Nightmares at the National

[buymycards]

I had a great time at the National in Chicago last year and I met many decent dealers with some great cards. I can't wait to go back to Chicago next year. I had one problem:

I stopped at a booth that was operated by CardsOne out of Tennessee. I talked to the owner, Billy May, and I decided to buy a pallet of 500,000 cards from him. We talked about the cards for quite some time. I asked him about the condition of the cards, the types of cards that would be included, etc., and he kept assuring me that I would be extremely happy with this purchase. Now I am thinking - well, he paid a few thousand bucks for his tables and his crew and he is set up at the National, he should be a reputable dealer. He had a nice color catalog, and he seemed very friendly and knowledgeable.

I made the mistake of paying him with cash, rather than a credit card. He had promised that he would ship the cards on a certain date, but the cards didn't arrive. Every time I called, someone would answer the phone and tell me that the Billy wasn't in, or that he was busy. Finally, 3 weeks after the due date, a truck arrived at my house and we unloaded a pallet of cards. When I started going through the cards, I was shocked. 75% of the cards were heavily damaged. They looked like they had been run through a machine and the machine made several indentations in each card. Most of the cards were baseball cards from 1988 through 1993, even though I specifically asked about that and was told that there would be a few of those, but not very many.

After going through several boxes and finding the same types of damage in each box, I tried to contact Billy. He won't answer his phone, he won't respond to emails or Facebook messages, he won't answer questions at his contact page on his website. I tried many times over several months, but he will not respond. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, but he didn't respond to them either. He has 15 complaints, all with the same type of scam. I finally ended up putting 500,000 cards in my dumpster.

So, the National was great except for my experience with one dealer. You should stay away from Billy May and CardsOne. If I had paid with a credit card I could have had my money returned, so that is my fault. Be careful about who you buy from.

Rick