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Manitoba Comic Con Report

Started by Lazyboy,

15 posts in this topic

Lazyboy

Lazyboy

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Manitoba Comic Con & Sci-Fi Expo "Dealer" Report

 

 

This past weekend, I found out what life is like behind the tables.

 

I got to the site at around 7:30 Saturday morning and was able to quickly set up most of my table and take a quick walk around to see the room. The venue was by far the biggest and best of any Winnipeg con in recent years. The show was very well run and I didn't hear any complaints (well, not any that could be fixed by the promoter).

 

I was situated in the back corner of the room, right beside the loading area. The advantage of this is obvious, but it was pretty cold outside over the weekend and the loading doors were open for a couple of hours each morning before the show opened to the public. Oh well, I live in Winnipeg, I'm not unaccustomed to cold weather. On Sunday morning it was a bit windy, but at least it wasn't raining (or snowing meh ).

 

I was "stuck" at my table during the hours of the con since I had no helpers. That really wasn't a problem, since I had planned for that. I had some snacks and a large water bottle with me. I wasn't really planning on buying anything either, and doubt there was much available that I really would have wanted anyway.

 

My neighbour was another private dealer, Dean - a.k.a. bronzeageboy on eBay (and here, mostly as an occasional lurker). He is a nice guy and we talked during some of the slow periods. He had a CGC 9.6 Action Comics #1 (1976 Safeguard) on display that drew a lot of attention before somebody bought it. I probably shouldn't have been so surprised, but I found it a bit hard to believe how little the average collector knows about comics history. No wonder there are so many eBay scams.

 

I had 2 boxes of $1 books, 2+ boxes of $0.50 books, 5 boxes of assorted (mostly Copper/Modern) duplicates/unwanted books from my collection, and 2 boxes of a collection I am selling for somebody else. My $0.50 sales ended up paying for a large portion of my table, which is exactly what I intended. The $ split between sales of my own books and the collection books was almost exactly even. I am a little bit surprised about some of the books that didn't sell. Maybe they just weren't seen by the right people. [shameless Plug]Are you the right person? Watch for my upcoming first ever sales thread in the Marketplace![/shameless Plug] I'll have to look into some kind of wall display next time I do a show. At any rate, I am happy with how I did dollar-wise, although I would like to have moved more volume-wise.

 

I was able to help out quite a few attendees scratch some books off their want lists. I don't care if somebody buys something from me just to flip it (and I'm sure that happened more than once over the weekend), but it feels better to know that I was able to help somebody acquire something that they really wanted.

 

There were quite a few board members in attendance, including JoeRod, codfish, bronzeageboy, and a couple of others including one I had not met previously. WARNING: Do NOT derail my thread. If you start on THAT topic, it WILL be reported to the mods.

 

Should I mention Supergirl? hm Maybe later...

 

 

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Lazyboy

Lazyboy

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I think the biggest problem was that I didn't have a way to display individual books so they were visible to people walking by. On Sunday I actually set up a makeshift display (using box tops) and drew some attention that way. That ended up helping me sell a Giant-Size X-Men 1 and Iron Man 55 which hadn't drawn very much attention in the boxes.

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capt_comics

capt_comics

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Thanks. That is something I am going to have to figure out: how to display the best books.

 

A couple of long (8 feet+) pieces of 2X2 wood plus a few wood screws and some 6 foot wide closet shelving you can pick up at Home Depot or Lowes works really well, as long as you have a wall table so you can lean it against a wall.

 

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Transplant

Transplant

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That is what I did. 7' long 2x4, wire shelving and some clips for the shelves. Did my first local show in Sept. Had a banner day, selling 2 or 3 bigger books. Netted $560. Last month was superslow. Made $45 after table fee and a couple of small purchases. However, I traded a niec 100 pager for one of my keys, Daredevil 7, some cash and a Marshall Rogers 'Tec.

 

The second time I set up my new wall display. Didn't sell a book off of it. Had a good bit of interest though. One suggestion. Make sure you have something: string, straps, something that keeps the books on the shelf. I had a nice book fall off from 6' up. Luckily, it was in a mylite with a fullback inside of an archive. No damage. Whew! I'll try to remember to post the one pic of my display later. I haven't had help at my table. I don't like not being able to leave and look at the other dealers though. Worst part of having your own table.

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