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Hayward, CA show is Oct. 12

Started by HouseofComics.Com,

41 posts in this topic

Mutie Fan

Mutie Fan

Posted
Posted

Yeah, a Wolverine Origin 1.

 

I only ask as it is a 2-3 hour drive each way for me. I don't want to show up and only have two or three tables with modern books, a t-shirt booth, and a bunch of Abba eight tracks to choose from.

 

 

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gilbertotorres

gilbertotorres

Posted
Posted
Yeah, a Wolverine Origin 1.

 

I only ask as it is a 2-3 hour drive each way for me. I don't want to show up and only have two or three tables with modern books, a t-shirt booth, and a bunch of Abba eight tracks to choose from.

 

 

i am bringing a couple of good books. i know my lcs will have their usual great selection. i know house of comics will have some great stuff like the stuff on his site.

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seank

seank

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A few dealers and a few attendees is what I saw. I showed up shortly after opening and wandered around for a while after chatting with Marc (House of Comics). I was severely sleep-deprived and slightly hung-over so I'm hoping I was at least minimally coherent.

 

Lots of dollar boxes and the standard Marvel/DC stuff. Big dealers were A-1, Terry's, and Steve Wyatt. I saw some nice Jungles but no Jumbos or Fights in decent grade. Saw Chris (Neurosis138) which was a surprise and we chatted. Met Gilberto Torres and discovered he's about 30 years younger than I expected. Almost too young to shave, I think.

 

Since I'm currently unemployed, I skipped the Jungles which I would have bought otherwise, didn't buy a Baker Diary Secrets which I should have bought on reflection, and walked out with a half-price Jonah Hex 20 and three Hellblazers I bought for a dollar each. Least amount of money I've spent at a convention in years.

 

It was good to see Marc, Steve Wyatt, et al, though.

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sckao

sckao

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Another reason I was shy with my $$$: I was told that Harley Yee is coming to the next Sacramento Convention. A reason to save until December.

 

Is he bringing out his entire inventory? I thought it was part of his vacation...

 

I wonder how he gets his inventory cross-country. Does he just pack them on a pallet and get them trucked across the country?

 

 

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sckao

sckao

Posted
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I think having a good convention from a dealer perspective is really about how well you do relative to your amount of time/energy you put into your inventory and booth and how much the table/overhead costs are.

 

If you really want to simplify it, it should come down to X times table costs.

 

I.E. A "good" convention could be when you sell 10x your table costs. So if the table cost was $50, if you sell over $500, you probably did okay. (Assuming the difference in the cost of your comics vs your selling price is decent. If you bought at 30% of guide and sold at 60% of guide, you double your money.)

 

So even if you did $500 gross. The cost was $250 for the comics. Sales tax = $40. That leaves $210 in profit minus table costs and transportation costs. (Say $50 for the table and $25 in gas.)

 

That's $135 in profit.

 

That's not even counting the hours spent grading and pricing. Costs on supplies (bags, boards, tape, signs, etc.) Or Lunch/food. (We're not counting lodging since we're talking about a small local convention.)

 

For a 6-8 hour small convention, you're actually working 10-12 hours driving to and from the con, setting up and tearing down.

 

So without counting grading/pricing/supplies, You're making maybe $11 an hour max. (Probably far less when you factor in the other hours and costs. Much less than minimum wage.)

 

 

Ultimately, this is why it's a hobby for most of us. (shrug)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

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It was tough to sell middle class 10-centers because Terry's Comics and A-1 Comics were there, along with three private collectors (who have some nice GA) who took tables to try to sell parts of their collection. I got a decent amount of sleep but I probably still blinked a few times when I saw Terry. No, it can't be. When I saw Brian Peets I thought I was hallucinating because he'd never done that show before.

 

I didn't have a spare minute--I know so many locals that it was non-stop chat and discussion. Got to meet Shaper and ComicRealm from the boards for the first time so I'd say that might be the highlight.

 

Brought 2100 books, sold 20.

 

Marc

 

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

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Well, you have to understand that I put little effort in (one small carload of books) and since I really cater to the middle class comic buyer ($10 to $100 comics) it's a bad time. It would've been interesting if we'd had the stock market up 11% on Friday instead of today, the day after the show. But a lot of people who made big purchases from me last year didn't even come this year.

 

Also, I'm in a sort of weird position where some of the best buyers come by to my warehouse a few times a year so they almost never buy something from me at the shows because they want to see what the other people have and support them a bit.

 

I wasn't expecting anything from this show.

 

Good talking to you on Sunday.

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

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Oh, Harley will likely ship a half-convention setup out by airline container. One corner booth worth, like he has at Super-Con in San Jose. Is there a Portland show in the late fall. If it's close to Sac-Con, then maybe he'll ship a bigger amount and then drive down. Anyway, 20-30 magazine boxes I'd guess.

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