Foolkiller's C2E2 2011 Report (Pics and Scans)

[Transplant]

Let's be honest. Much of con pricing is done with the assumption that a discount will be given. It's not the only business that does that. People like to feel as if they got a deal. IMHO, I think it also builds in a little protection against having to reprice inventory constantly to account for a rise in value.

[VintageComics]

99% percent of dealers will be reasonable with prices of the buyer is reasonable and has reasonable money to spend.

I`ll be expecting to get a 40% discount if you ever have a book I want to buy.

 

I'm the other 1%.

 

[VintageComics]

Let's be honest. Much of con pricing is done with the assumption that a discount will be given. It's not the only business that does that. People like to feel as if they got a deal. IMHO, I think it also builds in a little protection against having to reprice inventory constantly to account for a rise in value.

 

That is an excellant point. The book, once sold, needs to be replaced. The tougher it is to replace the book, the less room a dealer might have.

 

The common, easily replaceable stuff may be more negotiable.

 

It's simple economics of supply and demand.

 

Bottom line is that you never know unless you ask.

 

 

[tth2]

Let's be honest. Much of con pricing is done with the assumption that a discount will be given. It's not the only business that does that. People like to feel as if they got a deal. IMHO, I think it also builds in a little protection against having to reprice inventory constantly to account for a rise in value.

Personally, I like the haggling.

[tth2]

99% percent of dealers will be reasonable with prices of the buyer is reasonable and has reasonable money to spend.

I`ll be expecting to get a 40% discount if you ever have a book I want to buy.

 

I'm the other 1%.

 

Anyways, the chance that you`ll ever have a book I want to buy is also 1%.

[Transplant]

Personally, I like the haggling.

Allow me. I'll give you $1,000 US for your 9.6 #178.

[Transplant]

99% percent of dealers will be reasonable with prices of the buyer is reasonable and has reasonable money to spend.

I`ll be expecting to get a 40% discount if you ever have a book I want to buy.

 

I'm the other 1%.

 

Anyways, the chance that you`ll ever have a book I want to buy is also 1%.

I nearly posted exactly the same thing.

[tth2]

Personally, I like the haggling.

Allow me. I'll give you $1,000 US for your 9.6 #178.

As a buyer!

[tth2]

99% percent of dealers will be reasonable with prices of the buyer is reasonable and has reasonable money to spend.

I`ll be expecting to get a 40% discount if you ever have a book I want to buy.

 

I'm the other 1%.

 

Anyways, the chance that you`ll ever have a book I want to buy is also 1%.

I nearly posted exactly the same thing.

Great minds think alike!

[fantastic_four]

I just don't get the whole haggling thing, I guess. Why not just list it for the lowest you'd sell it for and be done with it? Less time dealing with offers, less people wondering what the price "really" is, etc. etc. If you're listed price is waaay out of whack, I immediately don't trust you to not take advantage of every uneducated customer that may stumble by and my interest in buying from you evaporates...

 

That's ridiculous to assume everyone is a scam artist if their prices are expensive. Quality costs money and dealers standing at a show with all the time in the world have the luxury of setting a price with the possibility of negotiating down.

 

They certainly can't set a low price and negotiate up.

 

Some dealers are very reasonable. Some will not budge and inch because they don't care if they make the sale or not. It's just personalities, and dealing with personalities is a real side of commerce.

 

Everything in life with a price can be negotiated from a car to a house to a comic price.

 

Sob stories like "this is for my personal collection which I love so much" or offensive ice breakers like "your price is whacked" is not going to get you far.

 

The way to negotiate though, is to be polite, armed with some real facts like comparable sales and then follow through if your price is met.

 

Dealers are generally at shows to meet people and sell them books. How that happens is all up to how the interaction is handled.

 

Or you avoid all that entirely if you don't enjoy haggling, which a percentage of buyers do. He didn't call dealers who base their sales upon it scam artists, he said they're relying on customers being uneducated. That's not a scam, it's a shot at the buyer's intelligence that sl4ppy doesn't shrug off as easily as you've learned to do it yourself. I would add it also relies on some customers being nonconfrontational and just paying the price they see without wanting to go through the haggling process. Either way, if all you ever do is buy--and you sell yourself so you're less able to see this perspective--the haggling process is mostly a process filled with negatives and no positives when compared to other methods of sale.

 

Compare that to the auction format. Prices DO go up instead of down, and people actually find it compelling to watch that happen. Shame there's no commonly-used way to use the format without the added time and expense it adds on a per-item basis.

[VintageComics]

99% percent of dealers will be reasonable with prices of the buyer is reasonable and has reasonable money to spend.

I`ll be expecting to get a 40% discount if you ever have a book I want to buy.

 

I'm the other 1%.

 

Anyways, the chance that you`ll ever have a book I want to buy is also 1%.

 

Any chance that I would offer it to you before anyone else is less than 1%.

 

[sl4ppy]

Fist, I admit I'm in the minority. I know I'm fairly personable and definitely not rude, especially to strangers who may have something I want.

 

That said, price haggling is a beat down to me...It's all just a hassle I'd rather avoid. If there's a book on a dealers rack that I'm interested in, even if it's priced slightly higher than what I would otherwise be willing to pay, if it's still within a reasonable range, I'll tell the dealer "I'll take it!" and be done with it.

 

If it's not listed reasonably (ie: 50% more, etc), I'll just move on to another booth without having said a word.

 

The first example RARELY happens..

 

just my $.02.

[sl4ppy]

Or you avoid all that entirely if you don't enjoy haggling. He didn't call dealers who base their sales upon it scam artists, he said they're relying on customers being uneducated. That's not a scam, it's a shot at the buyer's intelligence that sl4ppy doesn't shrug off as easily as you've learned to do it yourself. I would add it also relies on some customers being nonconfrontational and just paying the price they see without wanting to go through the haggling process. Either way, if all you ever do is buy--and you sell yourself so you're less able to see this perspective--the haggling process is mostly a process filled with negatives and no positives when compared to other methods of sale.

 

Thanks! You said it better than I did. I'm definitely non-confrontational. I'm afraid of upsetting someonem so haggling is virtually off the table from the get-go for me.

[fantastic_four]

Fist, I admit I'm in the minority.

 

I think you're in the majority with regards to the overall public's attitude towards haggling. Isolating our perspective to just the vintage comics market I still don't think you're in the minority in simply DISLIKING haggling, but if you took it as far as actively avoiding haggling, then I think yes, you'd be in the minority, most people don't avoid situations where haggling is going to be involved.

[VintageComics]

The problem is that dealers have to find a balance between selling books too fast (pricing them cheap) and selling books too slow (over pricing them) and it seems that since most people will haggle that seems to be the happy medium that allows the dealer to find a balance.

 

If you've never worked at a dealer's booth you wouldn't know it, but people will haggle on a price even when the price is cheap. Sometimes it can be almost offensive to a dealer if someone pulls out a book that is priced low and then they ask for a large break to boot.

 

The high sticker with the ability to move down seems to be the best balance.

 

There are dealers who do not budge on price (Metropolis almost never moves...they have deep inventory and deep pockets and are not in a hurry to sell) but most are nice people who want to make a few $$ at a con.

 

I suppose I never thought of it your way and it's a shame if someone people are turned off by haggling. If you feel a book you want is over priced, all it takes is asking to see if the price is negotiable.

 

It's the norm for the majority of buyers.

[fantastic_four]

Sometimes it can be almost offensive to a dealer if someone pulls out a book that is priced low and then they ask for a large break to boot.

 

God forbid that a buyer plays the same pricing game most sellers play themselves. I pull out my violin when those same sellers complain about not understanding why many buyers hate haggling.

[VintageComics]

Sometimes it can be almost offensive to a dealer if someone pulls out a book that is priced low and then they ask for a large break to boot.

 

God forbid that a buyer plays the same pricing game most sellers play themselves. I pull out my violin when those same sellers complain about not understanding why many buyers hate haggling.

 

It's all a matter of perspective, right?

 

 

I understand both sides.

 

(thumbs u

[fantastic_four]

It seems very difficult for a seller to even figure out how many buyers are turned off by high prices with room built in to haggle since many of them who find the model distasteful just pass right on by without saying a word. Most of the time I'd think you have no idea who those people are and are unaware that they even exist until someone like sl4ppy complains about it and sounds like a minority, radical voice howling at the wind.

[tth2]

Or you avoid all that entirely if you don't enjoy haggling. He didn't call dealers who base their sales upon it scam artists, he said they're relying on customers being uneducated. That's not a scam, it's a shot at the buyer's intelligence that sl4ppy doesn't shrug off as easily as you've learned to do it yourself. I would add it also relies on some customers being nonconfrontational and just paying the price they see without wanting to go through the haggling process. Either way, if all you ever do is buy--and you sell yourself so you're less able to see this perspective--the haggling process is mostly a process filled with negatives and no positives when compared to other methods of sale.

 

Thanks! You said it better than I did. I'm definitely non-confrontational. I'm afraid of upsetting someonem so haggling is virtually off the table from the get-go for me.

Dude, haggling doesn`t have to be confrontational. It can be as benign as asking the dealer "Is this your best price?"

 

Haggling doesn`t mean you have to start with some insane lowball offer while taking shots at the book and the dealer`s family, and then getting into a screaming match. Although it`s well known that this tactic is very effective with Roy.

[Dick Pontoon]

 

I've never been to a really big show (Dallas is growing, but still comparatively small), so my experience is limited...

 

I just don't get the whole haggling thing, I guess. Why not just list it for the lowest you'd sell it for and be done with it? Less time dealing with offers, less people wondering what the price "really" is, etc. etc. If you're listed price is waaay out of whack, I immediately don't trust you to not take advantage of every uneducated customer that may stumble by and my interest in buying from you evaporates...

 

We don't really haggle (at least I don't) in any other aspect of life.. Even cars now, I know exactly what dealer invoice is before I set foot on a lot and I know what my one and only price I'm willing to pay is. Even when buying real estate; the haggling of price is rarely more than a few percent at most of the entire price. Price is determined by the comps, and you aren't going to be able to waver too far from that.

 

I play the haggle game with comics because I must to not get utterly taken (and I have been on a few occasions), but I don't like it one bit. :shrug:

 

Let’s say you go to the car dealer, and the car you want has a sticker price of 10k, but you know the dealer’s invoice price was 8k. You tell the dealer the price you’re willing to pay, he agrees, and the car is sold for less than the sticker/asking price.

 

Let’s now say you go to a comic show and see a book that is priced at $100. You know that Overstreet has it at $80, and GPA or recent online sales are about $70. Asking the dealer if he’d take $70 or $75 would make sense, and doesn’t seem any different to me than the car scenario.