Virtual ComicCon IV Chit Chat

[Transplant]

Some noob's quick thoughts on the VCC. I briefly considered putting some books up but just didn't have the time to prep a listing.

 

I like the idea of a forum with each seller having a thread to themselves. Allows for quick re-entry to a seller of your liking. The temp forum allows the all-together feeling of a con that seems to be the purpose of the VCC. Plus, it allows the option of letting people still start their own threads in the selling forum if folks want to do that while the VCC is running.

 

I liked the preview time. I saw some goodies but my schedule on Sat didn't allow me to get them in time.

 

I think the hours can be expanded or not. The problem with expanding hours is that one would hope to have a very quick response to purchase offers. The longer the hours, the more likely a "booth" will be unattended.

 

Finally, I want to say thanks to sckao for the great UBB code templates. I plan on using them when I do start for sale threads. Very nicely done. This goes hand in hand with the argument for allowing sep threads so as to allow larger scans. I like the thumbnails idea. All you have to do is click on the thumbnail to get the larger scan that people are asking for.

[Jeffreykli]

As someone who has shopped in the VCCs before, and finally got my act together to list books, I applaud Shin and Donut for their efforts.

 

I like the idea of preview night, but can also see the appeal of not listing books until the doors open. That way, some people will immeidately skip to page 2 to start shopping to see what they find. One thing we could do is not list prices until the doors open, but then sellers would have to update or recreate their listings with the prices.

 

Limiting the number of books and/or scans would not be a good idea; you never know what you're going to sell. Several of my sales were for books that didn't have scans, that I just listed with grade and price. I also tried to clean up my store, so didn't always have the "SOLD" sign. I believe the size of the thumbnails vary, but a uniform max of 5 thumbs across would be a good idea so the screen doesn't get stretched.

 

I'd also be in favor of a running show, or something like that. Maybe preview night from 9pm to midnight Eastern on Friday, then the "regular" show opens from 3pm Eastern on Saturday until 9pm Eastern on Sunday? Not sure how you'd enforce the no sales rule between midnight Friday and 3pm on Saturday.

[40sJohn]

Another newcomer’s views on the VCC.

 

I have participated in 2 VCC’s this year and have made purchases at both. (Small amounts to be sure, but sales none the less.) Here are my thoughts as a buyer.

 

1. To reiterate what everyone else has stated – great job by the organizers. It’s a cool concept and one that has been excecuted well.

2. Excellent job by the Sellers in putting forth the effort and trying to add variety to the offerings.

3. For comic sales, the 5-6 thumbnails in a row, followed by a listing of the issue, grade and price works the best. I know I bought at least 2 comics, just from seeing the cover scan, which helped build interest. This would also explain why text only listings don’t work as well. Thumbnails were satisfactory. The full size scans made naviagition a little harder in previous events.

4. Listing “Sold” next the items was good for two reasons. It’s easy to see what’s not available and kinda gives an idea to the sales overall of the VCC. I could tell it was a little slow on Sunday afternoon just by watching for these. I don’t think that just deleting the items works as well.

5. I liked the variety, but remember I am a noob. What’s new to me is probably not to most others.

6. A unique font used consistently throughout a post helped distinguish one seller from the next. Nice touch on some of the booths to this regard.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[FlyingDonut]

I found the whole thing to be a bit overwhelming.

 

I think there should be limitations as to the number of books available for sale by any given vendor at any given time. Say, perhaps 10 - 20 books.

 

I know this runs contrary to the "megathon" mentality, but it all depends what you are looking for. This last VCC lost it's "board feel" if you ask me . . .

 

But hey, I'm expected to be controversial

 

Well, I think the sales section is where you go for board flavor. Everyone interacts on a daily basis there and develops a sense of community. I think the Con is ideal for people that don't have a monthly event in their neighborhood, or for people that want to buy or sell a larger amount at one time so limiting it seems counterproductive. Unless I'm reading the intent incorrectly?

 

I don't know that there is a stated "intent" to the VCC.

 

Well, since I made the rules for the VCC, I'll be happy to tell you the intent, just so everybody knows what the show promoter wants to do with the VCC.

 

1.The intent of the VCC is to replicate an old school comic book convention, with as many sellers as possible selling as much stuff as possible that covers a wide variety of genres to willing buyers. I want a "megathon". I want the ability to purchase from hundreds of sellers, in my living room. If I wanted to have a very small selection, I'd just peruse all of the sales threads. I'd love to have 100 sellers. 200 sellers. I'd love to see MORE non-comic book things. Where are the pulps? The toys? The games? The posters? That's what makes a cool comicon - the ability to get all sorts of fun stuff, and that's what I want to see here. There are hundreds of board members who don't have VCC booths, and I think the "collecting community" would be well served by having more of them. Flaming Telepath - this means you. Foolkiller - this means you. Moondog - this means you. Klodz24seven - this means you.

 

2. To that intent, as long as I'm running this event, there will be absolutely no limit to the number of books you can put up there. I personally would like to have less big images, but that's just me in scrolling. You want to have 10,000 books for sale in your booth? Go right ahead (yes, I know, there are limits to the amount of data you can put in a post). My concept is to replicate an old school comic convention on the web.

 

3. I have no idea where you're getting the "lost its board feel" - if anything, the VCC is one of the few things here we do that gets everybody involved. I'd love to get more of the Golden Age posters (THIS MEANS YOU, BEDROCK) to put books up in the thread. I'd like to see less of the same old stuff we always see for sale in the Marketplace, and more esoteric stuff. I think, actually, that THIS VCC was more board-y then others as there wasn't much new stuff (by "new", I mean not just the same old same old books).

 

4. After thinking about it, I'm less inclined to go to a 48 hour open sales thread. My concept was to replicate a comic book convention. Not an internet sales thread, not a marketplace thread, and not eBay. To do this, I think its almost required to have a starting time AND a stopping time, to instill a sense of urgency into buyers. If we go to a 48 hour time period, then its just another sales thread, only with more stuff in it. Is there a problem for overseas boardies? Yes. Is there a problem for people on the west coast? Yes. Can we alleviate that with different starting times? Sure. We could go 10 AM - 7 PM. We could go 1 PM - midnight. There's all sorts of things to do, but going to the 48 hour time frame takes away from what was my original intent for the event.

 

5. I think we will have a "preview night". I'm not entirely sure how it will work yet, so I'll fiddle with it. 10-12 on a Friday night might work - but again, we're back to the issue of non US people, time frames, whatever.

 

I hope that clears things up as to the intent of the VCC. As always, am willing to make changes/improvements to the concept, but within the framework I've outlined above.

[thirdgreenham]

Another newcomer’s views on the VCC.

 

I have participated in 2 VCC’s this year and have made purchases at both. (Small amounts to be sure, but sales none the less.) Here are my thoughts as a buyer.

 

1. To reiterate what everyone else has stated – great job by the organizers. It’s a cool concept and one that has been excecuted well.

2. Excellent job by the Sellers in putting forth the effort and trying to add variety to the offerings.

3. For comic sales, the 5-6 thumbnails in a row, followed by a listing of the issue, grade and price works the best. I know I bought at least 2 comics, just from seeing the cover scan, which helped build interest. This would also explain why text only listings don’t work as well. Thumbnails were satisfactory. The full size scans made naviagition a little harder in previous events.

4. Listing “Sold” next the items was good for two reasons. It’s easy to see what’s not available and kinda gives an idea to the sales overall of the VCC. I could tell it was a little slow on Sunday afternoon just by watching for these. I don’t think that just deleting the items works as well.

5. I liked the variety, but remember I am a noob. What’s new to me is probably not to most others.

6. A unique font used consistently throughout a post helped distinguish one seller from the next. Nice touch on some of the booths to this regard.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

[kc120us]

Dan,

Is there any way to get some of the bigger dealers to sell in the VCC (ie. Bob Storms,Metro, Pedigree,etc.)? What is a comic-con without any of the big dogs? Also, I wonder if it would help if we can get the sellers to "register" a week or so ahead of time and include the list of sellers in any publicity used to promote the VCC?

 

Casey

[VintageComics]

I hate to see sellers put in a lot of time into their booths and not have any VCC sales to show for it.

 

I didn't sell one book.

 

I'll take a look at your drek for 1/2 price.

 

[CAP Freak]

Dan,

Is there any way to get some of the bigger dealers to sell in the VCC (ie. Bob Storms,Metro, Pedigree,etc.)? What is a comic-con without any of the big dogs? Also, I wonder if it would help if we can get the sellers to "register" a week or so ahead of time and include the list of sellers in any publicity used to promote the VCC?

 

Casey

 

I am in Denver, Colorado this weekend etc. and have been in talks with some Mile High Comics people about selling at the Virtual Comic-Con. They asked for the website URL and said they would be watching the VCC and other forum stuff to decide whether they would like to sell.

 

P.S. They promised that they would bring more than just TPBs like they did at SDCC 2007.

[szelim]

No one should think that they're coming across as ungrateful... new ideas or tweaks can only make the VCC a better event. (thumbs u

 

What does concern me is when I go around and see that some booths aren't selling stuff. This could be because the seller is just deleting the items instead of marking them with SOLD signs. (In my case, I have multiples.) (It could also be because they have really high prices or for any other reason.) Sellers with no thumbnails or images also seem to have a slight disadvantage.

 

Does seeing the SOLD signs influence your buying from that booth? Are you more likely to buy from a nicely structured and manned booth vs a haphazard one?

 

I hate to see sellers put in a lot of time into their booths and not have any VCC sales to show for it. (Although people should remember that they now have the raw materials to start their own selling thread or quickly throw up their VCC leftovers on eBay.)

 

Also, a lot of members aren't taking advantage of the fact that they can have a booth in the VCC and ALSO START their own individual selling thread with larger scans in the individual thread. The cross advertising there could probably boost sales.

 

I, for one, am very grateful for the effort you put into designing templates for the booths, as well as the spreadsheet for listing items. (thumbs u The templates definitely facilitated my task in putting together items for sale, especially since I found I had very little time available in performing the preparatory work. (Memo to self: Don't try to put together a booth on the fly at the last moment. )

[eddly]

I didn't sell anything, but at the same time I didn't really expect to. I put my prices a little above ebay prices... and as a result I didn't sell anything.

 

Of course, my lack of quantity hurt as well.

 

In future, perhaps there could be a seperate forum for the VCC, with each seller getting a thread, each thread being like a booth... I think this would work better.. but of course you'll have some problems with people fighting for positioning... some booths falling off the first page ... and some booths being mostly ignored due to the sellers not being "popular" sellers/posters.

 

What do you think?

[VintageComics]

Dan this was a great idea and I think it is growing! I like the idea of a preview nite. I also agree that this idea of "closing" the VCC is a great idea and gives the buyer a sense of urgency. Maybe Arch might have a way of "locking" the thread outside of con hours? Just a thought. Much easier than expecting 50 or 100 sellers to lock their posts.

I do think though that the VCC should be limited to forumites as if you start to advertise you can have all kinds of scammers showing up.

 

Great idea!

[VintageComics]

I didn't sell anything, but at the same time I didn't really expect to. I put my prices a little above ebay prices... and as a result I didn't sell anything.

 

Of course, my lack of quantity hurt as well.

 

In future, perhaps there could be a seperate forum for the VCC, with each seller getting a thread, each thread being like a booth... I think this would work better.. but of course you'll have some problems with people fighting for positioning... some booths falling off the first page ... and some booths being mostly ignored due to the sellers not being "popular" sellers/posters.

 

What do you think?

 

Sales all come down to demand and price. I often don't sell. This time i sold a few books because they were relatively hi grade SA books at 2/3 guide.

 

r.

 

 

[Monstro]

it would be cool to monitor how many people look through the VCC thread. maybe

at the start of the thread direct people to a VCC sign in thread?

that way we could get a feel for how many folks are showing up.

[FlyingDonut]

Dan,

Is there any way to get some of the bigger dealers to sell in the VCC (ie. Bob Storms,Metro, Pedigree,etc.)? What is a comic-con without any of the big dogs? Also, I wonder if it would help if we can get the sellers to "register" a week or so ahead of time and include the list of sellers in any publicity used to promote the VCC?

 

Casey

 

 

Would LOVE to have them. Where's Bob Storms? Where's Bedrock? Where's Metro? COME ON DOWN! (thumbs u

[sckao]

I do think though that the VCC should be limited to forumites as if you start to advertise you can have all kinds of scammers showing up.

 

Great idea!

 

Considering that this is a free website provided courtesy of CGC, for a person to post they have to be registered (and ostensibly not a shill).

 

That makes them a de facto "forumite" doesn't it?

 

Limiting who can participate beyond this caveat would be difficult. We do not have the authority to delete irrelevant VCC posts or to moderate this board or its threads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VintageComics]

I do think though that the VCC should be limited to forumites as if you start to advertise you can have all kinds of scammers showing up.

 

Great idea!

 

Considering that this is a free website provided courtesy of CGC, for a person to post they have to be registered (and ostensibly not a shill).

 

That makes them a de facto "forumite" doesn't it?

 

Limiting who can participate beyond this caveat would be difficult. We do not have the authority to delete irrelevant VCC posts or to moderate this board or its threads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I understand. I just meant that the people who randomly trickle in and decide to stay as forumites are welcome to post and sell but a large influx would probably be harder to "police" as it were. We get the odd new seller who is asked for some references and they eaither leave or follow through. It may be harder to do if 50 new people showed up at once. Conversely, there are a lot of new people coming in all the time and though some of the more seasoned people here can see through a smoke screen there may be a lot of new forumites who might just get caught in an impulse buy and get duped. OK so call me old...I must be showing greys now cause I'm starting to sound like my dad.

 

 

[Flaming_Telepath]

I am in Denver, Colorado this weekend etc. and have been in talks with some Mile High Comics people about selling at the Virtual Comic-Con.

 

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!! :o

 

We're all going to need in' passwords, and be able to say 'double dip discount' backwards before we can even PM them.

 

And every book will be 8 x Guide, and the scan will be a stock copy, and...

 

I've thrown up a little bit in my mouth...

[VintageComics]

I am in Denver, Colorado this weekend etc. and have been in talks with some Mile High Comics people about selling at the Virtual Comic-Con.

 

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!! :o

 

We're all going to need in' passwords, and be able to say 'double dip discount' backwards before we can even PM them.

 

And every book will be 8 x Guide, and the scan will be a stock copy, and...

 

I've thrown up a little bit in my mouth...

 

My point exactly.

 

[sckao]

No one should think that they're coming across as ungrateful... new ideas or tweaks can only make the VCC a better event. (thumbs u

 

What does concern me is when I go around and see that some booths aren't selling stuff. This could be because the seller is just deleting the items instead of marking them with SOLD signs. (In my case, I have multiples.) (It could also be because they have really high prices or for any other reason.) Sellers with no thumbnails or images also seem to have a slight disadvantage.

 

Does seeing the SOLD signs influence your buying from that booth? Are you more likely to buy from a nicely structured and manned booth vs a haphazard one?

 

I hate to see sellers put in a lot of time into their booths and not have any VCC sales to show for it. (Although people should remember that they now have the raw materials to start their own selling thread or quickly throw up their VCC leftovers on eBay.)

 

Also, a lot of members aren't taking advantage of the fact that they can have a booth in the VCC and ALSO START their own individual selling thread with larger scans in the individual thread. The cross advertising there could probably boost sales.

 

I, for one, am very grateful for the effort you put into designing templates for the booths, as well as the spreadsheet for listing items. (thumbs u The templates definitely facilitated my task in putting together items for sale, especially since I found I had very little time available in performing the preparatory work. (Memo to self: Don't try to put together a booth on the fly at the last moment. )

 

Thanks (thumbs u

 

In trying to make it as easy as possible for people to participate, some tools are being created that naturally will evolve over time and become intuitive and easy-to-use.

 

I think the evolution of the VCC through each iteration has been pretty interesting.

 

 

 

 

[sckao]

I am in Denver, Colorado this weekend etc. and have been in talks with some Mile High Comics people about selling at the Virtual Comic-Con.

 

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!! :o

 

We're all going to need in' passwords, and be able to say 'double dip discount' backwards before we can even PM them.

 

And every book will be 8 x Guide, and the scan will be a stock copy, and...

 

I've thrown up a little bit in my mouth...

 

My point exactly.

 

 

Mile High is an incredibly large online dealer... but he no longer own the stores.

 

When we say that we don't discriminate, I'd have to say we don't discriminate. If you're a member of the CGC boards and in good standing, you're welcome to post in the VCC.

 

We don't want to go down that slippery path of saying who can and can't do something... do we?