Chuck explains his Mile High pricing

[JollyComics]

I've gotta be honest. I will never buy anything from Chuck,so his carp means nothing to me. If whomever is gullible enough to not see his shenanigans,buyer beware! Chuck may be a rock star for finding the Church collection,but how long is he going to ride those coat tales?

 

Point taken!!

 

It is for Chuck.....

[ttfitz]

So went ahead and watched the video. .... It's only the power of Chuck that would generate 18 pages of comments on something otherwise most people would be indifferent to.

 

On the Mile High website I've read where he explains his pricing model differently. There he claimed a dynamic system that analyses sales. As sales of a particular issue increase and stock shrinks, prices automatically adjust upwards until the quantity sold returns to historic levels.

 

At least that's what was said.

 

Really, I don't care how he arrives at his prices. Scientific wild guess, throwing chicken bones on the floor, a premium tacked on because they carry such a wide inventory or a dynamic system adjusting for demand. So what? It really is all about the customers and what they are willing to pay.

 

I do wonder what I'd look like if I grew my hair out long again though....

 

Well, the video does say "Part 1." I would assume Part 2 has some more info.

[slym2none]

I'm just busting chops. But really a little internet complaining isn't a big deal.

 

Me too - I was trying to make light of the whole situation.

 

Guess that fell flat.

 

 

 

 

-slym

[Tony S]

I'm just busting chops. But really a little internet complaining isn't a big deal.

 

Me too - I was trying to make light of the whole situation.

 

Guess that fell flat.

 

 

 

 

-slym

 

Aww man. I'm sorry. Jokes not funny when you have to explain it!

 

[Gotham Kid]

I've gotta be honest. I will never buy anything from Chuck,so his carp means nothing to me.

 

What he said.

[BarryAllen]

I wonder who really buys at his spoon prices. How does he stay in business? Seriously, are people that dumb?

 

I haven't been to the store, probably would be fun to walk through everything but based on the pricing I don't know how I could walk away making a purchase.

[kpaqu1]

I don't know that pricing stuff high and then constantly having 50-60% off counts as disreputable.

I am of the opinion it is, but that's not the worse of his habits. Sometimes when the codeword sale goes on the comic actually cost more, because the price is kicked up specifically for the sale. It's like you have a $20 item in your store, you walk out and swap the tag to make it say $40, and then mark it 50% off. It's not on sale.

 

I know that's common with scummy corporate owned retail chains, and yes, it's disreputable. Mattress salesmen, car salesmen, and wireless phone salesmen work in a ridiculous cutthroat industry where lying to the customer is a part of the job. That's disreputable, even if everyone does it. Or everyone who survives. I worked in sales, I was terrible at it, because I wasn't going to lie to a customer for $40 commission. The ones who did when I worked there are all managing their own stores now.

 

But comics isn't like that. You can work in comics retail and not use the scumbag tactics of a used car salesman.

 

Well, I admire your integrity.

 

Having purchased maybe a dozen books over the past couple of years from Mile High, I lack sufficient knowledge to comment on their raising prices to have a sale. The books I bought didn't have their prices go up right before the sale. I had noticed them and waited for the next email from Chuck (or whoever writes such for him) and the secret code word. The ones I purchased were really 60% less than the prices from a week or two before.

 

BTW, someone commented earlier about "whose largest" and claimed MyComicShop was bigger. To lazy to go see who said it. Sorry. I don't think that is an apples to apples comparison. Much of MyComicsShop inventory belongs to someone else. They are just selling stuff on commission. And because the owner sets the prices, a lot of their "inventory" makes Mile High's prices look a bargain.

 

That's just not true - Lonestar's consignment stock is absolutely dwarfed by their regular inventory. Even before they started taking consignments, they still had more inventory than Milehigh.

 

I wouldn't know for certain. Everything I ever bought and most everything I ever looked at on mycomicshop.com was listed as a commission item. Randomly, I just looked at FF 1-11. Everything appears to be consignment. Two items are in an auction and don't actually say. But every other issue is consignment.

 

Mile High Comics claims an inventory of 10 million items. I can't find any such claim from My Comics Shop / Lonestar. Nor do I get the information by Googling "how many comics does...."

 

Perhaps it should also be noted that Mile High still has brick and mortar stores. Lonestar closed all theirs and is web only. Even if it is true that Lonestar has more items, Mile High could still claim to be the largest comic book store.

 

Randomly, I checked FF 401-411. Everything appeared to be non-consignment. Therefore, continuing the logic, they are only 50% consignment.

 

But seriously, they have a very large inventory with more reasonable prices without resorting to 50% sales, and their e-mail newsletter is better.

[RockMyAmadeus]

There actually is precedent for Milehighcomics back in the day.

They were called "Littleton stamp and coin company" or something close to that,..

back in the mail order days their catalog was laughable because the prices were so high and their grading was so far off

there was also "Stacks" and "JJ Teaparty" in the Numismatic field, both with outrageous prices combined with way overgraded coins

before E-bay and the internet this type of overpriced mail order company were pretty common

 

Somewhere around, I have ordering information from some of the orders my 10 year old self...on approval, mind...made from Littleton.

 

[thehumantorch]

Very interesting videos.

 

Chuck is obviously a very smart man. He also obviously loves comics.

 

He repeatedly mentions that his goal is not turnover or to make a lot of money, but rather to increase the number of comics and trades in his warehouse and for sale on line. He wants to have every comic created in many grades. He also talks about getting excited when he finds obscure comics he's never seen before in collections he buys - stuff that has little value to most of us.

 

His business model is certainly different than most comic sellers but he's been in business for over 40 years, kept the lights on and paid his employees.

 

 

 

[NP_Gresham]

What I can not stand for is his lack of business morals when it comes to the "pitch" in order to get you to buy something. Every other month he is going to go out of business if he doesn't sell "x" number, when ever there is a tragedy he is there to swoop in.

 

Why not, it worked well for Oral Roberts.

I need 8 Mil or "God will call me home".

I think he cleared 9 mil.

[media_junkie]

I've bought from mile high three times in 10 years (last purchase was about four years ago). Each time I did so it was while a 50 or 60% sale was going on. Due to the sale the prices were not that far out of line for the grade, if the books I had bought were the grade that I thought I was buying.

 

That is why I will never buy from mile high again, their grading is horrible.

[Prince Namor]

I don't know that pricing stuff high and then constantly having 50-60% off counts as disreputable.

I am of the opinion it is, but that's not the worse of his habits. Sometimes when the codeword sale goes on the comic actually cost more, because the price is kicked up specifically for the sale. It's like you have a $20 item in your store, you walk out and swap the tag to make it say $40, and then mark it 50% off. It's not on sale.

 

I know that's common with scummy corporate owned retail chains, and yes, it's disreputable. Mattress salesmen, car salesmen, and wireless phone salesmen work in a ridiculous cutthroat industry where lying to the customer is a part of the job. That's disreputable, even if everyone does it. Or everyone who survives. I worked in sales, I was terrible at it, because I wasn't going to lie to a customer for $40 commission. The ones who did when I worked there are all managing their own stores now.

 

But comics isn't like that. You can work in comics retail and not use the scumbag tactics of a used car salesman.

 

Well, I admire your integrity.

 

Having purchased maybe a dozen books over the past couple of years from Mile High, I lack sufficient knowledge to comment on their raising prices to have a sale. The books I bought didn't have their prices go up right before the sale. I had noticed them and waited for the next email from Chuck (or whoever writes such for him) and the secret code word. The ones I purchased were really 60% less than the prices from a week or two before.

 

BTW, someone commented earlier about "whose largest" and claimed MyComicShop was bigger. To lazy to go see who said it. Sorry. I don't think that is an apples to apples comparison. Much of MyComicsShop inventory belongs to someone else. They are just selling stuff on commission. And because the owner sets the prices, a lot of their "inventory" makes Mile High's prices look a bargain.

 

That's just not true - Lonestar's consignment stock is absolutely dwarfed by their regular inventory. Even before they started taking consignments, they still had more inventory than Milehigh.

 

I wouldn't know for certain. Everything I ever bought and most everything I ever looked at on mycomicshop.com was listed as a commission item. Randomly, I just looked at FF 1-11. Everything appears to be consignment. Two items are in an auction and don't actually say. But every other issue is consignment.

 

By having auctions, MCS is able to carry FF 1-11. MHC only has 8 of the first 11 FF's and just using the FF as an example, they have 409 of 416 possible issues in stock. Only 37 of them are auctions. (Mile High has 374 of the 416)

 

As far as pricing.... if you look at FF #4, first Silver Age Sub-Mariner; MyComicShop has a Consignment 3.0 in auction (currently at $305) and a Consignment 2.5 at a silly $482 price.

But Mile High has a 2.0 at 60% off! But wait.... at 60% off it's still $70 higher than GPA.... how can that be... And that's the price Chuck sets, not some consigner.

 

Let's look at one they both set the price on: Fantastic Four #29 in gd condition. MyComicShop: $38 in gd 2.5 (Chuck hasn't caught up to grade that specific) and it even has a note: Extra staples post manufacturing. And it even has a SCAN! You can see the actual book you're buying. Man, I wish they had a 60% off code word sale like Chuck does...

 

What a minute. Chuck's GOOD 2.0 copy is listed as....$152.90...at 60% off, it's $61.16... it's HIGHER priced at 60% off?... and I can't see it? And there aren't any notes.

 

It's a HIGHER price at 60% off than the MyComicShop copy at regular price that's graded 0.5 higher that I can see.

 

Yeah right.

 

Mile High Comics claims an inventory of 10 million items. I can't find any such claim from My Comics Shop / Lonestar. Nor do I get the information by Googling "how many comics does...."

 

It's quite possible that Chuck has a bigger inventory. Because he buys so much garbage. MyComicShop gets a lot of their inventory through a great online system that allows users to actually input comics into their database and see what PRICE they're buying (or trading) them for. You can actually put together lists of books that you want to sell to them, saved over a period of time to add to, until a specific date where you ship it to them.

 

Chuck buys boxes and boxes of random junk at shows that EVERYONE PASSED ON over the weekend.

 

Chuck will buy your books online, but the prices he offers are WAY low. He'll buy your Amazing Fantasy #15 at 90% off FMV (not Chuck FMV, but real FMV) and then mark it up to Chuck FMV (not real FMV).

 

Anybody here who has put together runs of comics to buy (all the Byrne FF's, Dave Stevens covers, Captain Carrot guest appearances, etc.) and used both MyComicShop and MHC to compare inventory and price, generally all say the same thing... MyComicShop has more at a better price. I'm sure occasionally there are examples where it runs the other way, but most anyone I've talked to here that's done it has found it to be a clear example.

 

And he may actually have MORE copies of a specific book, like Warriors of Plasm #1, but... so what. You can own 2 million copies of that book, it's going to sit and take up space for eternity. Who's actually impressed by that bragging right?

 

Personally, I don't buy from the guy because I find him to be shady.

 

But I get it. 'Cool Books'.

 

For higher prices.

 

Not graded as well.

 

 

Perhaps it should also be noted that Mile High still has brick and mortar stores. Lonestar closed all theirs and is web only. Even if it is true that Lonestar has more items, Mile High could still claim to be the largest comic book store.

 

No they didn't close all of their stores, they sold them to an employee, so they could concentrate on the online business.

And really, I could care less who has the 'biggest' store.

Chuck himself says, that's part of the reason his prices are so high?

Are comic book buyers that dumb, where they think, "Oh his store is so big! I'd better pay higher prices for his books to help him out!"

Apparently so!

[Logan510]

To be fair, I've bought from both and "NM" is a krapshoot from both of them.

[A.Romeo]

I have never bought from MH and never will. He must be doing something right though

[Prince Namor]

To be fair, I've bought from both and "NM" is a krapshoot from both of them.

 

There was definitely a time when I saw it that way as well, but I think MyComicShop has improved considerably over the last few years. The fact that they're willing to put scans up for $20 and up books says a lot.

[cshepard81]

If for no other reason, Lone Star/MCS gets my business over MH because I can quickly find what I'm looking for. MH's website hasn't changed much to my eyes since I began using the Internet. For some sites, that offers quaint, nostalgic charm, but not for a site where you need to search to find what you're looking for.

[shadroch]

At first I was surprised by the sheer number of posts this thread generated, but upon further review, I see almost a third are by two people, spewing their usual nonsense. Wouldn't it be easier to simply state you hate Stan and Cuck in your signatures?

[shadroch]

There a pretty simple reason why Chuck charges what he does. Because he can.

Nuff Said.

[mrc]

At first I was surprised by the sheer number of posts this thread generated, but upon further review, I see almost a third are by two people, spewing their usual nonsense. Wouldn't it be easier to simply state you hate Stan and Cuck in your signatures?

 

....no one hates Chuck, they just like to discuss his funny videos.

[Prince Namor]

At first I was surprised by the sheer number of posts this thread generated, but upon further review, I see almost a third are by two people, spewing their usual nonsense.

 

Who's the other?

 

Wouldn't it be easier to simply state you hate Stan and Cuck in your signatures?

 

Because I don't.