Wall-Crawler

Graphic Con is rapidly approaching and thankfully the last of the long boxes I ordered are in, so I will now have all new "show" long boxes. New dividers are all labelled. I also started to include information at the top of my sets thanks to great suggestion from @Artboy99 and @thehumantorch for that. Great idea. I just have to transfer books into the new boxes and I also need to price up some new titles to add. Also some new bagging and boarding but I have those supplies. As it stands, I will have two 8 foot tables and about 8 feet behind me to work with, so room for about 24 long boxes. I am going with basic "convention style" and I am not sure if I should do a "center display" or not at this point or just load it up with boxes. I am thinking of doing 15 long boxes of titles (A - Z), 6 long boxes of sets, one (or two) box(es) of "premium" books (keys and semi keys, first appearances, etc) and maybe one box of assorted variant covers. Behind me will be my "wall" with higher end keys and CGC books. On the shelves I will have an assortment of the few toys I have left, comic magazines and hardcovers and what I call "other stuff". I have requested an "end row" booth...If I get that, I will be able to include another 4 foot table. If I get an end row, I will likely just bring 4-5 longs of $2 books (or 3 for $5) to use there and possibly bring my spinner rack. I should find out this week or the next where I will be located.

Not necessarily. Something could have been flagged on the sellers end. We don't know why the seller initially asked. I just don't get what the big deal would be after the sellers initial comment to ask why and upon satisfactory response, to provide it again. It is not like the seller was asking for his social security number. Maybe he just wanted it confirmed, for whatever reason, via the ebay message system. Could the seller have explained or handled it better? For sure. So could the buyer. It was a very snarky reply and I could see, if the seller, for whatever reason had concern, to back away. We all handle things differently and all I am saying is that the whole thing could have likely been resolved between the buyer and seller without any drama in like 5 minutes with maybe three sentences or a tiny bit of friendly back and forth.

I'm wondering why you didn't just respond with a short "just curious why you want this information?" and to have a "normal" dialogue from there. Honestly, it would have taken what, a few short extra sentences? I think that would have been the better way to go...I don't think the seller deserves a neg for asking that initial question as there could have been extenuating circumstances for him asking in the first place. Now, I think if you provided your shipping info and it matched your PayPal info and he still refused to ship, sure, give him a neg but I just don't see what ended up transpiring as neg worthy.

The influx of variants has been crazy and I tend to stay away from them unless I can get like a 1:20/25 variant at cover through my LCS to focus on older books but these ones, I just had a bit of an itch to scratch and like I said, felt like JSC did not "call these ones in". Now that I have these ordered, back to focusing on and saving for older books that I need for my ASM run.

Poor, sweet Gwen

Not released until May 30th but these are the covers...

I have not updated in awhile as I have not purchased anything towards the run. Normally I am not a big "variant hunter" but I "deviated" a little bit from only saving for older books and I picked up a few of the JSC ASM #800 covers. These, in my opinion have been some of the first ones in awhile where I felt like he was not just "phoning them in" and well, I felt like "buying something" so it was kind of the perfect storm . I picked up the MJ, Black Cat and Gwen covers. I think this will have scratched the itch to pick up something and it is back to saving. I have had some shows recently and solid ebay sales so it wasn't too big of a hit and another show coming up in a few weeks.

As someone "chasing" completing an ASM run (including AF #15 - ugh), I certainly feel your pain and will have some hard decisions to make and I am in it for the "long haul". Humble Advice/Options: Determine what you really and truly want to collect and try to stick with it as best you can. I find that in this crazy hobby, there is simply too much cool stuff to collect. I marvel at what people here collect and anytime I see something cool, I think I should dabble in it (like cool GA horror and sci fi covers for example). I was very scattershot before I decided to stick with one goal (but I am not always perfect LOL, sometimes other stuff does pique our interests) but I find that has helped tremendously. If only keys interest you, maybe once you decide what you want, sell the run and buy the trades and/or omnibus editions so you still have the stories and invest that cash into one or two or however many keys you can afford/want. Sell other books that are not part of your focus - Easier said than done, I have several non-Spidey bronze age keys I just can't bring myself to let go of yet...Even though they would help out a lot with reaching my goal...It is a mental hurdle Be selective, figure out what "minimum" grade you would find acceptable for any given key that you may want to pick up. If you are not in a "rush", be picky. You can still get some low or mid grade keys that present great, I love my ASM #3 CGC 5.5 for example and I waited a long time to find one that looked nice in the price range I wanted. Don't get frustrated. You have lots of collecting options. Exploring those could be a lot of fun in and of itself. If collecting becomes something that frustrates you instead of something you take enjoyment from, it might be time to take a break or find something else that makes you happy.

Sure, I'll send a pic of set up but these are the dividers I picked up... https://www.amazon.com/25ct-Max-Comic-Book-Dividers/dp/B01N42IDQA/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1525882735&sr=1-1&keywords=Max+Pro+dividers https://www.amazon.com/25ct-Max-Comic-Book-Dividers/dp/B01N2IF9S0/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1525882755&sr=1-1&keywords=Max+Pro+dividers+red Using blue ones for run books and red ones for premium, sets and variant boxes. In terms of "buffer" protection, I use some thicker cardboard and some bubble wrap made into a "rectangle" shape to help fill a void if box is not full or gets less full during a show...Not sure if describing it right... UPDATE: I also decided to pick up the Square Reader for contactless and chip to start accepting INTERAC Flash, contactless credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and chip credit cards. Given how many sales I had last show with the basic magstripe reader and that the debit machines were emptied, more ways to pay, the better I figured.

Thanks! I am sure it will make things easier for them and for me. Most shows I do I normally have at least two 8 foot tables (with exception of last one where I had to spread a lot out) but yes, I can see how with fluctuation it can be a challenge as to what to bring and how to organize the boxes. Right now, for Graphic Con, likely my last show until the fall, I have two eight foot tables to work with, which works out to about 24 longs...As space is limited not sure if I will do a centre table display (put books out) and might just fill it with longs. I am thinking 16 boxes of "run" books, one box of "higher end" books (organized alphabetically), one box of assorted variants (organized alphabetically) and six boxes of sets (organized alphabetically). Of course, will have CGC and other stuff displayed and available behind me. The only variable is if I get a "end row" I will be able to add another six foot table...If that happens I might just use bring my existing $2/cheap boxes. ...I still do the basic "trade show" set up...I haven't experimented with a "walk in" yet and not sure if I will...

Exactly. Really, the dividers (and even the boxes), spread out over a few shows are a pittance. I would say my booth looked decent before but now customers (and myself) will have a much easier time finding what is where as opposed to specific character boxes or several titles in one box...Just didn't flow the best and was more of a function of necessity when I was just getting started. I have been looking forward to getting this more straightened out for awhile now so excited to see how it all looks and customer feedback.

This week started on re-jigging my set up. I have purchased several new long boxes (15), just a few more to get. As stated earlier, several of mine after many shows and withstanding brief increments of poor weather were starting to show a little too much wear for my tastes. I have also printed up new front labels and I have used white duct tape at the bottom to see if that helps the front of the boxes longevity. It was the front bottom that seemed to have the most damage, so we shall see of that helps. My old show long boxes will be "retired" to local storage so they can still be put to good use. Instead of making my own dividers, I opted to purchase some. I bought the Max Pro (blue and red) Plastic Dividers with folding write on tabs (got a good deal on eBay for them). They seem pretty decent. I have also printed off labels for easy reading instead of writing on them and that way, I can just peel the label off if it needs to change. I will also be making clearly visible what boxes contain what, alphabetically (once I have them sorted into the boxes of course). I'm off this Friday, so I will begin the task of moving my show stock from individual title/mixed boxes to the new alphabetical ones. I am also using this opportunity to do some more pricing to include new stock/titles. This is a fair bit of work and yes, some expense but I think this will lay the groundwork for many, many shows to come. I doubt I will have to buy any more dividers and I can just replace boxes as I need to now. Also, once they are sorted, it will be easier to swap titles in and out. Eventually, I would like for all of my stock to be sorted and priced and ready to go, that is the goal and I am getting there...

1 of each please, CGC SS If a Gwen becomes available, take 1 as a CGC SS too please.

I agree 100%. I was just providing clarity what, for the BBB "unresolved" means but yes, pretty much useless. I see on some of their ASM #800 pre-sale related posts that they are saying that "COMICS WILL BE SENT TO CGC ON MAY 31 AND RETURNED TO PARADISE COMICS 4-6 WEEKS LATER." So, perhaps the "pressure" is paying some dividends with regards to guaranteeing a return time.

I received a magazine slab from a local dealer. There was ZERO damage to the box but the upper right corner of the slab was cracked/smashed and there were pieces in the box. Damage can occur from a drop or in shipping, even if the box looks fine.

Spared!

Yep. Definitely interested!!!

Please send me PM so I can take a look at it

It was a nice little buy and hey, first appearance of Iron Fist and Boba Fett , so can't complain. As @thehumantorch said, little collections can add up and this was just another bonus from setting up at the local show two weekends ago. Also, I have been following the New Collection thread...Awesome stuff...I hope, one day, I can find something like that! Any cool or different Spidey stuff you come across in it, please let me know

Small Collection Purchase So when I set up at my local show an elderly gentleman took my card, saying he had 600 comics and asked if I would be interested in looking at them. I said of course. So, tonight I went and looked. He said originally that he wanted to sell them all and didn't want them cherry picked. Unfortunately, after looking at them, 98% of them were awful. Several comics had his pricing on them from "ebay". So things were not looking good. I told him that I was not interested in taking them all and I would rather take nothing than all of them. I explained, that I only wanted a few as nicely as possible because that the condition on most was bad to average and that as a lot, they would simply not be worth my time. He asked which ones I wanted and a pulled a handful. He decided some money was better than zero money. So, long story short, I at least bought a little something. First up...French Mandrake Digests...I had never seen these before and I just thought they were "neat" so I figured what the heck and had them thrown in. Miscellaneous Iron Fist Collection...Best of the buy. The guy was shocked they were worth "anything". Yes, the Marvel Value stamp is in the MP #15. So sad, no Iron Fist #14 So, not exactly on a collection buying spree but hey, at least it is something and the second tiny collection buy of the the year. Maybe a "whale" of a buy is on the horizon...

Overall, I really enjoyed Infinity War. Looking forward to Part II...I think it will view better as one long movie too. Once I had all the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I loved when I was able to sit and watch those all in one day. I think that will be fun when Avengers 4 is done.

I totally get where you are coming from with Ragnarok. The opening scene was cringe worthy. Some are asking "what happened to Korg or Mieke or Valkyrie in Infinity War"? ...I say "who cares"?