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Chuck explains his Mile High pricing

Started by Sekowskyfan10,

906 posts in this topic

makeminemego

makeminemego

Posted
Posted

I'll take your word for it. I just can't bring myself to watch.

 

Does anybody remember that picture of Chuck in some kind of tribal ceremonial outfit, performing some sort of peyote cult magic at a large gathering, surrounded by people who seemed a lot like Chuck?

 

Or how about the moobs picture? Both are classics.

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COI

COI

Posted
Posted

He's articulate and a compelling speaker, and he has a unique business model which appears to work for him to the extent that he seems to be able to keep the lights on, his employees paid, and his inventory expanding. He's also attempting something that no one else in this business does. I get that people don't like him for a myriad of reasons, but at the very least, he explains his position in a reasonable cogent manner, which I rarely see his detractors do.

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COI

COI

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He has hardly justified his exorbitant markups. The analogy doesn't hold, I bet the price of a left handed widget at McGuckins doesn't cost 10 times the price I can get it at lowes.

 

Assuming that you can get a left handed widget at Lowes, which I think is his point. The analogy isn't perfect, but in essence he's trying to separate himself from the rest of the pack by offering a breadth of inventory no one else can or will.

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Shadow Images

Shadow Images

Posted
Posted
He has hardly justified his exorbitant markups. The analogy doesn't hold, I bet the price of a left handed widget at McGuckins doesn't cost 10 times the price I can get it at lowes.

 

Assuming that you can get a left handed widget at Lowes, which I think is his point. The analogy isn't perfect, but in essence he's trying to separate himself from the rest of the pack by offering a breadth of inventory no one else can or will.

 

 

The only problem is with this analogy you leave out the fact that with the internet there are so many choices and availability that you don't need his store to find what you want. I think he is still stuck in the old mail order days when you did not have the ease of finding what you are looking for.

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COI

COI

Posted
Posted
He has hardly justified his exorbitant markups. The analogy doesn't hold, I bet the price of a left handed widget at McGuckins doesn't cost 10 times the price I can get it at lowes.

 

Assuming that you can get a left handed widget at Lowes, which I think is his point. The analogy isn't perfect, but in essence he's trying to separate himself from the rest of the pack by offering a breadth of inventory no one else can or will.

 

 

The only problem is with this analogy you leave out the fact that with the internet there are so many choices and availability that you don't need his store to find what you want. I think he is still stuck in the old mail order days when you did not have the ease of finding what you are looking for.

 

Right, but he's keeping the lights on and he has millions of comics in stock. People are buying from him. Your point about the internet providing a many alternatives means that people are buying from him because they are getting something unique by shopping from him, either in terms of selection or price or both. If his goal is to inflate the prices on some of his stock to justify stocking things of little to no value or very niche demand, while at the same time aspiring towards the larger (and probably imposssible) goal of stocking every American comic book evr published, what exactly is wrong with that? How is he maintaining and expanding this enormous inventory if he isn't making sales? And if he's making sales, on what grounds do so many people base their criticisms of his operation?

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Meeklo

Meeklo

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Posted

Good lord…these excuses are atrocious!

 

We sell at a higher premium because we have to afford 3 warehouses at $30,000 per month…..not our problem. We will not spending $20 on a book we can get for $5 on eBay just to keep you in business when we "need" you.

 

We have to charge a higher price because of the time it takes to process and organize. We have to process 40,000 items on our website from #-A and therefore it cost me a lot to do that….also not our problem. Hire more cheap labor or stop carrying so many items. How much of that is drek that no one will ever buy, regardless of price?

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COI

COI

Posted
Posted
Good lord…these excuses are atrocious!

 

We sell at a higher premium because we have to afford 3 warehouses at $30,000 per month…..not our problem. We will not spending $20 on a book we can get for $5 on eBay just to keep you in business when we "need" you.

 

We have to charge a higher price because of the time it takes to process and organize. We have to process 40,000 items on our website from #-A and therefore it cost me a lot to do that….also not our problem. Hire more cheap labor or stop carrying so many items. How much of that is drek that no one will ever buy, regardless of price?

 

Do you get this angry at all the Ebay sellers setting BINs that attempt to top previous sales of a given book by 50%? What's their justification for trying to get top GPA on the first appearance of Raccon Girl or Rocket Squirrel or whatever else the hot book du jour is?

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kav

kav

Posted
Posted

Hey guys I have to charge $200 for my Woodgod I'm sorry but I have a huge overhead etc and need to pay for gas, car upkeep etc and mailing is not cheap.

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Meeklo

Meeklo

Posted
Posted
Good lord…these excuses are atrocious!

 

We sell at a higher premium because we have to afford 3 warehouses at $30,000 per month…..not our problem. We will not spending $20 on a book we can get for $5 on eBay just to keep you in business when we "need" you.

 

We have to charge a higher price because of the time it takes to process and organize. We have to process 40,000 items on our website from #-A and therefore it cost me a lot to do that….also not our problem. Hire more cheap labor or stop carrying so many items. How much of that is drek that no one will ever buy, regardless of price?

 

Do you get this angry at all the Ebay sellers setting BINs that attempt to top previous sales of a given book by 50%? What's their justification for trying to get top GPA on the first appearance of Raccon Girl or Rocket Squirrel or whatever else the hot book du jour is?

 

Yes…yes I do. I would like to own the book but it's not right that they charge that exuberant of a price. Sure, they can charge whatever they want. But if I'm trying to own the book, it's not right that my happiness gets thwarted by greedy sellers. I know this sounds weird and I'm having a hard time explaining it on here.

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The-Collector

The-Collector

Posted
Posted
He has hardly justified his exorbitant markups. The analogy doesn't hold, I bet the price of a left handed widget at McGuckins doesn't cost 10 times the price I can get it at lowes.

 

Assuming that you can get a left handed widget at Lowes, which I think is his point. The analogy isn't perfect, but in essence he's trying to separate himself from the rest of the pack by offering a breadth of inventory no one else can or will.

 

Even if you can awkwardly shoehorn his business model into this analogy I am still not convinced he has justified his crazy prices.

 

The other problem I see is why should I subsidizes his business model, and a very very heavy subsidy it is, when I can get a much better breadth of inventory by learning to use the internet? Ebay + metro + comic link + super world + world wide + Doug Suplia + etc etc >>>> Chuck.

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dupont2005

dupont2005

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Posted

I can't believe he doesn't own those warehouses. I always thought he owned at least the largest one. What a fool. He invested heavily in drek nobody wants and now spends enough storing it that he could just buy a new Lamborghini every year.

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Meeklo

Meeklo

Posted
Posted
He has hardly justified his exorbitant markups. The analogy doesn't hold, I bet the price of a left handed widget at McGuckins doesn't cost 10 times the price I can get it at lowes.

 

Assuming that you can get a left handed widget at Lowes, which I think is his point. The analogy isn't perfect, but in essence he's trying to separate himself from the rest of the pack by offering a breadth of inventory no one else can or will.

 

Even if you can awkwardly shoehorn his business model into this analogy I am still not convinced he has justified his crazy prices.

 

The other problem I see is why should I subsidizes his business model, and a very very heavy subsidy it is, when I can get a much better breadth of inventory by learning to use the internet? Ebay + metro + comic link + super world + world wide + Doug Suplia + etc etc >>>> Chuck.

 

+1

 

His argument may have worked in the early 90s before the internet ruled all that is in existence. But nowadays, that excuse won't work. We have plenty of resources to acquire whatever book we want. There are even sometimes I can't find a book anywhere…including Mile High. If he keeps that excuse up, he will easily see the end of his business.

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