Setting Up At A Show

[podboy66]

Up in Canada. Calgary to be precise. Most of the dealers were blowing out dollar books and moderns. We had some really nice Silver Age ASM and Timely's to get people's attention and people ended up digging thru the boxes.

[The Less Blob]

is calgary still booming with oil money nowadays or has that cooled off? (or is that more in edmonton?)

 

of course, maybe it's canadian comic collectors loading up on comic loot before hibernating? (just kidding!)

[jkrk]

If you are interested in setting up at a small NY show (one day) then PM me. I might be willing to go halfies.

 

Jay

[Pirate]

I'm doing two small shows the next couple of weeks. I'm bringing along my 11 year old son to help with the table. $1/$2 comics so if he messes up, no biggie. Will be a good learning experience for the both of us and a way hopefully to get rid of a lot of current and older books.

 

Ordered some cheap business cards from office depot and have a work associate building me a small display rack for the future.

[thehumantorch]

I just did a local show, where I shared a couple of tables with the owner of my LCS. I brought 5 short boxes of mostly Silver and Bronze Marvels doubles and 1 short box of low grade Golden Age books. My wife helped me move the boxes in and out of show, so nothing could get stolen. I didn't have a display but I had the expensive books on the table behind the short boxes. Most of the books were priced at full guide and I gave each customer a 10% discount if they purchased a few books.

 

I ended up selling two short boxes of books, mostly in $10 to $50 range and a F/VF raw ASM 12 for $250. I was also able to trade some golden age Timely doubles for some high grade CGC ASM's. All in all in the show was very successful for me.

 

Good luck.

 

Which show was that Vern? Glad you did well.

[thehumantorch]

is calgary still booming with oil money nowadays or has that cooled off? (or is that more in edmonton?)

 

of course, maybe it's canadian comic collectors loading up on comic loot before hibernating? (just kidding!)

 

Edm. and Calgary have cooled off but still the strongest economy in N. America.

 

 

[innocuous]

 

The L.A. 1-day con near USC is coming up. Any boardies with a table there?

[mrlatko]

Even if you just plan to blow out dollar and discount books, it does help to have a small display of show books behind your table (out of reach so no threat of theft) even if you don't plan to or even want to sell these books. You don't even need to price them and can just explain they are for show only when asked. These books will attract attention and increase traffic at your booth, especially if your neighbors don't have such a display. I always bring some mega-key show-off books from my personal stash and display them for just this purpose when I occasionally set up at local shows.

[SharpComics.com]

Waaaay back in the early '90s up until 2000, I was a weekend warrior and did 2-3 shows a month, most took place on sunday. I had a nice mix of comics, star wars toys and Magic the Gathering. After a while, it went from being fun... to work . So with the popularity of Ebay catching on and me getting more involved with my day job, I eventually stopped doing shows altogether.

 

Fast forward to present....

 

I have now been doing Wizard World Chicago exclusively since 2003 and couldnt be happier .

 

A couple of things have changed when it comes to how I run my business at shows

 

1. Business cards. As a few on here have already stated, b.cards will give you the POTENTIAL to make future purchases/sales happen with very little investment involved. Get em, quite worth it (thumbs u .

 

2. Quantity vs. Quality. In the past, i wasnt as focused on "condition" as I was having the largest stack of the hottest issue of the week on my table. Now, its more of a happy medium, with a broad selection of titles/genres to choose from while keeping stock of the nicest copies I can obtain.

 

3. Display board. Back in the day, I used a flimsy piece of pegboard with J-channel zip-tied to it and leaned it against a wall . Utter krap. Today, a large A-frame display, 14 ft wide, 7ft high, comfortably holding around 140 wall books. Great way to get people to notice you is a friggin obnoctious wall of funnybooks blocking the rest of the room from view, classic .

 

4. Salesmanship. Back in the day, i honestly could care less if someone bought a book from me(mostly cause I was making a fortune selling Magic cards ) . Well, I dont sell cards anymore , so making these books fly out of the boxes and into customers hands is something i care deeply about . Take care of them, and hopefully they will return for more. To not take care of them could potentially lead to many lost sales . So, smile and be nice

 

5. Enjoy the show. Sell/buy a few books, chat it up with fellow dealers and customers; just enjoy yourself. Honestly, the money is nice, but for me its all about the people I meet and the experiences I have within this interesting little hobby.

 

TTFN. Brad

[zuckuss2003]

This is a great thread. I am enjoying these stories and ideas. One day perhaps I may be able to do the same and set up at a show.

[JerryZ]

Even if you just plan to blow out dollar and discount books, it does help to have a small display of show books behind your table (out of reach so no threat of theft) even if you don't plan to or even want to sell these books. You don't even need to price them and can just explain they are for show only when asked. These books will attract attention and increase traffic at your booth, especially if your neighbors don't have such a display. I always bring some mega-key show-off books from my personal stash and display them for just this purpose when I occasionally set up at local shows.

 

ALWAYS bring show off books.It brings people over to ooh and ahh over them. You may pick up a good sale.If not then you will at least have a buzz around your table which will translate to a few sales.

I like the business card suggestion as well.If you have them always pass them out,.Lots of potential collections out there to buy .Also if someone happens to ask about a certain book that you may not have at the show they can always give you a call and pick it up if they are local

 

 

[Pirate]

Because what if I'm looking at your ASM 237 for instance and I notice you have three of them, but one has something wrong with the cover but you've priced it higher than one that has better eye appeal (at least as far as the cover goes). I'll probably figure it looks like on the inside and be on my way and you should assume that that's what most people will do.

 

You don't ask to see books out of the bag before you buy? You're braver than me.

[The Less Blob]

3. Display board. Back in the day, I used a flimsy piece of pegboard with J-channel zip-tied to it and leaned it against a wall . Utter krap. Today, a large A-frame display, 14 ft wide, 7ft high, comfortably holding around 140 wall books. Great way to get people to notice you is a friggin obnoctious wall of funnybooks blocking the rest of the room from view, classic .

---------------

 

how does one drag a diplay thingy around that big in, let's say, a pontiac vibe? i was pondering today how to build one i could fold up and fit in the car without too much hassle (while not taking up room for long boxes). i guess i could tie it too the top.

 

i don't really have any "ooh ahhh" books to put back there....some nice books, but no AF 15 or even a minty HUlk 181... Will sticking a nice Hulk 2 back there and other odds and ends really bring anyone in?

[The Less Blob]

Because what if I'm looking at your ASM 237 for instance and I notice you have three of them, but one has something wrong with the cover but you've priced it higher than one that has better eye appeal (at least as far as the cover goes). I'll probably figure it looks like on the inside and be on my way and you should assume that that's what most people will do.

 

You don't ask to see books out of the bag before you buy? You're braver than me.

 

my new policy is that anything over $2 a book is going to get examined unless the seller is giving a huge discount. i got burned on some $4-$5 books 2 shows ago. why should I pay full (or practically full) ask for these books and not examine them? i feel like a dope. they're ALWAYS going to be worse than the front view in a bag with a board will make them look. (it's like buying pumpkins for halloween...you need to look at the backs, the sides and the bottoms, because they always display the good side facing you and who the heck wants a rotting pumpkin on their porch?) [shiver, if you're reading...you are free to use that statement for inspiration for your next painting without any royalties to me]

[thehumantorch]

3. Display board. Back in the day, I used a flimsy piece of pegboard with J-channel zip-tied to it and leaned it against a wall . Utter krap. Today, a large A-frame display, 14 ft wide, 7ft high, comfortably holding around 140 wall books. Great way to get people to notice you is a friggin obnoctious wall of funnybooks blocking the rest of the room from view, classic .

---------------

 

how does one drag a diplay thingy around that big in, let's say, a pontiac vibe? i was pondering today how to build one i could fold up and fit in the car without too much hassle (while not taking up room for long boxes). i guess i could tie it too the top.

 

i don't really have any "ooh ahhh" books to put back there....some nice books, but no AF 15 or even a minty HUlk 181... Will sticking a nice Hulk 2 back there and other odds and ends really bring anyone in?

 

Yes. Use every foot of your booth.

[sckao]

3. Display board. Back in the day, I used a flimsy piece of pegboard with J-channel zip-tied to it and leaned it against a wall . Utter krap. Today, a large A-frame display, 14 ft wide, 7ft high, comfortably holding around 140 wall books. Great way to get people to notice you is a friggin obnoctious wall of funnybooks blocking the rest of the room from view, classic .

---------------

 

how does one drag a diplay thingy around that big in, let's say, a pontiac vibe? i was pondering today how to build one i could fold up and fit in the car without too much hassle (while not taking up room for long boxes). i guess i could tie it too the top.

 

i don't really have any "ooh ahhh" books to put back there....some nice books, but no AF 15 or even a minty HUlk 181... Will sticking a nice Hulk 2 back there and other odds and ends really bring anyone in?

 

The Wombats fold up and collapse into a long ski bag. As they're aluminum, it's not heavy. So they're about 6-7' long and about 8" wide.

 

The ones you build at Home Depot are 6' long for the wire shelves with 2 A-frame wooden legs.. So everything collapses down to about 12" wide and maybe 8' long depending on the height of the A frame. (The wire shelves are pretty heavy when you have 5-6 of them.)

 

I tie them to my roof rack when I absolutely have no space in my SUV.

 

 

[Pirate]

i bought some supplies at lowe and going to see if they work tomorrow. Did you have to build the A Frame or do they sell them?

[Pirate]

anyone have a picture of a small setup without the books so I can see the layout. The stuff I got tonight after further thought might not work well.