I've been collecting on and off for around .....
lets just say a long time. Not as long as some, but a long time.
There aren't really many people I've run across that I've put on the "never buy from" or "won't sell to" list. Of course there's a bunch I just don't bother with, but not actively. More like the guys at shows who don't have what I'm interested in or whose prices seem to be "excessively imaginative"
Most of the big problem dealers are in the category of people who sell stuff I can't afford so by default I won't deal with them.
I can't say I'm a great seller or buyer. I can drop communication for a day or two if I'm busy of thinking about something, or simply haven't dug it out from under the stuff on top of the box it's in. (Lots better with active sales - I keep that stuff easily accessible so I can ship it easily)
But then, I don't get cranky if I'm debating a purchase and someone else comes along with a solid offer. That's the risk of thinking about stuff.
The very short list?
A card shop in CT where I got dropped off and after 5 minutes the guy gets a call and says I'll have to leave since he needs to go sell his house! What, you couldn't have mentioned it when my ride who is now gone for 2 hours was still here? Gee thanks.
Mr Mint. I called about his ad for the tango egg cards and never got a call back. Not even from staff to say they were sold out or that the prices were a typo - they might have been.
A current Ebay seller with very washed out scans and a trimmed card that didn't respond until I filed a case. Then it was "oh I was away" so I couldn't respond and eventually a request to remove the negative I gave. All without ever addressing the trimming........
And not cards, but one stamp dealer.......Picked out some stuff, and the first thing in the stack he says "ok that's $75 " " umm, but it's clearly marked $10" "that's from when I bought it" "ever hear of an eraser?" Do you want it or not" "No" How about the other stuff?" "are those the price you paid too?" "probably" "Then nevemind and thanks for wasting my time"
I think he might have died, he was pretty old and I haven't seen him setup anywhere in a few years. But I always passed by his booth without looking.
The close runner up is an antique shop in CT. They had a bunch of nice sewing stuff my wife wanted at great prices. When we went to buy it she said "Oh no, you can't buy all of them you have to leave some for other people" followed by a lengthy gripe about how ebay meant she couldn't buy stuff cheaply anymore. When they worked out what my wife would be allowed to buy - easily the strangest negotiation I'd ever seen. We got to my stuff. And I said "well, I'd have bought about $100 in stuff, but I suppose I need to leave some for other people". And went through the stack and put back about $75 of the stuff. Then she took back some tools which were apparently the handymans he'd left in a pie plate in the window with price tags on them.......Never seen such a messed up place. But the stuff I did get was REALLY cheap, so.....maybe.
Steve B