Stupid things a dealer says.

[ninanina]

I have to suspect the majority of collectors are quite gullible because of some of the things you hear dealers say to either sell their comics, or perhaps to buy them cheaper. And I know not all dealers deal like this, but when a guy tells me...

 

1) ...as soon as you buy a new 9.4 comic that just comes out, it's no longer a 9.4 after it's read,

 

2) ... the Ultimate line is eventually going to become the Marvel Universe,

 

just wondering what else you guys have heard?

[NewtSamson]

Back in the 1990s dealers said a lot of stuff.

Imagine a line from the cashiers desk half way around the block for a black bagged Superman #75 that just came out and they had upped the price to 30 bucks a pop the very first day!!!!

People bought those things like hot cakes.

insufficiently_thoughtful_persons were buying multiples. What !!! What insufficiently_thoughtful_persons!!!!! HOW COULD THEY BE SO STUPID??

I bought two

[Aces]

Was that the "Death of Superman" issue?

 

Pardon my DC ignorance.

[NewtSamson]

Was that the "Death of Superman" issue?

 

Pardon my DC ignorance.

Indeed it was....there will never be as much hype for a comic as there was when that came out.

People who didn't even read comics came to buy that issue thinking it'd be worth money.

Comicbook stores were having mock funeral services for the man of steel. They even rented coffins.

Most people thought Superman would stay dead.....including my naive teenaged self.

people wasted a lot of money on that comic.

[Aces]

DC missed the whole point.

If they wanted a collectible they needed to kill off a main co-star like Jimmy Olsen or *gulp* Lois Lane.

 

Killing the main guy only kills the title and most of the collectibility of the older issues.

 

Think Gwen Stacy...

[DiceX]

Was that the "Death of Superman" issue?

 

Pardon my DC ignorance.

 

Issue #75.

And it wasn't just the "death" of Superman.

It pretty much stuck a fork in the bloated comic speculation of the '90's.

 

The days will be numbered when people start paying hundreds of dollars for new comics again.

[NewtSamson]

DC missed the whole point.

If they wanted a collectible they needed to kill off a main co-star like Jimmy Olsen or *gulp* Lois Lane.

 

Killing the main guy only kills the title and most of the collectibility of the older issues.

 

Think Gwen Stacy...

 

or kill Perry White and then Superman could be like....

"GREAT PERRY WHITE's GHOST it's PERRY WHITE!"

Inside DC joke.

[DiceX]

just wondering what else you guys have heard?

 

My LCS dealer says all kinds of stupid things.

Like "You're crazy to pay multiples of guide for comics on eBay".

And "Would you like to *look* at the book before you pay for it?".

Or the popular "I guess everyone forgot how stupid it was to pay so much for a book that is only a week old".

 

Insane, he is! He needs to be locked up!

[s-man]

I submitted my very first batch of comics for CGC grading to a lcs guy not to long ago. I brought in a book (which I have since learned is a 9.8 and will pick up shortly!)...that I thought might just be a 10.0. I told him I was hoping for a 10.0 and he tells me that it is nearly impossible to get a 10.0 book...in fact, THERE HAVE ONLY BEEN TWO TENS!!!! I already had the grading guide book before submitting and in that book alone are SIX 10s!!!! OBVIOUSLY THIS GUY DIDNT KNOW WTF HE WAS TALKING ABOUT!!!!

[blutobc]

All the talk on these boards about promoting the hobby reminds me of this statement by a local dealer -

 

"You really gonna buy this [!@#%^&^]...man, you better go back and get a cool title like vertigo or something".

 

It's okay to suggest a book that you like to someone...but as a businessman it was idiotic to ridicule any customer's purchase whether it is superheroes, horror, western, funny animal, or underground, etc.

 

And for the record the purchase was one of my faves "Route 666".

[BassGMan]

All the talk on these boards about promoting the hobby reminds me of this statement by a local dealer -

 

"You really gonna buy this [!@#%^&^]...man, you better go back and get a cool title like vertigo or something".

 

It's okay to suggest a book that you like to someone...but as a businessman it was idiotic to ridicule any customer's purchase whether it is superheroes, horror, western, funny animal, or underground, etc.

 

And for the record the purchase was one of my faves "Route 666".

 

Don't forget, alot of people working in comic shops are not the owners, and have no vested long-term interest in the success of the shop. Actually, non-owners are very often quite vocal about their opinions about various comics. -----Sid

[ninanina]

 

Don't forget, alot of people working in comic shops are not the owners, and have no vested long-term interest in the success of the shop. Actually, non-owners are very often quite vocal about their opinions about various comics. -----Sid

 

And that reminds of another situation where "for some reason" back in and around 1984 I wanted to buy a run of Marvel Godzilla comics. When an employee (in front of the owner) asked why bother, I suddenly lost interest in purchasing the comics. Everybody (the owner and his staff) kind of looked at him funny, but it didn't dawn on me that he was in some serious trouble for his remark.

 

To this day...I never did finish that run.

[BradleyX2]

And that reminds of another situation where "for some reason" back in and around 1984 I wanted to buy a run of Marvel Godzilla comics.

 

 

 

 

I *loved* this series! I really wish it could be released in ESSENTIAL format, (it's the perfect size, after all) but because of the licensing with Toho it'll probably never be reprinted.

[joe_collector]

All the talk on these boards about promoting the hobby reminds me of this statement by a local dealer -

 

"You really gonna buy this [!@#%^&^]...man, you better go back and get a cool title like vertigo or something".

 

I used to get a lot of this over the years and I think it's part of the "comic book store employee training program" or something.

 

Back in the early 80's when Independents were ALL the rage, I'd get ragged out for buying new and back issue Marvels. Like as in SERIOUSLY ragged out for "missing the boat".

 

Same thing in the late-80's/early-90's. While others were carting out a crate of X-Men #1 (1990), I'd take a stack of Bronze ASM's to the cash at 75% off, and be told that I'd rue the day I bought these instead of X-Men #1.

 

The morale of the story; Buy what you like and NEVER because someone else told you so.

[divad]

Buy what you like and NEVER because someone else told you so.

 

Perhaps the single best advice to a collector . . .

[ericc123]

I got a dewsy for you guys. I was visiting my girlfriend in the small town of Norwich New York and they had a comic shop just open there. My GF was so excited to take me there and it ended up being like a house/shack with three rooms of modern comics and two 30+ year old guys playing Magic. So I look on the expensive wall and there is a CGG copy of Fathom #1 in VF/NM. I told the guy that I had never seen a CGG book in person before and he goes on to say,

 

"they are the best grading company out there and I am thinking of sending my Batman #609 in for grading and if it comes back a 9.6 I'll sell it for $200+ on ebay."

 

he then offered to sell it to me there on the spot ungraded. I just laughed and told him I only had CGC books and what was in my collection. He realized his sucker bait didn't work and I promptly left.

 

Eric

[sterlingcomics]

The morale of the story; Buy what you like and NEVER because someone else told you so.

 

No truer words can be spoken about the hobby

[uclapeterg]

Is tghat Micheal Myers?? Cool avatar!

[Foolkiller]

Most LCS owners are not that knowledgable on grading or the back issue market, probably because they don't feel they need to be. There are exceptions to this rule, but on the whole, they don't see back issues as a primary driving force in their store, so they have a completely different take on things and often times have misinformation.

 

Case in point: I'm in Showcase Comics on South Street here in Philly -- two different people walk into the store and ask the person who is grading a new collection. The person walks up and tries to get an approximation of how much Amazing Spider Man #1 would be worth because he has #s 1-10. Response was it's $34k (or however much top 9.2 guide was) in Mint condition (obviously he can't read the guide) and that there are basically none in existence in that shape. Now think about how much misinformation is contained in that short statement.

 

This isn't a case of deceit, but rather the guy just isn't all that aware of the market or what's going on in it.

[Rocketeer]

Case in point: I'm in Showcase Comics on South Street here in Philly

 

It's been a long time since I've lived in Philly, but isn't this the Einstein who used to tape his Silver age back-issues in the store window?....and his response would surprise you why?....