Tales and thoughts from the trenches - story of a rookie con seller.

[1Cool]

I better write out my Con report before my brain forgets half of what I wanted to say. For those that don't know me I live in Cleveland and have been selling on E-Bay and here on the boards for about 10 years and decided this year to try out selling some books at a couple Cons to see what it is like.

 

I got a PM a few months ago from Brock (Columbia Comics) that his usual booth partner at Heroes was not going to be able to set up and he graciously offered to cut me a deal for the inside booth for $450 since he knew I was looking to try out a Con. Booths usually cost $700 so that made it kind of a no brainer that I should give it a try. Big thanks to Brock for answering all my questions over the last couple months and being a huge help along the way and at the Con. He was really cool about letting me in his inner loop and I can't say enough how great it was to meet him and his wife. Ok enough with the butt kissing.

 

Quick run down of expenses for this con for those who care. I don't count food since I would probably spend money eating out at home anyhow:

 

Booth fee - $450

Van rental - $250 week

Gas - $125

Two nights hotel since I stayed with family in Charlotte - $110

Tolls - $20

Grand Total - $955

 

I brought pretty much everything I have right now which was about 15 short boxes of books including 4 short boxes of books from a consignment. I tend to concentrate on hot Modern to Silver-Age books so no Golden Age in my booth.

 

I won't bore you with a 5 page trip report but here are the highlights:

8 hour drive down got split into two days which was pretty easy. Got to the Con at noon on Thursday and it took about an hour to find a spot and unload my 1 van full of books. Unloading and loading is a huge pain and I can't imagine what a pain it is to unload the large sellers boxes.

 

I set up most of my booth and found out its not easy to buy books while actually having a booth to set up. I thought it was a huge free for all with people running around buying books from the get go. Most of the booths were not set up until Thursday late and some were not ready to sell until Friday morning. Unless you hire someone to watch your booth you are pretty much stuck setting stuff up and selling the occasional book while all the non-booth guys like Greggy and Roy are out there buying up stacks of books. Definitely not something I thought about before setting up myself.

 

Thursday was actually a very good sales wise with a ton of my Harley Quinns and Deadpools being snatched up by other dealers. I sold about $500 worth of books on Thursday.

 

I got to the floor early Friday and ended up being able to wander the floor for a bit and grabbed some nice books from a couple dealers including a huge stack of books from Nick. Him and his look alike brother were fun to talk to. Friday started out fast and never really let up. I sold my NM 98 and Preacher 1 first thing and then people kept picking off my slabs all day. I ended up selling $2,000 worth of books on Friday and was excited to see how Saturday would be. Jeff (junk donkey) came in on Friday and he was nice enough to watch my booth for a bit so I could take some breaks which gave me a chance to go buy some books. I asked him to watch my booth for 10 minutes and it turned into 35 minutes after getting caught up making deals. Thanks again man! The floor was full of deals but its tough getting enough time to go look at all the booths.

 

Saturday started out very slow with everyone waiting for Stan and getting SS books signed and slabbed. I ended up selling my BA 12 9.2 for $550 but I think my total was only $1,500 for the day including that huge book. Crowds all seemed to be looking for the hot book I either sold or didn't have. Lots of standing around on Saturday. Went out to dinner and had some great sushi with Brock, his wife and a couple other dealers. Great discussions about Cons and the business. Fun night.

 

Sunday was pretty much a snooze fest. I ended up selling about $1,000 worth of books all day including a nice set of Dark Knight 1 - 4 for $180 and two ESV 2 for $180. So other then those two purchases it was $600 worth of sales all day. I bought some great books from Brock on Sunday and ended up doing some buying during the down time but I really was ready to load-up the van by 4:00 PM and the Con required you to be there until 6:00 PM. Unfortunately it took me nearly 2 hours to find a spot, load up my small van, help break down the booth and get out the door. Being exhausted it was a long 2 hours. I broke up the 8 hour drive back home and the Motel 8 in Charleston West Virginia is a life saver.

 

Thoughts from the Con:

 

I know there has been threads like Gator's that broke down the process but its extremely tough to set up and sell at a Con. It seems so easy from the other side of the booth but it's pretty much hard work from Thursday at noon until Sunday at 8:00 PM. You pretty much are on guard from thefts from buyers and thefts for other dealers who sense weakness and try to snag a few prime books on the cheap. Its very emotionally taxing unlike pretty much anything I've ever experienced. Rewarding in its own way but just draining.

 

Grading at the Cons definitely gets jacked up a couple notches. These guys don't play around and it seems like you are surrounded by guys who will pull out a magnifying glass at a moments notice. Grading on the boards is no joke but wow it was intense. I feel like I learned a lot from Jeff and just being around guys who grade day in day out so that was a great experience.

 

It's tough to not get discouraged during slow days but it's good to see what is actually selling to the public and trying to find your spot in the market. I kept hearing patience is key and it really starts to hit home when you are around guys who have been selling books for 25 years and they are still learning things every Con.

 

I'll post up some pictures tonight and thanks for reading all the way down to the end. Great meeting so many of you guys!

 

[sckao]

 

Nice report.

 

Looking forward to your photos... (thumbs u

 

 

[rjpb]

Sounds like a fun time, if exhausting.

 

Seems to me that unless one has a solid combination of quantity and quality, it's hard to make a profit at conventions. It probably also helps if you look at them as buying as well as selling opportunities from a dealers perspective, as well as building client relations. Even if one doesn't add the considerable time invested, it looks like the cost of booth and travel was a round 20% of sales in your case.

 

It's along way from when I was a teenager in the 70s setting up at local one day cons for a $15 table fee and about a bucks worth of gas. Of course a good con was rarely more than $200 in sales, and frequently less, so the ratios weren't much different.

[1Cool]

Sounds like a fun time, if exhausting.

 

Seems to me that unless one has a solid combination of quantity and quality, it's hard to make a profit at conventions. It probably also helps if you look at them as buying as well as selling opportunities from a dealers perspective, as well as building client relations. Even if one doesn't add the considerable time invested, it looks like the cost of booth and travel was a round 20% of sales in your case.

 

It's along way from when I was a teenager in the 70s setting up at local one day cons for a $15 table fee and about a bucks worth of gas. Of course a good con was rarely more than $200 in sales, and frequently less, so the ratios weren't much different.

 

I thought about that a lot on the drive back. The Con cost me about 20% of my sales and thankfully I bought the books for about 40% less then I sold them for (average) so I ended up making about $1,000 in profit over the weekend. Not a bad total for the experience and I will do very well on the books I ended up buying so I definetely see it as a win. Would I have made more profits having a huge sale on the boards and posting a couple hundred hot books on E-Bay over the four days? That's something I'll have to think about and see how the next con goes.

[jsilverjanet]

I'm proud that you didn't use the word "sweet"

 

 

p.s. congrats on what sounds like a successful convention

[blazingbob]

Multiply your con report X 20 shows a year and then you have my life

 

bob

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Cons are extremely taxing physically, emotionally, and financially. The amount of work that goes into setting up a well organized and thought-out display, like a Bedrock City or Dale Roberts comics, is staggering. I will occasionally set up every 3rd or 4th year at a local con to move some stuff, but the hassle and effort that goes into it guarantees I don't get that idea in my head yet again for some time. And to think of doing that at nearly two dozen shows nationally, every calendar year....I'm in awe of those that do.

 

Kudos to all the dealers at Heroes for all their hard work and efforts in bringing great comics to the public!

[micmack]

What type of discounts did the dealers receive and is this number standard for cons?

[Columbia Comics]

Multiply your con report X 20 shows a year and then you have my life

 

bob

 

[1Cool]

What type of discounts did the dealers receive and is this number standard for cons?

 

I always hear a 25% dealer discount thrown around but I can't believe that is a set in stone number. I typically gave everyone a 10% discount since I bumped up my BIN e-bay prices by 10% before the Con to help pay for the expenses. If a dealer grabbed a large stack of books and I had some good margin in the books I gave them 20%.

[1Cool]

Multiply your con report X 20 shows a year and then you have my life

 

bob

 

 

Now this is even funnier since I can kind of picture Brock actually saying this to someone.

[Buzzetta]

Multiply your con report X 20 shows a year and then you have my life

 

bob

 

 

Now this is even funnier since I can kind of picture Brock actually saying this to someone.

 

[Murphman13]

Nice report. One question; where did you get a van rental for only $250 for a whole week?

 

[1Cool]

Nice report. One question; where did you get a van rental for only $250 for a whole week?

 

Great question. I rented a Full Sized car from Enterprise for $250 and when I went to pick it up I kind of gave the guy at the counter a story about work sending me down south and it looked like they were asking me to do the impossible since I had so much stuff to fit in the truck. Guy ended up upgrading me to a full sized Dodge Caravan with the fold down seats. Held the books perfectly for only $250. Don't know if I could pull that one off again.

[RCheli]

Great report. It looks like you did well. To do well at the larger shows usually means you need to sell a few 4-figure comics (of which I have none), so I've never done one. That you were able to do as well as you did and not sell huge books means that you probably did well otherwise.

 

Cons are physically exhausting but really fun. I like to make a lot of money, but I also like to talk comics, so if I can do both, the work seems less like work.

 

I mean, would I rather spend a weekend day selling funny books or writing ad copy for some pharmaceutical product that costs $100k? What do you think?

[1Cool]

Great report. It looks like you did well. To do well at the larger shows usually means you need to sell a few 4-figure comics (of which I have none), so I've never done one. That you were able to do as well as you did and not sell huge books means that you probably did well otherwise.

 

Cons are physically exhausting but really fun. I like to make a lot of money, but I also like to talk comics, so if I can do both, the work seems less like work.

 

I mean, would I rather spend a weekend day selling funny books or writing ad copy for some pharmaceutical product that costs $100k? What do you think?

 

I almost forgot. My wife thought up the great idea of attaching some laminated header of some hot comics to backing boards so they stick up a bit so people see them as they walk by. I sent her some cover pictures of a Harley book, Deadpool, Flash and a New Mutants 98 to make the pop ups. All weekend people would stop dead in their tracks and grab the NM 98 tab and pull it out thinking it was book in my boxes. One kid almost choked when he thought he had a copy on the cheap. Sometimes its not the books you have that make it fun but the way you market the crappy books you have.

[kimik]

Great report. It looks like you did well. To do well at the larger shows usually means you need to sell a few 4-figure comics (of which I have none), so I've never done one. That you were able to do as well as you did and not sell huge books means that you probably did well otherwise.

 

It depends on what you take. I have started doing shows without bringing any bigger books (or taking a couple and pricing them to not sell and just using them as eye candy for the racks) and just taking hot moderns and cheaper bronze/copper/modern keys and doing almost as well as I did with bigger books. It takes more time to bag/board/price them, but I prefer moving them than SA and BA keys that are harder to replace at a reasonable cost.

[1Cool]

Great report. It looks like you did well. To do well at the larger shows usually means you need to sell a few 4-figure comics (of which I have none), so I've never done one. That you were able to do as well as you did and not sell huge books means that you probably did well otherwise.

 

It depends on what you take. I have started doing shows without bringing any bigger books (or taking a couple and pricing them to not sell and just using them as eye candy for the racks) and just taking hot moderns and cheaper bronze/copper/modern keys and doing almost as well as I did with bigger books. It takes more time to bag/board/price them, but I prefer moving them than SA and BA keys that are harder to replace at a reasonable cost.

 

I'd happily traded a NM 98 CGC 9.8 for a bunch of mid grade keys like ASM 300, BA 12 and such. Tons of people looking for a $150 copy - not many who have $850 for a 9.8.

[mysterio]

Great report. It looks like you did well. To do well at the larger shows usually means you need to sell a few 4-figure comics (of which I have none), so I've never done one. That you were able to do as well as you did and not sell huge books means that you probably did well otherwise.

 

It depends on what you take. I have started doing shows without bringing any bigger books (or taking a couple and pricing them to not sell and just using them as eye candy for the racks) and just taking hot moderns and cheaper bronze/copper/modern keys and doing almost as well as I did with bigger books. It takes more time to bag/board/price them, but I prefer moving them than SA and BA keys that are harder to replace at a reasonable cost.

 

Keys typically have lower margins, and cost more to replace, so you don't actually make much profit on larger books (as counterintuitive as that sounds). You could net $150 on a $1000 sale, depending on how you bought it. Conversely, you could make a $200 sale and make as much profit if you bought those books well enough, and this is much easier to do. The wall books are oftentimes not what we smaller sellers would like to see move at a show...

[mysterio]

Great report. It looks like you did well. To do well at the larger shows usually means you need to sell a few 4-figure comics (of which I have none), so I've never done one. That you were able to do as well as you did and not sell huge books means that you probably did well otherwise.

 

It depends on what you take. I have started doing shows without bringing any bigger books (or taking a couple and pricing them to not sell and just using them as eye candy for the racks) and just taking hot moderns and cheaper bronze/copper/modern keys and doing almost as well as I did with bigger books. It takes more time to bag/board/price them, but I prefer moving them than SA and BA keys that are harder to replace at a reasonable cost.

 

I'd happily traded a NM 98 CGC 9.8 for a bunch of mid grade keys like ASM 300, BA 12 and such. Tons of people looking for a $150 copy - not many who have $850 for a 9.8.

 

+1