Is Con selling easier then on-line sales?

[october]

There is no easy way to make money. Which is what I think the point of this thread is. Selling anywhere takes a lot of effort and determination. You need to be good at customer service, know how to bite your tongue or constrain your typing fingers. You also need to care about perception and how you market yourself.

 

So true. The cons I have set up at, and the large threads I have done (200+ books), take dozens and dozens of hours of time investment. With a full time job, that kind of time is at a premium, which is why I only do a con or a large thread every year or so.

 

In general, I find that my profits and my time are best maximized by looking for bargains and selling in bulk to dealers at a discount. I can't do it all, so spending my time on the hunt (which is also VERY time consuming, but fun) has worked well so far.

[Dale Roberts]

would you ever do an international show like London, Dale?

 

Not now. My kids are too young to travel. I might consider when they are old enough to enjoy the trip and the experience.

 

A lot of it depends upon the logistics of the show. I never do a show that I can't do a full set up at. I figure if it is worth my time to do, it is worth doing all the way. I bring about 3000 lbs of books to each convention. That's about 20 CGC boxes, 30 long boxes of high grade Silver/Bronze, 20 boxes of Golden Age and all my display books and racks.

 

I just haven't really set down and tried to figure all of it out yet. Maybe someday.

[Xela]

would you ever do an international show like London, Dale?

 

Not now. My kids are too young to travel. I might consider when they are old enough to enjoy the trip and the experience.

 

A lot of it depends upon the logistics of the show. I never do a show that I can't do a full set up at. I figure if it is worth my time to do, it is worth doing all the way. I bring about 3000 lbs of books to each convention. That's about 20 CGC boxes, 30 long boxes of high grade Silver/Bronze, 20 boxes of Golden Age and all my display books and racks.

 

I just haven't really set down and tried to figure all of it out yet. Maybe someday.

 

(thumbs u

[Robot Man]

I don't sell collectibles for a living. I rarely sell at comic shows. I sell old toys, advertising stuff, paper ect at toys shows and a monthy flea market. It can be back breaking work especially since I'm probably a bit older than most of you and a lot of time do it alone. Way more work than your customers (who ask for Deadpool or in my case Slot Cars) understand. But one thing is for sure, it is a whole lot easier to move stuff live than online. You have the opportunity to "chat up the buyer" and convince him he NEEDS that item. Last comic show I did I sold things I thought I'd never sell ever. Who buys mid grade Metamorpho or Looney Tunes or Sparkler? Lots of people do at shows if the price is right. I brought about 12 long boxes of pretty crappy GA/SA/BA to my last show and came home with about 8 boxes. I hardly sold any wall books and if you look at my Junk thread over in Gold know I come up with some pretty obscure stuff. It can work well for me...

[vader2001]

There is no easy way to make money. Which is what I think the point of this thread is. Selling anywhere takes a lot of effort and determination. You need to be good at customer service, know how to bite your tongue or constrain your typing fingers. You also need to care about perception and how you market yourself.

 

I am not sure a lot of delears care about this part. I know some dealers that have some great stuff. I will not go to them because of some of my past dealings with them. They may think that my perception of them is all good, but in reality they may come off as an hat, of course that is only my perception.

 

Talking with other people whom I see at cons have the same perception as I do. Some dealers have great stuff, but sometimes they come off as not having the time of day for you.

 

Some dealers I search out, cough cough october, that I have bought from multipule iems of the same issue. Same goes for my buying on these boards. I usually look at their FS threads first, cough cough CC's.

[kimik]

I started selling books on the side online and at local shows in 1998 (just finishing university back then) and it has been interesting to watch the market evolve over that time period. Either approach to selling will take time: grading/bagging/pricing/sorting for shows AND grading/scanning/bagging/shipping for online sales. You just have to pay attention to what sells and go from there.

 

Ten years ago, the local shows were predominantly for the a smaller but more serious collector crowd so GA/SA/BA books were the big sellers. Now, I primarily only take the time to price out keys and hot modern titles, put the low grade or low value mid grade SA/BA/CA bagged in dollar boxes, and sell the more valuable common issues in VG to NM- grade to my LCS in bulk. Up until the end of last year I would have 50% off boxes for the common SA/BA/CA books, but the amount of sales they generate no longer justifies taking them instead of hot moderns or blowing out collection leftovers as $1 books. The $1 boxes pay for the tables, the hot moderns generate a decent profit (especially Harley Quinn and Deadpool), and the keys are the big profit (if you do not overpay for them........).

 

WRT online sales, hot moderns and slabbed books are the only way to go IMHO. It is fine to sell raw older books here on the boards, but selling at a bit of a discount + the fees on eBay eat up too much of the potential profit even on raw keys. Keys are where you need to make sure you maximize your return as the replacement cost is higher. It also takes time to answer all of the detailed questions about high demand raw older books on eBay which you have to factor into the ROI equation.

 

 

 

 

 

[RCheli]

Well, think of it this way. At cons, you have to have everything ready. You need everything bagged and boarded and priced. You need it to be alphabetized and presentable. You need to figure out what is worthy of being in a box and what's on the wall (or on another display). Then you have to figure out what other people are selling the same thing for (and figure out if you have to adjust your price accordingly).

 

If I bring 25 long boxes to a show, I hope to come home with 21 or 22. (But at least 2 of those are dollar books). That's a lot of loading and unloading.

 

Overall, it's nice to sell a lot of stuff at one time. But it's also a lot easier not having to do all the other stuff involved in setting up at a con.

 

Lets say you sell $10,000 worth of books at a show do you think you put in more work then it would take to sell $10,000 worth of books on e-bay or the boards considering all that goes into one of those mega sales threads?

 

I don't know if this was mentioned, but $10,000 at a single show is pretty astonishing. There are a handful of dealers who make that kind of money, but the smaller shows probably don't have that sort of clientele or even the stock.

 

Ideally, I like to make eight to ten times my expenses (table/booth, van rental, food, gas, etc). Because I only do smaller one-day shows, this is very doable. I just don't have the stock to do $10,000 worth of business. (Unless somebody comes up and buys me out completely. I'd love that.)

[1Cool]

Well, think of it this way. At cons, you have to have everything ready. You need everything bagged and boarded and priced. You need it to be alphabetized and presentable. You need to figure out what is worthy of being in a box and what's on the wall (or on another display). Then you have to figure out what other people are selling the same thing for (and figure out if you have to adjust your price accordingly).

 

If I bring 25 long boxes to a show, I hope to come home with 21 or 22. (But at least 2 of those are dollar books). That's a lot of loading and unloading.

 

Overall, it's nice to sell a lot of stuff at one time. But it's also a lot easier not having to do all the other stuff involved in setting up at a con.

 

Lets say you sell $10,000 worth of books at a show do you think you put in more work then it would take to sell $10,000 worth of books on e-bay or the boards considering all that goes into one of those mega sales threads?

 

I don't know if this was mentioned, but $10,000 at a single show is pretty astonishing. There are a handful of dealers who make that kind of money, but the smaller shows probably don't have that sort of clientele or even the stock.

 

Ideally, I like to make eight to ten times my expenses (table/booth, van rental, food, gas, etc). Because I only do smaller one-day shows, this is very doable. I just don't have the stock to do $10,000 worth of business. (Unless somebody comes up and buys me out completely. I'd love that.)

 

I've only gotten sales numbers from a couple people at the few local cons I've attended and most of them seem to be in the $8,000 - $10,000 range. I kind of assumed that was the general sales range for most of the larger dealers at the larger cons. Sounds like my figure could be a bit high. I plan on setting up at Heroes for the first time so I guess I'll get some real world data then.

[october]

Well, think of it this way. At cons, you have to have everything ready. You need everything bagged and boarded and priced. You need it to be alphabetized and presentable. You need to figure out what is worthy of being in a box and what's on the wall (or on another display). Then you have to figure out what other people are selling the same thing for (and figure out if you have to adjust your price accordingly).

 

If I bring 25 long boxes to a show, I hope to come home with 21 or 22. (But at least 2 of those are dollar books). That's a lot of loading and unloading.

 

Overall, it's nice to sell a lot of stuff at one time. But it's also a lot easier not having to do all the other stuff involved in setting up at a con.

 

Lets say you sell $10,000 worth of books at a show do you think you put in more work then it would take to sell $10,000 worth of books on e-bay or the boards considering all that goes into one of those mega sales threads?

 

I don't know if this was mentioned, but $10,000 at a single show is pretty astonishing. There are a handful of dealers who make that kind of money, but the smaller shows probably don't have that sort of clientele or even the stock.

 

Ideally, I like to make eight to ten times my expenses (table/booth, van rental, food, gas, etc). Because I only do smaller one-day shows, this is very doable. I just don't have the stock to do $10,000 worth of business. (Unless somebody comes up and buys me out completely. I'd love that.)

 

I've only gotten sales numbers from a couple people at the few local cons I've attended and most of them seem to be in the $8,000 - $10,000 range. I kind of assumed that was the general sales range for most of the larger dealers at the larger cons. Sounds like my figure could be a bit high. I plan on setting up at Heroes for the first time so I guess I'll get some real world data then.

 

It's all dependent on what you have and discount from market, and if you are comfortable leaving money on the table to attract dealers. With good, new to market stock, quality keys, high grade non-keys, some hype and reasonable prices, the sky is the limit. Big national dealers have a limitless appetite for new material. If you can manage those things, you can blow by $10k in sales within an hour on setup day before the general public has even hit their hotel rooms.

 

Doing that consistently is nearly impossible though, as reloading on good material takes time. I am talking a show a year or so.

[Hamlet]

Yeah, there are a whole lot of books that make more sense to buy/sell in person because of shipping costs.

 

Depends on what you have. Cheap $2 books, con's are easier. Books like dale's, probably easier online. I made the switch because 1 weekend at a con is what i do in a month of ebay.

[kimik]

Yeah, there are a whole lot of books that make more sense to buy/sell in person because of shipping costs.

 

I could never understand why people would spend the hours it takes to list 100+ $0.99 cent auctions of drek on eBay instead of just moving them at shows..........

 

 

 

[youmechooz]

Yeah, there are a whole lot of books that make more sense to buy/sell in person because of shipping costs.

 

I could never understand why people would spend the hours it takes to list 100+ $0.99 cent auctions of drek on eBay instead of just moving them at shows..........

 

 

Convenience. If this is what you do, it sounds more enticing to sit at home and list than to lug around 80 long boxes.

[youmechooz]

Well, think of it this way. At cons, you have to have everything ready. You need everything bagged and boarded and priced. You need it to be alphabetized and presentable. You need to figure out what is worthy of being in a box and what's on the wall (or on another display). Then you have to figure out what other people are selling the same thing for (and figure out if you have to adjust your price accordingly).

 

If I bring 25 long boxes to a show, I hope to come home with 21 or 22. (But at least 2 of those are dollar books). That's a lot of loading and unloading.

 

Overall, it's nice to sell a lot of stuff at one time. But it's also a lot easier not having to do all the other stuff involved in setting up at a con.

 

Lets say you sell $10,000 worth of books at a show do you think you put in more work then it would take to sell $10,000 worth of books on e-bay or the boards considering all that goes into one of those mega sales threads?

 

I don't know if this was mentioned, but $10,000 at a single show is pretty astonishing. There are a handful of dealers who make that kind of money, but the smaller shows probably don't have that sort of clientele or even the stock.

 

Ideally, I like to make eight to ten times my expenses (table/booth, van rental, food, gas, etc). Because I only do smaller one-day shows, this is very doable. I just don't have the stock to do $10,000 worth of business. (Unless somebody comes up and buys me out completely. I'd love that.)

 

I've only gotten sales numbers from a couple people at the few local cons I've attended and most of them seem to be in the $8,000 - $10,000 range. I kind of assumed that was the general sales range for most of the larger dealers at the larger cons. Sounds like my figure could be a bit high. I plan on setting up at Heroes for the first time so I guess I'll get some real world data then.

Might be tough using heroes for data. Ive heard of dudes going with high grade silver keys and high grade hot "keys" coming home disappointed from sales.

[youmechooz]

Well, think of it this way. At cons, you have to have everything ready. You need everything bagged and boarded and priced. You need it to be alphabetized and presentable. You need to figure out what is worthy of being in a box and what's on the wall (or on another display). Then you have to figure out what other people are selling the same thing for (and figure out if you have to adjust your price accordingly).

 

If I bring 25 long boxes to a show, I hope to come home with 21 or 22. (But at least 2 of those are dollar books). That's a lot of loading and unloading.

 

Overall, it's nice to sell a lot of stuff at one time. But it's also a lot easier not having to do all the other stuff involved in setting up at a con.

 

Lets say you sell $10,000 worth of books at a show do you think you put in more work then it would take to sell $10,000 worth of books on e-bay or the boards considering all that goes into one of those mega sales threads?

 

I don't know if this was mentioned, but $10,000 at a single show is pretty astonishing. There are a handful of dealers who make that kind of money, but the smaller shows probably don't have that sort of clientele or even the stock.

 

Ideally, I like to make eight to ten times my expenses (table/booth, van rental, food, gas, etc). Because I only do smaller one-day shows, this is very doable. I just don't have the stock to do $10,000 worth of business. (Unless somebody comes up and buys me out completely. I'd love that.)

 

I've only gotten sales numbers from a couple people at the few local cons I've attended and most of them seem to be in the $8,000 - $10,000 range. I kind of assumed that was the general sales range for most of the larger dealers at the larger cons. Sounds like my figure could be a bit high. I plan on setting up at Heroes for the first time so I guess I'll get some real world data then.

 

It's all dependent on what you have and discount from market, and if you are comfortable leaving money on the table to attract dealers. With good, new to market stock, quality keys, high grade non-keys, some hype and reasonable prices, the sky is the limit. Big national dealers have a limitless appetite for new material. If you can manage those things, you can blow by $10k in sales within an hour on setup day before the general public has even hit their hotel rooms.

 

Doing that consistently is nearly impossible though, as reloading on good material takes time. I am talking a show a year or so.

Yup.

[Buzzetta]

Cons are great for moving bulk that you have no interest in scanning/shipping. Ever see Earl Shaw and his $5 boxes? He moves tonnage, people lined up shoulder to shoulder trying to make piles. CGC moves better online.

 

I am reading the question as which is the most efficient method to move product. Certainly nothing easy to set up at a show. I deal in trades and after a large show I am wrecked for days afterwards physically.

 

I bought a couple of big trade paper back deals once or twice, but the weight of the boxes is crazy. I am not sure you could stay healthy long term lifting those sorts of boxes all the time.

 

My LCS owner has remarked that he fears the day that he has an arm injury because the business basically shuts down. He also realizes that as he is getting older (Late 50's?) there is just so much wear and tear that a body can take lifting boxes around.

 

At what point do you throw in the towel though? And I am sure that it must be tough being on the road with a family. I believe we pretty much grasp that in terms of athletes or actors but I know, I for one, never realized that the same holds true for Comic Dealers.

[1Cool]

Well, think of it this way. At cons, you have to have everything ready. You need everything bagged and boarded and priced. You need it to be alphabetized and presentable. You need to figure out what is worthy of being in a box and what's on the wall (or on another display). Then you have to figure out what other people are selling the same thing for (and figure out if you have to adjust your price accordingly).

 

If I bring 25 long boxes to a show, I hope to come home with 21 or 22. (But at least 2 of those are dollar books). That's a lot of loading and unloading.

 

Overall, it's nice to sell a lot of stuff at one time. But it's also a lot easier not having to do all the other stuff involved in setting up at a con.

 

Lets say you sell $10,000 worth of books at a show do you think you put in more work then it would take to sell $10,000 worth of books on e-bay or the boards considering all that goes into one of those mega sales threads?

 

I don't know if this was mentioned, but $10,000 at a single show is pretty astonishing. There are a handful of dealers who make that kind of money, but the smaller shows probably don't have that sort of clientele or even the stock.

 

Ideally, I like to make eight to ten times my expenses (table/booth, van rental, food, gas, etc). Because I only do smaller one-day shows, this is very doable. I just don't have the stock to do $10,000 worth of business. (Unless somebody comes up and buys me out completely. I'd love that.)

 

I've only gotten sales numbers from a couple people at the few local cons I've attended and most of them seem to be in the $8,000 - $10,000 range. I kind of assumed that was the general sales range for most of the larger dealers at the larger cons. Sounds like my figure could be a bit high. I plan on setting up at Heroes for the first time so I guess I'll get some real world data then.

Might be tough using heroes for data. Ive heard of dudes going with high grade silver keys and high grade hot "keys" coming home disappointed from sales.

Yea - I'm amassing a nice selection of cheaper Deadpool and Harley for that show since I hear they do well down south. It's all hit or miss especially my first con so I'm just going into it as a learning experience.

[jmg3637]

I think overall that selling at a con is easier than selling on line.

 

I have spent the better part of the last year organizing my collection into 4 organized parts

 

1) My Marvel Keep collection ( about 15 drawer boxes)

2) My Marvel For Sale Collection ( about 15 Regular long boxes)

3) My DC KEEP collection ( about 43 Drawer Boxes)

4) My DC For Sale collection ( about 17 Drawer boxes)

 

I also about short boxes of better Marvel/DC books.

 

 

I did a local one day show back in November. And in this case local is only about a mile from my house.

 

I was able to load our SUV with 20 boxes of Marvel/better material, unload and setup, spend about 7 hours selling trading, load everything back up and unload back at my house. Entire process took less than 12 hours after which I was exhausted, but had sold or traded almost $2,000 in perhaps 30 different transactions. I was able to display and offer for sale well over 6,000 books. How long would it take to scan title upload and prepare an online sale for that amount of books.

 

BTW I do not follow the advice of the other sellers about having to price each book in advance of the show. Since I have not sold this stock in 20+ years, and will likely do so only a few times a year I absolutely DO NOT want to price the books. Anyone who wants the book we mutually grade and negotiate a price on the spot.

 

I will finally have the DC books ready for the next time I do a show and will bring thopse instead of the Marvel.

 

I did have some help unloading and managing my two tables from our board member Muster Mark. A great guy who has worked hard to improve my FOUR COLOR collection, and has acquired many of my better books in the process.

[youmechooz]

I think overall that selling at a con is easier than selling on line.

 

I have spent the better part of the last year organizing my collection into 4 organized parts

 

1) My Marvel Keep collection ( about 15 drawer boxes)

2) My Marvel For Sale Collection ( about 15 Regular long boxes)

3) My DC KEEP collection ( about 43 Drawer Boxes)

4) My DC For Sale collection ( about 17 Drawer boxes)

 

I also about short boxes of better Marvel/DC books.

 

 

I did a local one day show back in November. And in this case local is only about a mile from my house.

 

I was able to load our SUV with 20 boxes of Marvel/better material, unload and setup, spend about 7 hours selling trading, load everything back up and unload back at my house. Entire process took less than 12 hours after which I was exhausted, but had sold or traded almost $2,000 in perhaps 30 different transactions. I was able to display and offer for sale well over 6,000 books. How long would it take to scan title upload and prepare an online sale for that amount of books.

 

BTW I do not follow the advice of the other sellers about having to price each book in advance of the show. Since I have not sold this stock in 20+ years, and will likely do so only a few times a year I absolutely DO NOT want to price the books. Anyone who wants the book we mutually grade and negotiate a price on the spot.

 

I will finally have the DC books ready for the next time I do a show and will bring thopse instead of the Marvel.

 

I did have some help unloading and managing my two tables from our board member Muster Mark. A great guy who has worked hard to improve my FOUR COLOR collection, and has acquired many of my better books in the process.

Pricing before the show does help though when you forget the price of certain books.

[oakman29]

I never want to mail a book again.

[skypinkblu]

Yeah, there are a whole lot of books that make more sense to buy/sell in person because of shipping costs.

 

I could never understand why people would spend the hours it takes to list 100+ $0.99 cent auctions of drek on eBay instead of just moving them at shows..........

 

 

 

I always used to list things at 99 cent starts, it attracted more bids.

 

This month I just gave up and did $1.99 starts with combined shipping. I'll see how that works. I figured less boxes and I need to up my eBay sales numbers, I rarely sell there anymore.

 

Listing is work, but you can always chat on the phone while you are doing it;) or listen to music.

 

I would never do a show, besides the fact I can't conceive of schlepping all those boxes, I'd be concerned with theft. It wouldn't be much fun having to watch everyone every minute.

 

I've seen a few dealers chase people down escalators.

 

The difference is I don't make living selling books, if I did, I'd do what Dale does, both..

 

Oh and Dave...packing is not so bad...ask Dr X, he could give anyone lessons, you just need a system;).