Wonder Cards & Comics — Local services in Berlin

Don’t spend much time in the area but love checking out local collectible shops. Went in to find a very cluttered and disorganized store. The gentleman there whom I’m assuming is the owner was friendly but didn’t have much idea where things are or express much interest in helping. Stated I was looking for older items from magic the gathering and he produced a small stack of higher value items. I selected 2 cards and after some back and forth he produced a price that was on the high end of market value. I made a counter offer and said I’d pay cash he came back with an offer in the middle stating “I’ll take agreed price cash” I said ok I will go to the atm and return to which he said okay at no point did he mention he was not factoring in tax to his “cash price”. I returned having withdrawn the agreed upon amount of cash and he announced well plus tax leaving me with not enough cash in hand. While I understand that tax is a thing when someone states “this price cash “ and I leave to go get that amount of cash to me it is common sense that I will be returning and handing you the amount of cash we agreed upon. All this is fine but I did not want to go get more cash or put the transaction through my card and pay more so I stated I was all set and I’d just be leaving. I would not have bothered with a review if it had ended there, however the gentleman became argumentative and upset yelling about how in Vermont we pay sales tax and acting like I was somehow trying to pull a fast one on him and place an undo burden on him. When in reality I just didn’t want to make another trip to the atm or pay more and decided the deal was no longer for me. Having looked at several other reviews I’m sure an in detail rebuff of my opinion is coming from the owner, but for me one visit was enough I won’t be returning and I am glad that I am not stuck with this as my local...

Was alright, seems to be the closest place to buy and sell magic cards in the area. HOWEVER and this is a big however, it is not organized at all. Most of the cards are completely randomly strewn about in boxes and it's on you to look for cards that are valuable, the store has "rare boxes" that any modern magic player would find.. less than interesting to look at. The (who I assume is the owner) uses eBay searches to price cards, which normally would be an.. OK decision, however, he will re-price cards that already have tags anyways. eBay is a lot less reflective of the market than tcgplayer for both buying and selling, and the prices he decided on were completely arbitrary, I didn't really care to argue with him about it as I knew from other reviews this is exactly what he did with everyone. The problem overall, is that it's on me, the customer, to search through what is pretty much piles of commons to find one maybe good or valuable card, then I'm expected to pay full price or in my case a premium on that card. I think the only reason the owner operates in this way is because he'd sold one too many cards for less than the card was worth and he was tired of getting burned, which is totally valid, but I'd say unless you had premium cards or very rare finds (alternate language foils or something) something has to change. This seems like one of the many card shops a person would go to where the owner is clearly interested in their business doing something else, sports cards, comics, toys, etc. BUT the demand for magic cards is simply too large to ignore. The owner was a nice man, but his method of running his business is simply not welcoming, and I feel like if another more established card shop were to open, it would be a problem...

I really want to like this place, because cards and comics make a lot of children (and inner children) happy, and the owner seems to recognize that. The problem is, you really can’t “shop” here,, because you can see neither the inventory nor the prices. The store is cluttered — and that by itself is not the end of the world — but so much is hidden or not displayed, and in some cases, the owner doesn’t even know what he has after 20+ years of business. Other card and comic shops have their inventory accessible or at least visible, so their customers can peruse and occasionally thumb through it. Here, I get the impression that this guy thinks we’re going to shoplift or otherwise rip him off. It seems like he would rather hide half his inventory, eagle eye every customer, and spend several minutes pricing every transaction on eBay than run any risk of being taken advantage of. Not only does this make for a less than desirable shopping experience, but it’s ironic, because he would make more money and enjoy himself more if he’d relax. He’s a smart guy and, at heart, a kind guy, and I love how he gets excited about collecting. I hope this review is taken as constructive criticism, because my kid and I would love to have a great shop so...