Does anyone understand Metropolis?

[G.A.tor]

I found it impressive that Steve came on the boards with a quick explanation, however the idea to remove the "not yet processed" seems a little harsh and possible should be reconsidered with maybe just more aggresively trying to get the pricing accomplished...

 

One suggestion is for Metropolis to hold a regular quarterly auctions (similar to Comiclink Focused Auctions) for alot of their "Not Yet Processed" books.

 

Some important advantages:

 

(1) For collectors, books will hit the market sooner and with regularity.

 

(2) For Metro, they get highest pricing-- leverage their huge customer list-- and a reduced pricing burden for Steve (he and staff can focus on finding more books and key customer service matters). Bidders will know to bid aggressively for desired books given the competition. Metro optimizes timing, pricing, inventory and cash flow.

 

(3) For its website, Auctions would drives more customer traffic and publicity to Metropolis's website...or give a "killer app" for their Comicconnect site. Also, "key" books for each auction can be highlighted at Metro's convention tables.

 

(4) For the hobby, this would bring another "Must See" event and marketplace. Although Metro's books are mostly raw (vs. Comiclink auctions which are primarily CGC/PGX certified), they have big scans and internal grades. Bidders make their own assessments and bid accordingly, but understand those who "grade" and "price" highest will win the books.

 

 

GE

actually, I believe that is what they are doing...there are 4 KDF's I have been after since they hit their (metro) site as "not yet processed"...I inquired about price and Vincent told me they would be in the upcoming ComicConnect auction...works for me, and may or may not maximize Metro's realized price on them, but you can bet I am happy to know the "when" I can get them, even if the "how much" is TBD'

gator

[buttock]

I was interested in a handful of books. I hit the "make request" button several times over the course of 3 months or so. I got tired of waiting and emailed and had prices that day and was able to buy a couple of them the same day. I've done this on 2 separate occasions.

 

I don't know why it took so long to get them priced in the first place. I was under the assumption that they were trying to gauge interest with this tool, but two of the three prices I asked about were less than I thought they would be. So I'm not sure.

 

I did wait the obligatory 10 days or 2 weeks - or whatever they ask of you - before I did this.

 

That being said, pretty much every book I've been interested on their site has sat unpriced since the big dump occurred which IIRC was late September. By this time they should have gotten to a few of them, no?

[sterlingcomics]

The weird thing about "Not yet processed" is that I'm seeing it on books that have been in their inventory for years. So it's not "new" stock. Historically I believe they removed the book from the site, re-priced it, and placed it back up.

[buttock]

Yeah, I have noticed that. And as Nearmint pointed out, they have books priced at conventions, yet not on their website. It's all really weird.

[ciorac]

On the subject of Metropolis' pricing, what's up with the Batman #1 VG going for $17,750? Is it really worth that much?

for a VG 4.0 with ow pages, I would happily pay that...it is actually a cheap price for a 4.0 (IMO)...a cgc 4.5 was recently offered by someone else at $25K, I believe (though not sure if it sold, I do know there was a lot of interest over $20K for it)

gator

 

(thumbs u I was thinking it sounded pretty fairly priced as well.

[Sal]

I'm not upset at Metro for using whatever approach they need to to sell books and turn a profit. However, if they take more than a couple of days to respond to my make an offer e-mail, I'll just scour other sites to find the books on my want list. No harm done.

 

For instance, I've made an offer on approximately 60 books over the past couple of months, and Stephen has sent me a price on about 15-20 of them. Based on the prices listed, I've only purchased 2 of these books. The others I've decided to pass on since the price was a little too high for my liking.

 

For the record, I'm not upset, either. I was very pleased with my first Metro transaction. I wish there were opportunities to repeat the experience, is all I am saying

 

Sorry Sal, I was just making a comment regarding the entire thread. Your name just happened to be the one I clicked when I used the quote button.

 

Oh man, no worries. I was just trying to clarify, as I thought you raised a good point. I've seen people - inaccurately, in my opinion - describing this thread as "person_without_enough_empathying," and was trying to address that point as well.

 

Most companies would kill for this kind of feedback. The primary retailer's question is "how can we sell more?" and this thread is giving them at least a partial blueprint

[sterlingcomics]

It's really not rocket science. It amazes me that folks with far less capital to spend on product are kicking the pants customer service wise of the big guys. Big companies tend to attract big problems.

 

I still <3 Metropolis when the product is priced right.

[RickHigh]

Haven't posted in a while, but just thought I'd share my dealings with Metro and the "Not Yet Processed" collection with you.

 

When the "NYP" collection hit their site, I hit the Inquire button on about two dozen books. They are all still there and a few have been processed over the last few months.This thread must have done something because two books that are on my list were just priced this morning!!! (Hey Metro...take Christmas eve off, will you!) For the books that I really wanted, I called Frank and we worked out what I thought was a good price and I picked up some super sweet Jumbos at a fair price. I didn't get the feeling that they were just waiting to "jack up" the price on the books that I inquired about. They weren't cheap, but I didn't expect them to be, but I do think they were fair. I also think Metro responds better to phone calls than emails, and I've never called that I didn't get Frank on the phone and also get a quick response about pricing. I am not a big spender with Metro, but I've always found them to be very responsive to phone calls and willing to work with me (within reason) on pricing. Just my 2¢. Have a great Christmas everyone!

 

— Rick

[HouseofComics.Com]

The best I can work out is that Metropolis is set in the future. There are two classes: thinkers and laborers. The two groups live independently of each other but without one the other would cease to exist. There is also a hot robotrix.

 

Man, post of the day as far as I'm concerned...

[sacentaur]

Most companies would kill for this kind of feedback.

 

True enough, Sal...but then again I suspect we'd have a better chance petitioning Fidel Castro to advise him there's a better way to run Cuba.

 

For CGC, Metro could offer to send books directly to CGC in behalf of auction winners

 

Good suggestion GE, but why would a company who has thrived on manipulation for two decades implement this?

 

For example, Metropolis has two Church Tip Top books currently available for sale. These were purchased slabbed via a Heritage auction as 5.5's, then cracked and relisted on their site raw as 7.0's.

 

Do we really believe Metro would want to facilitate those books going back to CGC?

 

And don't forget that CGC has an outstanding restoration check service, so books which are misrepresented would be/are being readily identified.

 

 

[metropoliscomics]

Hey, it's 2-faced Greed Carey! A wonderful 20 year history of plying you with complements one minute and bad-mouthing you the next.

 

A 20 year history of conning his fellow hobbyists in such a smooth wafer thin fashion. Just spend a minute in his presence and the phoniness will be apparent.

 

Remember folks, when dealing with Greed Carey, everything you have is garbage and everything that he has is just spectacular. His $100 bill is worth about $115-$200 and your $100 is worth 80 bucks. Tops.

 

Keep this in mind and the pain will not be so bad.

 

S

[Silver]

Hey, it's 2-faced Greed Carey! A wonderful 20 year history of plying you with complements one minute and bad-mouthing you the next.

 

A 20 year history of conning his fellow hobbyists in such a smooth wafer thin fashion. Just spend a minute in his presence and the phoniness will be apparent.

 

Remember folks, when dealing with Greed Carey, everything you have is garbage and everything that he has is just spectacular. His $100 bill is worth about $115-$200 and your $100 is worth 80 bucks. Tops.

 

Keep this in mind and the pain will not be so bad.

 

S

 

Steve,

 

I was hoping you might take a couple of minutes to address some of the more constructive comments about your site and the "NYP" books. I really think alot of us here want to buy more stuff from Metro and are just looking for a better way to get the information we need to make a purchase.

 

 

[fanfourforever]

For example, Metropolis has two Church Tip Top books currently available for sale. These were purchased slabbed via a Heritage auction as 5.5's, then cracked and relisted on their site raw as 7.0's.

 

Do we really believe Metro would want to facilitate those books going back to CGC?

 

Maybe the books were undergraded by CGC. It's not like we haven't seen multiple upon multiple books get resubbed and come back with higher grades.

[metropoliscomics]

Fair enough. All the NYP books will come off the site shortly and will be placed back on the site when they are ready for sale.

 

We have 200,000 books in stock. Half are priced and the other half have not been priced yet. When someone asks for a price on a NYP book, that request is currently in a pool of 7500 other requests.

 

The NYP may come back at some point when we are more caught up.

 

Thanks for understanding.

 

S

[The Question?]

Hey, it's 2-faced Greed Carey! A wonderful 20 year history of plying you with complements one minute and bad-mouthing you the next.

 

A 20 year history of conning his fellow hobbyists in such a smooth wafer thin fashion. Just spend a minute in his presence and the phoniness will be apparent.

 

Remember folks, when dealing with Greed Carey, everything you have is garbage and everything that he has is just spectacular. His $100 bill is worth about $115-$200 and your $100 is worth 80 bucks. Tops.

 

Keep this in mind and the pain will not be so bad.

 

S

 

Steve,

 

I was hoping you might take a couple of minutes to address some of the more constructive comments about your site and the "NYP" books. I really think alot of us here want to buy more stuff from Metro and are just looking for a better way to get the information we need to make a purchase.

 

 

 

 

and why would they do that? they're always too busy defending themselves with vitriol, for the f@#$% activities they tend to be ensconsed in, decade after decade...

[armydoc]

[Straw-Man]

lately they have a lot of books listed as not yet processed so i think they are way behind in inventory- probably an honest mistake - hopefully you can straghten it out on wednesday - if not they just don't like you do they-!

 

I'd like to think that they're just behind, but part of me thinks this is a new selling strategy for them. There are books on their site that have "not been processed" for several months. Also, the "call" strategy, more accurately described as the "make an offer" strategy, is clearly new for them(in the past 6 months or so).

 

Also, if a book hasn't been processed yet, why put it on the site at all?

 

exactly--the picture is processed, the grade is processed, the pedigree, where applicable, is processed. the only thing not processed is the price, which would probably be the easiest thing to come up with. new sales strategy unveiled it would seem.

[The Black Hand ®]

I just finished talking to Steve on the phone and everything has been explained to my satisfaction and I appreciate him taking the time to chat. So I'm ending my portion of this thread and moving on to christmas.I would like to encourage others to do likewise. Happy Holidays everyone.

[skybolt]

I just finished talking to Steve on the phone and everything has been explained to my satisfaction and I appreciate him taking the time to chat. So I'm ending my portion of this thread and moving on to christmas.I would like to encourage others to do likewise. Happy Holidays everyone.

 

Same to you! (thumbs u

[MrBedrock]

Hey, it's 2-faced Greed Carey! A wonderful 20 year history of plying you with complements one minute and bad-mouthing you the next.

 

A 20 year history of conning his fellow hobbyists in such a smooth wafer thin fashion. Just spend a minute in his presence and the phoniness will be apparent.

 

Remember folks, when dealing with Greed Carey, everything you have is garbage and everything that he has is just spectacular. His $100 bill is worth about $115-$200 and your $100 is worth 80 bucks. Tops.

 

Keep this in mind and the pain will not be so bad.

 

S

Wow. One Stephen calling a Steve "Greed".

If I couldn't tell the difference between ve and phen this post would be confusing.

Thanks, S, for keeping that straight!

For a minute I thought, by the description, you were being self-referential.