In Ohio, its illegal to charge more than an advertised price for an item.
My sister in law bought 2 pairs of Skechers for $20 each. The clerk wouldn't do it so she asked for a manager. The manager knew better, sold her the shoes, and then promptly sent the clerk to retag them correctly.
For something of this nature, its in the store's best interest to honor the price and then pull the other stock until proper price has been displayed. It saves them grace and prevents the awkwardness that you just described. If they changed the price on me like that, I would just walk out and spread that shady move around and never, ever come back. With my method they earned a repeat customer, and lost little revenue, over a lost customer and unknown revenue by bad word. It makes you wonder, what other impulsive avenues they do at the store.
My LGS only has actual prices on singles in the display cases, and they're updated regularly. Every now and then I used to get good deals out of the case due to mispricing but they've gotten a lot better at carching that kind of thing. The rest of the singles stock is in a massive alphabetical file and anything they take out of the file, they price on the fly at the register. I remember when Shallow Grave jumped in price and I asked if they had any, they literally couldn't find a single price on TCGplayer so they sold them to me at SCG's sold out price of 6$. I'm OK with them verifying at the register that they're selling for appropriate market price, it's only fair, and in the extremely rare circumstance when you get to grab a spiking card so early that even the Internet doesn't reflect the spike yet, good for you, but a store that checks market price at the register before making a sale is not cheating anyone.
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First of all, they cannot kick you out unless you do something illegal. Talking about other shops and their prices is PERFECTLY legal and if they cannot deal with it it's their problem. This how business is done, at least from the side of the customers. In a democracy no one can shut you up unless you break the law. Since when a discussion about price comparison is illegal?
And , of course, if a store of any kind has listed a specific price (in most places at least) they CANNOT change it at the register. Imagine a supermarket doing that. It's a reason to make a scene AT MINIMUM!
At least in the US, a store can kick you out for any reason, as long as that reason does not infringe on the rights of a protected class. Magic players are not a protected class.
And in most states a store can change the price whenever they want, and in every state a store can choose to simply refuse you service, unless once again it is due to a discrimination against a protected class, and Magic players are not a protected class.
And if you make a scene, you not only can get kicked out of the store, they can also call the police and have you arrested for causing a public disturbance.
There are limits to this of course- kicking someone out because of their race for example could end in a lawsuit- but your statement still doesn't apply to a lot of the users of this site.
I remember getting kicked out of a LGS because I was Phyrexian and was trying to convert people to compleation with power tools.
This is why America can't have nice things, why styrofoam coffee cups must say "Caution HOT!" on cups and why people won't help a fellow citizen in distress now a days.
Too many people want to take advantage of a situation if at all possible. Just because you live in America and "think" you know the laws and rights of a citizen doesn't make you right.
Honestly, if you are really making a fuss over such a little thing you need to take a step back. How do you know a previous customer didn't look through a binder earlier and accidentally put cards back into a wrong binder or something.
As for unsorted commons/uncommons; finders keepers. If the LGS can't take the time to sort them, they have no right jacking the price up on that Lava Spike you found in the $.10 common box.
Yes, if only done 1 or 2 times it would be a mistake. But if done repeatedly then something is wrong with them. At least the owner is among the most lazy persons in existence and doesn't want to bother with his merchandise.
Or maybe people try to take advantage and put some of the cards from the .50 bin in the .10 bin. There is nothing wrong with a shop checking their prices. As long as the prices are adjusted up and down. If you don't like how a shop does bussiness go somewhere else.
They had the right to kick you out from the moment you entered. This is just a petty reason why they might use that right. They probably wouldn't, although it's not really a fair comparison.
A fairer comparison would be if you stood by the display telling every customer who looks at the scarf to go to Macy's. If it's actually illegal to kick someone out of a store for that in Greece, it explains a bit about how the country got into its current economic state.
I don't get your second statement. I'm not sure why competition would be seen as a bad thing? Isn't that one of the legitimate "perks" of Capitalism, that prices are driven down by competition?
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You can't always win, and just because you lose doesn't mean you played badly.
Even if you lose, it is important to remain confident in your ability to make good plays and decisions. Lose that and you are truly lost.
Testing is great, and the better the testing is, the better off you'll be.
It is impossible to tilt and play well.
It is possible to make no mistakes and still lose.
I don't get your second statement. I'm not sure why competition would be seen as a bad thing? Isn't that one of the legitimate "perks" of Capitalism, that prices are driven down by competition?
You're talking about two different things. Competition is not the same thing as someone standing in your store telling your customers to go somewhere else.
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Old enough to know better, much too young to care.
This is why America can't have nice things, why styrofoam coffee cups must say "Caution HOT!" on cups and why people won't help a fellow citizen in distress now a days.
Too many people want to take advantage of a situation if at all possible. Just because you live in America and "think" you know the laws and rights of a citizen doesn't make you right.
Honestly, if you are really making a fuss over such a little thing you need to take a step back. How do you know a previous customer didn't look through a binder earlier and accidentally put cards back into a wrong binder or something.
As for unsorted commons/uncommons; finders keepers. If the LGS can't take the time to sort them, they have no right jacking the price up on that Lava Spike you found in the $.10 common box.
I don't think the point of the topic was a couple mistakenly sorted cards.
It was about store owners who check prices at the register and raise them as necessary. Which as I pointed out, at least in my state is illegal.
Its not really about simply taking advantage of a situation. Its upholding store owners to proper business practices
Thing is, you won't force proper labeling if you try to play hardball that way.
All that you'll do is make the store owner remove all pricing from all of the cards, as that's a whole lot more efficient than repricing every time a card moves at all.
There won't be binders sorted by price, you'll have binders sorted by set, boxes sorted by rarity, and popular cards in the case, but nary a price sticker to be seen.
In doing so, you'll never see a mispriced card again, as they'll just do their checks AT time of sale, so in your feelings of entitlement about an extra $1 or $2 and making them stick to the letter of the law, you'll end up never getting a deal on a card EVER again, unless the store owner likes you and finds you to be a good customer.
But, since you're kicking up a stink about $1-2, that's likely to not be the case.
Honestly, if you are really making a fuss over such a little thing you need to take a step back. How do you know a previous customer didn't look through a binder earlier and accidentally put cards back into a wrong binder or something.
As for unsorted commons/uncommons; finders keepers. If the LGS can't take the time to sort them, they have no right jacking the price up on that Lava Spike you found in the $.10 common box.
How is that common "not in the right place" any different than "A binder with cards accidentally put back in the wrong binder"?
That said, there's a point where reason and good sense SHOULD become involved.
If you're a dealer/store owner and you have a $0.10 box of commons and you have someone find a Lava Spike in it, you should happily sell it to them.
It's not any giant "loss" on your behalf, and the good word of mouth that you'll get from it from MOST players (not all, there are some entitled little jerks who'd just expect they deserve it and there's no good grace on selling them the card on your part), is going to benefit you and your store/booth far more than the couple of bucks the card costs. Plus, anyone that person brags to about it will probably go shuffle through your common box/dollar rare box/etc as a result... more sales on a mostly "bulk" product is not a bad thing.
However, in that situation if someone walks up to the counter with multiple playsets of Lava Spike? That's unreasonable. Expecting the store owner to bend over and sell you say, a dozen cards at a 1/20th their going price? That seems no less reasonable that expect Walmart to sell you a flat screen tv for $10 because someone took a price gun and put a $9.99 price tag on it.
That said, even in that case a smart businessperson would still offer to "split the difference" rather than outright refusing the sale.
And as was suggested much earlier in the thread, any store owner that accuses a customer of misdeeds- theft or switching of prices- without rock solid evidence doesn't deserve to be in business much longer.
That said, there's a point where reason and good sense SHOULD become involved.
But it doesn't. Papers and research have been done on this topic. It's called a few different names but the one I've read the most is termed "customer exceptionalism": Customers always believe they are exceptional, and vendors are mundane. The customer views their needs as paramount, and expects all unequal transactions to be to their benefit, regardless of where the inequality was generated.
the example I read was a lot like this thread: If a customer sees a mispriced item that benefits them, they expect the vendor to honor it, even though it was a mistake by the vendor. At the same time, if they buy the wrong item (dating myself here but the example in the paper I read was someone buying a betamax tape when they have a VHS machine), the expect the vendor to allow them to exchange the item, even though it was a mistake by the customer. No matter who made the mistake, the customer expects to benefit from it.
There's a fair bit of research and science behind all this, it's how stores determine lengths of return policies and warranty exclusions and the like. But basically, it's been proven that the majority of customers feel entitled to be the beneficiary of any information inequality in a transaction.
And rightfully so... Everyone tries to get the most he can get from a deal. The merchants try to control the market (and they do it to a good extent) and the consumer tries both to reverse it and pay less whenever and however he can.
The businessman has no sympathy towards the consumer and the consumer feels the same. It is something that goes both ways. They both feel entitled to be the beneficiary in a transaction. It's human nature.
I don't know if that's completely true, as it completely neglects all the "value-added" as well as the knowledge of past transactions.
I will pay more to a local dealer than I will online. I will pay more to a local store owner than I will a local dealer.
"The lowest price" isn't always the chief driver- if it were, I'd actually shop at Walmart. As it is, I will typically ONLY go there if there is no other option.
Thought this was a great thread to post a story of what happened to me today. I went to my LGS and picked out a bunch of cards that I wanted to buy. LGS owner says:
Hold on. Let me look up the prices of those cards. If the price has increased, you can have them at the price they are marked at now, but if they've gone down, I'll drop the price down for you.
THIS is how a LGS gets repeat customers and ultimately makes more long term profits. It may have saved me just a few bucks, but I will DEFINITELY remember and I will DEFINITELY be back.
Thing is, you won't force proper labeling if you try to play hardball that way.
All that you'll do is make the store owner remove all pricing from all of the cards, as that's a whole lot more efficient than repricing every time a card moves at all.
There won't be binders sorted by price, you'll have binders sorted by set, boxes sorted by rarity, and popular cards in the case, but nary a price sticker to be seen.
In doing so, you'll never see a mispriced card again, as they'll just do their checks AT time of sale, so in your feelings of entitlement about an extra $1 or $2 and making them stick to the letter of the law, you'll end up never getting a deal on a card EVER again, unless the store owner likes you and finds you to be a good customer.
But, since you're kicking up a stink about $1-2, that's likely to not be the case.
Then so be it.
Upholding a vendor to the advertised price is not a "feelings of entitlement about an extra $1 or $2".
Here its the law. And charging more than the advertised price is shady business practices. Not a character flaw of the customer as implied.
The vendor is "making a stink" over $1-$2 by upping the price at the register.
Implying a person wouldn't be welcomed back to the store is pure speculation. My sis in law still shops at footlocker, despite getting her 2 pairs of skechers for $20 each.
Thought this was a great thread to post a story of what happened to me today. I went to my LGS and picked out a bunch of cards that I wanted to buy. LGS owner says:
Hold on. Let me look up the prices of those cards. If the price has increased, you can have them at the price they are marked at now, but if they've gone down, I'll drop the price down for you.
THIS is how a LGS gets repeat customers and ultimately makes more long term profits. It may have saved me just a few bucks, but I will DEFINITELY remember and I will DEFINITELY be back.
Indeed. I very much like our new LGS; He has given me a discount at the register on all my purchases so far. Maybe because I'm one of the better spenders there, and I actually buy things instead of just use up playing space.
Upholding a vendor to the advertised price is not a "feelings of entitlement about an extra $1 or $2".
Is it the law that they have to advertise the price? If an item is unpriced then it seems to get around that law. The item in question was not priced, it just happened to be in a box that had a price on it. Heck, the Standard singles at my FLGS are all unpriced in the case.
At my preferred LGS, they have a couple of boxes of $1 cards. It's a mish-mash of stuff, mostly current set junk rares, foils, EDH staples and miscellaneous junk they randomly throw in. Most of the cards would price out on the internet between .25-1.50. And I know for a fact they occasionally seed it with more valuable cards just to encourage people to look.
I'd much rather shop in a world where I might randomly find a nice deal (like a $2-3 mythic to round out a collection in the $1 box) than encourage one where every merchant checks the prices of everything they sell before they ring it up. In fact, one of the stores in my area does that. I can count on one hand the number of times I've bought from them, and I only did it because I needed a card right away that I couldn't get anywhere else.
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My sister in law bought 2 pairs of Skechers for $20 each. The clerk wouldn't do it so she asked for a manager. The manager knew better, sold her the shoes, and then promptly sent the clerk to retag them correctly.
My Buying Thread
Its not about the dollars, its about the principle of the situation.
Very few "principles" would be worth arguing over $1 for.
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I'm always looking for foil Madcap Skills and Ghitu Fire-Eater, [trade thread link forthcoming]
At least in the US, a store can kick you out for any reason, as long as that reason does not infringe on the rights of a protected class. Magic players are not a protected class.
And in most states a store can change the price whenever they want, and in every state a store can choose to simply refuse you service, unless once again it is due to a discrimination against a protected class, and Magic players are not a protected class.
And if you make a scene, you not only can get kicked out of the store, they can also call the police and have you arrested for causing a public disturbance.
I remember getting kicked out of a LGS because I was Phyrexian and was trying to convert people to compleation with power tools.
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Doesn't mean what you think it means.
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Too many people want to take advantage of a situation if at all possible. Just because you live in America and "think" you know the laws and rights of a citizen doesn't make you right.
Honestly, if you are really making a fuss over such a little thing you need to take a step back. How do you know a previous customer didn't look through a binder earlier and accidentally put cards back into a wrong binder or something.
As for unsorted commons/uncommons; finders keepers. If the LGS can't take the time to sort them, they have no right jacking the price up on that Lava Spike you found in the $.10 common box.
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
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Or maybe people try to take advantage and put some of the cards from the .50 bin in the .10 bin. There is nothing wrong with a shop checking their prices. As long as the prices are adjusted up and down. If you don't like how a shop does bussiness go somewhere else.
I don't get your second statement. I'm not sure why competition would be seen as a bad thing? Isn't that one of the legitimate "perks" of Capitalism, that prices are driven down by competition?
~ Brian DeMars
You're talking about two different things. Competition is not the same thing as someone standing in your store telling your customers to go somewhere else.
I don't think the point of the topic was a couple mistakenly sorted cards.
It was about store owners who check prices at the register and raise them as necessary. Which as I pointed out, at least in my state is illegal.
https://www.ohiobar.org/ForPublic/Resources/LawYouCanUse/Pages/LawYouCanUse-288.aspx
Its not really about simply taking advantage of a situation. Its upholding store owners to proper business practices
My Buying Thread
Thing is, you won't force proper labeling if you try to play hardball that way.
All that you'll do is make the store owner remove all pricing from all of the cards, as that's a whole lot more efficient than repricing every time a card moves at all.
There won't be binders sorted by price, you'll have binders sorted by set, boxes sorted by rarity, and popular cards in the case, but nary a price sticker to be seen.
In doing so, you'll never see a mispriced card again, as they'll just do their checks AT time of sale, so in your feelings of entitlement about an extra $1 or $2 and making them stick to the letter of the law, you'll end up never getting a deal on a card EVER again, unless the store owner likes you and finds you to be a good customer.
But, since you're kicking up a stink about $1-2, that's likely to not be the case.
How is that common "not in the right place" any different than "A binder with cards accidentally put back in the wrong binder"?
That said, there's a point where reason and good sense SHOULD become involved.
If you're a dealer/store owner and you have a $0.10 box of commons and you have someone find a Lava Spike in it, you should happily sell it to them.
It's not any giant "loss" on your behalf, and the good word of mouth that you'll get from it from MOST players (not all, there are some entitled little jerks who'd just expect they deserve it and there's no good grace on selling them the card on your part), is going to benefit you and your store/booth far more than the couple of bucks the card costs. Plus, anyone that person brags to about it will probably go shuffle through your common box/dollar rare box/etc as a result... more sales on a mostly "bulk" product is not a bad thing.
However, in that situation if someone walks up to the counter with multiple playsets of Lava Spike? That's unreasonable. Expecting the store owner to bend over and sell you say, a dozen cards at a 1/20th their going price? That seems no less reasonable that expect Walmart to sell you a flat screen tv for $10 because someone took a price gun and put a $9.99 price tag on it.
That said, even in that case a smart businessperson would still offer to "split the difference" rather than outright refusing the sale.
And as was suggested much earlier in the thread, any store owner that accuses a customer of misdeeds- theft or switching of prices- without rock solid evidence doesn't deserve to be in business much longer.
But it doesn't. Papers and research have been done on this topic. It's called a few different names but the one I've read the most is termed "customer exceptionalism": Customers always believe they are exceptional, and vendors are mundane. The customer views their needs as paramount, and expects all unequal transactions to be to their benefit, regardless of where the inequality was generated.
the example I read was a lot like this thread: If a customer sees a mispriced item that benefits them, they expect the vendor to honor it, even though it was a mistake by the vendor. At the same time, if they buy the wrong item (dating myself here but the example in the paper I read was someone buying a betamax tape when they have a VHS machine), the expect the vendor to allow them to exchange the item, even though it was a mistake by the customer. No matter who made the mistake, the customer expects to benefit from it.
There's a fair bit of research and science behind all this, it's how stores determine lengths of return policies and warranty exclusions and the like. But basically, it's been proven that the majority of customers feel entitled to be the beneficiary of any information inequality in a transaction.
I don't know if that's completely true, as it completely neglects all the "value-added" as well as the knowledge of past transactions.
I will pay more to a local dealer than I will online. I will pay more to a local store owner than I will a local dealer.
"The lowest price" isn't always the chief driver- if it were, I'd actually shop at Walmart. As it is, I will typically ONLY go there if there is no other option.
Charging an extra 50 cents or dollar for a semi playable card? Support his store if you shop there.
That's all I got..
Hold on. Let me look up the prices of those cards. If the price has increased, you can have them at the price they are marked at now, but if they've gone down, I'll drop the price down for you.
THIS is how a LGS gets repeat customers and ultimately makes more long term profits. It may have saved me just a few bucks, but I will DEFINITELY remember and I will DEFINITELY be back.
Then so be it.
Upholding a vendor to the advertised price is not a "feelings of entitlement about an extra $1 or $2".
Here its the law. And charging more than the advertised price is shady business practices. Not a character flaw of the customer as implied.
The vendor is "making a stink" over $1-$2 by upping the price at the register.
Implying a person wouldn't be welcomed back to the store is pure speculation. My sis in law still shops at footlocker, despite getting her 2 pairs of skechers for $20 each.
Indeed. I very much like our new LGS; He has given me a discount at the register on all my purchases so far. Maybe because I'm one of the better spenders there, and I actually buy things instead of just use up playing space.
My Buying Thread
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
I'd much rather shop in a world where I might randomly find a nice deal (like a $2-3 mythic to round out a collection in the $1 box) than encourage one where every merchant checks the prices of everything they sell before they ring it up. In fact, one of the stores in my area does that. I can count on one hand the number of times I've bought from them, and I only did it because I needed a card right away that I couldn't get anywhere else.
Innistrad-RTR
UWR Flash: 7-1, 1 FNM Win-A-Box
Rakdos Aggro: 20-8
UW Flash: 11-5
Boros Aggro: 3-1
Jund: 42-12-3, 4 TNM Win-A-Box, 2 Koopa Standard IQs, Gatecrash Game Day Champion, M14 Game Day Champion
RTR - Theros
RDW 6-0 1 TNM Win-A-Box
Esper Control 7-4
Boros Burn 3-1
RW Devotion 3-1
Monoblack Devotion 8-4