If comic cons are always packed, then why are comic shops closing down?

[dupont2005]

Move product instead of paying to store it for years and years. That's how a clothing store operates.

 

Yeah, but does CGC grade and encapsulate clothes?

 

The Clothes Guarantee Company?

 

I would pay more for slabbed clothes just for the authentication check, alone.

 

No more buying knock-offs at genuine article prices for me.

That could actually be valuable on eBay. I wouldn't buy a watch or sunglasses on eBay. If I were a woman I wouldn't buy a designer handbag there either.

 

I've heard horror stories from women who pay 2K+ on ebay for rare designer handbags/shoes only to find out they are fake. You really have to know who you are dealing with on who sells authentic. Certain small things to look for are how the name brand is spelled Dolce & Gabbana is real, while Dolce&Gabbana is fake. If you really want piece of mind, just buy directly from the designer store/website, you'll pay more but least it'll be real.

There are really high quality fakes out there today. It takes an immense amount of study to really tell. A smart pawn shop wouldn't deal with any designer bags/watches/glasses. If I were to buy a used watch I'd have to meet at an authorized dealer and have their watchsmith authenticate it. Sometimes it requires opening up and inspecting the gears on the movement under a microscope. It could involve using delicate measuring tools and machinery that can test the grade of steel the case is made out of. But buying those items is just risking losing money. The glasses could potentially be dangerous. A lack of UV coating just makes those things magnifying glasses over your eyes.

[batman_fan]

I had the same experience when the death of Superman issue came out. The line of people were out the store. I was a regular that had to wait 20 minutes just to get into the store. I walked around pulling all different comics and then had to get in another long line to pay at the counter. This was when I was buying multiple copies of many titles. I noticed everyone in line only had copies of the Superman comic. I finally get to the cashier (the owner whom I never saw operating the register before) with my stack of about 40 different titles (with many multiples for a total of about 60 comics). The cashier tells me I can't buy two copies each of the Superman comics (regular and black bag). In fact he won't even let me buy one of each, just one total). I tell him I'm not opening the black bag, and won't be able to read it, if you won't sell me the regular issue. He doesn't care. Says he has to limit quantities so he has enough for everyone. I tell him I've never seen any of these people in his store before, and he'll never see them again after they get the Superman comic. I tell him that's all they are here for. He tells me to come back tomorrow. If they have any left over. he will sell it to me then. I go back tomorrow. He has about 50 black bag comics on the wall for $40 and another 30 regular issues for $20 each. And a couple boxes full in the back room. He won't sell me the regular issue for cover price, even after I explain how he told me to come back today. That was my last visit to his store ever. I was spending hundreds of $$ a month there. Multiply that by other regulars who got the shaft, and it's probably why he went out of business less than a year later. Turns out the regular cashier ( who was bagging the purchases that day) slipped a regular copy of Supes into my bag for me. So I did get the comic and didn't even pay for it. I met up with that employee several months later at a sports bar and thanked him for the comic. He said he was pissed at what the owner was doing, but he had $$$$ on the brain. He asked me why I never came back, but he already knew the answer. He said many of the regulars protested and quit shopping there the same time I did. Said all their good customers are gone and closing up the shop is inevitable. The Death of Superman. Oh, the irony.

 

 

That had happen in my LCS area but my parents bought it for my birthday.

 

It's one thing these LCS owners try to rip off adults BUT Children! Come On! they're just complete scum of the earth. Children are the innocents ones and believe whatever diarrhea coming out of their LCS mouths

 

I am not so sure of that. Back in the 1980's while at a comicbook convention in Albuquerque, NM, one young kid was telling a dealer how much he wanted and Ironman #1 and how he was dreaming of owning that one book forever but only had half as much as the dealer was asking. The dealer let him have if for half price to make the kids dream come true. What does the kid do? Go sell it to another dealer for more than the 1st dealer was asking on it. This happened at the same show

[dupont2005]

Will there be CV (Clothing Verification) stickers on the slab to tell us which handbag is more visually appealing than the next?

[bug33fouf]

 

 

It's one thing these LCS owners try to rip off adults BUT Children! Come On! they're just complete scum of the earth. Children are the innocents ones and believe whatever diarrhea coming out of their LCS mouths

 

I am not so sure of that. Back in the 1980's while at a comicbook convention in Albuquerque, NM, one young kid was telling a dealer how much he wanted and Ironman #1 and how he was dreaming of owning that one book forever but only had half as much as the dealer was asking. The dealer let him have if for half price to make the kids dream come true. What does the kid do? Go sell it to another dealer for more than the 1st dealer was asking on it. This happened at the same show

 

Hustler !!!

[Lobo1969]

While I strongly want to support my LCS, I have experienced that type of "profiteering" also.

When Captain America 25 came out it was an instant sensation...thank goodness it was in my file pull list I thought! I went to the store to pick up my file on new release day and was told they had a shortage of Cap 25's so I didn't get one. Disappointed I went to the cash register to pay and noted there was one hanging on the wall behind them with a hundred dollar price on it. I casually said I would take the Cap 25 on the wall. The employee was about to ring in 100 dollars when I said "I am paying cover price also."

The employee and I got into a small arguement regarding whether this book was for files or a store ordered copy for them to sell as they please, he went and got the store owner who I have known for years, and they wouldn't give me my Cap 25. I closed my file on the spot, and I have never set foot in that store since. I told this story to every single comic book buyer I knew and I would like to think I had something to do with them having to close that store and downsize to a smaller location.

 

 

WARP 1, 2, or 3?

 

[Ken Aldred]

While I strongly want to support my LCS, I have experienced that type of "profiteering" also.

When Captain America 25 came out it was an instant sensation...thank goodness it was in my file pull list I thought! I went to the store to pick up my file on new release day and was told they had a shortage of Cap 25's so I didn't get one. Disappointed I went to the cash register to pay and noted there was one hanging on the wall behind them with a hundred dollar price on it. I casually said I would take the Cap 25 on the wall. The employee was about to ring in 100 dollars when I said "I am paying cover price also."

The employee and I got into a small arguement regarding whether this book was for files or a store ordered copy for them to sell as they please, he went and got the store owner who I have known for years, and they wouldn't give me my Cap 25. I closed my file on the spot, and I have never set foot in that store since. I told this story to every single comic book buyer I knew and I would like to think I had something to do with them having to close that store and downsize to a smaller location.

 

 

I placed some advance orders with a store here in England back in the 90s. When I went to pick up a month's worth of material I noticed several glaringly obvious omissions, which were all hot books. The manager just said 'Yeah, we had loads of people coming in here buying 5 or 10 copies of those and sold out.' No apology whatsoever. So I just cherry picked the best of what had been saved for me and left the dregs, deliberately mimicking his attitude towards me.

 

A couple of months later the manager refused to take any more advance orders from me because I had messed him about. Nice double standard and, given my previous experience, I wasn't at all bothered.

 

Incredibly, the store is still open.

[marino1]

in the 90s the lcs were at every corner it seemed like but now i would have to drive 30min to find one. i was trying to buy a few new comics from the books a million but almost every new issue would grade out around 7.0-8.0 because the way they have them set up. i just got sick of it and just buy back issues.