuing, most likely, but definitely dicey as you and the seller have a contract of sale in the form of the receipt showing the exchange for good or service). If you basically just kind of said, "Oh, it'll cost $35? Save a copy for me!," the ground has been tread at this point -- he risks losing you as a customer by jacking the price up when you come to buy, but you guys are more or less shooting the ☺☺☺☺ and there's not a whole lot you can do or say aside from not give him your business in the future.
You do not need to be a law student to see that $35-45 is not worth your or a judge's time. The amount of time spent in court alone would be more profitably spent working one day at a minimum-wage job. If you don't mind me asking, is this your first year in law school, or?
If the product contains all of the things it is supposed to (ie contains the cards and die), the dealer is as trustworthy as a person selling the boxed set for $80 can be. If you are paying $80 for this boxed set, the clear message you should be getting is that dealers can't be trusted because the motive to sell the set at more than MSRP is purely profit-driven. You cannot fault a business for being profit driven -- and you shouldn't, otherwise we wouldn't have businesses because there is no way to profit off of everyone paying exactly the cost of production and whatever's enough left over to keep the lights on -- but saying you then trust them for being forthright with their willingness to screw you and more than double the MSRP of a product just to turn over more money comes across as naive.
The answer to this question is kind of irrelevant, since the final word is completely the discretion of the seller, but did the seller write your name down and confirm the final price was $35 with a receipt? Did you give him $35 and pay in full for the product?
If you'd paid for your preorder (ala GameStop and online stores that offer presales of product), your purchase and payment for your purchase is more or less binding at that point -- you paid, in full, for a product then that you were guaranteed, by way of your then-payment, in the future. Reneging on THAT deal is quite shady and enters a legal front that is dubious at best (still not worth your time pursuing, most likely, but definitely dicey as you and the seller have a contract of sale in the form of the receipt showing the exchange for good or service). If you basically just kind of said, "Oh, it'll cost $35? Save a copy for me!," the ground has been tread at this point -- he risks losing you as a customer by jacking the price up when you come to buy, but you guys are more or less shooting the ☺☺☺☺ and there's not a whole lot you can do or say aside from not give him your business in the future.
I'm in my second year, and like I said, I have no experience how small claims courts work because those are civil, so I don't even know how much that costs. Though I did talk to a police officer a month ago on what I could do about a friend owing me $300 and not doing anything about it, and they said I could take it to small claims court. But I can't because it's been three years and I've decided to give my friend some more time.
Even though you say that this store can be trusted if they didn't take anything out of the Relics box, I'd rather give my money to a dealer who hasn't screwed me. My friends and I have had enough problems with this store, and this is the straw that broke the camel's back.
The first time we asked him, he said he wasn't sure he would even be getting them or what the price would be. A couple months later, he said he would be getting them and that they would be $35. He wrote down a reminder for himself but I don't know what exactly he wrote down or if he even has it anymore. He could have just as well thrown it away. Verbal agreements from businesses can be held in court, but as it's been mentioned in the thread, it's just not worth it. The only recourse is to tell others and not go there anymore.
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It's not really worth it for even that much to be honest. It's BARELY worth it for $500, so take that into account.
Personally, I wouldn't bother, the best I would do is not buy at the store anymore and make sure everyone you can that shops and plays there knows what they did to you.
Burdon of Proof
I'd just let sleeping dogs lie, and refrain from buying anything from the store in the future.
You should not, it will cost you more than $80 to do so. Also, you would lose.
Tricking someone to agree to a bad deal and then getting mad when they back out is really not the correct response.
If I get you to agree to sell me your black lotus (that you bought 16 years ago for a dollar) for $5 and on the way to your car to get it someone else tells you they will give you $1000 for it, you are in fact, within your rights to sell it to the other guy. If I want, I could try and smear your reputation over it, but that would be about all I could do. (and it would be rather piety of me)
The Mox Diamond in FtV is worth, what? $60?
Also, this is not a community issue.
I don't think you'd "win" win, but the store owner probably won't show up for court. You'd be surprised how many people don't take this seriously, and then you just end up with a free win.
Or they'll just sell you the packs for the correct amount so they don't have to pay *their* lawyers.
The real question is: do you have extra money to spend on making a point?
Of course, I call him shortly after they opened on release day and another worker said they sold some at $35 and then jacked it up to $90. When I told them I had been informed otherwise they pretty much gave me a "whatever". So of course I go to my normal LGS later in the day (where I play FNM) and pick up 2 boxes at $50 apiece. Guess which store I buy my boxes at, play most of my tournaments, and help judge/TO at? That's right, the latter.
Also @taylor while if someone backs out of the lotus example you proposed above its one thing. If a business your pre-paid at changes the price of a product after the fact its quite another. At law business are heald to different standards then individuals.
Also as shop conduct arguments normally get to the point where both side agree they cant agree and while its sketchy behavior theres nothing you can do about it there are only so many times a shop can pull stuff like this before it totally trashes its reputation. If I were an otherwise sucsessful shop keeper that would be of more consern to me then then $180 dollars I stood to make jacking up the price of 12 relics boxes.
Currently looking to buy miscut Homelands, (my wife thinks I'm crazy too).
Semper Gumby (Always Flexible)
Why do we want to deal with this?
Sellers as entities do not owe you anything until the point of your exchange where money is traded for goods and/or services. I'm sorry your retailer failed Business 101, but my sympathies for your claim end when the result is thinking your case is worth wasting tax dollars on. He said he would charge you one thing presumably before he had the product, got the product, when you went to buy it it costs more. If you're not okay with it, don't buy it. No one put a gun to your head and said you had to buy the box there.
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I hope that the OP did not overreach as much as that woman, but it's along the same lines.
Very good point. If you sue a store owner or try to smear his reputation, you're not going to be allowed back in the store.
Which may or may not be a big deal depending on where you live.
What your seller did is terrible practice for a brick-and-mortar, and violates one of the cardinal rules that keeps this kind of store in business long-term (not screwing over your customer base to turn a fast buck on hot product), but it's done and over with. You'll have to move on and either pay fair market value at this point, or just do without.
I did NOT trick them into a bad deal. Also many other stores sold them for $35. This isn't the first time he's done this either. This one time he sold me a playset of Stoneforge Mystics for $4. He took my money, then raised the price.
Battle Den just does bad business. There was even one time when they wouldn't take cash money just because someone left with the register key, when I've seen other people there just put it in their pocket.
As for proof, I saw him write it down, but he could easily throw it away. I know what I'm talking about, I'm a criminal justice student. I just wanted to know if it would be worth it to bring it to small claims court, and after hearing that it isn't, I'm not going to. One person in the thread said to do it no matter what, but my altruism doesn't like wasting money.
It's not altruism when you have a monetary incentive. Quite the opposite.
The guy's action was dishonest, and might appear sketchy. It might be sketchy, and it might make you angry. But WotC prints this product as basically free money for themselves. It costs almost nothing to make one of those boxed sets, and they sell for $35 MSRP. $35 > $2 (all that fancy packaging does cost something), so WotC makes a very healthy profit on the exchange. The values of the cards contained therein do not synch up with the MSRP, so dealers then mark them up and sell them at market rate, thereby profiting.
As far as I can tell, FtV is one of the first products WotC has released with the secondary market being a legitimate secondary concern (primary: making money. secondary: secondary market. tertiary: introducing new cards into MTGO (here's looking at you, sol ring). Although it may feel distasteful to pay more than MSRP, the dealer's mistake was in agreeing upon a price with you and then changing it, just like he did with the stoneforge mystics. This is wrong, and it's rude, no doubt, but it's not worth suing someone over. He made an error in judgment, and it made him look really bad in the eyes of you and your friends. It may not sound like much, but that's actually quite a punishment for an LGS that may be struggling.
I just don't really feel like I can come down hard on a guy for doing this, when I sat around for weeks all excited for the FtV release to get my one copy at $35 (got it! score!). The problem is, now I have it, and the greedy in me wants to flip it for 70-80, and make a 100% profit. In my mind, he did the same thing as I'm doing, only from the other side. Imagine you agree to sell someone something for $35, and then when the time comes people are offering $75 for the same thing. Which one are you really going to take?
Finally, if you're a legal studies student, you ought to use the resources at your disposal seeking legal options at this juncture, and not a forum full of magic nerds. Not that you'll get a different answer, but because it's better practice to consult experts with questions like these.
I’m standing on my Monopoly board
That means I’m on top of my game
And it don't stop 'til my hip don’t hop anymore
Ok. If you say so...
...But, just one question:
At the time your buddy made this verbal agreement with the store owner, who know more about the true ebay price of the box?
Don't get me wrong, I drove to 6 stores on Friday looking for FtV's for $35, and I too was a bit miffed when I did not get one. Especially since one of those 6 stores told me two weeks prior that he would sell me a box for $35. But, I knew of I did buy one for $35 who would be getting the better end of that deal, and I did not begrudge the store owner that had become more enlightened to the true value of what he had. Well, clearly they messed up this whole thing. I agree with you that it's bad business to say you will do something and then not do it. Additionally, its NEVER a good idea to upset a costumer as much as they clearly upset you. That's the platinum rule for me: Never let the other guy walk away upset.
No one is arguing that they didn't handle themselves poorly. They did.
Thanks for the response. I wasn't really looking for legal advice per say, just advice in general. Even though I'm a law student, I have no experience suing people or even if it would be worth it. After reading the replies and thinking about it, I'm not going to sue the store.
I honestly wasn't going to resell the set. I wanted to enjoy the cards but if I'm going to pay $80, it's going to a dealer I can trust.
Whether or not we knew about the eBay price didn't matter. I was there with my friend a few months ago when we made the preorder, and only four cards were revealed at the time and we were excited just for those. And it's not like they're not making a profit selling these for $35 each, they actually get them for less.
One would expect they make a profit on EVERY item they sell, not just the FtV.
It would be a funny way to run a business of they did not, wouldn't you say?
Now, if you had a pre-sale receipt (ie you paid for it up front) or some other type of documentation you'd have a much better position. My local store owner said he'd hold sets for 2 different people...then they came out and he sold them all to two other guys because he forgot he was supposed to hold them.
Some stores do intentionally sell items at a loss to drive traffic to the store.
You do not need to be a law student to see that $35-45 is not worth your or a judge's time. The amount of time spent in court alone would be more profitably spent working one day at a minimum-wage job. If you don't mind me asking, is this your first year in law school, or?
If the product contains all of the things it is supposed to (ie contains the cards and die), the dealer is as trustworthy as a person selling the boxed set for $80 can be. If you are paying $80 for this boxed set, the clear message you should be getting is that dealers can't be trusted because the motive to sell the set at more than MSRP is purely profit-driven. You cannot fault a business for being profit driven -- and you shouldn't, otherwise we wouldn't have businesses because there is no way to profit off of everyone paying exactly the cost of production and whatever's enough left over to keep the lights on -- but saying you then trust them for being forthright with their willingness to screw you and more than double the MSRP of a product just to turn over more money comes across as naive.
The answer to this question is kind of irrelevant, since the final word is completely the discretion of the seller, but did the seller write your name down and confirm the final price was $35 with a receipt? Did you give him $35 and pay in full for the product?
If you'd paid for your preorder (ala GameStop and online stores that offer presales of product), your purchase and payment for your purchase is more or less binding at that point -- you paid, in full, for a product then that you were guaranteed, by way of your then-payment, in the future. Reneging on THAT deal is quite shady and enters a legal front that is dubious at best (still not worth your time pursuing, most likely, but definitely dicey as you and the seller have a contract of sale in the form of the receipt showing the exchange for good or service). If you basically just kind of said, "Oh, it'll cost $35? Save a copy for me!," the ground has been tread at this point -- he risks losing you as a customer by jacking the price up when you come to buy, but you guys are more or less shooting the ☺☺☺☺ and there's not a whole lot you can do or say aside from not give him your business in the future.
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I'm in my second year, and like I said, I have no experience how small claims courts work because those are civil, so I don't even know how much that costs. Though I did talk to a police officer a month ago on what I could do about a friend owing me $300 and not doing anything about it, and they said I could take it to small claims court. But I can't because it's been three years and I've decided to give my friend some more time.
Even though you say that this store can be trusted if they didn't take anything out of the Relics box, I'd rather give my money to a dealer who hasn't screwed me. My friends and I have had enough problems with this store, and this is the straw that broke the camel's back.
The first time we asked him, he said he wasn't sure he would even be getting them or what the price would be. A couple months later, he said he would be getting them and that they would be $35. He wrote down a reminder for himself but I don't know what exactly he wrote down or if he even has it anymore. He could have just as well thrown it away. Verbal agreements from businesses can be held in court, but as it's been mentioned in the thread, it's just not worth it. The only recourse is to tell others and not go there anymore.