So i’ve ordered from TnT before and understand their problem with NM. But in terms of something like newer Japanese product, like for example a Full Art Pretend Pikachu, how is their quality? I assume they can’t mess the cards up just putting them in sleeves/toploaders right? I know they are loose on NM, but I’ve never ordered anything really besides binder cards from them.
Any experience?
Are their prices lower than eBay?
They can, because they send UNsleeved cards in regular envelope
They have a reputation for scratched foil cards.
I have a strong tendency to believe that the have a strategy for selling lower condition cards. It makes sense if you think about the maximum amount of tolerance people will present when receiving crappy cards. Some people won’t complain while others will so their first technique is usually to get away with what they can. I’ve complained about getting garbage before and they have exchanged it for better cards. I would stay away from older generation cards and just stick with newer stuff. The approach is that of a budget company though, so you get what you pay for.
Hate that store
Exactly their thought process. I gotta say I use T/T for one thing being completing binder sets. Getting all those reverse holo’s, odd crosshatch holos, pokemon league promos, tin promos, all delivered in one envelope with tracking that usually gets there pretty quick, I forfeit a little bit of anger when they come in a little more scratched up then I wanted. The store is built on the playing community and the binder community + a resale store that offers nice incentives (25% bonuses), to build up to larger sealed/older product. Sure in a perfect world they’d all come back MINT, but then again, if that card was truly mint, I would figure they’d just send it in to grade themselves, or someone there.
But as always, I digress.
I find it hit and miss, I ordered about 20 holos from them and had to send back like 12 of them.
I wouldn’t expect them to be grade worthy, but I would imagine new Japanese will be better than their normal EX- condition for old back cards.
I honestly don’t have any issues with TnT. I’ve ordered from them numerous times and am mostly satisfied with the results. Sure, not all the cards are gems, sometimes you can get pretty lucky though. Some cards were not up to my expectations of NM but it’s been few. If I am looking for truly mint/ NM+ quality cards I’ll scour ebay for cards with front and back photos. If I’m willing to gamble a little bit I’ll order from TnT or TCGPlayer. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose, but I’ve had more successes than failures.
I think most need to temper their expectations a bit. There is no other single store that I know of that has the inventory and flow of Pokemon cards that they have.
Side note, I know they offload really crappy cards through alternate eBay account(s). They sell card lots of damaged cards. misprints, and various oddball cards that don’t make the grade for their retail store front. So they at least pay attention to conditions to some degree, especially on more valuable cards.
I’ve never gotten a single card in a toplpader from them, its just in their cardboard envelope. Also when I order multiple cards they stuff all of them in a single penny sleeve .
That’s the big thing, these guys are not just random people, they know how to make money off their items. If a card is worthy of a grade, they are gonna grade it themselves and make the premium.
Same thing with those who sell “possibly shadowless boxes” for instance. If they know the box is shadowless, they are gonna sell it as such or make a premium off it in other matters. But if they know its not, they are gonna sell it as possibly shadowless. This is just like a card that could be possibly graded, but they know it would never get a gem 10, so they sell it as a NM card.
People have high expectations, and the big question I don’t think people realize is, if its that good of a deal, why is that deal there in the first place?
I buy from them occasionally, not expecting mint cards though. It would be a lot better if they even sleeved the cards, should go in toploader or card save too, when the cards are like $10+ imo
I mean I always send like that, but at what price do they?
I don’t think TnT sends out cards to be graded nor has a representative that does. Would love for someone to prove me wrong. Most the people that touch the cards aren’t tuned into the cards value in my experiences with them and their employees.
Their pricing matrix is kinda cool. I think that a number of factors go into pricing. For instance cards that sell out quick once they are in stock usually receive a bump the next time they are in stock. My assumption is it’s mostly automated though they may have someone monitoring it. So when you see cards that are a good deal sometimes they legitimately are. I know I ordered a bunch of TRR EXs for a great price in comparison to going rates. But as they come back in stock the prices continue to rise because they sell out.
Side note: I did recently purchase a $100+ card from them and it was shipped in a penny sleeve in a top loader in a bubble mailer.
I agree that at their volume, it may be a stretch to think they look at every card to its value for grading. However, when its at the extent that they have a strong nine 1st ED Blastoise, I bet they are sending off to pull a 9, and when its a low 9, strong 8, they are selling up at the NM condition, to still make profit knowing it will not pull that grade. DA card world for instance, is very very active with PSA markets, and sells multiple complete sets graded.
I would definitely imagine that T/T have extra ebay accounts built for the purpose of solely PSA cards. TCA gaming (Rusty), huge reseller, still has a huge chunk of his investments into PSA markets. When you have so many cards coming in and out, I would imagine they keep their eyes on some and almost utilize those send off’s as their retained earnings. I would love to see some of the big companies and their stockpiles they have built up over the years, some of these old companies could be sitting on a great deal of items just waiting for the moment to drop. Even if T/T does not with their company in mind, I bet their employees do. You say some of them are not in-tuned, I would have to disagree. I cannot imagine their workers are not active within some of the markets and therefore have first hand picks on those cards coming in, just due to the sheer volatility of the markets for CCG’s. Its a market that really needs both a drive to succeed and a drive of enjoyment to keep it not frightening as we are talking about big investments for colorful cardboard.
Very nice on the $100 card, 1 in a million haha, may I ask what you purchased? Its funny, I have looked on their site for things, never been able to find them and then find out they sold one a couple days later, anything over $100 usually peaks my interest.
They are the Walmart of Pokemon cards 
Especially if you message them regarding the conditions of a card you bought from them… I guess they are more for players rather than collectors.
Believe me. They know exactly what they’re doing. Somebody mentioned returning cards a dozen times. Talk about kicking a dead horse that was miles away in the middle of nowhere;)
I’ve ordered from them twice and had problems each time. First time I bought about 10 “NM” cards and received closer to LP-EX condition cards with lots of holofoil scratching and some whitening on the back side.
Second time was at the end of last month when my order was all together lost. They didn’t ship a $65 dollar order with tracking and it got lost. What the hell is that? What company in the right mind ships a $60+ dollar order without tracking?
I must not be in my right mind either;)
You gonna order from them a third time?
I order from them every now and then and request that my cards are sleeved. I purchase enough sleeves through their store and put on the order that I want these used for the cards I purchased. Half the time it works half the time it doesn’t, if I want them to be sleeved for sure I call them and they always get it done.
Does dead in the head count ^.^?