LCS Using eBay as a Price Guide

[ParamagicFF]

 

I agree. If Joe down the street buys all the shelf copies, find out what motivated Joe. Plan better next time based on what you learned. If Jim walks in the next day and can't find the comic because Joe bought the store out, hand him a copy of Previews and tell him that's why it was made. It was made so he can pre-order product and have a reasonable guarantee he'll get everything he wants. He might find things he didn't know existed. He might start buying higer profit margin items. At no point do you want to discourage a customer from buying product. You do want to encourage them to preorder.. Jim may only want the comic because it sold out. Joe buying the store out might actually be the only reason Jim wanted the comic at all. Selling in bulk is the easiest way to generate a higher profit margin. The price point on new comics is relatively low. When customers buy one comic at a time and chit chat with the employee about some superhero movie or favorite comic, the wage you paid the employee can completely negate any profit you made from the sale.

 

DG

 

For a short time I managed an LCS a few years back, and in principle what you're saying is correct. The goal is to convert everyone who enters your store into a subscriber. Unfortunately you can't sell most people, especially not new and younger readers, on preorder availability alone. If you push this angle as your selling point, they will end up with DCBS paying 50% less than your prices and getting the same "never miss an issue" selling point. With the rise of digital, some people will just go buy the missed issue off comixology. With the amount of product sources customers have, selling based on preorder availability alone is really tough. People, especially younger customers, come to brick and mortar stores to get what they want now! If you don't have a new product, you are losing that customer at minimum 30% of the time from my experience. While I never supported limiting a sale to 1 per customer, I frequently limited to various POSTED amounts. That guy who came in and cleaned you out? He doesn't care if he gets 100% of your stock to flip, he just wants as much as he can get. And if he does truly vow to never come back, screw him cause flippers dont keep your doors open anyway.

 

As far as using ebay as a price guide, so be it. Those opposed are mad because they weren't able to get the scoop on the shop. They justify it by saying they did the work of knowing the books value and expect the shop to do the same. Collectibles are commodities with changing prices, and doing a market check before a sale isn't the worst way to do it. While I agree that shops shouldnt try to get the highest BIN price they can find, they shouldnt just let every book go for cover either.

[Ryan.]

Are we measuring size by word count?

[RockMyAmadeus]

I won't bother arguing the various points more, since it seems to be rather irritating to you that I don't see the wisdom of your posts.

 

 

This thread used to be interesting, until it turned into RMA's own personal soapbox about how comic book stores should operate

 

 

Unfortunately, you will not, or cannot, continue to have the discussion without making personal comments designed only to provoke a reaction, so this will be my last response to you. It is sad, but typical.

 

 

 

However - you do realize the inherent conflicts in your last two statements (bolded)?

 

On the one hand, you disagree with me that retail prices are not based what it cost the retailer to acquire the product. Disagree with me to the degree that you say I am fighting reality.

 

Then you go on to state that sellers will in some circumstances sell below cost.

 

 

You seem to have missed the point that only brand new material...whether actually new, or simply "new to the store" back issues...is priced based on what it costs to acquire.

 

AFTER...again, AFTER...a period of time, whatever is left should then be discounted and gotten rid of. In other words..."Clearance."

 

The root issue is that this particular store had these items, clearly had them for some time (since they were unaware that they were currently "hot"), and should have sold them to the willing customer standing before them with actual cash, rather than wait for a POTENTIAL customer that may...or may not...ever come.

 

Which is what I'm saying. If you pay to much, you'll end up selling at a loss. If you pay less than that what you can sell it for, you'll make a profit. If you are able to pay a lot less than what you sell can sell it for, you make a bigger profit.

 

So by your own words and example, the price the retailer paid had no affect on the retail price of the clearance items. The items were not worth as much to the buyer as the retailer thought they would be - so they were sold at below cost.

 

Again....

 

....clearance is to get rid of the remaining merchandise that didn't sell at the regular price. Clearance is not what you mark the items at two days after you acquire them. There is a difference between new product, and product that has been sitting around collecting dust.

 

If you read the rest of the thread, this is all laid out.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Oh. My. God.

 

OK. RMA and I seem to have gotten a bit sideways. I've read many a post by him that I found interesting/entertaining and or agreed with.

 

If I've been curt, I apologize. It really doesn't matter if our interpretation of retail theory matches up In fact, theory aside we agree on many fundamentals for running a LCS, including not running a museum, turning inventory over, building long term customers.

 

So peace out RMA. To the degree I've been difficult, my apologies. <3

 

 

Fair enough.

[Badger]

Well... I consider comic-book store "backstock" to be all the longboxes of sorted (or unsorted) stuff that is laying around. I know my old LCS I used to work at had two LBs of Ultimate Spider-Man that we used to keep the front boxes stocked, the first one full of nothing but copies of #2-10 (although it seemed I was the only one that kept up with it.) None of that was priced, but I remember #3 was a popular seller and we probably had 60-70 copies and would sell 2-3 a week at whatever price they were at the height of their popularity. So if someone was looking for #3, and it wasn't priced/bagged/boarded in the box, but the customer found this box and wanted a #3 from there, we "didn't belong in business?"

 

Really simple...sign on front of each longbox that has the prices for each issue. Every few weeks, change the sign as needed. That way everything is priced for the customer. Otherwise? Laziness and not deserving of being in business. Period. Owning a comic store is nirvana as opposed to slaving away under some dinkhole management team in grunt big-box retail for a living.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

 

hahahahahaaha! "Nirvana" Spoken like someone who has never dealt with dillweed flippers or flea marketers as a comic store employee/owner. I'm sure there are some modern flippers who are the nicest, most honest people in the world but most are...well....not.

 

They do everything from swap price tags to lie and claim they found a book in the 4/$1 section when it is $20 hot book and they want to buy 10 for $2.

 

 

Those people are not "flippers." They are THIEVES.

 

Huge difference.

 

I will never understand why some people have a problem with selling their product, at the price they want, regardless of why and to whom. If someone wants to buy 10 copies of Book #X, and you've had that book for X years, GREAT! So what if you didn't squeeze every last penny out of it? So what if you left "money on the table"? Did you get the price you were asking? Success!

 

If flippers think they can make some money on you, guess what...?

 

They come back.

 

I understand limits on new product, but this thread was about back issues. If someone wants to buy 6 copies of Alias #1, and has cash in front of you, why tell them "oh, well, this book's worth $20 on eBay!" Yes, and eBay/paypal charges roughly 12-15% to sell that item there, right off the top. And then you have to ship it. Shipping has a labor cost. Shipping has a materials cost. These things aren't free. Listing has a labor cost. Storage has a cost.

 

And any retailer worth his chops will have already paid for the cost of those books by the sale of other material, so ANY sale is gravy.

 

Turnover is LIFE for retailers. Paying to store items for which there is a willing customer, simply because you have to squeeze every last cent out, is death. Slow, painful, retailer death.

 

And that retailer that tried to milk "FMV" out of those books got ZERO dollars, and ZERO dollars cannot be put back into new product (whether brand new or new backstock), and is just sitting, doing no work at all (Keep in mind, I'm NOT talking about unpriced inventory that is not for sale. Anyone who has something FOR SALE should have it priced. It is ridiculous to have merchandise on the sales floor that isn't priced. That's nothing but sheer laziness.)

 

Sure, they *might* get $20 for A copy. They might get $15 for another. But how much will they have paid for those dollars? And what if the market crashes for that particular book, as has happened, sometimes overnight, for some books? Making business decisions based on what MIGHT happen, and turning away an actual customer with actual cash who actually wants to buy right now, regardless of why...on the CHANCE for a few more dollars...is insanity.

 

It is precisely this sort of short-sightedness that caused the entire industry to implode in the mid 90's, from which it has never recovered.

 

Only in collectibles do retailers hold back everything on the hopes of getting the absolute top dollar, all the time. It's madness.

 

Turnover and LOYAL customers are life-blood to a retailer.

 

No.

 

Turnover is real, "loyalty" is a fuzzy, feel-good notion that can evaporate in a heartbeat. If you think the vast majority of customers will stay loyal in the face of better prices elsewhere, you don't understand retail.

 

The store I worked at is still in business after 30 years, different owner as the original owner sold his stores, retired to Canada, and then came back to open a new store, but the original store is still there.

 

I can show you 100 that failed for every one you come up with that has survived.[\quote]

 

Welcome to America where 70% of small businesses fail in the first 2 years.

http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/sbfaq.pdf

 

I will never understand why people think that because they visit a store twice a year to clean it out of HOT books they should get special treatment.

 

No one said anything about special treatment, or visiting a store twice a year, or cleaning it out of "hot" books. So why bring that up?

 

And what is a (and I must emphasize these quotes) "hot" book? Did the store have it on hand? Have they had it on hand for years? Is it therefore an ongoing cost burden to that store? Yes, yes, yes. If it takes becoming "hot" for the book to move, hey, great, it's gone, and the retailer can put that money back to work.

 

They are stores, not museums.

 

Welcome to America where 70% of small businesses fail in the first 2 years.

http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/sbfaq.pdf

Your point about being able to show me 100 failed businesses for every successful one I present is meaningless.

 

Having stock on hand is not necessarily a burden on a store owner. Blowing stock out before profit can be made is a problem and it is a trap into which many failed businesses, especially restaurant and jewelry businesses, fall.

 

Stores must have turnover of stock which typically happens after the total purchased cost of the goods is met. Turnover must be handled in a very precise manner if you are to be successful. For instance, in Target, since you used that example elsewhere, the store will buy 100 identical Lego boxed sets at $20 apiece. Being target, they do not mark that toy up to the suggested retail of $40 but instead sell it at $30.

 

When do they start making profit on that initial purchase of goods? The narrow view is that on every set they earn $10, which is incorrect. I'm not including display cost or labor cost just to keep this simple. They make their first profit off of those Lego sets with the sale of the 67th set. If your target profit margin is 25% at what point do you make it a priority for turnover? I'll help by giving the answer: Its the 84th set. So, those last 16 sets can be safely clearance as pure profit for the store.

 

How does this relate to the store having X number of Alias #1 sitting in a box? What you do not know is where those books sit in the profit cycle of the store. If they ordered 20 copies, sold 10 at cover price, and sold 5 more at $10 apiece then those last 5 represent pure profit for the store no matter what they sell them at.

 

With these last copies the store owner can try to squeeze every nickel out of them or reward loyal customers or sell them to people he/she will never see again. Hmm, I know what I'd use those copies for but your mileage may vary! (thumbs u

 

P.S. Customer loyalty is a very real thing and retailers that ignore it are the ones that see their customers bail for the competitors. For those who really want to know what is required to run a successful business:

 

1) Maintain multiple suppliers, where possible. Keep your cost of goods down by negotiating where possible. Pay your bills. You will be stunned at what good credit can do for you!

 

2) Expand your store offerings and pay attention to your loyal customers. Give special discounts or even an occasional surprise, where legal. Make it harder for your customers to justify going to a rival.

 

3) Survey your competition; find what they are selling and try to offer some goods that are different.

 

4) With a comic book store it is rather difficult to scare off new competitors but

make sure you have a war chest, money, to be able to wage a price war if need be. Avoid where possible and don't be caught price colluding.

 

5) Make sure your store is located in a convenient area near your likely customer base.

[Badger]

And this really shouldn't need to be said but:

1) Keep your store clean and well-lit

 

2) If something is priced, honor that price.

 

3) for Yoda's sake, I love Star Wars and Star trek just as much as the next geek but don't let your employees talk about that stuff unless they are trying to make a sale.

 

4) Greet everyone who comes in the store.

 

5) Say good-bye to everyone who leaves. Not only is this polite and friendly, it cuts down on shoplifting.

[bb8]

I would recommend selling your back issues at a price and quantity such that marginal revenue equals marginal cost. At least, that's what I'm told profit-maximizing firms do.

[dgarthwaite-migration]

 

I agree. If Joe down the street buys all the shelf copies, find out what motivated Joe. Plan better next time based on what you learned. If Jim walks in the next day and can't find the comic because Joe bought the store out, hand him a copy of Previews and tell him that's why it was made. It was made so he can pre-order product and have a reasonable guarantee he'll get everything he wants. He might find things he didn't know existed. He might start buying higer profit margin items. At no point do you want to discourage a customer from buying product. You do want to encourage them to preorder.. Jim may only want the comic because it sold out. Joe buying the store out might actually be the only reason Jim wanted the comic at all. Selling in bulk is the easiest way to generate a higher profit margin. The price point on new comics is relatively low. When customers buy one comic at a time and chit chat with the employee about some superhero movie or favorite comic, the wage you paid the employee can completely negate any profit you made from the sale.

 

DG

 

For a short time I managed an LCS a few years back, and in principle what you're saying is correct. The goal is to convert everyone who enters your store into a subscriber. Unfortunately you can't sell most people, especially not new and younger readers, on preorder availability alone. If you push this angle as your selling point, they will end up with DCBS paying 50% less than your prices and getting the same "never miss an issue" selling point. With the rise of digital, some people will just go buy the missed issue off comixology. With the amount of product sources customers have, selling based on preorder availability alone is really tough. People, especially younger customers, come to brick and mortar stores to get what they want now! If you don't have a new product, you are losing that customer at minimum 30% of the time from my experience. While I never supported limiting a sale to 1 per customer, I frequently limited to various POSTED amounts. That guy who came in and cleaned you out? He doesn't care if he gets 100% of your stock to flip, he just wants as much as he can get. And if he does truly vow to never come back, screw him cause flippers dont keep your doors open anyway.

 

As far as using ebay as a price guide, so be it. Those opposed are mad because they weren't able to get the scoop on the shop. They justify it by saying they did the work of knowing the books value and expect the shop to do the same. Collectibles are commodities with changing prices, and doing a market check before a sale isn't the worst way to do it. While I agree that shops shouldnt try to get the highest BIN price they can find, they shouldnt just let every book go for cover either.

 

Your points are valid, but I think each store can be tweaked for what works and doesn't work. Each location will have it's own flavor of customers. There is no one specific answer for every customer. There are general guidelines and psychology at play, but the finer details can be addressed as the situations arise

 

Most stores I know about do not have heavy walk-in traffic. By that I mean they cannot afford a high profile and high rent location. Most of their customers had to seek them out and find them. If they've got a lot of shelf copies after segregating their subscription comics, it's because they suspect a customer might want the book already. It's very easy to set the comic aside with their subscription copies and then if they don't want it, put it back on the shelf later. I also don't see a huge advantage in putting out 20 copies of a comic so that someone can "clean you out." Having too many copies of a comic out gives people the impression that they can wait a week before buying it. You don't want to encourage people to wait. Often if people wait, they opt not to buy it entirely. In some situations you may want to hold some back and replenish as they sell.

 

I wouldn't really be too concerned about online competition. When I'm in a comic shop asking people if they've heard some recent online news about comics, most just look confused. Obviously you and I are online reading information, but there is still a significant number of people who don't... and won't. Mail order introduces an extra layer of problems on many levels. People will always prefer to see their comics in person when they buy. Ordering through DCBS doesn't make that possible. Suggesting Previews opens up a whole line of dialogue about what interests them and it's the earliest opportunity for them to decide they want something. Whether they subscribe through you or online, they still have to wait until the comic is distributed through Diamond. Reading Previews gets them engaged and opens the doors for more suggestions. Perhaps they didn't know certain shirts or statues would be available? A store can't order everything, but if you get the catalog in their hands, they'll want things you didn't think would sell.

 

DG

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

Welcome to America where 70% of small businesses fail in the first 2 years.

http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/sbfaq.pdf

Your point about being able to show me 100 failed businesses for every successful one I present is meaningless.

 

I said failed comic book stores, not failed businesses in general.

 

Having stock on hand is not necessarily a burden on a store owner.

 

Quite correct.

 

Having stock on hand that is years old, however, is.

 

Blowing stock out before profit can be made is a problem and it is a trap into which many failed businesses, especially restaurant and jewelry businesses, fall.

 

Stores must have turnover of stock which typically happens after the total purchased cost of the goods is met. Turnover must be handled in a very precise manner if you are to be successful. For instance, in Target, since you used that example elsewhere, the store will buy 100 identical Lego boxed sets at $20 apiece. Being target, they do not mark that toy up to the suggested retail of $40 but instead sell it at $30.

 

When do they start making profit on that initial purchase of goods? The narrow view is that on every set they earn $10, which is incorrect. I'm not including display cost or labor cost just to keep this simple. They make their first profit off of those Lego sets with the sale of the 67th set. If your target profit margin is 25% at what point do you make it a priority for turnover? I'll help by giving the answer: Its the 84th set. So, those last 16 sets can be safely clearance as pure profit for the store.

 

How does this relate to the store having X number of Alias #1 sitting in a box? What you do not know is where those books sit in the profit cycle of the store. If they ordered 20 copies, sold 10 at cover price, and sold 5 more at $10 apiece then those last 5 represent pure profit for the store no matter what they sell them at.

 

All correct...until that stock sits and takes up sales floor space.

 

This is the big problem that comics stores have, and the very heart of this discussion. They don't clear out what hasn't sold, and it takes up space, space that could be occupied by stuff that DOES sell.

 

See, your example, Target doesn't keep the unsold stock on the shelf forever....and ever...and ever...and ever....like comics stores do. They get rid of it. They get rid of it to make way for the new, the new that will sell.

 

With these last copies the store owner can try to squeeze every nickel out of them or reward loyal customers or sell them to people he/she will never see again. Hmm, I know what I'd use those copies for but your mileage may vary! (thumbs u

 

Sure, that theory works when you have 15-20 books to deal with.

 

Not so much when you have 2,000-3,000 books to deal with.

 

P.S. Customer loyalty is a very real thing and retailers that ignore it are the ones that see their customers bail for the competitors.

 

 

If they bail for the competitors, by definition, they aren't loyal...right?

 

For those who really want to know what is required to run a successful business:

 

1) Maintain multiple suppliers, where possible. Keep your cost of goods down by negotiating where possible. Pay your bills. You will be stunned at what good credit can do for you!

 

2) Expand your store offerings and pay attention to your loyal customers. Give special discounts or even an occasional surprise, where legal. Make it harder for your customers to justify going to a rival.

 

3) Survey your competition; find what they are selling and try to offer some goods that are different.

 

4) With a comic book store it is rather difficult to scare off new competitors but

make sure you have a war chest, money, to be able to wage a price war if need be. Avoid where possible and don't be caught price colluding.

 

5) Make sure your store is located in a convenient area near your likely customer base.

 

All good advice! (thumbs u

[RockMyAmadeus]

And this really shouldn't need to be said but:

1) Keep your store clean and well-lit

 

2) If something is priced, honor that price.

 

3) for Yoda's sake, I love Star Wars and Star trek just as much as the next geek but don't let your employees talk about that stuff unless they are trying to make a sale.

 

4) Greet everyone who comes in the store.

 

5) Say good-bye to everyone who leaves. Not only is this polite and friendly, it cuts down on shoplifting.

 

This is so sexist....

 

Have attractive, intelligent women staffing your store.

 

Sorry, ladies. It's still a man's world in there.

[dgarthwaite-migration]

My #1 complaint about comic book stores is not customer service, pricing, or how well the store is lit. My #1 complaint is outdated, stale, 10 year old picked over inventory, that I wouldn't want to take home if it was given to me for free.

 

DG

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

Most stores I know about do not have heavy walk-in traffic. By that I mean they cannot afford a high profile and high rent location. Most of their customers had to seek them out and find them. If they've got a lot of shelf copies after segregating their subscription comics, it's because they suspect a customer might want the book already. It's very easy to set the comic aside with their subscription copies and then if they don't want it, put it back on the shelf later. I also don't see a huge advantage in putting out 20 copies of a comic so that someone can "clean you out." Having too many copies of a comic out gives people the impression that they can wait a week before buying it. You don't want to encourage people to wait. Often if people wait, they opt not to buy it entirely. In some situations you may want to hold some back and replenish as they sell.

 

This is a tricky strategy, that might or might not work, depending on your clientele.

 

[Tony S]

 

 

Most stores I know about do not have heavy walk-in traffic. By that I mean they cannot afford a high profile and high rent location. Most of their customers had to seek them out and find them. If they've got a lot of shelf copies after segregating their subscription comics, it's because they suspect a customer might want the book already. It's very easy to set the comic aside with their subscription copies and then if they don't want it, put it back on the shelf later. I also don't see a huge advantage in putting out 20 copies of a comic so that someone can "clean you out." Having too many copies of a comic out gives people the impression that they can wait a week before buying it. You don't want to encourage people to wait. Often if people wait, they opt not to buy it entirely. In some situations you may want to hold some back and replenish as they sell.

 

I

DG

 

See bold. The theory at least is that comic book stores don't need to pay for high rent, high traffic locations. Your clientele will seek out stores such as yours. Not only that, but since the percentage of the population that collects comics is very small, locating in a busy mall doesn't really get you that much more business. Evansville has had two comic book shops try to set up in malls and neither lasted more than six months. Meanwhile, the three stores in low rent settings - which have been around and in business for as little as 10 and as many as 40 years - have done just fine.

 

As others have mentioned, having a clean store and friendly staff goes a long way. Wives, girlfriends and mothers might be willing to buy Christmas and b-day presents for the comic book collectors in their lives if the store and or staff isn't so icky they don't want to set foot in the place. If you locate in a high traffic retail environment (like a mall), they always have strict rules about the stores appearance. They will make the owner keep the store attractive in appearance - or make you leave.

 

I don't know for sure about the smallest store (the one that's been around ten years). But the other two both do not put out every copy of the monthly titles. A few copies go into the back to sell as back stock at higher than cover prices. If you want to be sure of getting a copy, both offer a pull and hold service. Both also have copies of Preview out for customers to make advance orders.

 

Like most comic book shops now, the amount of extra copies ordered for back stock is a great deal less than it was when books were a dollar or less.

[Badger]

I would recommend selling your back issues at a price and quantity such that marginal revenue equals marginal cost. At least, that's what I'm told profit-maximizing firms do.

Now your just giving away the ending to our sordid little tale!

[Badger]

My #1 complaint about comic book stores is not customer service, pricing, or how well the store is lit. My #1 complaint is outdated, stale, 10 year old picked over inventory, that I wouldn't want to take home if it was given to me for free.

 

DG

True but most of that stock is there to create "ambiance". I've walked into and then quickly out of so-called "comic book" stores that have no back stock. It seems that most store owners ignore the concepts of stock turnover and getting stock through multiple suppliers.

[Badger]

And this really shouldn't need to be said but:

1) Keep your store clean and well-lit

 

2) If something is priced, honor that price.

 

3) for Yoda's sake, I love Star Wars and Star trek just as much as the next geek but don't let your employees talk about that stuff unless they are trying to make a sale.

 

4) Greet everyone who comes in the store.

 

5) Say good-bye to everyone who leaves. Not only is this polite and friendly, it cuts down on shoplifting.

 

This is so sexist....

 

Have attractive, intelligent women staffing your store.

 

Sorry, ladies. It's still a man's world in there.

 

Now this, this, is an idea I could get behind!

[Chip Cataldo]

Speaking of which...what is going on in your avatar??

 

Peace,

 

Chip

[the blob]

 

Most stores I know about do not have heavy walk-in traffic. By that I mean they cannot afford a high profile and high rent location. Most of their customers had to seek them out and find them. If they've got a lot of shelf copies after segregating their subscription comics, it's because they suspect a customer might want the book already. It's very easy to set the comic aside with their subscription copies and then if they don't want it, put it back on the shelf later. I also don't see a huge advantage in putting out 20 copies of a comic so that someone can "clean you out." Having too many copies of a comic out gives people the impression that they can wait a week before buying it. You don't want to encourage people to wait. Often if people wait, they opt not to buy it entirely. In some situations you may want to hold some back and replenish as they sell.

 

This is a tricky strategy, that might or might not work, depending on your clientele.

 

If nothing else, by only having 1 or 2 out on the rack at any given time you avoid having all 10 copies destroyed by "Mr. Bendy" as he goes through the rack and folds every book in half. Gosh I hate that guy.

[Jeffro.]

Are we measuring size by word count?

 

word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word, word,

[the blob]

Don't know what this refers to, but if shipping is free, that means this particular example...Alias #1...is in even worse shape. Media Mail for one book is a minimum of about $3, materials and postage included, and if you can't ship MM, First Class is the cheapest...and since it goes by the ounce (and can't be over 13 ounces) and Alias #1 weighs approximately 5 ounces, that means there will be little to no packaging...and the book will likely be destroyed.

 

And since Alias #1 is currently a "$15 on eBay or less" book, and labor and packing costs are around $7, and the cheapest postage (if you can) would be $2.53...then you're looking at 74 cents for the Paypal fee, $1.20 (at best) for the FVF...and at least 1/2 of work by SOMEONE...

 

...and you've made a grand total of $3.53.

 

The numbers just don't lie.

 

Since cover price was $2.95, the seller made a whopping 58 cents more, and spent time better spent elsewhere, than he would have gotten had he simply sold three copies for cover price to the buyer.

 

And that's why comic stores go out of business.

--------------------------

 

11 ounces is $3.08 via paypal. That's the weight I generally hit with 1 comic and 3-4 pieces of cardboard. I have probably shipped 600-800 packages via the cardboard sandwhich route (3-4 pieces of solid cardboard) and never heard back from anyone about a book being damaged. Unless Donut has changed his packing method since I last bought something from him, I suspect he has mailed thousands upon thousands of packages like this.

 

I will assume your $1.94 in fees is right (criminey that seems high though...). So we're at $5.04 in out of pocket costs just on the sale. My supplies are free, but let's say others have to pay 10 cents for their big envelopes, so we're at $5.14...round up with tape to $5.25. cardboard is everywhere.

 

Labor costs will depend on if the store owner handles his own ebay stuff. But yes, if he's paying some minion $8-$11 an hour to handle the ebay sales you are right, this is a lose lose proposition!! I bang out packaging of 1-2 books pretty fast when I have a bunch because I work from a huge stack of pre-cut cardboard. An employee is going to dilly dally unless he's paid piecemeal.

 

For us though it's $15.00 - $5.25 - acquisition cost = profit.

 

I do appreciate your math though as for some reason I was figuring fees on a $10 sale with free s/h were more like $1 total, which is wrong. One of the reasons why when I had a store I moved everything to free s/h, but also made everything $10 or more. Even at $10 though you have to hope someone is buying multiples to make this worthwhile.