Tight Ass Games and Tony's Ass Wop Shop haven't been trading for a while. Like Troll & Toad, they were in the business of lying about condition of their products and they but the dust. I don't think Tonya could cut it in the real world when daddy gave up the business, but she certainly was a cut off the old b'llock.

I will miss Titan on Ebay.  They had low prices matched with high shipping costs that angered some people, but the shipping prices were clearly stated up front.  If you worked a packaged deal with some of their least expensive items, you ended up with a great price.

Troll and Toad is my most freqent RPG vendor, with excellent customer service, true combined shipping and some of the best prices on the internet.  

I don't know about lying about condition.  I suppose that could happen, but I haven't seen an example.

I do know that Troll and Toad is known for high prices on the highest level of collectible items.  I cannot see where that is unethical.

This could have happened, because I know Troll and Toad had a problem for awhile with using pictures picked up from other sources.  

They also list multiple copies of the same item using the same picture...which I suppose would be common when you have a whole box of a module.  Would we really expect them to photograph each one they list?  Don't they say that the photo is a stock photo?

Is there a specific instance where Troll and Toad performed less than their best and then refused to make things right?

(I don't buy the ultra rares, so no problem there.  For me, collecting is more about finding what I feel are bargains...either because I found a special source or because I predicted what would become valuable.  Also, condition means less to me than holding an original copy of something.)

I took the chance and won an item a month back from T&T, its a NM copy of R3, at $210....which is not a bargain, but not a terrible price either, and I got it timely and beautiful shape...although I agree that generally they have these items at ridiculous prices...

I ordered a bulk lot of stuff as a combination of stuff from Ebay and their store and dealing with the "customer service" to get combined shipping etc was an absolute nightmare.

For specific examples, I asked if I could buy stuff from their store and Ebay and have them shipped together.  They said yes but when it came time to checkout they said they would not.

I ended up winning a lot of their auctions (over 100).  I made a payment after a couple weeks for the first bunch and they said they would hold onto them until I finished buying to combine the shipping with the later ones.  However, they didn't do that and then later said they wouldn't have done that anyway - again even though they said this to me in the first place.

So stuff when out in two stages.  Both times, because Ebay invoices only let you have 40 items grouped together, the items from different invoices could not be shipped together (as per T&T's policy) so at each stage I had to have 3 packages shipped out.

I also traded in a number of items and was happy with the price they paid me but it also took forever to get sorted out.  I recall their website claiming a week or two to get the credit into my account.   In reality it took them 2 weeks to approve my trade in list (all items on their buy list), then another 5 weeks after my package arrived there to get the credit.  In the meantime, some items I was interested were sold and on others they raised the prices.  They would not hold the items I while I waited.

Dealing with their "customer service" was a joke.  In total I think I called them more than 20 times just to sort out the trade in, shipping and price.  Everyday I called, it was like they had no idea who I was or what the issue was even though I talked to the same person day after day after day. Even then, I could not pay through Ebay because they could not figure out how to change the price on the invoice so I had to send Paypal payments directly to their T&T account, then mark each auction as paid myself.  They also never provided me with the tracking codes or shipping info.

As far as packaging goes, I would say it was probably adequate but not above average.  They didn't tape up the edges of the box or have much packing material inside.  Most of the books arrived safely but a couple of the boxes split and 3 or 4 books sustained damage.

As far as condition goes, you really can't fault T&T because they rarely state accurate condition on any used item.   Their generalizations don't really give you much to go on at all.  Things like may or may not be complete or contain photocopies, etc.

Their auction pictures are not terribly useful either if you are looking for a specific print - you are not guaranteed to get the print shown in the picture.  This was a problem for a few items I purchased as well.

Tharizdun wrote:I think that they make so much from CCG's that RPG's are kinda low priority maybe?

This is exactly the point that is commonly made about T&T and not just here.  Their business is mainly CCGs and they just don't care about RPG buyers.

Tharizdun wrote:It's a risk buying from any reseller I suppose

If you want to generalize, it is a risk buying anything anytime and it is a risk waking up and walking out the door, etc.  But some things are riskier than others.  If you are going to compare NKG with T&T then you can look at basic things such as are item descriptions, response to emails, etc.  You can also look at general code of conduct.  If you want a more rounded opinion, you also look at reputation so you are getting input from multiple sources (a broader range of transactions).  Every business is going to have a bad transaction from time to time but the frequency at which it happens is what is probably more important and how it is dealt with.  In any of these matters I think NKG hands down beats T&T.

I personally will probably never deal with T&T again.  I have had one experience with them and it was the worst I have ever had in 10 years of buying.  Most of the books I purchased were new so condition wasn't an issue (except for the ones damaged) but their code of conduct to flat out lie then hope its not important later is not someone I want to do business with.  Then when its brought to their attention later one, they neglect to even address it and don't respond.

There are people I have dealt with on Ebay that I think are jerks and I have been screwed by but T&T are the worst of the lot in my book.   Not only because of their conduct is some of the worst I have seen but also because they're not naive to the industry and they knowingly are out to try and screw people.

faro wrote:e.g. http://www.trollandtoad.com/p205274.html ?

Yes, that is a good example.  I think that is the one that someone bought and returned because it is missing all the maps.  They know it is incomplete but yet can't be bothered to update the description and are just waiting for the next buyer.

faro wrote:  Anyhow; back on the OP, Titan Games at least were a bit more transparent on description albeit "transparent" on shipping /was/ a major pain for international sales. A pity, that.

Titan was another fish that was sometimes difficult to handle.  Again no combination of Ebay/Store purchases but at least they were upfront about it.  As a note, NK doesn't seem to have a problem doing this.  Titan's Ebay pricing was fine but their handling charges were just astronomical.  I think the part that bothered most people was the lame excuses to try and justify them - $1 per item to pay Tonya's listing fee, then $1 per item to pay the packer (probably Tonya), then another $1 to pay the shipper (probably Tonya again), etc.  For international sales, each item was going to be shipped in a flat rate box so if you were going to buy 10 items, the shipping was something like $25 + 9*12.50 = $137.50 when they would all fit into one Flat Rate Box for $25.

Doing mail order through their actual store website was much easier to deal with and you could get some great buys.