stormflora

Precisely. If he offered comics at FMV and then offered those 40-60% discounts, he would be taking a loss instead. It's a common tactic with upscale merchants, not discount ones. He isn't running a Walmart.

It's a common tactic with upscale retailers. They deliberately price all of their products higher than the prices offered by the competition but offer sales/discounts to entice visitors. To them, the traffic is more important than the sales, and there are enough scientific studies to prove that people are inclined to buy more than one item at a store once they are there, due to the convenience factor. This works out in his favour due to the sheer inventory he possesses. He can claim to these customers that he has everything. The 60% off sale still nets him a profit as it remains over their break-even point for the vast majority of comics. To him, it is "liquidation pricing" to open up inventory and free up space. No loss. As I've mentioned earlier in the thread, I suspect that his primary clientele are whales/affluent collectors/large quantity buyers, and physical customers. Not modern day mail order folk like us who have the time and knowledge to comparison shop. As for why he has a lack of many high demand/rarity comics, chances are, they have already been sold to other people. It's not that he doesn't have any stock for it, it's that he's in the same boat as anyone else in trying to secure those issues and has no incentive in helping clients seek them out unless they are rich and pay him to do so as a middleman. He most likely buys up lots and palettes for cheap and lists whatever he finds in them, just like any other major comic store.

Very reasonable and logical take on lots. Indeed, selling off unnecessary comics = time + labour. Plus competition, considering that there are hundreds of sellers (on eBay) likely selling the same comics for only a few bucks each. It might be worth it at some garage/yard sale where you can buy a box of 100-200 comics for $20-40, but any higher and it sounds like glorified trash removal for the landlord.

I'm guessing the various reprinted/recoloured covers between Dell & Gold Key/Whitman (and up to several times within the same imprint) don't count?

Yeah, that's the whole reason why graded comics exist. They guarantee you will get what it is you pay for. Otherwise, anyone who claims NM/M on anything other than some Modern Age comic is more than likely to be overgrading, unless it's a file copy from a reputable seller. But even if it is, chances are, they would be getting it graded already, which means you are not likely to get anything better than a VF/NM-. Sellers aren't stupid; they know they can make more than you since they can cherry pick issues. To be fair though, it is a viable tactic to buy VF/NM- copies to heat press and hope that it brings up the grade a bit.

I've bought from MCS plenty of times. But they don't have what I need at this time, within my budget. At least, not until their Cyber Monday sale.

In other news, decided that I'm not going to buy from MHC after all. Don't like how PayPal isn't an option, and I'm not sure what to expect buying slightly overpriced Good graded issues. Found some testimonials searching around talking about how MHC overgrades Silver Age and older comics, which isn't promising to know. So I wouldn't be surprised if their Good is actually a Fair. Maybe with actual photos I'd be more inclined to purchase, but without any, it's a pass from me. I'm not going to buy blind.

From what I've seen, there's definitely an overall upcharge on everything, but that's the cost you pay for having a wider selection to choose from. You're really supposed to only buy when there's a sale, like the current Black Friday one. As consumers, we aren't really seeing the big picture. He runs a business. Business functions to make money. If business has existed for all this time, chances are, it's making money. As for why, I think it's because of the physical customers, rich collectors, and huge mail orders from whales.

Oh hey, I think I bought some comics from you a few days ago, lol. If your username is the same as your eBay account, that is. Tom & Jerry.

I've already made a handful of orders from MCS already, and I am certainly just as content. However, it's always the Good area that makes me ponder a bit, as I don't want a comic that ends up looking awful on the cover. But sometimes with older comics, you don't have much of a choice. In any case, since I would be 14 issues closer to completing my collection, and the average cost isn't awful, I will bite the bullet and give MHC a single shot. There is a massive eBay lot I'm preparing to bid on with a high price as it'll fill a significant amount of gaps in my series, so I'll just consider it averaging down. I'll report back with how the order turns out once it arrives. Side note: A thought just came to mind. I think the reason why MHC wants to keep a large inventory is because it would look good in the store to physical customers, many of which don't know much about comics or valuations and would simply buy at face value. It's kind of like how you'd go into a store, buy something that you think is priced fairly, and then later realize it's actually half the cost online. The mail order might not even be MHC's main focus.

From what I've seen of retailers that deliberately cater to the middle class or higher, they typically upcharge their items so that when sales come along, they break even or still make a profit. So, in the case of Mile High, unless a customer is desperate to fill gaps or just wants the convenience of buying a large number of issues in a series at once (that for whatever reason isn't at MyComicShop), they have a solution. Time is money, and sometimes someone doesn't care about paying 2-3x the price for it when they could make it back in a month or two with their $200-300K job. At the moment, I'm filling a basket with a bunch of Good-graded comics that drop below my maximum budget per issue after the 60% discount. And it's a sizable number of issues. But I have no idea what to expect from Good as it is a catch-all for "just acceptable." Still, after crunching the numbers, it's actually a rather low cost per issue ($4.79 USD each after all fees), which is decent.

Side note: I took a look at Mile High's online store just now, and noticed that they're having a 60% off all-store Black Friday sale. So maybe there's some hope. However, MyComicShop is also preparing for a Black Friday sale, of some amount which I've forgotten already. It's going to be interesting. Definitely going to see if I can pick up some Tom & Jerry for dirt cheap. In terms of what I've found at Mile High, although I could fill gaps, it would be mostly with Fair-graded stuff, which is super suspicious. But I have found some acceptably priced issues here and there are at least Good, so I'll see if I can meet their minimum for free shipping.

From the cartoon collector side of the ring: I finished collecting the entire Chip 'n' Dale series earlier this week, and am now in the midst of collecting Tom & Jerry. Many issues are still in the mail, so I haven't taken any photos yet. I almost read that as Two Mouseketeers/Mouse Musketeers, lol. Since I've been collecting that as well (since they are Tom & Jerry).

Apart from the Tom & Jerry, Road Runner, and Tweety & Sylvester finds, the rest aren't as meaningful to me, but it wouldn't hurt to keep a single issue inside of a binder. Maybe I'll slap on a higher price for them and see if it'll flip after a year. I just checked my Bugs Bunny #222, and it does indeed have a 40c tag on it. So I scored right. I wasn't aware about the reprint price variants for those.

Sounds like MyComicShop/Lone Star Comics has taken the crown. They're pretty much doing everything right.

However, this is a clear example of artificial price fixing, and it's just done under the table so that the law doesn't penalize them for doing so. Said auction house in question could make up some BS reason on the surface to delay a second issue from being sold in the same auction, and nobody could complain about price fixing. The actual sellers of the issues also stand to benefit, and the buyers are not going to file a lawsuit on potential price fixing when they don't know that a second, or third, or fourth auction would have what they want. And even then, the auction house could lie and say that it's coincidental new stock.

Technically and likely legally, as long as the issues are legitimate and not counterfeit, the person wouldn't even need to worry. Because CGC would need to grade it 9.8 anyway. They have no reason to bar someone from an issue getting graded. "We don't like how you're saturating the market so go away." doesn't quite make sense. CGC only makes money from the actual grading service, not from trying to keep prices artificially inflated. The issue is that with a constant stream hitting the market, it'll depreciate the value of it over time as people start realizing that there's a lot of supply.

Precisely my thought as well. Competition is healthy. Nobody is forcing you to buy from X or Y store. The customer is free to choose who they wish to purchase from. Sometimes, price isn't everything. Service, environment, atmosphere, warranty, return policies, etc. can all factor in.

It's business, really. Many higher end merchants care more about the individual whales who pay for one purchase to cover 10 people's worth of purchases. You would be surprised how many people out there need something, but nobody has it. Or they themselves are middlemen for other clients who pay them to find them these items, no matter the cost. If Mile High wasn't making a net profit, they would be cutting down the prices. There's property taxes and income taxes and so on to consider, after all. You don't just own a plot of land for free without any taxes to pay and free food to put on the table.

It all boils down to convenience and availability. His store caters to people who want what they need and fast. It's really no difference from you going into a discount supermarket compared to a higher end supermarket, even though both of them stock hundreds of goods that are available in both stores, but with the former being cheaper. Yet, people still go into the latter anyway.

The idea is that he will have hard to acquire issues available when others don't. He's banking on those sales. Rich people who want convenience will buy from him, as well as stores like Doug Sulipa's. They cater to them, not us.

There are too many. Besides, it's just single search away. I was only pointing out what was available and cheap.

For people interested in the rare 80's Whitman comics: I just searched through each issue and pointed out the ones that are available and inexpensive. Rarity is in the eye of the beholder, however.

At the moment, asking one seller for combined shipping on three rare Whitman issues. If it works out, I'll have acquired them at about $10 USD each after shipping + taxes. Below is what I found at prices that are either cheap or don't break the bank. If anyone wants them for their collection, you can find them on eBay or MyComicShop now. I'm not really interested in them myself. Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #483-484. Uncle Scrooge #180-182. Super Goof #63. Mickey Mouse #207. Little Lulu #262. Huey, Dewey and Louie #67. Donald Duck #221 and #224-225. Daisy and Donald #45. Daffy Duck #129-130. Bugs Bunny #223. That's all for now. I took a few more too; they're shown in the attachment below. They aren't super rare though, just low supply. Came out to be $12.13 USD each after fees. I originally found this seller through the Tweety issue, but since they had two more rare issues, I figured I'd pick them up as well. (The other two sellers above had no other rare issues from what I could tell.)