lighthouse

Been dealing with these issues for months. My three suppliers of choice are completely out of comic bags of all sizes. Had to order 10,000 of Diamond’s terrible bags as a stopgap just to have something at all. I still have around 3500 Mylites and Fullbacks from my last order of 10k of each. But we probably have 6,000 books that “need” them and I’m operating under the assumption I won’t see more until May or June so I need to make them last. 

My primary supplier for comic boards (which raised their prices 30% a couple months ago) said they expect to be completely out of them by the end of the year, not to see any more until April or May, and to expect another price increase of 30-40% percent when they do come back in. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are charging $20 a pack of 100 for boring old comic boards by next summer.

12 hours ago, fastballspecial said:

The rest are all under 50 long boxes. Now that I think about it again Crash probably has the largest inventory I have seen in a shop in many years. 

You definitely will get the best lease you can imagine this next year. In fact you can probably negotiate more out of it I think.

 

Yeah. My inventory is all at waist height. Nothing on the floor or stacked. And we are at 16 short boxes of silver age in Mylar and fullbacks currently. But I’m way behind on grading. Have another 1200 silver that need to go out.

I had a lengthy conversation with my broker yesterday. Normally on a new 5 year you can expect 3-5 months free rent. And that’s the range I got on my current space. But he said there were several options around town right now where 7-10 months free rent was likely. And that on a 7-year I could likely get that plus a 50-60 cents a foot reduction for the first year as well. Still gonna be tough to pull the trigger though.

Can you give a rough idea of quantity of back issues on display at the shops? A rough count of 50 long boxes, or 60 short boxes, or six 8-foot tables, or some such?

Part of why I ask is my shop has the equivalent of 330 short boxes (or 165 longs or 15 8-foot tables full) out on display and I get a lot of customers who’ve driven 100+ miles to visit who tell me they are stunned we have so many books out to look through. But it’s been over a decade since I personally was doing trips like you’re doing where I could see what’s “typical” any more.

I’m mulling the possibility of opening a second location, as leasing agents are rather motivated at the moment. And 2020 might turn out to be the best year in history to sign a new 7-10 year lease. 

1 hour ago, Iceman399 said:

I was just going to ask to see if anyone knew how long they were taking to "receive" the books.  Mine were delivered Monday but still not in their system as received.

Post Covid it’s pretty normal for them to take 2-3 days between tracking showing they’ve arrived and them being “received” into CGC’s system. I admit I freaked out the first time it happened but it went that way five submissions in a row since May.

8 hours ago, kav said:

There once was a racehorse that won great fame-what do you think was the horse's name

Tony

32 minutes ago, Ace Bandage said:

Following up on this one, what does it take for CGC to recognize and label a Newsstand Edition as such?  I submitted mine as a newsstand but it was ignored. 

They’ll nearly always recognize them if there is something else different as well. Newsstand with different paper stock (like many Spawns). Newsstand with different cover price from the direct edition (that 9 cent FF book, the various 99 cent late 90s Marvels, several mid 90s Image titles, etc). 
 

But it’s not automatic on random issues where the only difference is the bar code box.

21 minutes ago, kav said:

This is a cogent argument but if it was true Franklin Mint Elvis items etc would be worth money.   They are not.

Based on a quick eBay search, the Franklin Mint has done approximately 63,428 different Elvis collectibles with individual production runs limited to 25,000 each. 
Funko has made 2 Elvis items (4 total counting the chase variants for each). Though your point is taken. 
 

There’s a bigger question when it comes to Chinese counterfeits (eBay is full of them). But again that’s more an issue with $400 items, not the potential to resell a $10 Black Widow figure.

I have no dog in the fight. I don’t carry more than 2 months inventory in Funkos and I actively avoid buying pieces that guide over $60. I’ll buy and hold comics. Funkos not so much. But there’s a floor with Pops around $5, just as Beanies had a floor around $1.50. At a certain price, they’ll sell without regard to manufacturer. I can throw sealed junk MiniMates in a dump bin stickered at $5 and they move just fine because “hey this is from Predator!” It’s irrelevant to me what the original retail was. They still have a floor.

10 hours ago, Keys_Collector said:

I'd like to see if the Marvel Comics #1000 D23 Expo variant ends up on this list in a couple of years.

I doubt it since they were given away to comic shops as a freebie after the event. Sadly the one my shop received was folded in half under a pile of Omnibuses. (Still sold for $100).

If prices started to really climb on that book there’s a lot of them out there to magically appear.

7 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

paging @lighthouse - @Sweet Lou 14 these books are in high demand in his store

Thanks for the matchmaking @FlyingDonut ! Indeed,  the Nightwing run.

I have a customer who makes custom DIY Pops (Funko sells "blank" ones you can detail yourself). I commissioned him to make a Greggy Pop, but it's proven incredibly hard to get the short shorts just right.

11 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

Be careful. My dad once got a present of a wall hanging of Light Houses that he put up in his office. Before he knew it, he had 100s of light house gifts. Every time I visited his office I was like-- "what's the deal?" and he just said "people think I like Light houses I guess". When he moved to a new office later on-- he made a point of never displaying another light house and got rid of all of them. LOL

Though I imagine the POPs you have are at least somewhat fun as a collector.

That is literally how I got this username. Bought one lighthouse statue on a trip to the coast in my early 20s. Wound up with forty to fifty of them by the time CGC launched their forum and was staring at one on the wall when coming up with my username.

(I still like lighthouses but haven’t added any new pieces in at least 15 years)

8 minutes ago, www.alexgross.com said:

this is very interesting info. whenever i attend a big CON i am always astonished at the long lines for the places that are selling what are i gues new funkos?  i always get the impression that lots of folks want to get one so they can flip it on ebay and make $50 or whatever it is. perhaps that's just something i created in my head. but obviously many people like to collect them too. i am not a fan. my wife bought one for my son and it doesn't even stand up, the head is so large. as others here said, the fact that they are licensed characters ensures that they will have more enduring collectibilty than beanie babies. 

Con-exclusive flippers, yeah. It’s a big factor in every Con’s attendance that there are folks who have zero interest in the Con itself but have done the math and are willing to trade a day for the profits on selling stuff available at the Con. True for comics, Funkos, statues, etc.

And we DO still order various “new” Funkos. If there’s a comic movie or tv show etc, we will order a couple cases of each of the regular figures since folks will come in looking for them. But the inventory turns on used Funkos are the bees knees.

4 hours ago, Kon_Jelly said:

So wait - did they take the titles 100% digital, or just the issues? Is Ghost Spider 10 waiting for me at my LCS right now?

No future issues (including 10) physically printed. Digital distribution to complete the story arc, then title cancelled. Physical printing of collected edition to follow. 

Copies of Ripclaw, Brigade, Ravage 2099, Second Life of Doctor Mirage, or Robin II seem to do the trick for me.

I'm not going to dig into this too much since I have no particular interest in this comic creator.

But apparently it involved a 16-year-old in Canada in 2009.

Canada's age of consent in 2009 was 16 years old.

That was kind of a big deal, it being 16. Because it had been 14 for over a century until May 2008 when it was raised to 16. Given that age of consent laws are a reflection of the mores of that locality, it wouldn't appear that his actions were inappropriate by Toronto standards.

So my previous question has now been answered. After making no reference to their plans for DC Direct Toys, DC drops the bomb today that any new product due out after May 1st will no longer be shipped by Diamond. Those items are now only available from EE, Lunar, UCS, and Sideshow.

Considering DC Direct products are usually ordered 4-8 months in advance, it definitely throws a wrench into things, having to backtrack through past orders to determine which items need to be rush reordered from new distributors.

A: Diamond Comics Distribution and Diamond Select Toys can still process and fulfill re-orders of previously purchased product at this time.

It's none of my concern whether DC needs to make a change. But their handling of this process has been as far from smooth as could be. Between not arranging in advance for UK distribution options (and forcing them to backtrack and worth with Diamond after all), not porting any order information over, making these changes on 1-business-day notice in the case of comics, or zero notice in the case of statues... sigh.

I thought MLB and its union was the most dysfunctional relationship out there. But DC is saying "hold my beer".

10 hours ago, divad said:

Unless they're signed by Stan! 

I guess if you had him sign over every word balloon that would definitely improve the writing. He could be the 2099 version of Groot. Just saying "STAN LEE" in response to everything.

Went to see the circus with no intentions of buying, but Bob had a couple books I have a local customer for, at very affordable prices.

Alright fine. I'd have felt bad buying just one book at 75% off. Let's go again.

My customer will be stoked. Thanks, Bob!

I’ve only written one letter to a comic book, and it was published on the back cover. I’ve only written one letter to any other magazine (happened to be Southwest’s inflight magazine) and got that published as well. 
 

I’ve hesitated to write a letter to any other publications. Don’t want to break my streak.

The Spidey, Ghost Rider, and Hulk 2099s move well at $3-5 an issue. Doom moves decently well. The rest of them, inexplicably including X-Men, do not. Hulk is second only to Spidey in how much fans love “that one time where Hulk was QQQQ”. 
 

Ravage 2099 doesn’t even move at 50 cents. I keep a couple runs worth in the stock we sell for warehouse sales. Any more that come in get recycled. It’s like Deathblow or Ripclaw. I’d rather trash them than give them away and risk a kid thinking all comics are that terrible. 

That’s the sort of letter I would hope they actually respond to. Thanks for sharing it with us.

23 hours ago, divad said:

Oopsie, a typo at best  Still qualifies for my thread - A 20-year old book is not a "modern!" 

 

I dunno. I think a book like 100 Bullets has more in common with books from 2020 than it does with books from 1992. 
 

There’s no easy answers to “age” breaks. But I find I can group my walk-in back issue customers pretty well by years. And the folks who buy 1982-1994 back issues tend to not be the same customers who buy Pre-1982 stuff or post-1995 stuff. I’ve rung up hundreds and hundreds of back issue customers who get piles from specific time periods with very limited spread into other eras. 
 

Folks who buy books from 1983 are very likely to buy books from 1989 and very unlikely to buy books from 1979. Folks who buy books from 1990 frequently want books from 1985 and rarely want books from 1995. 
 

There’s a break somewhere around 2008-2009. But it isn’t as clear as the 1982 and 1995 breaks. Those two are incredibly strong. The GI Joe Age, if you will.