blazingbob

I'm sure he is but hey he can run over to Metropolis and list his copy for $80K

Where are you getting $75K from?

I did just fine.

Setup and find out. I would never believe a promoters attendance numbers. Any of them, not singling out Wizard on this.

The low grade copies were consignments and pulled by the consignor.

Well looks like Wizard Cleveland is the same weekend as Emerald City. Scratch one convention off my list.

How they divine page quality? Is that like a blessing?

But just remember because I have 12 books in my ebay store the convention buyers are entitled to the "ebay discount" even if the book isn't in my ebay store. I'm also supposed to give them the "Admission discount", the "customary 1st beer at the show discount", the "VIP signature signing discount" and the end of the day "Last beer for the road discount". Bob's Magic Money Tree rains cash

Really? Last couple of AF #15's I sold were a bit less then what the auction houses sold them for so I'm not sure where you are pulling this from. Buyers were pretty happy. So were the consignor's considering the amounts I got them on the books I've sold recently. Add that my consignment rates over 10K are lower then the auction houses and the buyers got pretty close to what those bargain auction houses got. All with the simple me and them negotiation. No speculation of shill bidding.

This isn't about the "quick flip". It comes down to that dealer has the customer and the other dealer doesn't. So what if he flips it right away. That customer may just buy from him. If he doesn't buy it from that dealer then maybe the guy doesn't buy it from anybody. End result NO SALE. This result, both dealers made money.

Remember, we are the worst customers. Because as we know in this day of technology and vulcan mind melds customers know exactly where the book they are looking for is.

Of course, its always for my personal collection

Yup they all ask for the best price in cash. Price is agreed on and out comes the credit card.

Frankly this is a job of the auction house to educate the sellers that putting a few copies up for the same time is just going to cause the better looking copy to sell for more then the "perceived" ugly ducking(s) of the group. And if I were the owner of the "ugly duckling" I would thank them and look at another alternative.

Now while that is great that you feel the seller should sell the book less the ebay fees do you take into account the convention costs of him setting up? The dealer does not "net more" when selling at a convention. What am I saving by selling the book less my ebay fees? If you happen to see the book at a show the dealer has costs to set up and sell there also. The benefit to the buyer is that the book is right in front of them. No shipping fees. Instant gratification of having the book in hand. Not sure why you think we are there for FREE and which is why I have never bought the "You are saving Ebay fees argument".

There are also customers who order off my website and pick up their books at the convention to save on shipping costs. Now while that is great for the customer I do still absorb the cost of setting up at the show. There are still a lot of customers out there who do not "search the web" and are new to my website. I agree with Greg that there are a lot of customers who want to look at the books in person and buy at a show. With all the complaining about convention costs I really wonder why many who want to buy and sell books DON'T invest in their business. You go to shows to network, you go to shows to learn, you observe, you pick up things you would do and things you wouldn't by observing what others are doing. Pick the best attributes from the good sellers and learn what not to do from the bad. Network with sellers because in this business the hardest part is to find the right books at the right price. If you think can shortcut your way to the top you are sadly mistaken.

Unless I'm asked a dealer really shouldn't throw out an opinion on a book. If the customer had a concern about the book they are the ones that have to ask the question about the dealer's return policy before they buy the book. Just because the guy behind the booth has a sign and some boxes doesn't mean they are a business or have a return policy. If the staple was an area of concern then having it graded would have been a very good idea. Rather be 100% sure or constantly looking at the book and wondering. I have had other dealer's books brought up to me at shows asking if I they got a good deal. Very dangerous question to ask me since I generally am pretty upfront. But remember that somebody could take one of my books and do the same so it is a fine line when you put a dealer in that position. Everybody misses something. I try and teach buyers when looking at raw books some of the grading tricks I've learned so that you don't miss subtle things like non-coloring breaking creases etc. If the dealer gets pissed off at you pointing out something to the buyer it generally means they are more upset with possibly losing the sale or having their mistake pointed out in public. There is the right and wrong way to do that. There really is no GRAY area for Disclosing restoration. If it is there and you know it you should disclose it. There is no GRAY area on this. If you get caught that you knew it was restored and didn't disclose it you deserve the reputation you helped create.

The problem of having to grade loose shows you couldn't compete on price and turnaround times which is how you got started in the first place. Collector's or dealers will run to the grading company that will give them the highest grade for the cheapest cost. But, if that higher grade/lower cost doesn't translate into higher sales number the risk goes up and your reward goes down. You then have to pay to get the book back into the CGC holder which is not a cost you want to incur. Which is great for the company that is considered the market leader because they get another grading fee.

While I appreciate the joke the fact is that the 5.0 selling for $57K on Comiconnect sort of kicked off the AF #15 price escalation. As with any key price appreciation somebody has to go first. This buyer did and subsequently higher prices have been popping on all grades.

People should look at grading companies and think like grading companies. Their goal is to get as many submissions on a book as possible. How do you do this? Grade tight at first (1). Create the crack out game (2). Loosen a bit (3). Introduce pressing to the market place (4). Crack out, grade again (5). Leave some defects in on the first press (6), invites a second press and upgrade attempt. Introduce Signature series (7) Introduce the crossover grading of other companies books (8) Throw some tightening and loosening (9+) and multiple that by a grading tier. Take the emotion out of it, don't look at the moral compass, think $$$$$. If you don't think that is discussed at a business meeting then you are not thinking like a grading company. Casino's are all bells, whistles, distractions to separate you from your money. If you don't think that the Grading company "casino model" isn't at play you clearly have not witnessed On-site grading.

Yes that is definitely an advantage when it is the same grade. Unfortunately as a grading company you really don't want your books to be constantly considered overgraded. That is a very had reputation to shake.

Why are you not concerned that GPA only reports CGC books and not all "Graded" books? it is GRADED Priced Analysis, not CGC grading Analysis. Imagine how all hell would break out if you could see the sales price comparison between the grading companies. Hard to argue who is getting more money for books when it is in black and white versus selective selection.

Then as Roy has pointed out you should be addressing your issue with Metro and not GPA. If GPA is not "screen scraping" the data correctly then as a subscriber you would have a legit complaint.

The beauty of a database is the amount of information that can be queried. If GPA was truly "interactive" I'm sure the top 50 or top 25 books could be easily "reported". It may already be there for all I know. Most people are using it for pricing, I'm not sure how many are using it to see overall sales trends.

It is in my hands. Book has been paid for. "We, me/owner" have no idea why Metro didn't report the sale. I have had the book longer then 24 hours. It was originally posted at least a week ago. Was pulled down for a couple of days and then put back up.