blazingbob

GD FN NM came to the price guide? Formerly NM can cover a lot of grades

Of the three oldtime dealers that were gone from SDCC the only one of the 3 I missed was Bud Plant who still has an idea on how to sell books retail. Terry Stroud was not at San Diego because Terry seems to have an issue with showing up on time and responding to Freeman emails/charges. He waits until the last minute and the promoters finally had enough and sold his booth. Now there were a few guys who gave me the "Ahhh the poor Terry story" but business is business. If you want to show up on preview night or Thursday and expect to waltz in for free maybe its time to look at only yourself to blame for why you aren't at the show. As far as Chuck goes and having experienced the same thing since we also freight ship he finally had enough with the freight trucking load-in with San Diego and waiting for his pallets to be brought onto the floor. Again, having experienced this for a few years with freight load-in's myself we made some adjustments around the load-in issue. Chuck decided it wasn't worth his time/cost/effort and said goodbye. I know San Diego is marketed as the best show but do sellers have to save any of the books you list - I didn't see a Suspense #3, Dynamic #8, Punch #12. Groups of Speed, Catman, Super Mystery, Four Favorites, MLJs, Centaurs, odd ball WWII bondage and war covers ect. didn't seem to be there. Not saying, there were none, I don't know, I wasn't there but I suspect these were in VERY short supply. Why do I need San Diego to sell any of those? And why would I save them for a show when I could easily sell them on my website? Both of my shows were very strong, I sold a lot of big ticket "Pretties" as you call them. I also spent a lot of money at both shows. I'm sure there are a lot of dealers that were very happy with my purchases. There was a lot of business discussed in my booth these past 10 days. I sometimes wonder if buyers really know how hard it is to find quality books. The LA show for those who don't want to deal with the SDCC cost, crowds expenses etc was a Preview/Preview night for me. Nothing was held back on my end. Any buyer showing up at that show had first shot at what I brought. I had books walk up to my booth at the LA show, I bought a collection that was delivered to the show, I was relaxed at San Diego because the LA show give me some time to look at dealers books in a calm environment. From a seller perspective San Diego is exhausting. It is 6 straight days of hard work. I am on my feet 13 hours a day. I look at thousands of books all while competing with other guys doing the same. Those books you see on those dealers walls don't fall into their lap. They all work hard to get them. In addition you compete with the weekend warriors with no booth costs running around trying to buy the same material you are. As I've said before in previous "Death of conventions" if you are holding out for that "retail guy" who may buy your book when I'm standing there buying thousands of dollars of books good luck. Sales are not just made at a show, relationships are built and consummated after the show. I may sell a customer a $1K book but that $1K sale may translate into thousands across the calendar year. And while you think that the Whales swim in LOL I sold all of my FF #1's - 8.0, two 5.5's and a 4.5 over the course of 10 days. Not just at the show but while I was AT the show. I had one customer who came with his wife/2 kids to the show. He/they have never been to San Diego. They had a great time. My neighbor down the block bought 4 attendee badges for their daughter's 16th birthday. I bought my full dealer allotment of badges and attendee badges. If you as a dealer are not doing this you are contributing to the "We can't get in" problem that the promoters don't seem to care about. If everybody was helping customers who couldn't get in wouldn't this help alleviate some of the complaining? Bar stool/forum posting doesn't get things done. San Diego promoters aren't reading these threads going "Oh yeah, we are going to fix that". For some dealers conventions are just a way for them to put up their walls so that they can post their pictures for Instagram sales. Grow, change or die. It is ok to fawn for the old days but remember that businesses evolve. If San Diego goes the wayside I'm sure another promoter will capitalize on the opportunity.

Without trying to steal John's thunder there is talk of a preview night/full day Sunday show. John is working on bringing dealers that fit/deal in other "price points". I will be sending him a list of dealers that he might be able to get to come to the show.

For a one day first time event it was well run. I did very well at the show and would do it again. I was very surprised at who I saw at the show and even some new faces. Either way even if you are going to San Diego and want a Preview Preview night event this would be a show for you to come to.

Spiderman-on-tilt

Niever

Learn how to grade strictly and maybe then you can go down this path.

Hindsight makes you a genius

Paying for fast tracks honestly gives the grading company NO incentive to improve turn around times. Why improve turnaround times when if you are purposely slow impatient customers will pay fast track fees for basically the same amount of grading time.

Books I submitted at the show just posted today, so no.

San Diego as well as most other conventions require a Temporaray sellers permit. I setup in the state, do a show, collect and file sales tax. Without the permit you are unable to register badges etc. The rest of the year CA customers are not charged sales tax. Going forward I'm assuming that they would which means that each state will probably require a online business to have a sale tax number. X number of states multipled by up to 4 quarterly filings and you have the potential for small business to have to file 200 sales tax returns a year. I'm sure business accountants are smiling.

I guess my parents raised me right. When you were warned not to do something because there are rules I generally followed them. Seems others in order to save a few bucks feel it is ok to send a comic book which is not media mail. If they get caught they feign ignorance and pay but continue to do it anyway.

Must be nice to be 3-4 days behind in the news as discussion has been going on for days in another thread. Beach blindness?

Torpedo comics gave up their tables so that dealers could setup at the show.

Since I do not have a physical location in 50 states and only collect sales tax in NY you now have to multiply by 50 and to know 50 different states rules on when to collect or not collect sales tax. I do collect sales tax at the conventions. Dumping this onto the states is not a good thing. If the Supreme Court overruled this it should have one rule for the entire country as far as when to collect online sales tax or not.

So you are offering to come help us set up? I'm sure John would love volunteers Thank you.

Lets see, 3 6 ft tables $375, 20X20 booth $4000+

How about it is the first show and see how it goes.

How can we improve our show experience for you, Oh wait, nevermind LOL

I thought it was corn dogs and root beer? Oh wait if they are from California it would be fish taco's and flavored water.

Appreciate the opinions since I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about the responses I was hearing at the show. Needed to hear both sides of this one.

Hmmm, I didn't think an item in a shopping cart was still available to other "shoppers" while it was in yours. I agree a time limit should be posted Bob

Was listening to two major dealers discussing how long to allow a customer to keep a book in a shopping cart before checking out. One dealer stated that he sold a book that was in the cart because it had been in there a few days. The other stated that the shopping cart isn't a "sale" until the books are paid for. I don't have a shopping cart checkout yet but when a customer orders a book it is no longer for sale, it could have been sold at a show but I generally don't have a specific time frame. If I am at show it could be days before I finalize invoices. Since I know many of the forum guys are online shoppers what are your feelings about this? Is there a certain amount of time you feel you are entitled to before checking out? I am planning on putting in checkout functionality so I am curious about this. Thank you

Unexpected expenses are used more to cancel previously agreed upon deals then selling. Just had a 5 digit multi book purchase cancelled for unexpected expense.

I am not sure this is a general reflection of all. If I were a $1 book seller is there a lack of material? How about if I were a low grade seller, do you think that they have a problem acquiring inventory? Is there a lack of quality golden age collections? Yes, they are tougher to find and if they are any good the seller is going to canvas the auction houses first which if you are a dealer have to say are very aggressive competitors. Ask yourself as a dealer why would the owner of a good golden age collection sell you the books? Your charming personality? Silver age collections - Are there fewer of these coming to the market? Yes, again there are more options to sell the books. Bronze Age collections - This seller is around my age, 57- 60 and approaching retirement. I think there will be more not less bronze age collections coming to the market in the next few years. The new Richism - RID. Retirement, Illness, Death. More collections will be coming due to these three things. I am buying a Death collection. Owner passed away.