Do we give away too much valuable comic industry information on the boards?

[KPR Comics]

It's all about customer service and networking. Those things are far more valuable than anything else.

 

Pay fairly and quickly and word gets around

 

+1

It's not rocket surgery. Its 90% common sense and decency. The other half is dumb luck.

[Prince Namor]

[greggy]

No. The most valuable piece of information is how the big dealers acquire their collections, and that information is never given out.

We buy them.

[Arkham]

My $0.02...

 

My profile:

 

- Non-US

- Personal Collector

- Sporadically sells books from personal collection to fund purchase of new books that I wish to keep in the personal collection, or in other words purging the drek to replace with quality.

 

Participating in these forums over the past few years has resulted in several really good outcomes. Firstly, there are some fantastic folk on here and I enjoy conversing with you all. Additionally, I've made genuine friendships from that.

Secondly, the wealth of information has increased my knowledge and, through that, increased my enjoyment of the hobby. It has also, importantly, helped me to avoid scams and to avoid overpaying on books.

 

Please keep the information flowing!

[fastballspecial]

It's easy for me...no one asks me anything.

 

Glad to hear you're doing well, though! You're definitely someone who inspires me to keep at it so I can unlock the next level of my business.

 

Very cool to hear! But since you responded I think you have "advanced" very quickly in the comic sales business which I assume has been helped quite a bit by these boards.

 

Be it grading, consignment options, books to look for in the wild you can get it all in one place and I don't remember all the info being available when I joined the boards 9 years ago. People seemed more tight lipped about stuff back then but maybe it the lack of my available time back then to read those types of threads.

 

Or there weren't large scale speculation with web sites that promote books that they have hoarded for sale.

 

[fastballspecial]

I think one of the biggest issues that happens in this hobby/business is misinformation is spread more often than good information.

 

Plenty of people trying to hype up books, personal agendas, etc. Furthermore incorrect information is passed along with no responsibility or thought of how this may affect the hobby one way or another. Let alone with little research or fact checking (though some here are great at it and for I one am thankful when they clear up the nonsense)

 

I was at a booth when this guy was telling customers that Marvel had confirmed the Moon Knight TV show the night before. He was curious on how this would impact the price of WWBN.

 

I still haven't seen any information on that but plenty of people took that info and ran with it.

 

Me and Jason (youmechooze) were laughing at all the "terms" like "in the wild" or "undervalued" "potential" folks throw around with no real information to back it up.

 

Go to the Modern thread and there's plenty of "pump of the volume" going on.

 

a better question is "do we give too much BAD information"

 

Hell yes.

 

I agree

 

I am waiting for all the movies to end so I can watch some of them go bye-bye as well.

 

 

[joeypost]

Truthfully I got a ton of great info from seeing Joey Post make a few deals and how he acts at the con. I don't know him that well but he seems like a class act and treats all the dealers like friends with a ton of respect.

 

I thought I had a shadow on Friday

 

I have a very simple approach to cons(pretty much the same approach I have to life). I don't have customers, I have friends I do business with. All things considered you are more likely to do business with someone you like and respect even if they are not as inexpensive as others, so I don't consider the people I buy books from at the cons as a commodity. If they have been good to me I will spend money at their booth even if I can buy the same book cheaper elsewhere. This is a small community and one or two shady deals and you can easily find yourself on the outside looking in. Just the nature of the beast.

 

As far as sharing info I like to keep what I have worked hard for close to me. If it gives me an advantage why give that away for free. Let others work hard to learn for themselves. I used to share lots of information but wound up getting screwed over by many I ONCE considered friends who swore up and down it was information just for their own consumption. Funny how those words fall flat when a few dollars are involved.

[the blob]

I am just glad that I learned here that Thor 339 is going to be the hottest ever when the Thor 339 movie is made. Glad I got my copies cuz I am going to retire on them!

[comeaux]

After paying good money to go attend a three day comic convention, I gathered some valuable information (to me at least) about pressing, hot books, working harder vs working smarter and plenty more tid bits. I could turn around and post all of this information on the boards in a Con report (which I love to do) but is there a point it does not make sense to give away all of this information?

 

We have the what is hot threads, and major dealers like Gator and Dale giving great market reports and Con set up tutorials but isn't that something that could be used by a start up dealer to get a leg up rather then learning the info the hard way? I love the open exchange of information on the boards but I can't think of another profession where people give away so much info (I'd love to get similar info from competitors in the Traffic Engineering field).

 

I'm a very small fish in the pond and even I get the occasional PM asking me where I got my latest batch of books for sale. If I'm getting these questions I can only imagine the questions other people get. How do you personally set what to keep close and what to post up to the public?

 

[thirdgreenham]

Truthfully I got a ton of great info from seeing Joey Post make a few deals and how he acts at the con. I don't know him that well but he seems like a class act and treats all the dealers like friends with a ton of respect.

 

I thought I had a shadow on Friday

 

I have a very simple approach to cons(pretty much the same approach I have to life). I don't have customers, I have friends I do business with. All things considered you are more likely to do business with someone you like and respect even if they are not as inexpensive as others, so I don't consider the people I buy books from at the cons as a commodity. If they have been good to me I will spend money at their booth even if I can buy the same book cheaper elsewhere. This is a small community and one or two shady deals and you can easily find yourself on the outside looking in. Just the nature of the beast.

 

As far as sharing info I like to keep what I have worked hard for close to me. If it gives me an advantage why give that away for free. Let others work hard to learn for themselves. I used to share lots of information but wound up getting screwed over by many I ONCE considered friends who swore up and down it was information just for their own consumption. Funny how those words fall flat when a few dollars are involved.

 

Whoa Nellie!!

[comicalgems]

Truthfully I got a ton of great info from seeing Joey Post make a few deals and how he acts at the con. I don't know him that well but he seems like a class act and treats all the dealers like friends with a ton of respect.

 

I thought I had a shadow on Friday

 

I have a very simple approach to cons(pretty much the same approach I have to life). I don't have customers, I have friends I do business with. All things considered you are more likely to do business with someone you like and respect even if they are not as inexpensive as others, so I don't consider the people I buy books from at the cons as a commodity. If they have been good to me I will spend money at their booth even if I can buy the same book cheaper elsewhere. This is a small community and one or two shady deals and you can easily find yourself on the outside looking in. Just the nature of the beast.

 

As far as sharing info I like to keep what I have worked hard for close to me. If it gives me an advantage why give that away for free. Let others work hard to learn for themselves. I used to share lots of information but wound up getting screwed over by many I ONCE considered friends who swore up and down it was information just for their own consumption. Funny how those words fall flat when a few dollars are involved.

 

Whoa Nellie!!

 

HBD Andy!

[makeminemego]

I can see both sides of the argument, especially in the case of someone like Joey who has a specific trade/skill.

 

In terms of selling/dealing/collecting, I don't see a problem with some level of transparency. Just my opinion though.

[HouseofComics.Com]

It's all about customer service and networking. Those things are far more valuable than anything else.

 

Pay fairly and quickly and word gets around

 

+1

It's not rocket surgery. Its 90% common sense and decency. The other half is dumb luck.

 

I see your Yogi Berra reference there...

[RockMyAmadeus]

Too many nerds in comics treat information like they will lose something if they share it.

 

Too many nerds in comics have their egos tied up in what they know (or what they think they know) and can't stand to be corrected, and so hand out misinformation on a regular basis.

 

Too many nerds in comics treat people who have taken the time to diligently study the history and dynamics of this hobby as "know-it-alls", and prefer to rely on their own "memories" and "experiences" to determine what "really happened."

 

It is not knowledge that gives one the advantage. It is the proper application of that knowledge that does. And, since many, many people lack the skills and abilities to properly apply knowledge, there's no reason to be stingy with it. This goes for everything from stock trading to auto dealing to comic book collecting, and everything in between.

 

Back from Baltimore!

 

[joeypost]

I can see both sides of the argument, especially in the case of someone like Joey who has a specific trade/skill.

 

In terms of selling/dealing/collecting, I don't see a problem with some level of transparency. Just my opinion though.

 

Don't get me wrong...I still share plenty. During any given show I will look at books for buyers and give them my opinion on what potential the book has and any price data if I know it, or can look it up for them. I am always happy to help people out that way.

[1Cool]

I can see both sides of the argument, especially in the case of someone like Joey who has a specific trade/skill.

 

In terms of selling/dealing/collecting, I don't see a problem with some level of transparency. Just my opinion though.

 

Don't get me wrong...I still share plenty. During any given show I will look at books for buyers and give them my opinion on what potential the book has and any price data if I know it, or can look it up for them. I am always happy to help people out that way.

 

You did this for me in Heroes and both books you looked at came back the grade you had thought they would. Many thanks!

[passion4comics]

The industry secret I would like to know is how do specific people that we know sub a book and get a 9.2 and if we subbed that same book it would come back as an 8.0?

[1Cool]

The industry secret I would like to know is how do specific people that we know sub a book and get a 9.2 and if we subbed that same book it would come back as an 8.0?

Luck and a good press?

[Jeffro.]

Truthfully I got a ton of great info from seeing Joey Post make a few deals and how he acts at the con. I don't know him that well but he seems like a class act and treats all the dealers like friends with a ton of respect.

 

I thought I had a shadow on Friday

 

I have a very simple approach to cons(pretty much the same approach I have to life). I don't have customers, I have friends I do business with. All things considered you are more likely to do business with someone you like and respect even if they are not as inexpensive as others, so I don't consider the people I buy books from at the cons as a commodity. If they have been good to me I will spend money at their booth even if I can buy the same book cheaper elsewhere. This is a small community and one or two shady deals and you can easily find yourself on the outside looking in. Just the nature of the beast.

 

As far as sharing info I like to keep what I have worked hard for close to me. If it gives me an advantage why give that away for free. Let others work hard to learn for themselves. I used to share lots of information but wound up getting screwed over by many I ONCE considered friends who swore up and down it was information just for their own consumption. Funny how those words fall flat when a few dollars are involved.

 

Cool books information!

[HarveySwick]

Me and Jason (youmechooze) were laughing at all the "terms" like "in the wild" or "undervalued" "potential" folks throw around with no real information to back it up.

 

You guys have to make the trip to Boston sometime. We'd have a blast.