New Rankings for Dealers

[Monstro]

great post.

 

i have a slightly OT question if anyone has the answer. why do dealers sell to each other before the shows? is it just a courtesy thing?

why not sell for higher prices to the collectors?

[burntboy]

...A very fair, well-thought out, and mostly accurate list,...I do disagree highly with only one of your selections, in which I shall leave nameless,....the business practices and integrity of one of your top choices never sat well with me, and for that reason alone I would preclude it from any standing on that list,....

 

[goldust40]

great post.

 

i have a slightly OT question if anyone has the answer. why do dealers sell to each other before the shows? is it just a courtesy thing?

why not sell for higher prices to the collectors?

 

Partly courtesy, partly a food-chain scenario where the bigger dealers who can afford to have higher prices on their inventories buy stuff from the (slightly) cheaper ones, or from the weekend warriors who're just looking to turn over stuff quickly. And also there's wants lists that need to be filled, etc.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

great post.

 

i have a slightly OT question if anyone has the answer. why do dealers sell to each other before the shows? is it just a courtesy thing?

why not sell for higher prices to the collectors?

 

Courtesy and easy money. Selling to other dealers allows you to move a slightly larger amount of books, and make up money from recent acquisitions. Also, sitting on stock for too long is not a good business practice. Waiting for books to sell via customers is a slower return on money, although more money. When you have big dealers, volume is money.

 

Think about picking up a collection for $15K, you blow out books before a show , sell some books to customers and at the end net a 50% profit in hypothetically 2 days. So now your 22.5K gets plunked on the next collection, and the cycle continues. These are BTW hypothetical numbers, and used to demonstrate a point.

 

Hope that helps.

[shadroch]

I don't care for the mixing of auction houses,consignment houses and dealers.Apples,Pears and Oranges.

[Rocketeer]

I don't care for the mixing of auction houses,consignment houses and dealers.Apples,Pears and Oranges.

 

....I have to agree,...

[namisgr]

Say what you will about Heritage and their business practices (and I certainly have on occasion both privately and publicly), but they are far and away the number one source for first-to-market high grade collections. Kudos to Comiclink for recently bringing exceptional ASM and X-Men runs to the marketplace along with setting a few records with high grade SA keys, but that doesn't come close to what Heritage has done in the past two years. Crippen, Toth, Williamsport, Toronto, Janowicz, Warren Hall, Furferri, Kylberg, etc. No other dealer or auction house has even come close.

[Foolkiller]

First, I apologize to everyone for the grammatical mistakes, I did not proof this before posting.

 

Second, I agree with what Bob Siman is saying, and if material alone were the criteria, I probably would have to rank them above C-Link. The BP and what I consider to be comparable material on CLink are what, for me, propel them to the top. But then again, we all have differing views.

[GACollectibles]

Most alarming is that Bob Storms has decided to rest on his "#7" laurels.

 

 

[Sal]

Technically, Heritage is a part owner of CCG, not CGC

[40sJohn]

Excellent post Foolkiller! Good reasoning, however, I was a little disappointed that 2 of the top 3 were auction houses and not a "dealer" in the traditional sense. But I agree that they now represent a growing segment of the market, just wouldn't rank them side by side with dealers. I guess I had rather had more opinion on other dealers out there.

 

My thoughts.....

 

Doug Sulipa: Have bought from him and love to do so. Good inventory (including some key Batman/Tec issues), very good grading, very responsive, prices are reasonable. Generally my first source for inquiry on buying a book and first choice to buy from. Definitely would put him a little higher on the list, by bumping the auction houses.

 

Metropolis: Love the website. Easily the first place of reference when trying to get an estimate of a book's sales price and availability. I have spoken to them on the phone and via email - great to talk comics with them.

 

Comiclink: Haven't used them, but generally the second site I refer to on pricing and availability.

 

Mile High: Never bought from him, but definitely belongs in the top 10 for the reasons you stated. If nothing else, he will always be a force due to the Edgar Church collection. What a find and what a story.

 

Others: No experience with them since I like buying a lot of my stuff here on the boards and through my LCS.

 

Again, nice job! This is one of those posts that I will save on my computer for future reference (just like the Redhook/goonchild debacle...'tis a classic).

 

(thumbs u

[blazingbob]

Better to be named than not named at all I say .

 

 

[frankiecastle]

i love the idea and in general i'd agree w/ a lot of your choices- personally, i think heritage would be in my #2 slot and i'd have a hard time putting sulipa #4 given the abysmal website. i'd swap the blazing one w/ sulipa. i'd have to disagree w/ the reasoning for chuck being #10- for me he's more the anti-wal mart "everyday high prices" but he still belongs somewhere on the list given his overall influence on the hobby. thanks for opening this topic up for discussion.

[arexcrooke]

Better to be named than not named at all I say .

 

:hail:

 

[DrWatson]

Not a bad list, but personal experience taints the rankings. Maybe one of these days I will learn not to hold a grudge. Nah, I doubt it.

[blazingbob]

Yes, Imagine if I generated the list.

[DrWatson]

[TeddieMercede]

I think I would have Ritter/Nelson a bit farther down the ladder until there is a proven track record of Steve being able to bring in new books. Right now his site just opened and he sold his collection which had a bunch of great books, but Im not so sure it means long term hes going to be able to play with the big boys.

 

I think Id have Bob at least in that 5 spot and probably #4 instead of Sulipa based on his ability to continually find books and for being an all around high quality, grouchy, honest funny book dealer. Out of all the dealers listed id have a hard time finding someone who actually takes customer feedback to heart more then Bob, not something we as collectors should overlook. Nor the fact that he actively searches out wantlist books, not as common a trait as you may think.

[Sqeggs]

How about Gary Dolgoff? If you're looking for VG books at G prices, Gary's your man. To my mind, he sure beats Mile High, the home of VG books at VF prices.

[arexcrooke]

Some general observations of mine:

Mile High: I dont really look at Mile High too much as their grading and their pricing are well beyond the realm of reason most of the time. However, when one of the notsosupersecret code word sales goes into effect, there can be books found at normal prices. Ive done it once or twice.

Also, their customer service, shipping, and packaging were top quality.

 

Pedigree is a great spot if you are looking for:

a-High grade marvels

b-High grade marvels

c-High grade marvels

d-All of the above.

 

Seeing as how I dont do a whole lot of collecting of Marvel right now Pedigree doesnt do alot for me.

The selection of DC's is getting better, but still not what I am think of first when I am shopping.

The credit card/paypal fee is still being charged and shipping (through no fault of Doug's) is getting crazy with everything being shipped through FedEx.

Doug is a very nice and personable man whom I love talking with. Never seems like he doesnt have time for a small timer like me.

 

Dave Kapelka-WOW! Really enjoy buying from, looking through, and talking with him. Uncovers some really nice stuff and when Harley and others are buying his stuff like they do, then you know he gets the goods.

10% discount for everyone, regardless if you are a dealer or not. Unless you get into the 10k range and then he ups it a little. For some reason knowing i get pretty much the same discount as the BSD's resonates well with me.

Very nice and easy gu to deal with. One of my first stops whenever im at a show he does.

Grading is tight, pricing is right, and a pleasure to deal with.

 

Blazing Bob- High grade books, often times tough issues, fair to buy and sell from, no BS and honest fortright answers. I enjoy dealing with Bob. It was fun standing in between his and Teddy's booth at Baltimore and listening to Bob lob insults/jokes back and forth with Teddy or Brian or whoever else was there.

Crusty maybe, but you know where you stand, know you will be treated fairly, and know the grades will be right. If I want a show and tell session, ill go over to Crazy Ed. If I want no BS and a tightly graded book, well, Bob is where its at.

 

Harley-Havent dealt with Harley much. Although i will say In Baltimore when I asked him about a slabbed book that I thought was a little overpriced and that GPA had it sell for a different price, he was more than amenable to having me look up GPA. Although i couldnt figure out how to on my Blackberry is a different story.

 

Ritter/Nelson- Not enough experience buying from them to make a large statement. Ive never bought from Ritter and only a few books from Matt.

 

Doug Sulipa: I really wish Doug would bring his database into the Windows age, as I usually forget to even send him an email asking for anything im looking for because the website is, well, about as functional as DOS is.

Grades are tighter than hat band and my reply/responses from him have been very quick and easy to use. I dont need a scan from him that is how much I trust his grading.

 

Heritage- Dont even look at their site. For me, there is too much that can be going on behind the scenes for me to trust their integrity. I might be completely off base and if i am, i would admit it, however, for me, i dont want to do business with a place that i percieve to be like Heritage.

 

Metro- Never look at the site, never buy from them. Only bought twice i think. Not even on my radar as books are priced beyond what I consider FMV (or were when I was actually looking at the site) and the lack of flexibility on pricing, awkward buy/ask for scan/ask for price, just turned me off of the site.

Ive talked with Vinny on the phone once and felt like my time and conversation were valued. So i have no issue with Vinny, just the things outlined above.

 

CLink- I echo what Brian says.