RobAnybody

Just wanted to share the end(?) of my experience with MCS Consignments (spoiler alert: it was awesome). About 8 months ago I sent in a little fewer than 100 CGC graded comics on consignment to be listed on MCS. Had no idea what I was doing, had never sold a single comic online before (had bought many, of course). The staff was extremely helpful in letting me know what to do, how to send things in, what to include, etc. It took a little longer than I had hoped (about two weeks) from when they showed as "received" to when I could set the prices for them, but I admit I was over-anxious to get started & that's really not a big deal in hindsight. I made some rookie mistakes, like not immediately noticing super-obvious helpful features like being able to see recent sales, when my book would get listed for Auction if I went that way. Just dumb stuff on my part (so, maybe, in hindsight, a "Rookie Seller FAQ" link on the page where you can see your comics might be a suggestion? ). I wound up using a spreadsheet to track them & went through recent sales on ebay to get an idea of where I should start my prices (all BIN at first). I had a wide range of grades but most were at least "keys" or "semi-keys", stuff like ASM 194 in various grades, ASM 300 5.0 , Iron Fist 14 5.5, New Mutants 98 9.6, X-Men 4 (Omega Red) 7.0 & 8.5, Flash 92 (1st Impulse) 8.5 - so you can see, quite a wide range of "desirability", but no real drek IMO. This all started off great with a bunch of books selling quickly & suggests I maybe should have even added a premium to all my initial prices (that could go in the FAQ - it's better to start off a little on the high side & then gradually decrease prices, which brings me to...). Every couple weeks, I would decease prices on all the remaining books by 5% (doing so gets your book listed in the "New Releases" on MCS, so more publicity). After that initial large rush of sales, this tactic worked really well over the next several months & resulted steady, but lower volume/week, sales.. As mentioned, my books were a wide range of grades, so some were easy to move & high value, while others were... less so. As these lesser value books kept sitting (not all did - a lot would sell when I eventually hit the ~$40-$50 range, which might take several 5% drops to get there), once they were about to dip into to the <$40-ish range using my "-5% every couple weeks" method, I eventually started using the Auction feature. Just a few at a time. That was fun - just watching them. Some, maybe overall 25% of my Auctions, actually went for above where I had given up on BIN even! Maybe another 25% were right around my last BIN or within 10% (keep in mind these are already at ~$40, so we're still talking high $30's). About half went for less than I had hoped, but not like super cheap numbers - maybe the high $20's/low $30's, so meh, no big deal - these were mostly ones from my own collection I had sent in to CGC & came back with slightly lower grades than I was hoping for, so no real surprise there. I eventually got down to about 15 books. I decided to just let them sit for about a month & a half. Roughly half of them slowly sold over that time, then I put all the rest into Auction, & a few weeks later was done! It was immensely enjoyable (& profitable) experience - I highly recommend using MCS consignment, at least for CGC graded comics (which admittedly is all I can speak to).

I don't think it's being twisted. The Writers didn't get a per sub addition to their deal. The Directors didn't get a per sub addition to their deal. This is something unique the actors requested.

From what I've read, the actors had a deal commensurate with what the Writers got, & what the Directors (very quietly) got, on the table. Like, done deal. But then they tacked on this stupid 0.57 per subscriber (what currency is that even in?) thing, & sabotaged it all. So dumb.

Part of the reason for that statistic is that every bit part actor is a member. So the couple chatting at the beginning of Law & Order who stumble upon the body are members. The barista who takes Sheldon's order on TBBT & exchanges a few lines of dialogue is a member. The Red Shirt on Star Trek who has a few lines, beams down with the main characters, & promptly gets killed is a member. That's what skews that statistic - for most actors, acting is at best a part-time job. No one should expect full-time pay for part-time work.

I had heard of One Piece but didn't know the first thing about it. Didn't know it was pirate-themed; couldn't have even told you what "One Piece" was referring to ("is it a show about bathing suits, maybe?"). But I wound up really enjoying it. The characters are all incredibly deep, interesting, & just plain fun! The world-building is also deep & engaging. The fight scenes, while naturally a good deal over the top & exaggerated, are well-choreographed & you can actually see what's going on - no close up, quick cut chaos with very accommodating stunt people like we see in too many other shows today. Obviously I'm avoiding mentioning any specific spoilers & being very general in my praise, but I recommend it to anyone who enjoys more typical "comic book movies " even if you're not big into Manga.

I have a question on how/why things work like they do: If I assign something to an auction, & that auction is, like, a month from now, why not keep it on my Buy It Now list until that auction starts? It appears (from what I see) that it gets removed from my active listings & is just in limbo for a month. Just curious, what's the reasoning behind that? Wouldn't it be better to keep my Buy It Now listing active until the Auction starts?

I don't disagree, but either the writers have given us terrible writing recently or they're not to blame but are mostly uninvolved in the actual writing. Neither view enhances their value.

Then still, this shows the actual writers don't really matter. If the producers are running things, why pay the writers more money if they don't really contribute to the stories?

My brother hates Robin with a passion , so he collects "dead Robin" comic covers, even when it's just reprints. Like the obvious: But also: He has some others already, but... he has a birthday coming up. Any somewhat more obscure suggestions I could get for him?

Doesn't that kinda make the point that paying these writers *more* is a losing proposition? They are the ones who wrote the shows that lost them that money.

You understood the question. It was me simply missing something obvious. Thanks!

Hey @mycomicshop, two questions: 1)is there a better venue to suggest "improvement ideas" or ask "how does this work?" questions than here? I totally don't mind doing it here, & actually kind of like it, b/c I can get other people's feedback on if my ideas are stupid or would be appreciated so there's that, but is there a "suggestion box" on your site that I should use, just wondering. Also, 2)... ...my suggestion is: I'd like a way to know what date my comic would go up for auction if/when I click on "Submit To Auction" before I click it. As in, I get that I can withdraw the item after I've clicked it, & I can see what other similar issues are going to come up for auction that might influence that date. But, I don't know what you consider "similar". So, for example, if I see in your list when I click on My Book CGC 9.4 that I have on consignment & am considering putting it in an auction, what I see is: The following items are already scheduled for auction: My Book CGC 9.8 Starts [next week] My Book CGC 9.0 Starts [next week] My Book CGC SS 9.4 [starts in two weeks] My Book VF [starts in two weeks] My Book CGC 9.2 [starts in three weeks] Is there a way for me to know, if I do assign My 9.4 Book to Auction, which week it would show up before actually assigning it? Like, would it go into the [next week] auction since there's not already a 9.4 in there? Would it go into the "starts in two weeks" b/c mine is not SS? Would it have to wait until four weeks, when all the existing have got their turn? Not a pressing, super important question. Just curious. And if there's a FAQ for stuff like this, my bad, just point me there please.

Interesting - does that mean you think it's a scam?

Looks like there's a 9.8 auction going on ebay, ending Sunday morning EST. Any bets where it ends up? https://www.ebay.com/itm/355027785025

How strange... no Mera in that?