The Upkeep Games - Ann Arbor — Local services in Ann Arbor

Hello! I just wanted to share a negative experience I had today (8/24/24) at this store. It has me thinking-feeling that I'll never go back! First I want to say that until this experience I have always pretty much liked my experiences at this location. Yes, their sealed product is overpriced, but their Pokemon singles are typically fairly priced, and the staff has always been either neutral or polite. So I went to The Upkeep Games - Ann Arbor to browse their Pokemon section for some cards. I found a card that I liked, examined it, and checked the price of the card on my phone to see if it was fair. It was priced at market price - which is fair - but when I looked at the most recent sales, the latest sale (8/23/24) along with 3 other sales of the last 6 were all around $5 below market price. Seeing this, I thought it reasonable to ask if they were willing to haggle the price of the card (which I had done there before). So I asked the person who was helping me if they were willing to negotiate and they said "Um, I'm not the one who has the power to do that, but I could go get so and so if you'd like, but he'd probably say no" to which I replied "Yeah, sure." To me, this meant that he'd probably say no, but I could try. Thinking it was worth a shot, I said sure. I wasn't trying to low-ball, and wasn't trying to pester, but just wanted to ask the right person if they were willing to negotiate. So this person then went to the back behind a curtain, spoke with the manager, and came out red-faced and looking uncomfortable. Then the manager guy came out and said "What can I do for ya" and I said "I'm wondering if you are willing to negotiate the price of that card" and he said "What were you thinking?", I said my price and without hardly a moment passing by and with a rude attitude he said "Nope", clearly indicating that he was going to say No all along and that I was being some sort of jerk for calling him out to ask. Feeling awkward at being treated that way, I said "Ok. Uh, so you aren't even willing to...." and he said "No. I have a no negotiation rule, and I'm not going to break that rule today". So I said ok and thanked him for talking to me. Feeling pretty confused and a little embarrassed, I thought to myself "If you have a no negotiation rule, why did you ask me what price I had in mind instead of just telling me you had the rule?" It was like he wanted to tell me no. At that point I turned over my shoulder and my brother and friends were surprised at how rude he was. We left.

After almost two hours later I called the store to talk to him. I wanted to let him know in a respectful manner that I thought he was rude so that maybe he'd think about it and help me understand why. I told him that in retrospect it was clear that he wasn't willing to negotiate, and that had he just came out and politely said that he wasn't willing to negotiate that I would have accepted that and still purchased the card. He told me that the first person already told me No, but that I insisted on talking to him anyway, which is not true. So I don't know if the person who summoned him told him that false narrative (maybe because they were uncomfortable with going to get him and so wanted to put that on me?), or if he just said it to save face with me over the phone. Either way, his behavior was unacceptable. And I had the impression on the phone that he still thought I was a jerk and didn't feel sorry, because he kept saying "I'm sorry you feel that way" which is typically used to deflect and shut down someone's perspective. And then he practically hung up on me as I was in the middle of saying goodbye. Yeah, I won't be going back, and neither will the handful of folks I was...

Absolutely ridiculous. Don’t even bother going here. After explaining that their listed price for PSA 10 Glaceon and Sylveon VMax are incorrect, their employee and I got it sorted out to $950 in value for the 2 cards. $440 for glaceon and $550 for Sylveon at the time of day (check images for comps)

Proceeded to confirm with the manager if that’s the case but lo and behold I get hit with the counter offer of $1200 for both the cards. Glaceon at $550 and Sylveon at $650. The glaceon and Sylveon were $200 more in their eyes for some reason.

Never have I been to a more money hungry card shop, 120% would recommend Stadium over these pathetic prices if you’re in the Ann Arbor area. In general the Macomb/Sterling Heights area have a lot friendlier of card shops and I’d recommend GreenLight Cards or even Hyped. Much more transparent and are willing to work with ya most of the time as well.

Take a look at the images as well, you can clearly see that they have it listed for a ridiculous price and how the recently sold looks. Best part was even their employee knew that the offer was ridiculous, he tried explaining it to their “manager” but I guess that guy wasn’t willing to work out a deal for the long term relationship. They more focused on that extra $200. Even if I was paying market at $950 or $1000, that would make sense and it’s still in favor for the store.

Overall, just very disappointing to see that a lot of the lower star reviews this place has are validated and true. I’ve been to over 30 Pokémon shops all over Michigan in the last 6-9 months and this place just doesn’t cut it and is very unlikely to receive my business in the future moving forward.

Best of luck to you guys!

Moreover Edit The only reason I’m not giving a 1 star review is because the card selection is pretty good and the community that plays here is also pretty good. They do giveaways and are successful for obvious reasons. It’s just not what I expected when trying to work out a $1000 deal with them. There are definitely better vendors and stores who will work a lot better with...

Be careful making purchases here. Placed an online order for a card that was listed as “near mint” and after I had purchased the card and pulled it out of the sleeve, I noticed that there was wear on the top of the card and a speck of small debris attached to it. After bringing this to the attention of the staff, they took the card in search for another one. Clearly the card was not “near mint.”

After a short period of time. A sloppily dressed heavyset male with a neck beard came out from the back room and said “This card is near mint; That Magic cards come out of the packs that way.” Which I know for a fact, they don’t because I’ve never opened a pack in my 20+ years of playing magic where a chocolate-like debris had been adhered to a card.

He then laughed and said “You’re doing this for a dollar?” to which I replied “I’m bringing this up because the card is not near mint.”

I was then asked if i had a gift card to put the dollar on and fortunately I had one because I have done plenty of business at this location.

Long story short, they do not inspect cards thoroughly. They make purchases off of people at a lightly played value and resell them for Near Mint. It is obvious from this interaction that they do not care to correct their mistakes, and that they hire staff that will insult you for pointing those mistakes out directly to them.

Shady cast of people that work here.

Moreover Edit The only reason I’m not giving a 1 star review is because I have done a lot of business at this location over the course of the last 2 years. The card selection is pretty good and the community that plays here is also pretty good. They do giveaways and can be extremely helpful when brainstorming deck ideas. It’s just rather unfortunate that they would list a near mint card at $42 when it’s market value is $39, and then give a dollar back to store credit when the card was blatantly not near...