blazingbob

The load they were going to leave wasn't plastic

If I am anywhere near a concession stand I get the "lunch counter" crowd. Any open space on a table turns into a dining area. For others it turns into "their" work area. Some ask, some do not. When confronted I usually get that they were getting ready to look in my boxes. No you weren't.

Welcome to the convention world. Stuffing, jamming, thumbing, bending. And people wonder why I'm frowning at customers. I am not sure why more people don't respect something that is not theirs. The best responses are bending it, looking at the price sticker and wondering why I'm grabbing it out of their hands. In some cases I've had to ask the person if they were having a bad day since their frustrations were clearly being taken out on a defensive comic book.

I was selling comics when I was a teenager. When I was younger I always wanted to be a professional bowler. So that I didn't have to look back in my life and do a shoulda, coulda, woulda I I became a regional pro bowler in my 30's. I was also working for Verizon full time as well as helping Vinny at shows. I bowled on the Eastern regional tour for 3 years. I wasn't quite good enough though I learned it was more mental then physical at that level. Unfortunately I discovered that I made a lot more money selling comics then I did on the tour. As I stated earlier I worked for Vinny for 4 years, he merged with Metro and I started Highgradecomics.com in 2000. In 2008 Verizon laid me off after 30 years. I already had the business established. I sat down with my wife and went over our financials. I also had the support and was friends with people who had their own business. My business plan was not to be like everybody else. I already knew what to do and how to do it because I had worked with Vinny for 4 years. I stuck my ego aside and learned from somebody who was already successful. We helped each other. Each brought something to the other, I had a IT background, Vinny thought big and was ambitious. We worked well together. We both worked hard. I don't regret one day I worked for him. He knew I was going to have to leave one day. We both knew it. As far as my own business went I knew that I could get books, I knew how to sell and I knew what to do and what not to do in the business. Am I perfect, nope. Have I made mistakes along the way, yup. Do I learn from my mistakes? Yes.

Is this an attempt at showing off or just a reflection of bad selling skills?

Rip off the cover, problem solved

I'm holding my powder ready

I am not a big fan of restored silver age. There are still plenty of unrestored copies out there. With Golden age it really depends on the amount of work done and frankly what your budget is. When a buyer asks me an opinion of a restored book I ask them to put their selling hat on and ask yourself what will the buyer focus on? The amount of restoration, what was done, does the work look real or was too much done? It takes a lot more "salesman" to sell restored books.

But I did have a iced tea. Brian is a fine wine drinker.

AS #24 9.2, FF #29/FF #30 9.0, Haunt of Fear #16 1950 CGC 9.2, Showcase #4 in low grade walked up to table, some misc bronze/copper

Mike Francesa is still the godfather of sports talk

Steak Frites which was excellent by the way

Setup was today for Motor City. Setup was much smoother because I parked outside and wheeled my inventory in. Got to look at some cool books, bought some. It was sunny and 70 in Novi MI. Dinner at Toasted Oak tonight.

None taken. Don't worry, I'm not taking a who is naughty who is nice question list.

Me

While not a 1st appearance I have found Strange Tales #111 to be very difficult to find in 9.2 or better.

Blazingbob's face was one of utter shock as they fell like domino's. Jim's was as if he got caught in the cookie jar when he was little.

I'm sorry that I don't light up when you come by the booth. Again, you are exactly the person I am commenting about in my above post. You assume I am grumpy by what you "See". I am sorry that I don't have a big smile all the time and full of energy. I load the van (40-45 boxes, 3 racks, signs). Most shows I drive to. Sit on lines or hopefully it is a easy load in where I then unload the van (40-45 boxes, 3 racks, signs). Setup the day before, walk around the show buying books which by the way gets more and more painful as the day wears on. At most conventions I'm up at 6:30 am, by the time you see me at a show I've already put in more then a few hours of work. Stand on concrete all day long. Hopefully while buying I don't have to get into a dealer buying frenzy with others. Look at thousands of books to find the stuff I need for customers. Make sure I don't make mistakes or miss something buying them. Then stay focused all day long making sure nobody is stealing or damaging your books which I've been doing for probably 20+ years. You on the other hand still enjoy the convention circuit and have the "perception" of what we should be experiencing when we do shows. There are reasons other then financial why sometimes you don't see other big dealers doing shows. They HATE doing them. Harley's business model is doing conventions. Rick doesn't do a lot of shows. When I leave a show I am home and go right back to work because as you know my website runs 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Which I'm sure you know I work 7 days a week.

While I love the Canadian market I find crossing the border with inventory the moral equivalent of war. You would think that the US and Canada hate each other. So that people understand to do business in Canada you need to have an agent. That is basically the same as me buying one table and paying for two. The agent takes care of all the paperwork necessary for you to conduct and do business in the Country of Canada. They come to the show and go through your inventory, your paperwork better match what you bring. Depending on the amount of inventory you "declare" you are charged. Last time I brought inventory to do a show the cost was around $900. You need to be careful on the declared value. If you are lowballing the value and they decide to go through it they can seize the inventory. This has been done to a Canadian dealer that was doing business in the US. On Sunday they come to verify what you are leaving with. You better have the same number of boxes you came in with. You can't get back your inventory into the US unless you have the paperwork all done by the agent. You then come up with sales because the Canadian government expects some tax revenue. Now comes the fun part. Bringing that inventory back into the US. While you may be a US citizen the border agents are very zealous in going over your paperwork and confirming what you are bringing into the US. I have gone into Canada to do buy a collection. Even with a receipt of payment and my commenting that I would pay a duty on bringing the collection in I was still brought into a holding area where a border agent went through the boxes. After an hour and a half I was let go, they didn't charge me a duty but nonetheless it was not a pleasant experience. I find it much easier to do shows in Canada by partnering with dealers that I have done a few deals with. If there are any books that customers wanted to see at a Canadian show I would probably send it up to them. The website has also been updated with a location code in the Advanced search where canadian customers can order books that are in Canada and save on US/Canada shipping costs.

I'll try that setting and see how it does.

I find that as I get older I have less patience. I am continued to be surprised by how others expect me to do business but it is not reciprocated. While a lot of customers feel that the customer is always right I honestly have a hard time being dictated on how much I should make, that I don't work as hard to get the books as it does for you the customer to buy them. I do not cheat people out of their books, I expect to be treated fairly. If you want transparency you sometimes get to hear something you don't like. I have high expectations and frankly I get disappointed in some people. Others do not know that because I have CIDP which is the chronic form of Guillaine Barre syndrome that I am constantly in pain. It is a disease where I may look ok on the outside but I have nerve damage that frankly hurts and causes fatigue. When you come by a show and expect me to leap out of the chair or smile all day that isn't happening. I do not take painkillers, there are no cures and I live one day at a time. I don't whine to my friends or my wife. I work, I work hard and I do the best I can with the hand I've been dealt. By posting this I am not expecting a "poor bob" or pat on the back. But sometimes it is very frustrating when people who don't know judge me by what they "SEE".

Blazing Johnny Storm, Blazing bob I was a big fan of Storming Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. Patton was one of my favorite war movies.

I've never read a book about comic books. My favorite book is Liar's Poker where I used the phrase BSD to describe some of the collectors and dealers out there.

Just because you party like a rock star does not give you a pass or NOT make you accountable for your actions.

I do not remember what the name of Vinny's podcasts. I'm assuming if they are still around the Jay maybruck ones are still there.