My first British Comic Convention!

[goldust40]

what was the grade?

 

It was a FN+ copy.

[supapimp]

fly on the wall?

[herc2000]

But it was a pedigree, I bought it for £50 sold it £100 the next!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[goldust40]

fly on the wall?

 

Nah, he showed it to me - he's a customer (occasionally).

[herc2000]

And there was me thinking you were my customer? After all, you've bought more off me in the last two years than I've bought off you, .

[supapimp]

[goldust40]

And there was me thinking you were my customer? After all, you've bought more off me in the last two years than I've bought off you, .

 

Not any more. From now on I'll be buying my mid-grade filler from Metropolis.

 

Your recommendation.........

[herc2000]

So you mean your whole inventory from now on will now be from Metropolis?

[Flaming_Telepath]

Actually, Vince coming over here would be good for business...my business, in truth.

 

You see, every time Harley comes over, I have a better show than when he doesn't, simply because a good number of people come out of the woodwork who wouldn't usually attend. And they spend money, a lot with Harley, but a chunk with me, too, and with Andy, and with others.

 

However, your disparaging remarks wind me up (which I'm sure you know), so let me tell you why nobody over here can rival Metropolis.

 

(1) There simply isn't the market. The Royal National, our crown jewel of shows, brings in what? 300 people? 350? It would not make business sense for me to carry every Gold or Silver book from the main publishing houses, in a variety of grades, with such a limited potential sell-through.

(2) It is exceptionally hard for a UK dealer to turn up the sort of collections that Metropolis or Harley do, as 95% of them are held in the US. What we have here are a limited number of collectors (see 1.), many of whom hold those pesky UK price variants. Or who have brilliant collections, both in quality and size, but will not split them, leading us back again to 1. above. I cannot justify carrying that amount of stock in this limited market.

(3) The books that we do stock are seen as standard, mainstream fare by certain snobs amongst the collecting fraternity, but this is because they sell to the vast major of the market. For every Dell collector in the UK, there are 50 Spidey collectors, so what am I going to choose to stock?

(4) The current dollar exchange rate, and the ease that eBay and Heritage in particular have brought to buying direct from the US, means that the UK dealer is competing, sometimes directly, with their US counterparts. See points 1, 2 & 3 above. Why not help the UK market, Herc, by insisting on 'buying British' in future?

 

All in all, it's rather like governments....you get the ones you deserve. So the UK market gets the dealers it deserves.

 

[goldust40]

So you mean your whole inventory from now on will now be from Metropolis?

 

Not bad, not bad. After your lavish testimonial I'm certain that you'll be buying exclusively from them from now on.

[goldust40]

Actually, Vince coming over here would be good for business...my business, in truth.

 

You see, every time Harley comes over, I have a better show than when he doesn't, simply because a good number of people come out of the woodwork who wouldn't usually attend. And they spend money, a lot with Harley, but a chunk with me, too, and with Andy, and with others.

 

However, your disparaging remarks wind me up (which I'm sure you know), so let me tell you why nobody over here can rival Metropolis.

 

(1) There simply isn't the market. The Royal National, our crown jewel of shows, brings in what? 300 people? 350? It would not make business sense for me to carry every Gold or Silver book from the main publishing houses, in a variety of grades, with such a limited potential sell-through.

(2) It is exceptionally hard for a UK dealer to turn up the sort of collections that Metropolis or Harley do, as 95% of them are held in the US. What we have here are a limited number of collectors (see 1.), many of whom hold those pesky UK price variants. Or who have brilliant collections, both in quality and size, but will not split them, leading us back again to 1. above. I cannot justify carrying that amount of stock in this limited market.

(3) The books that we do stock are seen as standard, mainstream fare by certain snobs amongst the collecting fraternity, but this is because they sell to the vast major of the market. For every Dell collector in the UK, there are 50 Spidey collectors, so what am I going to choose to stock?

(4) The current dollar exchange rate, and the ease that eBay and Heritage in particular have brought to buying direct from the US, means that the UK dealer is competing, sometimes directly, with their US counterparts. See points 1, 2 & 3 above. Why not help the UK market, Herc, by insisting on 'buying British' in future?

 

All in all, it's rather like governments....you get the ones you deserve. So the UK market gets the dealers it deserves.

 

 

Excellent summation as usual. Although those brilliant collections you mentioned seem to be thin on the ground at the moment.

[herc2000]

Good points, but it would be nice to have a dealer other than Harley from the US like Metropolis to come over with their stock. Golden age in particuar, as it becomes like a record on repeat when you see UK dealers stock, X-men 94's, Spidey 129's, 121's 122's. Now if I was going to help the British market by insisting on buying British to help the UK market, I might buy British comics, hmmmmm, nah I'll give that a miss! So it's ok for you British dealers to buy from the American dealers to sell to the British customers, but not ok for the British customers to buy directly from the American dealers, , , . Well ok, let me get some American buyers opinion on some prices of British dealers, how about for example X-men 94 cgc 9.0 a UK dealers price would be in the region of £700-£800/ $1500-$1600 WOW!!!!!!!!!! Sounds a lot to me I think I could get a CGC 9.2 for cheaper than that! So why would we buy it from you at those kind of prices? And actually I don't mean to disparage UK dealers, but look at it from the other side of the table, do you bother looking at other dealers tables at every show to see what new books they might have? I doubt you, especially thoroughly. Because you know it will be the same old, same old, apart from one or two books if your lucky. So I don't know why it would wind you up, if Vince would be good for your business, whats the problem? Who said anything about rivaling? Not all UK collectors manage to go over to the US, so it would be good for the collector! Also the pence copies are not pesky, why not help the UK market by insisting on buying British pence copies from British in the future?

[goldust40]

Herc, herc, herc. You're making less sense all the time.

[Flaming_Telepath]

I've just sold a X-Men #94 in CGC 9.0 for £600, which on today's exchange rate is $1062, and of course, I paid for it to be insured and shipped, and of course, I took the risk that it would get here.

 

But I know what you mean about certain dealers and their stationary stock, but I've said this to you before, and I'll say it again....please do not use the stock phrase 'UK dealers', because by definition, it is all encompassing. In those boxes you looked through on Sunday, there were 200+ new high grade items that were not there at the last show, ranging from CGC Spideys sub-100, to FF #27, #33, #47, #49, a run of Phantom Stranger in the teens and twenties, a blinding Batman #228 (Hmmm...wonder where that went), a beautiful GL #32 and gorgeous Brave And The Bold #59, etc, etc.

 

That's why you wound me up!

[Darthdiesel]

Actually, Vince coming over here would be good for business...my business, in truth.

 

You see, every time Harley comes over, I have a better show than when he doesn't, simply because a good number of people come out of the woodwork who wouldn't usually attend. And they spend money, a lot with Harley, but a chunk with me, too, and with Andy, and with others.

 

However, your disparaging remarks wind me up (which I'm sure you know), so let me tell you why nobody over here can rival Metropolis.

 

(1) There simply isn't the market. The Royal National, our crown jewel of shows, brings in what? 300 people? 350? It would not make business sense for me to carry every Gold or Silver book from the main publishing houses, in a variety of grades, with such a limited potential sell-through.

(2) It is exceptionally hard for a UK dealer to turn up the sort of collections that Metropolis or Harley do, as 95% of them are held in the US. What we have here are a limited number of collectors (see 1.), many of whom hold those pesky UK price variants. Or who have brilliant collections, both in quality and size, but will not split them, leading us back again to 1. above. I cannot justify carrying that amount of stock in this limited market.

(3) The books that we do stock are seen as standard, mainstream fare by certain snobs amongst the collecting fraternity, but this is because they sell to the vast major of the market. For every Dell collector in the UK, there are 50 Spidey collectors, so what am I going to choose to stock?

(4) The current dollar exchange rate, and the ease that eBay and Heritage in particular have brought to buying direct from the US, means that the UK dealer is competing, sometimes directly, with their US counterparts. See points 1, 2 & 3 above. Why not help the UK market, Herc, by insisting on 'buying British' in future?

 

All in all, it's rather like governments....you get the ones you deserve. So the UK market gets the dealers it deserves.

 

 

Enlightening post

[metropoliscomics]

Can't we all get along?

Seriously I didn't realize my doing a show in the Uk would cause such problems- I am going to cancel all my upcoming trips to England. Sorry for the disturbance.

HAr HAr

VZ

[JohnBull]

Actually, Vince coming over here would be good for business...my business, in truth.

 

You see, every time Harley comes over, I have a better show than when he doesn't, simply because a good number of people come out of the woodwork who wouldn't usually attend. And they spend money, a lot with Harley, but a chunk with me, too, and with Andy, and with others.

 

However, your disparaging remarks wind me up (which I'm sure you know), so let me tell you why nobody over here can rival Metropolis.

 

(1) There simply isn't the market. The Royal National, our crown jewel of shows, brings in what? 300 people? 350? It would not make business sense for me to carry every Gold or Silver book from the main publishing houses, in a variety of grades, with such a limited potential sell-through.

(2) It is exceptionally hard for a UK dealer to turn up the sort of collections that Metropolis or Harley do, as 95% of them are held in the US. What we have here are a limited number of collectors (see 1.), many of whom hold those pesky UK price variants. Or who have brilliant collections, both in quality and size, but will not split them, leading us back again to 1. above. I cannot justify carrying that amount of stock in this limited market.

(3) The books that we do stock are seen as standard, mainstream fare by certain snobs amongst the collecting fraternity, but this is because they sell to the vast major of the market. For every Dell collector in the UK, there are 50 Spidey collectors, so what am I going to choose to stock?

(4) The current dollar exchange rate, and the ease that eBay and Heritage in particular have brought to buying direct from the US, means that the UK dealer is competing, sometimes directly, with their US counterparts. See points 1, 2 & 3 above. Why not help the UK market, Herc, by insisting on 'buying British' in future?

 

All in all, it's rather like governments....you get the ones you deserve. So the UK market gets the dealers it deserves.

 

 

Interesting post. Given the limited number of Ian Levine's over here, presumably Harley and Metro would not be in direct competition with most of the other UK dealers.

 

I think deserves is a slightly hard word. You can't really blame the market for a US based collectable to be markedly different in the UK than it is in it's homeland. It must also be somewhat easier for someone to carve out a niche in the UK if they have semi-reasonable stock. I imagine it would be much harder to compete in the US, except on a customer service level and presumably capital outlay needs to be far far greater over there.

[herc2000]

Hello again, Goldust it makes less sense to you? Go and study and become a teacher, . In all honesty, most dealers in the UK 98% have the same stuff in their bins all the time. There are the 2% that do try to get in new stock on a regular basis admitadly, East coast comics does, but his prices are a lot higher than what they used to be and his grading is still bad, but a very nice guy though.

Theres Nick who has come out from nowhere and left people like Goldust behind, because he tries very hard. Paul McCartney (no not the Beatle) always seems to be buying stuff in. And my mate Goldust, who always buys stuff, but fails to bring the good stuff to the show. His boxes have become the same old same old even though he does have the stock, but poor displays etc Now that is it, four tables out of the lot worth a look! One small guy near Silveracre tries too, but just don't have any cash flow.

 

1.Paul McCartney good variety of titles

 

2.Nick Becket, has come from nowhere, has taken the place of Vault from when he used to do shows.

 

3. Goldust, has the potential to be one of the fantastic four, but is to busy on ebay

24/7, and does not really try to hard, a shame.

 

4. East coast, too pricey, bad grading, but a friendly guy.

[comicmankev]

Don't talk to me about East coast, they stiffed me with a 9.0 Iron Fist, that was an 8.0 restored

[comicmankev]

By the way, British flame wars, this is new