Moderns that are heating up on ebay! 71 71

[the blob]

40 minutes ago, littledoom said:

usually comic shops don't care. Never heard of a business that didn't like selling and making money... unless its a new release and it's a hot book. The limit might be 3. Majority of those comics will sit. that's the nature of literature

ok, I've been bargain bin diving pretty regularly since 1993 and, yes, this is the sort of thing that CAN set off alarm bells if the owner is looking at the books. there's no reason to buy 20 copies of something unless they made a huge mistake pricing it and if they see 20 copies this might turn on some lights in their heads. i agree, most comic shop employees are in a fog, but just recently I got quized on a pile of 50 cent books where I had pulled 3 copies of one book. Mind you, it is like a $5 book, so it wouldn't have been an issue, i just think it has potential. so, yeah, usually you're right and they just want to unload, but I'd approach a potential $1500-2000 windfall very carefully. It might be worth buying some other books to pad the pile to not raise questions. and no, i don't feel guilty at all, I've spent plenty of money on dollar books that are worth a dollar. it all evens out. 

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by the blob

[BoogieWoogie]

25 minutes ago, the blob said:

ok, I've been bargain bin diving pretty regularly since 1993 and, yes, this is the sort of thing that CAN set off alarm bells if the owner is looking at the books. there's no reason to buy 20 copies of something unless they made a huge mistake pricing it and if they see 20 copies this might turn on some lights in their heads. i agree, most comic shop employees are in a fog, but just recently I got quized on a pile of 50 cent books where I had pulled 3 copies of one book. Mind you, it is like a $5 book, so it wouldn't have been an issue, i just think it has potential. so, yeah, usually you're right and they just want to unload, but I'd approach a potential $1500-2000 windfall very carefully. It might be worth buying some other books to pad the pile to not raise questions. and no, i don't feel guilty at all, I've spent plenty of money on dollar books that are worth a dollar. it all evens out. 

 

I mixed in a fair number of other items but the Voices were all consecutive. Once I knew I was going to make a bit on those I grabbed some things I just wanted. Black Cat solo series - great read honestly. A few KIB #1's. Might grab a few sets of that if #5 ends up in the bin. #1-4 is all in there now so might grab some sets of that in anticipation. Grabbed a few Batman #102's out of there... that isn't selling for more than cover right now but maybe if something ever happens with that ghost-maker? Who knows, Batman is introducing a bunch of villains lately... but even if not they should fetch at least $7 or $8 for 2 of them and they're only a buck each... honestly there are always a fair amount of minor keys in there but I don't think the clientele is much for comics. Lots of young manga readers, Pokemon card collectors, board game players, that sort of thing there. Someone earlier in the thread mentioned Animosity #1 as a possible long term play and I know they had a bunch of those in there. I didn't even look through the indies much my memory isn't quite good enough to pick anything good out of those

[carter3175]

6 hours ago, fastballspecial said:

They aren't prices to sell you know that right?

 

I think those prices are absurd but how can anyone be surprised if it does sell? There was a Ultimate Fallout 4 Djurdjevic Variant that sat on ebay for months with a crazy asking price and then it sold.  Do I think it will sell for the asking price,  no but I do think a high offer will come in and be accepted. 

[WolverineX]

9 hours ago, Bird said:

yeah, I have an lcs near me and if you go up with 3 they will get onebay and see what is what and then say 1 per

I recall that happening with something superman-y, lois and clark 8 perhaps, and they took the ones I had (left me one), took the rest of the rack and put them away. Next week they were $10 or whatever. I watched a few go unsold and sit for a year or two and then bought them cheap when they got marked down.

Mine just checks ebay every single time.  I stopped going.

[Mapleleafvann]

Maybe I have misread a few posts, but are some of you saying that if you bring up multiple copies of the same book from the dollar bin, your LCS checks the going price on eBay???

That's more than a little asinine.  If they're in the dollar bin, they were already deemed to be "junk" by whomever put them in there.  This is simply dollar bin regret or even a mild form of bait and switch. 

[WolverineX]

15 minutes ago, Mapleleafvann said:

Maybe I have misread a few posts, but are some of you saying that if you bring up multiple copies of the same book from the dollar bin, your LCS checks the going price on eBay

That's more than a little asinine.  If they're in the dollar bin, they were already deemed to be "junk" by whomever put them in there.  This is simply dollar bin regret or even a mild form of bait and switch. 

Nope, my shop has a little scanner that prices every back issue off the last ebay price.  Once they started that, I stopped going

[THE_BEYONDER]

1 hour ago, Mapleleafvann said:

Maybe I have misread a few posts, but are some of you saying that if you bring up multiple copies of the same book from the dollar bin, your LCS checks the going price on eBay

That's more than a little asinine.  If they're in the dollar bin, they were already deemed to be "junk" by whomever put them in there.  This is simply dollar bin regret or even a mild form of bait and switch. 

Any shop that decides to reprice the books I plucked from their bins, deserves to go out of business.  That’s BS.  

[awakeintheashes]

1 hour ago, Mapleleafvann said:

Maybe I have misread a few posts, but are some of you saying that if you bring up multiple copies of the same book from the dollar bin, your LCS checks the going price on eBay

That's more than a little asinine.  If they're in the dollar bin, they were already deemed to be "junk" by whomever put them in there.  This is simply dollar bin regret or even a mild form of bait and switch. 

If a shop does this with a few books, it's overkill because most of these books will back to cover price by the time the shop gets them on eBay. I can't be mad at them, but I think the effort exerted is more than the profit you'll realize and space you'll free up. 

When it's 20+ copies of the same issue, unless it's a fire sale, I can definitely see the shop saying "wait a minute." It's best to figure out some way to spread out those purchases if it's your LCS. If you won't need that bridge down the road, then burn it down, I guess. 

[awakeintheashes]

1 minute ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Any shop that decides to reprice the books I plucked from their bins, deserves to go out of business.  That’s BS.  

Unless it's some crazy oversight like NM98 in there, then yeah it is ridiculous. Most of these books are going for $10-20 and will be down to $5-10 in a week or two. Doesn't seem to be worth the effort to reprice, list, ship, pay an employee to do it all. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

1 minute ago, awakeintheashes said:

Unless it's some crazy oversight like NM98 in there, then yeah it is ridiculous. Most of these books are going for $10-20 and will be down to $5-10 in a week or two. Doesn't seem to be worth the effort to reprice, list, ship, pay an employee to do it all. 

In the current market, I think the best play would be to hire someone that can keep up with all the madness.  If you’ve got a ton of inventory, the wages you’d pay will easily be offset by finding all the hot books as they pop. 

[awakeintheashes]

3 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

In the current market, I think the best play would be to hire someone that can keep up with all the madness.  If you’ve got a ton of inventory, the wages you’d pay will easily be offset by finding all the hot books as they pop. 

Agree, I have two shops I frequent. One has a person permanently on the computer, who I assume is scanning the web because all of the hot issues are already plucked. It is well organized and the back issues are fairly priced, so it's a great place to look for potential hot books because everything is really easy to find. (seriously I've never been to a more organized LCS lol).

The other shop does not have a person doing this and can be a honey hole at times. I think their profit comes from gaming cards and wall books. Seems like what is on the floor is what's left after they pull the keys from collections and pay them no mind after. 

[Bird]

2 minutes ago, awakeintheashes said:

Agree, I have two shops I frequent. One has a person permanently on the computer, who I assume is scanning the web because all of the hot issues are already plucked. It is well organized and the back issues are fairly priced, so it's a great place to look for potential hot books because everything is really easy to find. (seriously I've never been to a more organized LCS lol).

The other shop does not have a person doing this and can be a honey hole at times. I think their profit comes from gaming cards and wall books. Seems like what is on the floor is what's left after they pull the keys from collections and pay them no mind after. 

This is important, different shops have different priorities. I used to have 6 shops within 15 miles and a honey hole about 45 minutes away. The honey hole got discovered by others and one of the pickers I met at the store is now acting as their hot book spotter and FB pricer. So no more honey for bird. The 6 shops are now 3 shops and one has next to no back issues, one is the "take them off the rack if hot" store and one is very organized and very up on things but has no problem with me buying spec books there from new releases...I say how many can I buy and he may say "take them all I don't care" (I always leave some though). I used to buy spec from him at 30% off cover and he eventually would ask me why I was heavy on things and that worked well. He even missed my order of 30 Mister Miracle #1 and managed to get them anyway from the DC distributor and that books was hot hot hot when it hit the shelves.

 my days of hunting new releases are over anyway.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 3/14/2021 at 3:16 PM, Corona smith said:

People have been talking about it for months. I don’t care for the new characters as they’re direct ripoffs of some of the classic xmen. 

Let me tell you about this team of kids called the Teen Titans…

[CHASEnBLUE]

3 hours ago, Wolverinex said:

Mine just checks ebay every single time.  I stopped going.

Yeah that sucks. I used to go to a storage place every other weekend where a few guys would sell comics and toys. One particular guy did that same thing on his phone for everything eventually and the prices were just way too much and not even accurate. Never went back.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

3 hours ago, Wolverinex said:

Nope, my shop has a little scanner that prices every back issue off the last ebay price.  Once they started that, I stopped going

Very simple. List the book at a very cheap BIN on eBay and arrange for a friend to buy it immediately. They present your finds to the store.

[WolverineX]

3 minutes ago, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Very simple. List the book at a very cheap BIN on eBay and arrange for a friend to buy it immediately. They present your finds to the store.

that is true but waay to much work for me.  

[fastballspecial]

6 hours ago, carter3175 said:

I think those prices are absurd but how can anyone be surprised if it does sell? There was a Ultimate Fallout 4 Djurdjevic Variant that sat on ebay for months with a crazy asking price and then it sold.  Do I think it will sell for the asking price,  no but I do think a high offer will come in and be accepted. 

My point was they are not looking for a sale in my opinion they are advertising. 

 

[fastballspecial]

Lot of time if I am buying a bunch of one issue all let my LCS know as well. 
Bringing them some profit reaps me benefits and discounts down the road.

 

[littledoom]

2 hours ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Any shop that decides to reprice the books I plucked from their bins, deserves to go out of business.  That’s BS.  

In some states it’s against the law. I find Batman 635 priced at $7.99. the lady store owner took it from my stack as I was still digging through their bins. She said it’s not supposed to be that price and later quoted me $100. This was maybe 4 years ago and that shop has since closed. The new store owner which converted to a video game store ended up selling all those back issues w keys they inherited for $2 each 

[kevhtx]

2 minutes ago, littledoom said:

In some states it’s against the law. I find Batman 635 priced at $7.99. the lady store owner took it from my stack as I was still digging through their bins. She said it’s not supposed to be that price and later quoted me $100. This was maybe 4 years ago and that shop has since closed. The new store owner which converted to a video game store ended up selling all those back issues w keys they inherited for $2 each 

Ouch. If they arent doing the work to manage their own inventory (which I know is hard for a comic store) then Im not going to shop there. A better strategy is having some sort of daily notification system that tells them when books in their inventory have increased in price with an average of Ebay sales. THEN, set their price X % lower than that. Probably too complex for a store where most of the time they dont have the funds to manage like that and usually employees are around minimum wage.