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Pondering buying a store's inventory

Started by the blob,

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the blob

the blob

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I am pondering buying a store's inventory. The owner has a fair amount of stuff he has accumulated over the years, though he will be taking the good stuff with him. He's just tired of it all. so we're probably talking about books worth (in real money) $20 or less down to worthless. I guess I need to get a grasp of how much stuff we're talking about. I have the room to store a fair amount of long boxes, though I probably shouldn't.

 

Let's assume these are all "dollar" type show books (in actuality, I suspect there are probably 5-7 long boxes of decent $5-$15 stuff scattered among all this stuff.

 

Should I even be contemplating a dime a book or should I look more for 5 cents? If he has 50 long boxes, would 20 bucks a long box make sense? My old LCS eventually craigslisted his inventory and sold 17,000 books for 10 cents a pop and he didn't have much decent left at that point. But her also felt he made out like a bandit.

 

This isn't all overprinted 1989 - 1994 stuff. In fact, little of it is as far as I can tell.

 

I don't want to tick the guy off by being too cheap because I would like to get access to the more decentish stuff (and maybe he will cull the books he is taking home with him a bit as it looks like he has about 20-25 magazine/short boxes of it), but if I am going to sell these for 50-100 cents each and will have overhead in the process, I really can't pay much, especially because a chunk of them will be slow (or "no") movers.

 

I guess I might sell some of these online, but more realistically, as this is cheaper stuff, that I cannot fathom scanning/describing, etc., I was thinking of trying to do an area show once or twice a month (I'm in NYC, so between NY and NJ there are usually a couple) and set up as a $1/50 cent box guy maybe with a long box or two of "better" stuff and maybe (if I can figure out how to build one) some wall books behind me. Basically, after costs I'm hoping to net a few hundred bucks a show from this type of thing. honestly, i just don't know how these sorts of tables do at smaller shows with just "ok" cheap books.

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TSwift25

TSwift25

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Obviously depends on the rapport you have with the store owner. I don't think there's ever a problem seeing what he wants and then negotiating from there, especially if you fear lowballing him will preclude access to more items you may covet, which would then render this transaction virtually meaningless.

 

As far as setting up as just a dollar guy, I have no clue how they make it work at shows but I'll tell you this, one guy sets up a table down near the South Street Seaport seemingly every weekend and the guy actually sells a good chunk of stuff. One of the few street comic tables I've actually seen people stop and buy from. Now that NYU's ditched the downtown dorm they had there, the "reading" market may have dried up, but you never know. Midtown is opening an outpost down in the financial district so maybe there's greatly untapped potential. :shrug:

 

Either way, best of luck to you in getting this to work if you do decide to take on the challenge of milking the long boxes. :wishluck:

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

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I think $20 a box for the 50 boxes is totally fine given what you've described. It's not Image stuff, or if some of it is, it's $2.99 Image stuff, not early 90s Image stuff. You'd be paying seven cents each and you'd quickly get your money back by doing a few small shows and even bulking out 10-30 boxes after a few shows and keeping what you want.

 

Put another way, for the five best boxes you'd probably be willing to pay $100 a box That means the other 45 boxes are only about 3 cents a book. And I'm assuming a ton of that stuff is from '97 up, which is good high cover price low print run stuff.

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the blob

the blob

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pass on the & make em on offer on the so called good stuff

 

the good stuff as in the stuff he plans on keeping or the 5 - 7 (maybe 10) longies of $5-$20 books he has scattered about?

 

he's going to sell the keeping stuff on ebay bit by bit over time. he's just mainly sick of having a store and having to pay a guy to be there when he is not, etc. he has other businesses. i don't think I can get that "good stuff" for a low enough price to justify it.

 

i don't think he will let me cherry pick him like that as I suspect he wants to get rid of his inventory, but maybe he's just as interested in having someone else haul it out of his store as in making some money.

 

i dunno, i'll play it by ear. I don't know if I'm that interested in being a 50 cents/$1 box guy at shows or maye a "half" price guy or 3 or 5 for $10 guy. Even if the cheap stuff comes to me free, renting tables and schlepping has its costs and you need to sell a bunch of cheapies just to cover that. How many people go to shows and buy these things 50 at a time unless they're cherry picking the dealer?

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the blob

the blob

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I think $20 a box for the 50 boxes is totally fine given what you've described. It's not Image stuff, or if some of it is, it's $2.99 Image stuff, not early 90s Image stuff. You'd be paying seven cents each and you'd quickly get your money back by doing a few small shows and even bulking out 10-30 boxes after a few shows and keeping what you want.

 

Put another way, for the five best boxes you'd probably be willing to pay $100 a box That means the other 45 boxes are only about 3 cents a book. And I'm assuming a ton of that stuff is from '97 up, which is good high cover price low print run stuff.

 

we'll see. what he has out on the floor of the shop tends to stray away from that '89 - '94 timeframe, but maybe what he has stored up that he'd want me to take is where he has that drek.

 

i guess the problem with this sort of thing is if you don't continually acquire new stuff the inventory gets picked over and stale, particularly if you are staying local for your shows (thankfully I am in an area with about 30 million people), and I don't plan on doing this again and again. i don't have the room for it and the wife would kill me unless I made out like a bandit the first time around.

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mrmitchgro

mrmitchgro

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I think $20 a box for the 50 boxes is totally fine given what you've described. It's not Image stuff, or if some of it is, it's $2.99 Image stuff, not early 90s Image stuff. You'd be paying seven cents each and you'd quickly get your money back by doing a few small shows and even bulking out 10-30 boxes after a few shows and keeping what you want.

 

Put another way, for the five best boxes you'd probably be willing to pay $100 a box That means the other 45 boxes are only about 3 cents a book. And I'm assuming a ton of that stuff is from '97 up, which is good high cover price low print run stuff.

 

we'll see. what he has out on the floor of the shop tends to stray away from that '89 - '94 timeframe, but maybe what he has stored up that he'd want me to take is where he has that drek.

 

i guess the problem with this sort of thing is if you don't continually acquire new stuff the inventory gets picked over and stale, particularly if you are staying local for your shows (thankfully I am in an area with about 30 million people), and I don't plan on doing this again and again. i don't have the room for it and the wife would kill me unless I made out like a bandit the first time around.

 

For the amount of work you're talking about, it doesn't seem like the return is there to justify the purchase. I certainly think you'd make money, but if it takes up a ton of time, is it really worth it for a few hundred bucks?

 

What I'd recommend doing is come up with a high level calculation of how much you reasonably think you'll make on everything and then estimate the amount of time in hours it will take you. If you're working for less than minimum wage, seems like you've got your answer. Just my 2c

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passion4comics

passion4comics

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I would try to negotiate his good books with the lot. If all he has are dollar books wouldn't you get more enjoyment out of buying a single $1000 comic than taking the risk on boxes you'll be stuck with for some time?

 

Why does everyone hate 89-94? What happened during that era?

 

the end happened. I left the hobby around 1994 after being disgusted with the industry the last couple years previous. fancy covers, 12 variants on a #1, etc

 

Got it. I went to a comic shop last week and was 110% confused on which comic was what. I had to ask the guy "just X-Men, the X-Men, the normal X-Men, where is it?" We had 2 comic shops where I am that went out of business. I had to drive all the way into NJ to a place called Manga or something. Nice guys in there.

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CKB

CKB

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If you don't have the room, think hard about it... and how long it will take to sell/dispose of your inventory.

 

 

 

 

Seriously. I am still selling the major collection I bought in 2003. Getting close to the end, though. :insane:

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the blob

the blob

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I think $20 a box for the 50 boxes is totally fine given what you've described. It's not Image stuff, or if some of it is, it's $2.99 Image stuff, not early 90s Image stuff. You'd be paying seven cents each and you'd quickly get your money back by doing a few small shows and even bulking out 10-30 boxes after a few shows and keeping what you want.

 

Put another way, for the five best boxes you'd probably be willing to pay $100 a box That means the other 45 boxes are only about 3 cents a book. And I'm assuming a ton of that stuff is from '97 up, which is good high cover price low print run stuff.

 

we'll see. what he has out on the floor of the shop tends to stray away from that '89 - '94 timeframe, but maybe what he has stored up that he'd want me to take is where he has that drek.

 

i guess the problem with this sort of thing is if you don't continually acquire new stuff the inventory gets picked over and stale, particularly if you are staying local for your shows (thankfully I am in an area with about 30 million people), and I don't plan on doing this again and again. i don't have the room for it and the wife would kill me unless I made out like a bandit the first time around.

 

For the amount of work you're talking about, it doesn't seem like the return is there to justify the purchase. I certainly think you'd make money, but if it takes up a ton of time, is it really worth it for a few hundred bucks?

 

What I'd recommend doing is come up with a high level calculation of how much you reasonably think you'll make on everything and then estimate the amount of time in hours it will take you. If you're working for less than minimum wage, seems like you've got your answer. Just my 2c

 

you see, i'm not looking at this as a lot of work as I have no intention of trying to list and sell 50 boxes of low value books on ebay or here or even organize them. i'd have to make a few trips back to my house in the station wagon and drag them upstairs. that's the main bit of work, 50 trips to my third floor.

 

i dunno, maybe a third are bagged and boarded? most have bags.

 

i have the room for this. although barely. it will be hard to maneuver up there although i will be creating another 90 square feet of storage space soon when i finish off a small room.

 

i'd go through the boxes and pull the 5 - 7+ boxes of material that shouldn't be in a $1 or 50 cent box. the rest i would haul to shows and cross my fingers. i would not try to organize them. If I can't net I guess at least $300 a show then yeah, it's not worth being away from my family for a day on the weekend, but otherwise iwouldn't mind generating a little extra revenue stream.

 

we'll see

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the blob

the blob

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sure, i like it if all my 50 cent books are alphabetized and in brand new fresh bags and boards and the dealer makes them 3/$1 for me because I'm buying a bunch, mylites are good too, but seriously, I shouldn't expect it. how much work and expense (bags and boards ain't free) do I expect the seller to go through to sell me something for 33-50 cents?

 

i don't pass on tables because they're disorganized or unboarded, i pass on them when after a box or two there doesn't seem to be anything i want.

 

the best $1 and less krap i tend to get is out of the totally disorganized dealers' boxes. if everything looks too neat and tidy and everything has boards 90% of the time there are no bargains in there because the dealer has already pulled everything good.

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paradigmcomics

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For what it's worth to you, I can tell you my own personal experience.

 

In 2004 or so, I bought a complete story inventory. I ended up getting every single thing in the store, even items we hadn't agreed on but when the owner actually realized this was happening and, I guess, the burden was finally off of him, he just started throwing in stuff. I ended up with tons of boxes full of action figures, statues, magazines, supplies, manga and gaming/sports cards. I even got his vending machine and display cases, as well as some electronics he had in there.

 

I also got stuck with 181 Long boxes full of . Probably 120 of them were pure drek. 40 of the boxes I still have!

 

I ended up making my money back very fast because there was some really good items in this collection (not comics), which is the reason I purchased it in the first place. But like some other posters have mentioned. You really need to look at this from a far.

 

Do you really want to setup at local shows every month? You might even take a loss at the shows. Also, what happens when the items that are of interest get sold and you're left with the worse. Then the shows won't even be worth doing.

 

Not always, but often, at least in comics, you have to spend money to make money. I truly believe this.

 

Just my opinion. Good luck either way!

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