General question

[blazingbob]

What would it take for you to make my site the place to buy from?

 

Accept any bid?

 

Lower my prices to what?

 

Clearly state that I will wholesale large amounts of books to interested buyers?

 

Run auctions?

 

List all my inventory on Comiclink and call it a day?

 

 

[CKB]

Bad day, Bob???

 

[8milemax]

What would it take for you to make my site the place to buy from?

 

Accept any bid?

 

Lower my prices to what?

 

Clearly state that I will wholesale large amounts of books to interested buyers?

 

Run auctions?

 

List all my inventory on Comiclink and call it a day?

 

 

Bob you know where I stand, you are the best dealer out there I always try to buy from you first only reason why I would by from another place is because you don't have a book I'm looking for, even then i see if you can get it.

IMO your site is great nothing needs to be changed

[thehumantorch]

I think you have one of the best dealer sites Bob.

[conditionfreak]

You have a site?

[Subliminal]

Run auctions

 

Don't be a presser on the side (or on the sly)

 

Make buying and selling so cheap and easy even a caveman can do it.

 

Don't be evil like ebay and paypal

 

Change your ID on the forum to: "Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-... That's all, folks"

 

Or just keep doing what you already are doing

[DiceX]

6) Give Dice your inventory and let him worry about it.

 

 

[Tsimanga]

I've bought from you before and will in the future for sure... you're an A+ dealer in my book and thier aren't many of them out there...

 

Run auctions=yes

 

 

[blazingbob]

No, not a bad day.

 

Just a question to see what more I can do.

 

There are times when I think that maybe dealers that sell to other dealers have it better. They move more inventory and frankly don't have to wait for stuff to sell. They price it to move it. I am grading a collection that frankly has lots of books that are in nice shape. However, I miss the days when people would buy runs at a time. Nowadays you are looking at guys buying 1 or 2 issues at a time. Doesn't exactly make room in the boxes and frankly I'm running out of room.

 

There are days when I agree with how Brian sells stuff on the boards.

 

 

[DiceX]

I have no idea since I'm not in retail, but a wise and wealthy businessman told me years ago that a fast nickel was better than a slow dime.

 

 

[LordRahl]

What would it take for you to make my site the place to buy from?

 

Accept any bid?

 

Lower my prices to what?

 

Clearly state that I will wholesale large amounts of books to interested buyers?

 

Run auctions?

 

List all my inventory on Comiclink and call it a day?

 

 

I'm going to assume that you are really asking for constructive criticism Bob and answer your question. I've bought from you before and probably will again. But I only buy from you when it's a tough book that I've had a hard time finding or on the rare occasion that you actually priced it somewhere in the ballpark of market reality.

 

Example - a raw VF+ copy of FF 19 is not a $650 book when slabbed copies are going for somewhere in the neighborhood of $425. Yes I am aware that I can make a bid. But your price is so far off that I'd have to make you an offer that is almost 40% below your ask. I already know it will be rejected so why bother

[Snake Eyes]

Good question...I have just recently gotten back pretty heavily into buying comic books. Normally I would support my LCS where I could, but they pretty much are a TPB and moderns type of store, so I mostly just get dollar/quarter bin books there. Buying online, I have primarily relied on auctions (probably 40% Comiclink, 30% on the boards, 10% QualityComix, 10% ComicConnect, and 10% random others). Price is the primary driver for my purchases I think.

 

With the number of auctions out there right now, the prices have been kind of soft of late for the books I am picking up (admittedly not ultra high grade...but some key issues and GA nonetheless). :shrug: Perhaps auctions or sales would stir up interest (I know I would bid as I have found several books on your site I would love to get), but ultimately I suspect you would often get less than your current asking prices which probably is not ideal from your point of view.

 

Another option may be to offer a service that the many auctions/sites don't. I have often wanted someone to have a Priceline type of service for specific books I am looking for in a particular (instead of just a straight want list feature). For example, maybe I am looking for an ASM 5 in Good, but only want to budget $125 shipped and delivered for it. I commit to the sale ahead of time if you can buy it through a collection or your contacts at a price that still leaves you a reasonable profit. Otherwise, I don't know that I have any great new ideas.

 

SE

 

 

[lizards2]

I look at your site, but haven't purchased any. Your prices are more retailish than here, so not sure this the right audience for your question.

[8milemax]

What would it take for you to make my site the place to buy from?

 

Accept any bid?

 

Lower my prices to what?

 

Clearly state that I will wholesale large amounts of books to interested buyers?

 

Run auctions?

 

List all my inventory on Comiclink and call it a day?

 

 

I'm going to assume that you are really asking for constructive criticism Bob and answer your question. I've bought from you before and probably will again. But I only buy from you when it's a tough book that I've had a hard time finding or on the rare occasion that you actually priced it somewhere in the ballpark of market reality.

 

Example - a raw VF+ copy of FF 19 is not a $650 book when slabbed copies are going for somewhere in the neighborhood of $425. Yes I am aware that I can make a bid. But your price is so far off that I'd have to make you an offer that is almost 40% below your ask. I already know it will be rejected so why bother

 

I don't know about that. I think your claims are wrong, I have always got FMV prices from Bob.

[tth2]

These days, there seem to be very few "static" (i.e., non-auction) sites that get a lot of action. It seems like transactions are down on the regular listings, even at Pedigree if you exclude Doug's directly negotiated deals that he retroactively posts on his site.

 

It's not surprising, when you consider the sheer volume of auctions being conducted these days. Who has time to check regular listings when it takes a couple of days just to plow through the listings in Heritage's Signature auction, which is then followed by Comiclink's Featured auction, which is then followed by a Pedigree Grand auction, which is followed by a ComicConnect auction, all of which run in parallel with lesser auctions at Quality and Vintage, and which doesn't even take into account Heritage's weekly auctions, Comiclink's lesser auctions and eBay?

 

Everyone's dollars are so stretched by all these auctions where buyers have to prioritize their spending because the auctioned books will definitely move. They just start passing on static listings because they won't definitely sell, and just hope that the books don't move until they've got some money again, which won't happen because the next auction cycle will resume.

[Snake Eyes]

No, not a bad day.

 

Just a question to see what more I can do.

 

There are times when I think that maybe dealers that sell to other dealers have it better. They move more inventory and frankly don't have to wait for stuff to sell. They price it to move it. I am grading a collection that frankly has lots of books that are in nice shape. However, I miss the days when people would buy runs at a time. Nowadays you are looking at guys buying 1 or 2 issues at a time. Doesn't exactly make room in the boxes and frankly I'm running out of room.

 

There are days when I agree with how Brian sells stuff on the boards.

 

 

I certainly have admired how Brian moves books. Some real bargains mixed in with some other books that are more fairly priced from a seller's perspective. This type of thread not only generates tons of interest (boardies literally gossipping hours ahead of time) but also what I have noticed is an impulsive/competitive element. People do not have time to really debate if they want the book (and therefore talk themselves out of it)...it is literally a split second decision which certainly favors the seller if the buyer can be persuaded to enter that mindset. Maybe an experiment along those lines? Pick an amount of inventory with a couple of real attention grabbing books and a few blow out prices mixed in with otherwise high quality books. You would know exactly what you paid (say $1000 cost of inventory)...add up the sales at the end and see if a profit is turned, and if so the return justifies more sales of that type.

 

SE

[LordRahl]

What would it take for you to make my site the place to buy from?

 

Accept any bid?

 

Lower my prices to what?

 

Clearly state that I will wholesale large amounts of books to interested buyers?

 

Run auctions?

 

List all my inventory on Comiclink and call it a day?

 

 

I'm going to assume that you are really asking for constructive criticism Bob and answer your question. I've bought from you before and probably will again. But I only buy from you when it's a tough book that I've had a hard time finding or on the rare occasion that you actually priced it somewhere in the ballpark of market reality.

 

Example - a raw VF+ copy of FF 19 is not a $650 book when slabbed copies are going for somewhere in the neighborhood of $425. Yes I am aware that I can make a bid. But your price is so far off that I'd have to make you an offer that is almost 40% below your ask. I already know it will be rejected so why bother

 

I don't know about that. I think your claims are wrong, I have always got FMV prices from Bob.

 

Which claims are wrong? You think that a raw FF 19 in VF+ is a $650 book or you think that Bob will take a bid that is 40% below his ask price on a high grade early FF?

 

From my experience and bids I've put in, Bob will go about 15-20% off on books like this. Maybe he gives you a better discount then he does me, but I'd be pretty surprised if he went 40% off on this type of book.

[mschmidt]

For me personally, more pictures of the books that are being sold would be a huge improvement - if a book costs than, say, $25 I'd like to see what it looks like before I hit the Bid/Buy button.

[CKB]

No, not a bad day.

 

Just a question to see what more I can do.

 

There are times when I think that maybe dealers that sell to other dealers have it better. They move more inventory and frankly don't have to wait for stuff to sell. They price it to move it. I am grading a collection that frankly has lots of books that are in nice shape. However, I miss the days when people would buy runs at a time. Nowadays you are looking at guys buying 1 or 2 issues at a time. Doesn't exactly make room in the boxes and frankly I'm running out of room.

 

There are days when I agree with how Brian sells stuff on the boards.

 

 

In that case... :-)

 

Price.

 

If GPA/market is over $200 (or insert your own threshold here) on the book in grade, slab it.

 

If not, sell it raw much lower than you would like. Half GPA in grade, or half guide. (With the obvious exceptions for keys and the like.)

 

If you want to make room in the raw boxes, price is your barrier.

 

IMHO!

 

(Better yet, sell all the stuff that's not worth slabbing to me so I can charge too little for it! )

 

[blazingbob]

Yes, I am looking for constructive criticism.

 

So I should price the FF #19 at $425 which is almost $100+ below guide? And somebody will pay me full price or ask for a discount. Everybody wants a discount by the way. I factor that into my pricing.

 

$550 is VF+, I generally discount 15% which brings that $650 price down to $550.

 

GPA CGC 8.5 has two 2008's sales of $425, not exactly current prices.

 

Comiclink has a VF sale in Nov 2009 for $406.

 

I am not arguing by the way.

 

What I seeing in some of these posts is what I've already suspected. People feel that if they offer 40% they will automatically be rejected. How do you know that?