$1 boxes for a show

[shadroch]

Just a quick thought on storing peoples purchases until later in the show- be very careful. Lots of scammers out there.

[Wall-Crawler]

This is not directly related to the OP thread topic but is about selling at a con...

 

From the experienced sellers, do you allow potential customers to open and look/inspect every book they want to buy - I'm not talking about $1 books but say your $5, $10, $15 or beter - Or just allow them to inspect the really, really high end stuff?

 

I'm just thinking at a busy show with lots of people it could be hard to manage watching the guy inspecting every single item while trying to deal with other customers and keep an eye on things...

 

Advice/thoughts?

[Pike's Comics]

This is not directly related to the OP thread topic but is about selling at a con...

 

From the experienced sellers, do you allow potential customers to open and look/inspect every book they want to buy - I'm not talking about $1 books but say your $5, $10, $15 or beter - Or just allow them to inspect the really, really high end stuff?

 

I'm just thinking at a busy show with lots of people it could be hard to manage watching the guy inspecting every single item while trying to deal with other customers and keep an eye on things...

 

Advice/thoughts?

 

I am okay with people inspecting any comic. I think denying them this ability will lose you a lot of customers. Also its usually not that high of a number of people who will actually open the comics anyway.

[miraclemet]

This is not directly related to the OP thread topic but is about selling at a con...

 

From the experienced sellers, do you allow potential customers to open and look/inspect every book they want to buy - I'm not talking about $1 books but say your $5, $10, $15 or beter - Or just allow them to inspect the really, really high end stuff?

 

I'm just thinking at a busy show with lots of people it could be hard to manage watching the guy inspecting every single item while trying to deal with other customers and keep an eye on things...

 

Advice/thoughts?

 

I dont think you can tell a customer that they cant inspect a book they are potentially buying. Remember just because its "just" a $5 comic to you, might not mean its "just" a $5 comic to someone else (either $5 can mean a lot of money, or they might be real condition sticklers, and want it perfect, both are fine places to come from as a customer).

 

They better question is how do you manage that person. Do you have them pull the books the want to inspect and then let them go thru each book one by one. Do you make them only open one book at a time and make their decision rather than have them pull 20 books for inspection? To me its about protecting the inventory. Is there a spot for them to inspect the book without having to worry about getting bumped, thumped and slurpee dumped?

[Mike's Rack]

I have a little space cleared where I sit, if someone wants to inspect a lot of books I will move and let them sit there.

[Mike's Rack]

I do both kinds of shows...the $1 on table shows, and the NYCC/SDCC type shows...

 

at my first $1 bin show, I brought 30 long boxes of "fresh" 1980-2007 inv, but had not alpha numerical sorted...I sold about 15%

 

I decided that for second show of this nature, I would ...

I sold 35% of same stock...

 

I put $1 books on top of table, and 2/$1 books on floor under table... and all my books (even 2/$1) are now alpha numerical...

 

fresh stock is key...don't carry same old tired stock...if you have $1 stock after a year, make it 2/$1...if you still have, go 4/$1...at some point, folks will realize the "value"

thanks for the data GAtor, that is very helpful.

[Wall-Crawler]

This is not directly related to the OP thread topic but is about selling at a con...

 

From the experienced sellers, do you allow potential customers to open and look/inspect every book they want to buy - I'm not talking about $1 books but say your $5, $10, $15 or beter - Or just allow them to inspect the really, really high end stuff?

 

I'm just thinking at a busy show with lots of people it could be hard to manage watching the guy inspecting every single item while trying to deal with other customers and keep an eye on things...

 

Advice/thoughts?

 

I dont think you can tell a customer that they cant inspect a book they are potentially buying. Remember just because its "just" a $5 comic to you, might not mean its "just" a $5 comic to someone else (either $5 can mean a lot of money, or they might be real condition sticklers, and want it perfect, both are fine places to come from as a customer).

 

They better question is how do you manage that person. Do you have them pull the books the want to inspect and then let them go thru each book one by one. Do you make them only open one book at a time and make their decision rather than have them pull 20 books for inspection? To me its about protecting the inventory. Is there a spot for them to inspect the book without having to worry about getting bumped, thumped and slurpee dumped?

 

Thanks everyone.

 

As a collector, I have bought w/o inspecting from a trusted seller and I have also looked at key books, so I agree people should get a chance to look if they want. Personally, I rarely individually inspect the cheap-o bins.

 

I think that latter response was framed more towards how I originally intended. I am thinking of having my first booth at a show and it is the managing people aspect that is causing me the most concern, not how I am going to organize myself.

 

I guess it is how to strike the balance between serving the customer and how to protect the inventory (theft while watching some person inspecting a ton of books or just general handling).

[HouseofComics.Com]

If you have long complete runs, definitely don't allow them to be broken up in the dollar bin. Sets sell very well and people really like them. I'm not sure I'd say as an earlier poster did that you price sets higher than if they were in the boxes. I'd say mini series, maybe you would have 1-4 for $5 if it was a prime series, but if it's FF 360-400 it might be $30 or $35, not $40.

 

One compromise is to have books by type instead of putting in the full time for alphanumeric. I don't expect there to be any NM 98 in dollar boxes (if only because dealers are pretty professional here in the bay area) but I like the stock at tables like this to at least have items of a kind together so I know if it's worth my time or not. It's cool for me to see stacks of New Mutants together, not so I can see a 98 but so I can flip through ten books at a time and if I'm still seeing New Mutants I keep going ten at a time to get through the box in seconds and try to find stuff I'm looking for. (Okay, if I'm seeing them alphanumeric and it seems like a complete set I will look for 87 and 98 but it won't be there. Especially since I'm never going through those boxes early at a show.)

 

So if you had your boxes labeled Marvel or DC or indies, that's useful. If it's "indies 2005-2012" or some other description that's even more detailed, all the better.

[HouseofComics.Com]

The worst thing in the world is having someone come up with a want list and buy the one issue from your miniseries or maxi series that they need, thus making the remaining issues harder to sell. All complete minis should be put into sets if you have time.

[aggr1103]

If you have long complete runs, definitely don't allow them to be broken up in the dollar bin. Sets sell very well and people really like them. I'm not sure I'd say as an earlier poster did that you price sets higher than if they were in the boxes. I'd say mini series, maybe you would have 1-4 for $5 if it was a prime series, but if it's FF 360-400 it might be $30 or $35, not $40.

 

And you see that's fair. What I run into are guys selling sets for far more than I could buy as singles.

 

Here's a good current example. I've seen full runs of Remender's Uncanny X Force in stores, online, and even for sale here on the boards for around $125 and up. Its a 35 issue run. The first 4 issues, particularly issue 4, are where the value is at. I've picked up the majority of this run from dollar boxes at a few comic shops I come across. I think $125 is too much for a run like this when there are copies of the majority of the latter issues in dollar bins. In all I've got $80 invested in my UXF run, including $35 just for the first four issues.

 

I could just be that guy that's just cheap and would rather wait to find a deal than buy a run and save myself the hassle though.

[mangbus]

I think the reason some runs are hitting crazy prices is because the simple fact that some people do not have the time or patience to piece together a run.

 

If a run is in NM or better condition and complete, a premium isn't something I'd consider crazy. Some folks only have 1 lcs in their area and may not be finding the issues there. If they try to piece it together individually off of ebay or here on the boards, it could take months and a lot of shipping charges.

 

On the flip side, if someone has a random 90s run of comics that isn't in as high of demand as a new series (Batman New 52, Saga, Uncanny Xforce, etc) then most sellers are just looking to move a huge stack of books at once. It is a buyers market at this point. The seller would rather not split the run up. In most cases, the seller will discount the run just to move it all at once.

[jerome34]

When you are looking for the dratted variants, you have

to look at each book when the variation is: a) indicia

print number; b) pages out of order; c) survey forms;

d) ads in the inside back cover; e) any other crazy

variation from the "regular" edition.