Interesting Ethical Question from Baltimore

[Foolkiller]

I'm not sure how many other Baltimore attendees present at the con saw the Humane Society set up selling off books for $1 a piece basically as a donation.

 

I basically blew right by, donated some money, but got no books, and apparently, it was a large donation of comics made by someone. In it were some fairly nice bronze books as well as a number of keys (WWBN 32, 33, ASM 298, 299, 300) -- and these were, of course, sold mostly to dealers.

 

I've heard this story second hand, but know for a fact it's true since it was later verified that the pickups were made by some of the dollar book dealers (who got some and then were sorry they missed out on getting the "big" scores) who saw the books first hand. Now that being said, I don't know what exactly the dollar book dealers did or didn't do to help the humane society, but from the sound of it, there was some bragging about the "scores" they made.

 

I have a small problem with this in that it isn't some dealer set up who picked up a new collection but was too lazy to go through it. It's the humane society and the people running knew very little to nothing about comics, as they admitted. It's a charity -- maybe donating a little more than a buck a book would have been appropriate? How about someone pointing out to the charity, say one of these dealers, that you could make much more or cull a few of these better books out for them to help them. I'm not saying the dealer couldn't make some money on it, but how about evening it out a bit to help the charity.

 

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

 

Anyone think I'm wrong? Thoughts, opinions?

[Norrin_Radd]

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

(thumbs u

 

 

[Sal]

eh, whattaya gonna do?

 

 

i gave the guy manning the booth a twenty and didn't stick around for any drawing. to each their own i guess

[scottish]

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

(thumbs u

 

(thumbs u

 

[seanfingh]

Anyone think I'm wrong? Thoughts, opinions?

 

I definitely don't think you are wrong, Brian, but I also am not sure that anyone did anything unethical by purchasing boks at a stated price from the vendor. Had the charity stated "We don't know what these are worth, please donate what you think is fair," I would be more inclined to agree a dollar for them is somewhat poor form. But when they say "$1 a book," it hardly seems fair to demand that one offer more than what the charity states that it wants. The margins for the charity are infinite, afterall.

[ChasingKingKirby]

I'm not sure how many other Baltimore attendees present at the con saw the Humane Society set up selling off books for $1 a piece basically as a donation.

 

I basically blew right by, donated some money, but got no books, and apparently, it was a large donation of comics made by someone. In it were some fairly nice bronze books as well as a number of keys (WWBN 32, 33, ASM 298, 299, 300) -- and these were, of course, sold mostly to dealers.

 

I've heard this story second hand, but know for a fact it's true since it was later verified that the pickups were made by some of the dollar book dealers (who got some and then were sorry they missed out on getting the "big" scores) who saw the books first hand. Now that being said, I don't know what exactly the dollar book dealers did or didn't do to help the humane society, but from the sound of it, there was some bragging about the "scores" they made.

 

I have a small problem with this in that it isn't some dealer set up who picked up a new collection but was too lazy to go through it. It's the humane society and the people running knew very little to nothing about comics, as they admitted. It's a charity -- maybe donating a little more than a buck a book would have been appropriate? How about someone pointing out to the charity, say one of these dealers, that you could make much more or cull a few of these better books out for them to help them. I'm not saying the dealer couldn't make some money on it, but how about evening it out a bit to help the charity.

 

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

 

Anyone think I'm wrong? Thoughts, opinions?

 

I call Douchebags. My wife and I dropped a couple bucks and kept on walking. What would make someone feel good about doing something like that? I don't care who it was, they're douchebags...

[comicalgems]

Hmm...I see your point.

 

But kudos to any collectors that found a great deal on missing books from their collection. I dream of finding $1.00 boxes with that kinds of stuff in them.

 

It's like finding a good deal at a garage sale or flea market, I'm not going to tell the seller, "Oh hey you're selling yourself short."

 

Someone somewhere further up the chain than the people running the booth approved the $1.00 price tag...if the people running the booth determined the price tag then someone approved them to make that decision.

 

But I see your point.

[flatrock02]

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

(thumbs u

 

 

(thumbs u (thumbs u

[MCMiles]

I don't know if it's unethical, but it's definitely uncool.

 

"maybe donating a little more than a buck a book would have been appropriate?" (thumbs u

[Han]

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

(thumbs u

 

(thumbs u

+∞

[hockey&comicsguy]

I'm not sure how many other Baltimore attendees present at the con saw the Humane Society set up selling off books for $1 a piece basically as a donation.

 

I basically blew right by, donated some money, but got no books, and apparently, it was a large donation of comics made by someone. In it were some fairly nice bronze books as well as a number of keys (WWBN 32, 33, ASM 298, 299, 300) -- and these were, of course, sold mostly to dealers.

 

I've heard this story second hand, but know for a fact it's true since it was later verified that the pickups were made by some of the dollar book dealers (who got some and then were sorry they missed out on getting the "big" scores) who saw the books first hand. Now that being said, I don't know what exactly the dollar book dealers did or didn't do to help the humane society, but from the sound of it, there was some bragging about the "scores" they made.

 

I have a small problem with this in that it isn't some dealer set up who picked up a new collection but was too lazy to go through it. It's the humane society and the people running knew very little to nothing about comics, as they admitted. It's a charity -- maybe donating a little more than a buck a book would have been appropriate? How about someone pointing out to the charity, say one of these dealers, that you could make much more or cull a few of these better books out for them to help them. I'm not saying the dealer couldn't make some money on it, but how about evening it out a bit to help the charity.

 

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

 

Anyone think I'm wrong? Thoughts, opinions?

 

 

I think any good dealer or a dealer that I would like to do business with, would toss a few extra bucks to them "donation" style for books they know are worth well more than a dollar. I mean c'mon, you're a dealer......they are a charity.....

 

at least have the decency not to brag about scoring deals from them.

 

 

In the spirit of full disclosure I will add that should the day come that I stumble upon that holy grail of yard sales where grandma is selling a box of GA superhero books for $20 bucks, I'm maybe gonna give her $50 and then my arse is outta there. Hypocritical? Maybe. But i'm not a comic book dealer set up at a convention and grandma ain't the Humane Society either.

 

 

edit: the more I think about it the less bothered I am about the dollar thing, rather the bragging about it seems in poor form. Which is exactly why I am going to lie about my miraculous garage sale find and tell everybody I paid 100% guide!

[comicalgems]

There's no guarantee that if they knew they had books valued for more than a dollar that they would've repriced them. They may have already known that and expected to get higher donations/traffic based on this.

[hockey&comicsguy]

I would like to applaud those who donated and did not expect something in return.

[sckao]

 

Imagine if you were the one who had donated the collection...

 

Hopefully, the outright donations/sales they got paid for the table/booth and netted them some proceeds. For every gem, there were probably many standard dollar bin stuff in there as well. (But yeah, having someone knowledgeable pull out the keys probably would have helped.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lizards2]

If you're talking about the wacko, human-loathing HSUS - Humane Society of the United States, then they deserve whatever they got, including counterfeit bills, stolen books and bounced checks.

 

If it was a local humane society organization, more likely to be engaged in non-political help to animals, then I see your point.

[DrWatson]

I would bet the convention space was donated or deeply discounted. They had comics for a dollar. If a dollar was donated, then no harm no foul.

[Han]

There's no guarantee that if they knew they had books valued for more than a dollar that they would've repriced them. They may have already known that and expected to get higher donations/traffic based on this.

Then why would they have sold them to the dealers, who are just gonna reprice and sell them anyway? P: I would've saved things like that, knowing it, for congoers.... P:

 

 

 

Geez Han, finish before you post, now.

[towards2112]

NOT you *sure*, just happened after your post...

 

Shooting your mouth off about scores is bad form.

Regardless of how you acquired what from whom, keep your yap shut.

With your wife the truth is good, with your buddy's, they don't really care.

[comicalgems]

It is an interesting question to me. I have often had people bring books into a shop to have them evaluated for their value. The first comic shops I worked for were run by dealer on the shady side. Who would look over a nice collection of books and tell the seller with a feigned sadness "Oh Fantastic 4 isn't so hot right now..48,49,50 I can't do much for you will you take $20?" Which lead to my having an eyerolling and sly head shaking at the seller trying to convey "Don't do it don't do it." Without saying it.

 

Once an elderly lady brought in a box of Mad magazines. She had them from #3 in fairly decent shape with all the centerfolds, cut outs etc still intact. The store owner went into his act about how they were just not worth anything etc. The lady explained she was working for the Friends of Strays shelter. She said the books had been donated and they thought rather than sell them for .25 cents each they could get more from a store. He told her how he'd be lucky to get .25 each. That Mads didn't sell.

 

I went through the box on the counter and oohed and ahhhed and told her how nice they were. I gave my patronizing "DO NOT SELL THEM TO HIM" look. I looked them up in the overstreet and went "geeessssshhh". Then I looked through them again. The store owner was pretty miffed at me for looking at them. I was not allowed to look at boxes. I said "Boy those are sure neat! I like them, you don't see old Mads like that especially the digest sized ones. They are very cool."

 

The store owner offered her $4.00 for the box. Which let's face it a joke. I made a grimace. The charity lady said "Oh no that isn't at all what we wanted we'd get more selling them at our store. I won't sell them for that much." I gave her a friendly smile.

 

She said "Young lady could you help me out to my car with the heavy box of books? I barely got them in here by myself." I told her no problem and grabbed the box and walked out the door. When we got to her car she said "he was trying to take advantage of me wasn't he?" I said "Yeah, but I'm glad you didn't sell them they are worth way more than that." She said "Well I appreciate you trying to lookout for me I would never have sold them for so little but I have no problem giving them away to someone who would appreciate them. Do you want them? You can have them if you'd like."

 

I told her I couldn't afford them. I explained she could sell them online or something. She said she'd rather I'd have them and gave them to me.

 

Some people say I took advantage of her..But she knew the score right? I did often donate to friends of strays after that. I shopped at their thrift stores. I brought them bedding and food when they had a drive to get supplies. The Mads were eventually stolen from me (After I had nearly each older one signed by everyone at the SDCC EC panel)

 

But I never intended to sell them.

 

 

Nice story.

 

I have a relative that is the store manager at a thrift store that deals with charity. They have tons of stuff that comes in donated and my relative just grabs a number out of the air and prices it. Usually really low, because after all it was donated. They have so many old TVs come in that they just toss a lot of them into a compactor out back if it looks like something that won't sell.

 

I can easily picture them selling a donated comic collection for $1 per book or less.

[Not*Sure*]

I have also owned a store. Now when a guy comes in lugging a box of books..I looked at them and would ask how much he wanted. If he said $200 I would look at it and if it were a box of post unity valiants..laugh. Once it was a box of AS from #4 double copies up until 300. Yes siree I bought them with a quickness. I felt guilty later but he wasn't a charity and he had the ability to look them up online or in a price guide as well as I could. I have bought 10 cent and 15 cent comic books at yard sales for "Half of the price on the cover"

 

But when the person is saying they are for charity I feel a bit different about it.

 

I had a VERY good customer. Decide to give his collection to the boyscouts. It would have been Okay had these been run of the mill 90's books. But these were very good books. Keys and pricey books thousands of them. At one time I evaluated his collection for insurance purposes and it was nearly $260,000 worth of books. I really wondered what the Boyscouts did with all those comics.

 

Goodwill does not sell comic books. They throw them away. Any printed matter pre 1985 goes in the recycle bin. I wonder what goodies have been shredded there!!