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Baltimore Comic Con Report: Dealer's Report

Started by Foolkiller,

43 posts in this topic

Foolkiller

Foolkiller

Posted
Posted

As I do every year for the past four or five years, I make my once year appearance as a "dealer" and set up at the Baltimore Comic Con.

 

Having been to most major shows at some point as an attendee, I can say that hands down, Baltimore is my favorite show to go to and one of the best for buying in the country. I spent a ton of time Sunday doing buying and I was picking left overs but was very pleased with my finds. Tons of high grade stuff left in the room and I was blown away by what some of the other guys left behind.

 

Just beautiful books all over the place, and lots to buy raw.

 

In terms of sales...

 

On Thursday during set up I was hit by the dealers. I sold quite a bit of stuff including over 100 slabs and about 3 mag boxes worth of high grade. Of course, everyone was looking for keys, which fortunately I had a fair amount of.

 

I made what I thought were very good deals on my modern keys and left dealers plenty of room to make money.

 

I also had a lot of raw modern keys. I brought 3 Shazam 28s, priced them very reasonably, and they sat until Friday when another dealer finally picked through the box and his face lit up. I then put a lower grade copy on Sunday in my $10 box and waited for the show to open, and another dealer bought it (a boardie, so I was cool with it) and then resold it for $140. I hoped the public or a collector would get those kinds of deals, but I didn't sell all that much to the public.

 

While the public looked, most of them represented about 10-15% of my total sales, even though on Sunday I was still offering the same discount to the public off high grade as I was to the dealers. I have no complaints though as sales were brisk.

 

A very good friend of mine brought 7 copies of Hulk 1 to the show, and it was easily the most asked for book by a country mile. He sold 4 copies, again to other dealers. White hot book.

 

Sold the following in terms of highlights:

 

10 copies of NM 98 (5 9.8s, 5 raws)

7 Hulk 181s (3 graded, 4 raws)

5 copies of ASM 129 (9.4, 9.2 graded, 3 raws)

3 X-Men 94s.

Iron Man 55

GSX 1

Werewolf by Night 32 (2 copies)

FF 45 CGC 9.2, 2 raw copies

TOS 39 CGC 7.0

Action 252 CGC 8.5

Hero for Hire 1 CGC 9.8

X-Men 1 CGC 7.0

Batman 181 CGC 9.4

Batman 232 CGC 9.2 (2 copies)

Multiple Nova 1s, Ms. Marvel 1s, Shazam 1s, 28s

Modern keys including Fables 1s, Y: the Last Man 1s, Sandman 1s, New Mutants 87s, X-Factor 5, 6, 24 (8 copies)

Golden age Batmans

Nice whack of high grade silver age wonder womans.

 

Was asked for a lot of Aquamans -- probably more than ever before... first appearance keys like Mera, Ocean Master and of course Black Manta were asked for a ton of times.

 

Loads of other stuff, but that's what stands out to me at the moment. Had a super blast and it was so much fun meeting new people as well and just interacting.

 

I do have a few pics of the lovely girls who were set up at the Sharpcomics booth, but I'm not sure they are safe for work.

 

Regardless, the most impressive thing about them wasn't really how nice they were to look at, but how incredibly upbeat and gracious they were all three days of the shows with everyone who took pictures (and there had to be hundreds) with them. That's unique to me among the models as I feel they burn out (which is normal). These girls were very professional and added something residual to all the booths around them.

 

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Foolkiller

Foolkiller

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It's somewhat unfair for me to compare because I only set up once a year and gauge from there.

 

In terms of sales, I realized more money from the 3 days, but... I would have done the same probably (or almost) as a 2 day show because my sales are mostly to dealers.

 

Although, my gross was less than last year because I was bought out at the end of the show, and this year I did not do that.

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G.A.tor

G.A.tor

Posted
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It's somewhat unfair for me to compare because I only set up once a year and gauge from there.

 

In terms of sales, I realized more money from the 3 days, but... I would have done the same probably (or almost) as a 2 day show because my sales are mostly to dealers.

 

Although, my gross was less than last year because I was bought out at the end of the show, and this year I did not do that.

:o

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lhcomics

lhcomics

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On Thursday during set up I was hit by the dealers. I sold quite a bit of stuff including over 100 slabs and about 3 mag boxes worth of high grade. Of course, everyone was looking for keys, which fortunately I had a fair amount of.

 

 

While the public looked, most of them represented about 10-15% of my total sales,

 

 

 

In the past when I have fresh quality inventory and setup at a show it can be a feeding frenzy at my booth. I have gotten to where I offer very little discount to the dealers but most still buy from me as they spot the comics I have priced lower than they should be.When they ask for a bigger discount I tell them to come back at end of show Sunday and I'll give bigger discount. They know comic will probably be sold by then.

 

All dealers want are the comics I could sell to the public anyway so if they wipe out a lot of my key comics it weakens my inventory when the doors open.

 

I used to be about the same with sales being 75% to dealers then 25% to public. Now it is about 50/50.

 

 

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1Cool

1Cool

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Do people walk around following Harvey and some of the other dealers watching to see what they are buying and then run back to their own book and raise the price on those books. Instant market research.

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Timmay

Timmay

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Do people walk around following Harvey and some of the other dealers watching to see what they are buying and then run back to their own book and raise the price on those books. Instant market research.

 

Yes.

 

You've cracked the code.

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Firespitter

Firespitter

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I brought 3 Shazam 28s, priced them very reasonably, and they sat until Friday when another dealer finally picked through the box and his face lit up. I then put a lower grade copy on Sunday in my $10 box and waited for the show to open, and another dealer bought it...

 

That sounds like a good marketing idea; print a big sign that says "find the key issue! I've hidden a $100 value graded issue in my $1/$5/$10 boxes."

 

Of course, then you'll have 100 people digging through your boxes while looking on their cellphones researching every single issue that they pull on ebay.

 

-Terry

 

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RCheli

RCheli

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Although, my gross was less than last year because I was bought out at the end of the show, and this year I did not do that.

 

Man, I wish somebody would come up and buy me out at the end of a show. So much less loading and unloading.

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