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So I received an interesting phone call last week...

Started by Columbia Comics,

495 posts in this topic

greggy

greggy

Posted
Posted
CC antics aside, I'm still interested in this part. lol

 

I don't know the law regarding comic book dealer purchases (maybe some of the attorneys here can chime in), but unequal bargaining positions and fiduciary responsibilities would seem to come into play.

 

I'm actually quite curious about this.

 

You should probably stick to panty raids.

I only raid organic, free-range panties. :sumo:

 

That's good. The other ones are absolutely STUFFED with genetically modified organisms.

lol
You should relax....as you already got my money.

 

xoxo

 

greggy

 

:baiting:

it better sell for over $2K....or I would have felt cheated. :acclaim:
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loadstone

loadstone

Posted
Posted

The name of the game is information. If the old lady knew just how valuable they are and knew of which, among the available methods of selling (consignment through Heritage, CLINK, ebay) would net her the most gain, would she:

A: still sell to Columbia Comics

B: Sell for the same amount

 

the answer to both would likely be NO unless she had a specific time constraint and limited access to those resources. If she needed $1500 asap and was indifferent to the other options had she known about them then I see nothing wrong with Columbia's approach except if he lied to us about not really viewing all 20 and really knowing what she had. I am dubious about this as well as I won't blow any more than $100 without knowing what I'm getting. But if $1500 is nothing to him then that might be his cutoff point as well.

 

Let's face it. If every OO seller had perfect information about the value and methods of maximizing sale price of their comics, would ANY dealer be able to acquire ANY decent collections at a price that would allow them to make money? Furthermore, if not for dealer's low-ball tactics, one could argue that the resale prices would get locked up at sky high prices like mile high comics and Metropolis comics ask. While I'm not condoning lying and excessive low-balling, I recognize the role that small to mid-size dealers play in bringing collections to market. Heritage and other big houses do seek them out but they can't be everywhere. Dealers and individual collectors are better suited to finding them locally and bringing them to market at market prices but the margin has to be there. You can argue that the onus is on the buyer to offer a reasonable reseller's price for the collection but to what degree and how far should they go to playing against themselves?

 

So unless the OO seller doesn't care or doesn't have the time and can agree on a lower suitable price, it's going to just be part of the necessary evil for Dealers to low-ball.

 

Now, we can argue the severity of the low ball. Should a dealer always low-ball for the lowest they can get OR should they have a maximum price they should always offer that still allows it to remain profitable? In otherwords, can they operate on a 50%-25% margin where they offer the most they can and still net an acceptable profit?

 

We may see in the very near future as information becomes more perfectly known as most internet ignorant people die off and the more information savvy owners are the ones selling it gets harder and harder for dealers to acquire at low-ball prices.

 

This argument occurs on the flip side. I was recently in a comic shop looking for modern back issues from the 90's to mid 2000's (spideys). The shop owner said, "the only thing we have like that is in those boxes and everything in there is 50 cents each." He was pointing to the front window with 6 long boxes of mostly unbagged and unboarded 90's drek. I sighed but feeling bad about just walking out decided to spend some time looking. I poured through the first 2 while loading google maps looking for the next closest comic shop when my time was rewarded with hello there Uncanny X-men #266 in what appeared to be VF/NM. At 50 cents that book paid for the 15 minutes I spent pouring through the rest of the boxes. Of course my mistake was leaving it face up where he could see it and then go look it up and realize it's at least a $50 book on ebay. So he says nothing until I get to the counter and he says "well look's like you found a nice X-men #266. I can't sell you that for 50cents -that shouldn't even have been in that box. Someone is going to get fired for that one." Ok, I can appreciate his position here but the likely truth is that copy has probably been sitting in that dusty box of drek for a year and I did the dirty work for him in digging it out. To his credit he followed up with "...but I can offer it to you at a great price: $10". Now should I have:

A. just said no thanks and walked out of the shop

B. pushed for his original stated price 50 cents and have him tell me to get out

C: continue to negotiate and low ball at $5 final offer

D: accept his ask at $10

E: Offer the full market guide value at an agreed to grade between FN and VF $30-50

 

Guess which option I chose... hm

 

 

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comix4fun

comix4fun

Posted
Posted
The name of the game is information. If the old lady knew just how valuable they are and knew of which, among the available methods of selling (consignment through Heritage, CLINK, ebay) would net her the most gain, would she:

A: still sell to Columbia Comics

B: Sell for the same amount

 

the answer to both would likely be NO unless she had a specific time constraint and limited access to those resources. If she needed $1500 asap and was indifferent to the other options had she known about them then I see nothing wrong with Columbia's approach except if he lied to us about not really viewing all 20 and really knowing what she had. I am dubious about this as well as I won't blow any more than $100 without knowing what I'm getting. But if $1500 is nothing to him then that might be his cutoff point as well.

 

Let's face it. If every OO seller had perfect information about the value and methods of maximizing sale price of their comics, would ANY dealer be able to acquire ANY decent collections at a price that would allow them to make money? In fact, if not for dealer's low-ball tactics, one could argue that the resale prices would get locked up at sky high prices like mile high comics and Metropolis comics ask. While I'm not condoning lying and excessive low-balling, I recognize the role that small to mid-size dealers play in bringing collections to market. Heritage and other big houses do seek them out but they can't be everywhere. Dealers and individual collectors are better suited to finding them locally and bringing them to market at market prices but the margin has to be there. You can argue that the onus is on the buyer to offer a reasonable reseller's price for the collection but to what degree and how far should they go to playing against themselves?

 

So unless the OO seller doesn't care or doesn't have the time and can agree on a lower suitable price, it's going to just be part of the necessary evil for Dealers to low-ball.

 

Now, we can argue the severity of the low ball. Should a dealer always low-ball for the lowest they can get OR should they have a maximum price they should always offer that still allows it to remain profitable? In otherwords, can they operate on a 50%-25% margin where they offer the most they can and still net an acceptable profit?

 

We may see in the very near future as information becomes more perfectly known as most internet ignorant people die off and the more information savvy owners are the ones selling it gets harder and harder for dealers to acquire at low-ball prices.

 

This argument occurs on the flip side. I was recently in a comic shop looking for modern back issues from the 90's to mid 2000's (spideys). The shop owner said, "the only thing we have like that is in those boxes and everything in there is 50 cents each." He was pointing to the front window with 6 long boxes of mostly unbagged and unboarded 90's drek. I sighed but feeling bad about just walking out decided to spend some time looking. I poured through the first 2 while loading google maps looking for the next closest comic shop when my time was rewarded with hello there Uncanny X-men #266 in what appeared to be VF/NM. At 50 cents that book paid for the 15 minutes I spent pouring through the rest of the boxes. Of course my mistake was leaving it face up where he could see it and then go look it up and realize it's at least a $50 book on ebay. So he says nothing until I get to the counter and he says "well look's like you found a nice X-men #266. I can't sell you that for 50cents -that shouldn't even have been in that box. Someone is going to get fired for that one." Ok, I can appreciate his position here but the likely truth is that copy has probably been sitting in that dusty box of drek for a year and I did the dirty work for him in digging it out. To his credit he followed up with "...but I can offer it to you at a great price: $10". Now should I have:

A. just said no thanks and walked out of the shop

B. pushed for his original stated price 50 cents and have him tell me to get out

C: continue to negotiate and low ball at $5 final offer

D: accept his ask at $10

E: Offer the full market guide value at an agreed to grade between FN and VF $30-50

 

Guess which option I chose... hm

 

 

 

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