LCS Using eBay as a Price Guide

[Kevin76]

Doesn't matter if I wanted to flip it or not, I already have 2 copies so I'm not hurting. The point is that why bother having it sit under boxes and boxes of books scattered all over the floor unpriced, then when a customer picks one up they say "Oh, That goes for $XX.00" on ebay so that's what I want for it" Well the books were sitting there for year and years untouched, now they want insane prices for it? That's my beef with it.

 

Why bother owning a comic store? Just order 500 new comics every month for years and stash them away in your bedroom, then ebay everything off?

 

Most comic stores I go into now are pretty much hangouts for college age kids playing Magic The Gathering with a store owner who looks like he's hoarding comics in his bedroom.

 

As far as flipping goes, I've already cleaned out the 6 other stores in my area, so I really don't ever need to go back to those stores ever again.

[Chip Cataldo]

Retail store with merchandise not priced for sale = FAIL.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[ChrisInBaltimore]

In some states, I believe that would illegal. If the book only has a cover price they'd have to sell it for that price. I once got stuff really cheap that was marked improperly and the store couldn't do anything about it. Maybe that isn't true anymore though.

 

That is an odd practice though.

[Artboy99]

all of this wouldn't matter if the seller had marked his backstock with some kind of sign:

 

Backstock: all books priced at FMV at the counter.

 

Don't need to price each and every book you have, but at the very least let the buyer know what they are getting into. The buyer here is angry he wasted his time digging into the inventory not knowing what was going to happen.

 

To the buyer: you pulled the book from backstock inventory likely knowing what the book is worth and hoping to get a deal. If the book had a price tag of 20 dollars would you have pulled it out of the boxes and bought it?

 

Is it fair to buy the book if it had a price sticker of 5 dollars and not informing the seller that the book is worth more? This is an issue that has been discussed many times in threads on these boards over the years. From the flea market/ garage sale sellers who price AF 15's at 1 dollar to the sellers on Ebay who don't re-price Avengers 55's because of a sudden spike in price ( Harley Yee ). The difference between the 2 examples above is that the flea market seller is assumed to not know the comic book business, whereas the comic book dealer is assumed that he does in fact know their business and the prices should reflect that. It becomes a moral issue: would you tell the flea market seller the book they are selling for 1 dollar is in fact worth thousands or do you simply buy it?

 

The comic seller the OP is discussing tried to sell the book at FMV and there is nothing wrong with that at all and to be honest as a buyer it is my expectation that the book would be offered to me at FMV in a comic store. The mistake the seller made was not letting the buyer know in advance that was the case.

 

 

[Buzzetta]

Waitaminute...

 

Is this book taken from a box that out and on display or the "understock" that the box of books on display may have been sitting on?

 

If the OP picked up the box of books that was on display and then proceeded to see what was stashed in the closed boxes underneath that then I don't see the store as having done anything wrong.

 

Many moons ago, when I would watch a friend's store (this place closed after over a decade) when he would go on vacation and saw first hand his perspective on things. He had the boxes of comics stacked together to make sections of the store. Then had the boxes of back issues that were available for customers on top of those boxes. Basically the topmost box was available for customers to go through. As books sold from the top most box, he would go into his inventory and price books and move them into the top most box.

 

Every now and then this one individual (who I know for a fact is not allowed to even enter the store I shop in today) would lift up that box on their own and go digging into his inventory expecting unpriced silver or bronze books to be cover price. The owner would price them under guide and still the guy would argue in disgust.

 

He was not even supposed to be digging through those boxes anyway as they were clearly marked, "Please don't open" or something like that.

 

Anyway...

 

[dgarthwaite-migration]

I don't shop at stores that don't price their merchandise. It's lazy and it's a waste of my time searching just to have some absurd price make me leave it on the counter.

 

If a retailer has their product marked properly it factors the profit margin they need to make. They don't need to reprice anything. The only reason for repricing something is to pad the profit margin to cover other losses and counter-balance any restocking costs they'll have to pay. If they just want to keep everything in stock, they should turn the store into a museum.

 

If they actually sell out of something, isn't that a great marketing angle to encourage people to pre-order their comics?

 

DG

[gcstomp]

I must be getting old and tired, because this isnt something that would even faze me, never mind getting angry. This particular shop doesnt have back issues priced. From experience, I would ask before even spending a minute how will these books be priced at counter.

 

You have to assume that the shop will not be going by your suggested pricing, although I have even had that happen. Owner has asked, what are you willing to pay for that pile? I strongly prefer a shop that has books priced, but its hard for me to get upset that they looked the modern books up on ebay, OSPG has serious holes in modern pricing, to come up with price.

[Ryan.]

Alias 1 is a hot book?

[ChrisInBaltimore]

Alias 1 is a hot book?

 

Marvel just announced that Netflix will be making a show of the book. I guess it will be getting a bump.

 

 

[Erndog]

This *(using ebay as a price guide) has been happening at my local stores (sports cards included) since 2005. Heck it happens at every con! (I can get XXX for it on ebay).

 

Im surprised this would be an isssue. THIS IS REALITY at this point.

[ianh]

I use Ebay as a great tool of current FMV for comics all the time especially when bidding on C-link and other sites. I go by SOLD auctions of course though not what people are trying to get.

 

How exactly is it an "insane price" when that is what people are paying in Ebay? If someone just paid $20 for a book on Ebay then that is around what you can expect to pay for it.

 

The price wasn't marked and they looked it up and set the price. It's their merchandise, they can do what they want.

[Erndog]

I don't shop at stores that don't price their merchandise. It's lazy and it's a waste of my time searching just to have some absurd price make me leave it on the counter.

 

Come on, I worked at a sportscard store for 5 years... it is absolutely impossible to price/keep up to date prices of all merchandise.

 

We priced what we could, when we could.

 

But:

 

a) Things change (issues get hold/cold weekly)

b) Collections/merchandise comes in and out of the store daily.

c) There is only so much time in a day to price thousands upon thousands of stock (this isn't like a retail store that may stock 5 or 10 of any particular item. IHave you checked a stores back issue bin???)

[Buzzetta]

I don't shop at stores that don't price their merchandise. It's lazy and it's a waste of my time searching just to have some absurd price make me leave it on the counter.

 

If a retailer has their product marked properly it factors the profit margin they need to make. They don't need to reprice anything. The only reason for repricing something is to pad the profit margin to cover other losses and counter-balance any restocking costs they'll have to pay. If they just want to keep everything in stock, they should turn the store into a museum.

 

If they actually sell out of something, isn't that a great marketing angle to encourage people to pre-order their comics?

 

DG

 

Absolutely wrong. If you have multiple issues of a comic left over after a month, you put one in the box and put the rest in the overstock. When the book sells you replenish it. You cannot make the whole inventory available at any one point as most stores do not have the floor space. As you replenish the stock on the floor you price the items.

 

Again, if the OP went into boxes that were not made available to the public and pulled the issue out, he should not be expecting it to be priced.

 

And as far as selling out of everything. I believe Forbidden Planet in NYC basically does that. I don't bother walking into Forbidden Planet ever anymore. If I know that a store does not have back issues why would I go there? I can get the new stuff from any store.

 

 

[ChrisInBaltimore]

I don't shop at stores that don't price their merchandise. It's lazy and it's a waste of my time searching just to have some absurd price make me leave it on the counter.

 

If a retailer has their product marked properly it factors the profit margin they need to make. They don't need to reprice anything. The only reason for repricing something is to pad the profit margin to cover other losses and counter-balance any restocking costs they'll have to pay. If they just want to keep everything in stock, they should turn the store into a museum.

 

If they actually sell out of something, isn't that a great marketing angle to encourage people to pre-order their comics?

 

DG

 

Absolutely wrong. If you have multiple issues of a comic left over after a month, you put one in the box and put the rest in the overstock. When the book sells you replenish it. You cannot make the whole inventory available at any one point as most stores do not have the floor space. As you replenish the stock on the floor you price the items.

 

Again, if the OP went into boxes that were not made available to the public and pulled the issue out, he should not be expecting it to be priced.

 

And as far as selling out of everything. I believe Forbidden Planet in NYC basically does that. I don't bother walking into Forbidden Planet ever anymore. If I know that a store does not have back issues why would I go there? I can get the new stuff from any store.

 

 

Yea it is impossible to price everything accordingly. Most stores try to update as often as they can, but some also don't know all their stock.

 

My LCS has so much inventory in his basement it is incredible. He is probably sitting on tons of moderns and is missing the speculation on a lot of them. He was going to sell me a Powers 1 he had a few years back. I had helped organize it and put it in a box. He said he'd get back to me with the book. It then vanished in his house. The book has dropped a lot in value too.

 

I think my opinion has changed…

[comix4fun]

I only get annoyed when an LCS prices their raw books using slabbed ebay sales as comps.

[topofthetotem]

All these stores need to do is get a program like Chuck's with certain key words of phrases that automatically adjust the price across all stock.

 

I do believe the keyword/phrase is something along these lines for the average mile high "fine" just type in the following.

1. Rape = 50% above next higher grade.

2. Rape with cactus = 100% above next two higher grades.

3. Rape with cactus tied to bucket of backhoe = 250% above highest grade possible.

 

 

 

[Number 6]

I probably wouldn't have a problem with a store pricing books at the counter, though it would be nice to have some signage clearly stating that's the case.

 

However, if I we're start going through a store's back issues and saw no price tags, I would definitely ask what their pricing policy is before investing anymore time. My brother had an experience at a store with unpriced back issues where he was informed at the counter that they charged double OSPG. They claimed they bought at Guide (which I doubt) and therefore had to sell at that price to make a profit.

 

I wouldn't have a problem with eBay pricing, but it would depend on whether they're using completed sales or listed asking prices. The former would be fine, the later not so much.

 

But I'm a collector, not a flipper so that probably makes a difference.

[dgarthwaite-migration]

I don't shop at stores that don't price their merchandise. It's lazy and it's a waste of my time searching just to have some absurd price make me leave it on the counter.

 

If a retailer has their product marked properly it factors the profit margin they need to make. They don't need to reprice anything. The only reason for repricing something is to pad the profit margin to cover other losses and counter-balance any restocking costs they'll have to pay. If they just want to keep everything in stock, they should turn the store into a museum.

 

If they actually sell out of something, isn't that a great marketing angle to encourage people to pre-order their comics?

 

DG

 

Absolutely wrong. If you have multiple issues of a comic left over after a month, you put one in the box and put the rest in the overstock. When the book sells you replenish it. You cannot make the whole inventory available at any one point as most stores do not have the floor space. As you replenish the stock on the floor you price the items.

 

Again, if the OP went into boxes that were not made available to the public and pulled the issue out, he should not be expecting it to be priced.

 

And as far as selling out of everything. I believe Forbidden Planet in NYC basically does that. I don't bother walking into Forbidden Planet ever anymore. If I know that a store does not have back issues why would I go there? I can get the new stuff from any store.

 

 

Yea it is impossible to price everything accordingly. Most stores try to update as often as they can, but some also don't know all their stock.

 

My LCS has so much inventory in his basement it is incredible. He is probably sitting on tons of moderns and is missing the speculation on a lot of them. He was going to sell me a Powers 1 he had a few years back. I had helped organize it and put it in a box. He said he'd get back to me with the book. It then vanished in his house. The book has dropped a lot in value too.

 

I think my opinion has changed…

 

I don't know any stores in my area intentionally ordering multiple copies for backstock. The pre-orders drive everything and they track their sell through of known product to estimate what will sell above the pre-order numbers. If Batman is featured, they have a good idea of how many Batman fans will want it. If a certain writer is attached to a project, they know how many fans of that writer will be interested over and above what people pre-order.Every unsold new comic negates all profit from the sale of a new comic.It gets expensive very quickly to pile up on unsold new product. Most comics do not increase in value after the first month, so unsold inventory depreciates making it even harder to turn a profit.

 

If the books were pulled from overstock, then the customer should deal with whatever price the shop assigns to it. I do not see any reference to the OP pulling the comics from overstock. The boxes were accessible and unpriced based upon the information provided.

 

DG

[Chip Cataldo]

Retail is retail....doesn't matter what the product is. Price your merchandise. Just another insufficiently_thoughtful_person who has a shop when I would love to own one.

 

There's a collectibles store near me that did the same thing, only his books are thrown around in boxes haphazardly, unbagged, not priced, uncared for. I bring a bunch up to the counter and he proceeds to look up eBay listings...not actual sold stuff in similar condition, but asking prices. I just walked out.

 

It's ridiculous.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[Taco]

This happened to me before at Wade's Comic Madness in Levittown, PA.

 

I would spend a few hundred dollars there a week. I would go in every Saturday or Sunday and just dig for about 2 hours. If anyone is familiar with this store, then you know it is like a junkyard. Boxes everywhere, stacks piled a few feet high, even more in the basement, and nothing is in any order.

 

When I find a good deal on an issue I always throw a little bit extra money at them by buying something that isn't moving. In this case back in April I found like Chew #2-4 and a few copies of Daredevil #21 and Nowhere Men #2-3. They were all priced really low. So I also grabbed TWD compendium #1-2 ($119.98 + 6% tax compared to $52.08 I got them for on Amazon) and a bunch of Girl Scout cookies. They told me everything was priced incorrectly because it was in a section of the store where USPS just dropped off the box when it had a tracking number on it USPS stopped using in January. But they told me thank you for finding it and still started ringing up the compendiums and cookies. I was there for hours and they couldn't have said that earlier? Wade emailed me some excuse, but that was a joke. He said it didn't make sense to sell me Daredevil #21 for $4 when he could sell them online for $10 shipped.

 

I never went back. And I actually almost bought some of their stuff at WW Philly until I realized it was their stand by the bathroom and just handed everything back.