Hypothetical question

[wombat]

Unless someone is just really bored or has money to burn why would they want to purchase a random selection of books worth exactly what they paid vs. selecting the books they wanted worth the same amount?

[mysterio]

Unless someone is just really bored or has money to burn why would they want to purchase a random selection of books? worth exactly what they paid vs. selecting the books they wanted worth the same amount?

 

 

[wombat]

Unless someone is just really bored or has money to burn why would they want to purchase a random selection of books? worth exactly what they paid vs. selecting the books they wanted worth the same amount?

 

 

I could see the draw if they were worth more than someone paid. To me that is the only hook.

[mysterio]

Unless someone is just really bored or has money to burn why would they want to purchase a random selection of books? worth exactly what they paid vs. selecting the books they wanted worth the same amount?

 

 

I could see the draw if they were worth more than someone paid. To me that is the only hook.

 

To the buyer, sure. But why would the seller give value away as a sales strategy, and why would a buyer feel entitled to get free books?

 

This is a lottery ticket, pure and simple. It's banned in lots of places now because of the butthurt that naturally follows when people don't "win" at their mystery box. I'd love to go through life getting 2x what I pay for, but it isn't a reasonable expectation.

[kav]

Unless someone is just really bored or has money to burn why would they want to purchase a random selection of books? worth exactly what they paid vs. selecting the books they wanted worth the same amount?

 

 

I could see the draw if they were worth more than someone paid. To me that is the only hook.

 

To the buyer, sure. But why would the seller give value away as a sales strategy, and why would a buyer feel entitled to get free books?

 

This is a lottery ticket, pure and simple. It's banned in lots of places now because of the butthurt that naturally follows when people don't "win" at their mystery box. I'd love to go through life getting 2x what I pay for, but it isn't a reasonable expectation.

No seller would. And that's why mystery boxes are scams.

[W16227]

Its like selling bundles at a discount. Why do it if you could sell the books individually and make more? Generally because it is a faster way to move inventory.

 

This is exactly it - you can package a lot of the harder to move items - ones that have some value - but the seller has more stock that will move quicker and at a better profit - so it is bundled and sold at a discount.

 

When you get enough inventory - you have thousands of dollar books -stuff that will sell - but you can wait 2 years to sell 2000 for 'list' or move them in a couple months for 1000 with a lot less effort. then use that to buy another collection in three months.

[zuulioso]

The top row would be in order FN, NM, VF, VF, FN

 

 

So what you guys expect is to buy a box that you believe is 4x the current value.

 

With those grades I'd say you paid a bit over what I'd expect them to sell for and that's assuming you can get a couple bucks for the lesser books. The Jerry Lewis issue with Batman should sell for a bit. Not the worse mystery box in the world but I'd expect at least 25-35% above FMV since it's a mystery box. If I wanted to buy something for FMV then I'd just go do it and avoid the mystery.

 

Then I'd wonder why anyone would ever sell mystery boxes. Unless "mystery" has another meaning I'm unaware of.

 

That's the whole point of getting a mystery box, you get more for your dollar, you just don't get to pick it.

 

Why would anyone buy a mystery box if the choice was "You can choose $320 worth of comics from my inventory or I'll give you a mystery box where I choose $320 of inventory for you."

 

I think the part in bold is the real question.

[wombat]

Unless someone is just really bored or has money to burn why would they want to purchase a random selection of books? worth exactly what they paid vs. selecting the books they wanted worth the same amount?

 

 

I could see the draw if they were worth more than someone paid. To me that is the only hook.

 

To the buyer, sure. But why would the seller give value away as a sales strategy, and why would a buyer feel entitled to get free books?

 

This is a lottery ticket, pure and simple. It's banned in lots of places now because of the butthurt that naturally follows when people don't "win" at their mystery box. I'd love to go through life getting 2x what I pay for, but it isn't a reasonable expectation.

 

Sellers "give away" value all the time. They have discounts for bundles. They have sales. Why do they do this? To move inventory more quickly than if they didn't.

 

The buyer is entitled to "free books" because they are giving up the ability to select the individual books they want. There has to be something in return for giving that up. And that something is expecting value above what they paid.

[dupont2005]

But why would the seller give value away as a sales strategy,

 

Because he's unloading a bunch of on one buyer instead of listing all that stuff on eBay, half of it selling for a fraction of his estimated value, and the other half not selling at all. The convenience of someone picking up his garbage. In other words, wholesale.

 

and why would a buyer feel entitled to get free books?

They're not free. They would be at a discounted rate since he's buying blind. If you went into the LCS and all the comics were in a sealed brown paper bag with a pricetag for exact cover price and you just kind of had to grab around and guess which ones were the ones you wanted, would you do it? Or would you require he either let you know what you're buying or drop the price down to about ten cents per issue? He's talking about $320 shipped for that lot. What do you think it would fetch on eBay with a 99 cent starting bid on a 7 day auction? Fifty bucks?

[makeminemego]

It's a quick way to get rid of drek purchased at a low profit margin that wouldn't move otherwise, coupled with a few decent books that the seller bought at a high profit margin.

 

I'd rather just buy what I want. Too much rolling of the dice.

 

I've always just assumed they were rip-offs........

[Bosco685]

Unless someone is just really bored or has money to burn why would they want to purchase a random selection of books? worth exactly what they paid vs. selecting the books they wanted worth the same amount?

 

 

I could see the draw if they were worth more than someone paid. To me that is the only hook.

 

To the buyer, sure. But why would the seller give value away as a sales strategy, and why would a buyer feel entitled to get free books?

 

This is a lottery ticket, pure and simple. It's banned in lots of places now because of the butthurt that naturally follows when people don't "win" at their mystery box. I'd love to go through life getting 2x what I pay for, but it isn't a reasonable expectation.

No seller would. And that's why mystery boxes are scams.

 

Whenever I see mytery boxes for sale, I can't help but picture sellers on ebay that post a picture of Amazing Spider-Man 129 or Hulk 181 in a listing as the random mystery prize. I'd go through their feedback two to three pages to see if anyone ever lucked out. Oddly enough, it would be either buyers complaining what they received was garbage, or those that didn't luck out but vowed to be back to try again.

 

As nice as it would be to find either of the two books, why would you try again? Unfortunately, you're either a gambler or set on a false sense of hope.

[kav]

This nincompoop had listed his current mystery box as sold out in a bid to build legitimacy for the next round of mystery.

[Bosco685]

Ugh!

 

And the shill comment made a lot of sense, Dude. Unfortunately, another ebay mystery box technique.

[Bosco685]

[Ryan.]

No.

NIce explanation

 

I didn't realize my answer was required to be in essay form but okay: I would not be happy with that purchase because, upon opening this theoretical mystery box for which I paid $320, I would look over the books and wonder why I paid $320 for what appears to be less than $320 worth of comics.

[slym2none]

No.

NIce explanation

 

I didn't realize my answer was required to be in essay form but okay: I would not be happy with that purchase because, upon opening this theoretical mystery box for which I paid $320, I would look over the books and wonder why I paid $320 for what appears to be less than $320 worth of comics.

 

 

 

 

-slym

[mschmidt]

Was this bought on Etsy?

[Kenglo1]

Shadow Images are you happy with the mystery box?

[Wally's Comics]

Looks like a mystery kick in the beehive!

 

 

 

[kav]

PAGING OAKMAN WE HAVE A BEEHIVE SITUATION!!