Honest Dealers

[esquirecomics]

I am interested in why people are omitting certian dealers. I noticed Jerry Weist, Mark Wilson, Four Color Comics and Motor City Comics and Mark Zaid are missing.

 

I guess being a full-time lawyer automatically disqualifies or neutralizes me as an ethical or honest comic book dealer.

[blazingbob]

With all your media PR I didn't think you would need to be on this list.

 

 

[esquirecomics]

With all your media PR I didn't think you would need to be on this list.

 

 

Even lawyers (especially part-time comic book dealers) have feelings too and like to be loved.

[KEY ISSUES Comics]

I've been selling comics for over 35 years. First as a back-issue show/mail order dealer, then in 1978 I opened my first store and became the only place in the Chicago suburbs where you could by GA/SA books every day of the week.

 

I attended all the big shows for years and did all the back-breaking work necessary to have a chance at success. I was deeply involved in every aspect of back-issue sales: from authoring stories about little-know collecting niches (ashcans) to being an Overstreet advisor for 25 years.

 

And boy, am I glad that I don't depend on it for a living anymore.

 

I know all the guys whose names are mentioned in this thread (nice of Sharon and Steve to mention me) - some better than others. A few just by reputation. But there's one thing they all have in common, they are part of a very small and shrinking brotherhood.

 

Simply put it is very, very difficult making a living selling comic books and the alarming number of dealers who have been dropping out in recent years underscores how hard it is to make enough money to support yourself and a family.

 

Remember, full-time comic book dealers are competing not only with other dealers for your business - they are competing with part-time guys like me and every collector who's selling off some or all of their collection.

 

So please look at the full-time guys on the list with just a bit more understanding and some compassion. Grading and resto mistakes will be made and they will never get everything right, but they will be out there scouring for books for your collections, and they will be set up at your favorite convention, and they'll have a smile on their face and be happy to see you (okay maybe not Richie...).

 

Selling comics is a worthy profession and dealers deserve your respect.

 

Amen.

[oakman29]

I am interested in why people are omitting certian dealers. I noticed Jerry Weist, Mark Wilson, Four Color Comics and Motor City Comics and Mark Zaid are missing.

 

I guess being a full-time lawyer automatically disqualifies or neutralizes me as an ethical or honest comic book dealer.

 

My Mother in law is an Attorney,and not even she is ethical or honest.

[BustedFlush]

Unrest in Oakville. Mores the pity.

Lawyers and Shakespeare go together, like milk and comic books.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

Moondogs post was great. Cheers to the full-time delaers who are keeping their noses clean, and doing right by their customers.

[nearmint]

I am interested in why people are omitting certian dealers. I noticed Jerry Weist, Mark Wilson, Four Color Comics and Motor City Comics and Mark Zaid are missing.

 

I haven't seen a book added or sold from Mark Wilson's site in quite some time.

[500Club]

I am interested in why people are omitting certian dealers. I noticed Jerry Weist, Mark Wilson, Four Color Comics and Motor City Comics and Mark Zaid are missing.

 

I guess being a full-time lawyer automatically disqualifies or neutralizes me as an ethical or honest comic book dealer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tth2]

And boy, am I glad that I don't depend on it for a living anymore.

 

I know all the guys whose names are mentioned in this thread (nice of Sharon and Steve to mention me) - some better than others. A few just by reputation. But there's one thing they all have in common, they are part of a very small and shrinking brotherhood.

 

Simply put it is very, very difficult making a living selling comic books and the alarming number of dealers who have been dropping out in recent years underscores how hard it is to make enough money to support yourself and a family.

Bingo. This is exactly why there are so few full-time dealers who are honest, particularly those who don`t also own stores selling new stuff and thus must rely exclusively on back issue sales. It is inconceivable to me that people can make enough from buying and selling back issues to support any reasonable kind of lifestyle, particularly in this day and age when there are so many direct selling channels available.

 

It`s not surprising that so many full-time dealers cut ethical corners. The temptation to do so must be immense.

[MrBedrock]

It`s not surprising that so many full-time dealers cut ethical corners. The temptation to do so must be immense.

I always planned on being involved in this business for the long haul. Being unethical or dishonest is such a short-sighted way to conduct business. And it is the quickest way to lose a customer. So from my vantage point most of the long-time full-time dealers are the ethical ones. Because they get it they last and survive. The guys who are new to dealing are the ones who must resist the temptation.

[Forbush-Man]

I am interested in why people are omitting certian dealers. I noticed Jerry Weist, Mark Wilson, Four Color Comics and Motor City Comics and Mark Zaid are missing.

 

I guess being a full-time lawyer automatically disqualifies or neutralizes me as an ethical or honest comic book dealer.

 

Yep, pretty much.

[esquirecomics]

I am interested in why people are omitting certian dealers. I noticed Jerry Weist, Mark Wilson, Four Color Comics and Motor City Comics and Mark Zaid are missing.

 

I guess being a full-time lawyer automatically disqualifies or neutralizes me as an ethical or honest comic book dealer.

 

Yep, pretty much.

 

 

 

Whew, good thing I make all my money as an attorney and don't have to worry about whether I am an honest or ethical comic book dealer. As FoolKiller knows, in our legal community no one looks down upon you for being dishonest or unethical as we all wear the same clothes and have the same smell.

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

With all your media PR I didn't think you would need to be on this list.

 

 

Even lawyers (especially part-time comic book dealers) have feelings too and like to be loved.

 

That's not true. Everyone knows lawyers have no souls. No soul = no need for love.

 

[esquirecomics]

With all your media PR I didn't think you would need to be on this list.

 

 

Even lawyers (especially part-time comic book dealers) have feelings too and like to be loved.

 

That's not true. Everyone knows lawyers have no souls. No soul = no need for love.

 

 

 

Touche!

[HouseofComics.Com]

If I'm at a convention looking at an expensive comic and the dealer next to him sees me buying it and knowingly doesn't speak up and warn me because of some dealers code... well if I found out I wouldn't buy from either dealer ever again.

 

Here's a Harley anecdote that seems germane to this. I'm setting up at my first convention and really don't know what I'm doing. I have a six-foot table and have brought way too much stuff, of course. This includes stuff in the equivalent of Diamond boxes, that can't really be looked through. I can barely move with all the boxes underfoot and I'm really cramped. This is the Grand Rapids show, run by Kirby Tardy. Harley is on one side of me and another guy is on the other. I do not realize that Swamp Thing 21 has become hot, a $6 book. I ordered five with my initial Marc's Comic Corner order from the distributor and none sold. The other guy is ready to snap them up from me for cover or maybe less (I'm in high school and probably couldn't look more naive) and Harley steps in and his first words ever to me are, "You might want to check the guide on that." There's a new guide that's just come out and I don't even have my copy yet. Thanks to Harley I basically end up trading two copies to the guy for a new guide. Harley certainly didn't have to do that--the other guy was a regular on the Michigan show circuit and someone Harley probably would be dealing with a lot more than me, yet he did a really nice thing instead.

[HouseofComics.Com]

But there's one thing they all have in common, they are part of a very small and shrinking brotherhood.

 

Simply put it is very, very difficult making a living selling comic books and the alarming number of dealers who have been dropping out in recent years underscores how hard it is to make enough money to support yourself and a family.

 

Remember, full-time comic book dealers are competing not only with other dealers for your business - they are competing with part-time guys like me and every collector who's selling off some or all of their collection.

 

You've said this on the boards a time or two before and it's hard to argue with. I was talking Terry O'Neill about two years ago and told him that I thought one of the big advantages the long time dealers have is in buying, simply because they are the ones who sold the person the comics in the first place. When that person decides to sell their nice collection, they'll think of Terry or Harley or Bob Storms or Ted or Richard or Gary, etc. Terry then said to me, very genuinely, "I'd hate to be starting today." Not just because he has an advantage in being known to sellers, but I think just in general. He's built up his inventory and his niche in the industry already and did a lot of that back when times might've been a bit "easier". It's easier to grow your business in a growing market. Say you're an ambitious comic seller in the 80s and you live in the midwest. You can literally do a show every weekend, sometimes one on Saturday and one on Sunday. You can keep turning comics over and the barrier to entry is pretty low. Tables are $25 to $30, gas is cheap, new comics are 60-75 cents new, 30-45 cents wholesale. As Steve Wyatt said to me at my first convention this decade, "It's not like the 80s!"

[HouseofComics.Com]

Selling comics is a worthy profession and dealers deserve your respect.

 

It's always impressed me how much respect dealers are given on these boards. Partly because an awful lot of the frequent posters here have a very good idea what it's like to be on the other side of the table or run their own small ebay store, etc.

[porcupine48]

Right now,I love esquire comics!

[cloudofwit]

Right now,I love esquire comics!

 

But it'll be somebody else tomorrow. Fickle porcupine, you.