New Trend at Comic Conventions???

[the blob]

What`s going on now at the conventions? Seems like everybody is talking about what happened 15 to 20 years ago.Great knowledge here and I loved reading about it but I think the op was more interested in what dealers were doing now. I could be wrong though.

 

As far as I can tell they've been doing pretty much the same as they've been doing for the last 17 years. So extrapolate from there.

[JohnT]

What`s going on now at the conventions? Seems like everybody is talking about what happened 15 to 20 years ago.Great knowledge here and I loved reading about it but I think the op was more interested in what dealers were doing now. I could be wrong though.

 

As far as I can tell they've been doing pretty much the same as they've been doing for the last 17 years. So extrapolate from there.

 

I think the point is it seems hard to find any reasonably priced books at conventions.

[Gatsby77]

Well--Ebay's changed the game. 95% or more of books at conventions can be found cheaper online. But i get that there's mark-up and overhead for the dealer to be there on-site, rent a booth, etc. and your ability to hold and grade the book in your hands.

 

Still--the last convention I went to did have a) bargains in the $10 and under range for Silver through Bronze, and b) rare Golden Age books that don't often come up on Ebay. Plus, you get the added entertainment value of talking with fellow fans.

 

I don't like that many dealers now want CGC prices for raw books--if the grade's really that high, slab it first. But it's still impressive to me to walk into a room that has 20 copies of Daredevil # 1, 40 copies of FF 48, 25 copies of Iron Fist 14, and 3 copies of Batman 1.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Well--Ebay's changed the game. 95% or more of books at conventions can be found cheaper online. But i get that there's mark-up and overhead for the dealer to be there on-site, rent a booth, etc. and your ability to hold and grade the book in your hands.

 

Still--the last convention I went to did have a) bargains in the $10 and under range for Silver through Bronze, and b) rare Golden Age books that don't often come up on Ebay. Plus, you get the added entertainment value of talking with fellow fans.

 

I don't like that many dealers now want CGC prices for raw books--if the grade's really that high, slab it first. But it's still impressive to me to walk into a room that has 20 copies of Daredevil # 1, 40 copies of FF 48, 25 copies of Iron Fist 14, and 3 copies of Batman 1.

Yep that`s a pet peeve of mine also, you see that a lot on Ebay, charging CGC prices for books not slabbed.

[JohnT]

I know there's more overhead to sell at a convention, but if no one's buying I don't get how having high prices is a workable business model.

 

I've heard that a big part of the appeal for dealers going to a convention is getting first crack at other dealer's stuff before they open to the public. At any rate, I rarely see dealers who look really anxious to sell.

[Hamlet]

I was at the Minneapolis convention this weekend.

 

There was some decent stuff there, and a few dealers even appeared to want to actually sell some of it

 

True to form, I spent my money bottom feeding.

 

Most of my money got spent at a dealer who had some nice low-to-mid-grade SA, graded strictly, and priced it all at 50% of guide. Anything that guided for $8 or less got thrown into the $2 boxes. I bought decent reader copies of Cap 105, MIS 98, Jimmy Olsen 109, Lois Lane 81, Superboy 159, Batman 194 and 209, Thor 176 and 184, and Flash 174 out of that bin. They were mostly in the G-VG range.

 

He also had a ton of lower grade 1950s WDCS and Four Color books in the $2 bin. Not my generally my thing, but that seems like a good way to actually move some of this product, rather than let it sit in boxes for years.

[nearmint]

I feel pretty lucky these days if I find comics at any price at a comic-con.

[IronFistNinja-migration]

I went to a wizard world con and I bought at one booth....went to another and the same book in simular to worse condition was 8x the price...I was dumbfounded

[zuckuss2003]

Well, someone must be buying...

 

There was a dealer at a small local con here selling his new collection that was very low grade and most books had mildew/mold on them. The runs were nice and complete but he was asking full guide for 2.0/3.0 silver X-men. I picked through for the nicest stuff, 6.0 at best but was quoted full guide between 6.0 and 8.0 prices. Inside I laughed and walked away but I later saw someone else buy 2 of the books.

 

Same dealer was also trying to convince a fellow that his JIM 83 with detached and fully split spine was a 1.8/2.0 easy and very affordable at $895.

[Baron]

At Cons I see myself just browsing through the key issues since the price has been going around x4 what I can purchase online. I mainly hit Cons for their 25 cent through dollar bins since LCBS haven't been stocking theirs up anymore.

[Prince Namor]

Well, someone must be buying...

 

There was a dealer at a small local con here selling his new collection that was very low grade and most books had mildew/mold on them. The runs were nice and complete but he was asking full guide for 2.0/3.0 silver X-men. I picked through for the nicest stuff, 6.0 at best but was quoted full guide between 6.0 and 8.0 prices. Inside I laughed and walked away but I later saw someone else buy 2 of the books.

 

Same dealer was also trying to convince a fellow that his JIM 83 with detached and fully split spine was a 1.8/2.0 easy and very affordable at $895.

 

Wow. Some messed up stories.

I guess buying comics is a lot like getting your car fixed. Find someone you can trust and stick with them for life!

[RockMyAmadeus]

Well, someone must be buying...

 

There was a dealer at a small local con here selling his new collection that was very low grade and most books had mildew/mold on them. The runs were nice and complete but he was asking full guide for 2.0/3.0 silver X-men. I picked through for the nicest stuff, 6.0 at best but was quoted full guide between 6.0 and 8.0 prices. Inside I laughed and walked away but I later saw someone else buy 2 of the books.

 

Same dealer was also trying to convince a fellow that his JIM 83 with detached and fully split spine was a 1.8/2.0 easy and very affordable at $895.

 

As has been noted before in this thread, there was a time when people 1. actually happily paid full guide, and 2. full guide was 1/10th to 1/100th what it is now.

 

Somewhere in the 90's, we lost our way...

[Prince Namor]

Well, someone must be buying...

 

There was a dealer at a small local con here selling his new collection that was very low grade and most books had mildew/mold on them. The runs were nice and complete but he was asking full guide for 2.0/3.0 silver X-men. I picked through for the nicest stuff, 6.0 at best but was quoted full guide between 6.0 and 8.0 prices. Inside I laughed and walked away but I later saw someone else buy 2 of the books.

 

Same dealer was also trying to convince a fellow that his JIM 83 with detached and fully split spine was a 1.8/2.0 easy and very affordable at $895.

 

As has been noted before in this thread, there was a time when people 1. actually happily paid full guide, and 2. full guide was 1/10th to 1/100th what it is now.

 

Somewhere in the 90's, we lost our way...

 

Yeah, about the time Wizard tried to convince us that X-Force #1 was a good investment.