Are LCSs the new enemy or have they always been?

[FineCollector]

You sound a lot like that store owner in Columbus. You do realize store owners flip books every day, right? Any flipper would buy a whole collection of books for 10 cents a book like store owners instead of grabbing select books but those collections don't walk in the door for average people. Would you say flippers are the enemy?

 

In my humble opinion, the difference is that a flipper's goal is to turn and burn as fast as possible, and many books just aren't worth their time. I can't bring my want list to a flipper and find what I need, because: A) a flipper only wants the obvious books, and B) any non-key book I wanted has already been flushed to make room for more keys (which further devaluates the non-keys, but that's a whole other discussion).

 

You've argued that a store will also prefer to only buy the obvious books, which is true, but a good store will maintain a wider variety of stock over a longer period of time. If I need a Captain America 111, Captain Marvel 22, 24, and a Marvel Premiere 17 to finish my runs, a serious store or dealer will have them because they make the effort to have them. A flipper has no interest in these books. If they do have them, it's because they were forced to take them along with the nearby keys. I don't care what the store paid for them as long as they have them when I ask for them.

 

Give me a brick and mortar store over some bozo in his living room with 10 copies of Nova #1 any day.

[blazingbob]

I cut onions all day at a restaurant.

 

[blazingbob]

Thank god I'm in my office with only nine copies. Wouldn't want to be known as a bozo

 

[jimjum12]

You sound a lot like that store owner in Columbus. You do realize store owners flip books every day, right? Any flipper would buy a whole collection of books for 10 cents a book like store owners instead of grabbing select books but those collections don't walk in the door for average people. Would you say flippers are the enemy?

 

In my humble opinion, the difference is that a flipper's goal is to turn and burn as fast as possible, and many books just aren't worth their time. I can't bring my want list to a flipper and find what I need, because: A) a flipper only wants the obvious books, and B) any non-key book I wanted has already been flushed to make room for more keys (which further devaluates the non-keys, but that's a whole other discussion).

 

You've argued that a store will also prefer to only buy the obvious books, which is true, but a good store will maintain a wider variety of stock over a longer period of time. If I need a Captain America 111, Captain Marvel 22, 24, and a Marvel Premiere 17 to finish my runs, a serious store or dealer will have them because they make the effort to have them. A flipper has no interest in these books. If they do have them, it's because they were forced to take them along with the nearby keys. I don't care what the store paid for them as long as they have them when I ask for them.

 

Give me a brick and mortar store over some bozo in his living room with 10 copies of Nova #1 any day.

 

I'm going to a show (hopefully...) next Saturday. If you PM me a list of what you're having trouble finding and a price range, I would be happy to keep an eye out for you. GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[1Cool]

Thank god I'm in my office with only nine copies. Wouldn't want to be known as a bozo

 

Lies! If I've got 5 copies of that stupid book you have to have 10 copies.

[prez]

The owner of the LCS I go to regularly used to have her books priced closer to OSPG, which is great as I can score deals on decent grade SA books plus she's making money - a win-win IMO.

 

Then she found out from her friends that a well-known flipper/speculator in our area was telling them that he likes going to her shop to score the big deals and she does not know what she have. Since then, she started jacking up her prices and constantly checking eBay before she lets a book go.

 

So here I am and other collectors in our area getting burned because this speculator can't keep his mouth shut.

 

I just don't understand why some people has to bite the hand that feeds them.

[Bookery]

The owner of the LCS I go to regularly used to have her books priced closer to OSPG, which is great as I can score deals on decent grade SA books plus she's making money - a win-win IMO.

 

Then she found out from her friends that a well-known flipper/speculator in our area was telling them that he likes going to her shop to score the big deals and she does not know what she have. Since then, she started jacking up her prices and constantly checking eBay before she lets a book go.

 

So here I am and other collectors in our area getting burned because this speculator can't keep his mouth shut.

 

I just don't understand why some people has to bite the hand that feeds them.

 

The problem is, "collectors getting burned" is a 2-way street. If a comic shop owner isn't up on the trends and is selling you books cheap, that means the customer that sold them those books didn't get reasonable compensation either. The seller lost money, the dealer lost money, and only you are making out.

 

I don't care if I lose potential $$$ on a hot book...it's a drop in the bucket to overall sales. But I'd hate to cause a seller to go away with less on their one-time private collection because of my ignorance. Sometimes people assume these books just fall out a void somewhere.

 

[blazingbob]

It is a "hobby", you are not supposed to make any money in this "hobby"

 

 

[prez]

The owner of the LCS I go to regularly used to have her books priced closer to OSPG, which is great as I can score deals on decent grade SA books plus she's making money - a win-win IMO.

 

Then she found out from her friends that a well-known flipper/speculator in our area was telling them that he likes going to her shop to score the big deals and she does not know what she have. Since then, she started jacking up her prices and constantly checking eBay before she lets a book go.

 

So here I am and other collectors in our area getting burned because this speculator can't keep his mouth shut.

 

I just don't understand why some people has to bite the hand that feeds them.

 

The problem is, "collectors getting burned" is a 2-way street. If a comic shop owner isn't up on the trends and is selling you books cheap, that means the customer that sold them those books didn't get reasonable compensation either. The seller lost money, the dealer lost money, and only you are making out.

 

I don't care if I lose potential $$$ on a hot book...it's a drop in the bucket to overall sales. But I'd hate to cause a seller to go away with less on their one-time private collection because of my ignorance. Sometimes people assume these books just fall out a void somewhere.

 

To me, paying guide price is not getting it cheap. It is a fair deal IMO - especially in today's post eBay world. I know for a fact that this particular shop owner only buys collection for no more than half the guide price. They're definitely making money. I'm happy for them as I want them to stay in business.

 

People who sells their collection to LCS's have different motivations compared to the ones who sells on-line - they probably just want to make room or off load a relative's collection. Everybody knows that you can easily cut out the middle man by selling on-line.

[chrisco37]

It is a give and take relationship. If the LCS treats me well I will treat them well.

 

I can give an example of a time a LCS didn't treat me well:

 

When Captain America 25 made nationwide news about the death of Cap, my LCS decided to jack up the price on their Captain America 25's due to huge demand. They even went so far as to pull the books from files that had ordered the book to profit ( while I can't prove it, it is clearly what they did ).

I went in to the LCS on new comic Wednesday to pick up my file to find my copy of Cap 25 was not there. the explanation I was given was that they were shorted. I glanced to the wall behind the front counter and saw they had a copy of the book for $100.00 on the wall prominently displayed. I said, "Ok, I will take the one on the wall behind you". The store representative began to tally up my total and I noticed he was inputting $100.00. When I asked him why he was charging me $100.00 for a book that should have been in my file he said that copy was ordered for the store.

I proceeded to close my file, as did the guy who was waiting behind me who also didn't get his copy of Cap 25.

 

Since then, I rarely ever go to that LCS, if I do it is purely to find underpriced books to buy.

 

I would've been pissed too. Was the guy at the counter the owner? If no, did you ever speak with him about it? He needed to know why you were cancelling your file. I would've done the same thing. That's pretty what they did.

[Brian48]

It is a give and take relationship. If the LCS treats me well I will treat them well.

 

I can give an example of a time a LCS didn't treat me well:

 

When Captain America 25 made nationwide news about the death of Cap, my LCS decided to jack up the price on their Captain America 25's due to huge demand. They even went so far as to pull the books from files that had ordered the book to profit ( while I can't prove it, it is clearly what they did ).

I went in to the LCS on new comic Wednesday to pick up my file to find my copy of Cap 25 was not there. the explanation I was given was that they were shorted. I glanced to the wall behind the front counter and saw they had a copy of the book for $100.00 on the wall prominently displayed. I said, "Ok, I will take the one on the wall behind you". The store representative began to tally up my total and I noticed he was inputting $100.00. When I asked him why he was charging me $100.00 for a book that should have been in my file he said that copy was ordered for the store.

I proceeded to close my file, as did the guy who was waiting behind me who also didn't get his copy of Cap 25.

 

Since then, I rarely ever go to that LCS, if I do it is purely to find underpriced books to buy.

 

I would've been pissed too. Was the guy at the counter the owner? If no, did you ever speak with him about it? He needed to know why you were cancelling your file. I would've done the same thing. That's pretty what they did.

 

Can't imagine an employee who's getting paid by the hour would care. Gotta be the owner's policy. I'd be pissed too.

 

Don't go to a lot of LCSs, but the one I do go more than others is pretty good about this. I only visit them because my son likes reading TMNT. The recent death issue of one of the turtles (don't remember which one since I don't follow that title) drove up demand to insane levels. They were completely sold out, but the owner knew my son liked to read that comic so he actually sold us his own personal copy (at cover price) just because he knew my son liked reading the series. Fostering the next gen of collectors so to speak.

[chrisco37]

 

I would've been pissed too. Was the guy at the counter the owner? If no, did you ever speak with him about it? He needed to know why you were cancelling your file. I would've done the same thing. That's pretty what they did.

 

Can't imagine an employee who's getting paid by the hour would care. Gotta be the owner's policy. I'd be pissed too.

 

Don't go to a lot of LCSs, but the one I do go more than others is pretty good about this. I only visit them because my son likes reading TMNT. The recent death issue of one of the turtles (don't remember which one since I don't follow that title) drove up demand to insane levels. They were completely sold out, but the owner knew my son liked to read that comic so he actually sold us his own personal copy (at cover price) just because he knew my son liked reading the series. Fostering the next gen of collectors so to speak.

 

Oh yes. Agree that it's the owner, not just the guy working the register. I still would make sure the owner knew that his policy was the reason he is losing a customer.

[Chip Cataldo]

They were completely sold out, but the owner knew my son liked to read that comic so he actually sold us his own personal copy (at cover price) just because he knew my son liked reading the series. Fostering the next gen of collectors so to speak.

Excellent customer service. What a great job by the owner.

[kav]

My LCS guy is a very fair individual. Such that people do things like bring him free GNs to sell that they dont want. Or one old guy didnt have long to live-he sold the LCS guy an R Crumb page for $200. My buddy told him it was worth far more but he didn't care-he wanted him to have it and all he needed was $200.

[the blob]

The problem is, "collectors getting burned" is a 2-way street. If a comic shop owner isn't up on the trends and is selling you books cheap, that means the customer that sold them those books didn't get reasonable compensation either. The seller lost money, the dealer lost money, and only you are making out.

--------------

 

the dealer is going by guide for prices and presumably for buying. 95% of the time that is fine (tough to sell most of this stuff at guide so i assume the % of guide paid isn't so hot). i doubt very much two or three years ago whenever IM 55 exploded that too many dealers were telling people coming in to sell their IM 55 in Good "hey, i know the guide says $50, but that book is going for well over $150, so I'll pay you 150% of guide for it"

[the blob]

in one of my LCSs when True Blood 1 came out they were sold out and I was annoyed because my wife wanted a copy and while the shop was sold out the assistant manager had bought 10 copies for speculation so the owner asked him to sell me one at cover, which he obliged (i'm friends with the assistant manager too). around then when "27"#1 was a hot book I plucked the last 3 off the rack and some guy who was 3 second too late to get his copy started asking if they had any more (without directly crying about me taking three copies, but sounding annoyed), so I gave him one of mine to avoid any stress for the owner (if the next question was going to be "the fat guy shouldn't be allowed 3 copies")...what goes around comes around

 

 

[EvenInHisYouth]

I hit up a new shop in Columbus and the owner was a cool guy to talk to (not many books to buy but they can't all be winners). He was saying he takes offense when his long time customers come in and secretly buy up all of the new hot books without telling him about it. In his words they come in all sneaky and act like they are getting away with something. He said he still would sell the books at the price marked but if the customer tells him about it he can go in the back room and pull out more copies. He didn't really expect much info from guys like me who are in once and done but he feels his loyal long time customers should be a little more free with the info.

 

Do you feel long time buyers should help out the store owners or is it a dog eat dog world. I feel like it has to go both ways. If a store owner has been upfront in selling hot new books (like variants) then the buyer should give back a bit with some free info. If the store owner has jacked up the price of all new books and bought books for pennies on the dollar for years then all's fair in love and war.

 

I am SO curious which shop this was...

[Bookery]

i doubt very much two or three years ago whenever IM 55 exploded that too many dealers were telling people coming in to sell their IM 55 in Good "hey, i know the guide says $50, but that book is going for well over $150, so I'll pay you 150% of guide for it"

 

We did. (And do).

 

[1Cool]

I hit up a new shop in Columbus and the owner was a cool guy to talk to (not many books to buy but they can't all be winners). He was saying he takes offense when his long time customers come in and secretly buy up all of the new hot books without telling him about it. In his words they come in all sneaky and act like they are getting away with something. He said he still would sell the books at the price marked but if the customer tells him about it he can go in the back room and pull out more copies. He didn't really expect much info from guys like me who are in once and done but he feels his loyal long time customers should be a little more free with the info.

 

Do you feel long time buyers should help out the store owners or is it a dog eat dog world. I feel like it has to go both ways. If a store owner has been upfront in selling hot new books (like variants) then the buyer should give back a bit with some free info. If the store owner has jacked up the price of all new books and bought books for pennies on the dollar for years then all's fair in love and war.

 

I am SO curious which shop this was...

 

Hit me up with a PM and I may tell you

[dupont2005]

I think comic shops are less the enemy today than they were back when they held the monopoly on comics retail and were literally writing the price guides.

 

I think today, a comic shop limiting the damage an opportunistic flipper can do to his loyal customer base is a great shop looking out for the readers.

 

Also, I think opportunistic flippers are the enemy.