Weird/Unpleasant Comic Shop Experience

[StuporMan]

Back in my day comic book stores just sold comics. You paid the price on the mylar and that was the end of it - and it was always at or higher than guide, if you were even allowed to look at one. If you even had the balls to try to sell your books and didn't get laughed at, you'd be lucky to get a dime on the dollar for 'em.

 

That's the way it was and we liked it!

[RockMyAmadeus]

Back in my day comic book stores just sold comics. You paid the price on the mylar and that was the end of it - and it was always at or higher than guide, if you were even allowed to look at one. If you even had the balls to try to sell your books and didn't get laughed at, you'd be lucky to get a dime on the dollar for 'em.

 

That's the way it was and we liked it!

 

It's that way now, for SOME books...Hulk #181, for example..but the market is in weird, unknown territory. No one will give you a penny for Avengers #278....but if Avengers #278 happens to be the first appearance of Avengerina, and Avengerina is cast in the new flick....OMGWTFBBQQ!!! Now Avengers #278 is a $200 book.

 

 

Yeah, it was a rough time to get into comics back in the early 90's.

 

Dealers didn't have to haggle. Why would they? There were already 5-10 more people after you willing to pay full price, so they wouldn't have to pay MORE down the road.

 

Then the crash came, and they couldn't give stuff away.

 

One of my favorite stories: there was a store in Dublin, CA, called "Comic Ink."

 

He wanted top dollar for everything, all the time, all the way. No way would he haggle, no WAY. And he had a ton of nifty variants that I wanted, badly, like Valiant golds and whatnot. He simply would not budge at all. He wanted like $50-$100 each, for each one of them, and would not move on the price.

 

This was 1993. I went away to college, and things moved on.

 

Fast forward to 2008 or so...the original owner sold his store to someone else, and the store had moved down the street a bit...I walk in, look through books...and lo and behold, I spy the SAME VARIANTS from 1993, with their 1993 price stickers on them, that the owner had never sold (and clearly sold for pennies and nickels to the new owner.)

 

I go through the box, and ask about these and the new owner says "yeah, I can sell those to you for $2-$3 each or so.

 

So I bought them. All of them.

 

And had the original owner been willing to haggle AT ALL, I would have been THRILLED to pay him, in 1993 dollars, $25-$30 each for those books. Instead, I got them simply by outwaiting him, and I paid a small fraction of that amount.

 

Hindsight and whatnot.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Well, shops getting busy, so i cant really say everything i want.

 

The short version: I was super busy. I was running a pokemon tournament while buying a magic collection while a customer with another collection was waiting patiently. I was called over for a customer whom ive never seen asking for a discount on books in mylar.

 

An aside:

Heres a policy i have : If i have a price on a book, you can buy the book at that price. If an employee or i misprice a book thats on us. If a book jumps and i dont catch it.... well i just didnt catch that one. I will never, ever change a marked price at the register.

 

In the case of these 3 books, i looked them up to see if i had them overpriced or if i could accommodate the discount that was being asked for. The 2 SA spideys were on point. With the discount they would have been the cheapest available copies i could find. However the 121 variant (that i had $12 on) only had 3 listings i could find. $60(VG) $99 and $125.

 

So after doing a little ebay research himself, the OP quickly bought the book. The fact the OP would start a thread in attempt to vilify me is funny since he still got an insane deal. Cant please everyone!

 

SO, i was fine discounting the two SA books but i wasn't willing to throw in the waaaay underpriced book and give a discount.

 

This is better than what many shops seem to do: yank the book when they realize they have underpriced it. Explaining where you were coming from probably would have alleviated the whole thing, but I understand if you're distracted and what not.

 

Weren't/aren't you a contractor? Wasn't I trying to get you to renovate my basement when the economy went into the krapper? :-) Are you doing that and the comic shop? Have you always done the comic shop?

I had been dealing comics on a very small scale since i sold my first business in 2001. Thats when i became a contractor and went into business with my father. I started the shop on the side 4 years ago and it became full time in November 2014.

 

I'm coming into your shop and haggling you over the price of comics.

 

Can't wait.

[divad]

Today I went to some comic shops about an hour from where I live in NC. At one (I won't name the shop unless you want to know via PM), they didn't really have any current issues. There were only boxes full of older comics (SA, etc.) in Mylite2s. I thought it was pretty cool. Even some semi-key issues were still in the boxes to look through. They were all priced a little above eBay prices with some cool wall books as well (ASM #5, #41, #129, X-Men #1 just to name a few).

 

So after looking around the shop, I picked out a poor copy of ASM #29 they had priced at $20. The cover was loose, there was a stain on the front cover. On top of that, I picked out an ASM #72, which was around the 4-5.0 range, priced at $22. Lastly, I found a copy of the Alex Ross ASM #121 Not For Resale cover, which was priced at $12.

 

I walked to the woman at the counter and asked if there was any room to work on the three. She said she could probably do $50 but needed to talk to the owner. He was a younger looking guy (35 or so), who then proceeded to look up prices on his phone in front of me. I stood there and waited for about five minutes. He said he would sell me the #29 and #72 for $35 and the Alex Ross for full price. I had in mind to pay $45 based on the condition of the older books so we were only off $2. He walked away and I looked the books over one more time. I asked the woman if that would be $47 total (the $35 plus the $12). Then the guy looks over from about ten feet away and tells me no. His offer was $35 for the older books or FULL PRICE FOR ALL THREE if I bought the Alex Ross cover! I literally said that made no sense to me. I was staying calm, but getting pretty mad inside. He didn't respond, so I put the two older books back and just bought the Ross for $12. What in the world was he doing? Has anybody ever experienced something like that or know his reasoning?

 

The two older books were REALLY beat up, so I don't know why he would choose to let two more sales go.

 

 

Much ado about nothing. I haven't read any of the thread besides this OP, but if you wanted them so badly, why didn't you just pay the stickered price? So you were haggling for $4? Get outta my shop.

[RockMyAmadeus]

PS. I <3 Green.

 

[F For Fake]

Haggling is perfectly fine at a con or flea market, but at a retail store I just don't see it. I don't haggle at Target or Wal-Mart, why would I haggle at a comic shop? Unless it's a comic shop that resembles a flea market, in which case I guess it's worth a try...

[dupont2005]

Haggling is perfectly fine at a con or flea market, but at a retail store I just don't see it. I don't haggle at Target or Wal-Mart, why would I haggle at a comic shop? Unless it's a comic shop that resembles a flea market, in which case I guess it's worth a try...

hagglimg on new comics would be odd. Target doesn't sell second hand stuff. If they did I'd say haggle away

[jools&jim]

 

I might be in the minority here, but I never understood the need to haggle at a retail store. All this drama over $4?

It's a byproduct of the information age. Everyone has a prodigious amount of data at their fingertips. Unfortunately, common sense and etiquette do not always govern its use...

 

 

 

[jaeldubyoo]

Nothing wrong with haggling especially when you're dealing with the owner. He doesn't pay a fixed price for everything and I'm sure there's a lot of wiggle room for a lot of stuff. When buying back issues, the buyers pays the price he's willing to buy at and the seller sells at the price he's willing to sell at. We're not talking about going to a supermarket and haggling over a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk.

[Meeklo]

Nothing wrong with haggling especially when you're dealing with the owner. He doesn't pay a fixed price for everything and I'm sure there's a lot of wiggle room for a lot of stuff. When buying back issues, the buyers pays the price he's willing to buy at and the seller sells at the price he's willing to sell at. We're not talking about going to a supermarket and haggling over a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk.

 

You'd be surprised how often that happens too. I also get people trying to haggle the price of appliances which we just will not do. I tell them that they would have to go to a "mom and pop" shop if they want to haggle appliances, not at a big box retailer.

[CAHokie]

Nothing wrong with haggling especially when you're dealing with the owner. He doesn't pay a fixed price for everything and I'm sure there's a lot of wiggle room for a lot of stuff. When buying back issues, the buyers pays the price he's willing to buy at and the seller sells at the price he's willing to sell at. We're not talking about going to a supermarket and haggling over a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk.

 

You'd be surprised how often that happens too. I also get people trying to haggle the price of appliances which we just will not do. I tell them that they would have to go to a "mom and pop" shop if they want to haggle appliances, not at a big box retailer.

 

I would disagree with this. I almost exclusively purchase my appliances (fridge, stove, dishwasher, etc) from Best Buy whenever I buy a new condo or house because they are always flexible with the price. I can't remember ever paying the advertised price there actually.

[Meeklo]

Nothing wrong with haggling especially when you're dealing with the owner. He doesn't pay a fixed price for everything and I'm sure there's a lot of wiggle room for a lot of stuff. When buying back issues, the buyers pays the price he's willing to buy at and the seller sells at the price he's willing to sell at. We're not talking about going to a supermarket and haggling over a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk.

 

You'd be surprised how often that happens too. I also get people trying to haggle the price of appliances which we just will not do. I tell them that they would have to go to a "mom and pop" shop if they want to haggle appliances, not at a big box retailer.

 

I would disagree with this. I almost exclusively purchase my appliances (fridge, stove, dishwasher, etc) from Best Buy whenever I buy a new condo or house because they are always flexible with the price. I can't remember ever paying the advertised price there actually.

 

I'm not exactly Best Buy...we have different rules and policies than the rest of the store.

[CAHokie]

I didn't mean you specifically, but that Best Buy is a big box retailer and more than willing to haggle. The more you buy, the bigger the discount. Factoring in the free delivery, set up and haul away, I rarely go anywhere else.

[Meeklo]

I didn't mean you specifically, but that Best Buy is a big box retailer and more than willing to haggle. The more you buy, the bigger the discount. Factoring in the free delivery, set up and haul away, I rarely go anywhere else.

 

I would say it depends on who you are talking to.

 

Overall as a company, Best Buy will not haggle. Now individuals who work there, specifically managers and store managers who have a quota to meet, may be more inclined to haggle if they need to pad their numbers.

 

But I always advise, never go into a Best Buy expecting to haggle. It usually just pisses off the employees and managers who will not or cannot haggle.

 

In my case, our pricing is usually lower than the competition and sometime even lower than Best Buy itself. We have no need to lower the prices even more. Even if you buy an entire kitchen set, you're still usually getting them for cheaper than you would anywhere else.

[CAHokie]

I didn't mean you specifically, but that Best Buy is a big box retailer and more than willing to haggle. The more you buy, the bigger the discount. Factoring in the free delivery, set up and haul away, I rarely go anywhere else.

 

I would say it depends on who you are talking to.

 

Overall as a company, Best Buy will not haggle. Now individuals who work there, specifically managers and store managers who have a quota to meet, may be more inclined to haggle if they need to pad their numbers.

 

But I always advise, never go into a Best Buy expecting to haggle. It usually just pisses off the employees and managers who will not or cannot haggle.

 

In my case, our pricing is usually lower than the competition and sometime even lower than Best Buy itself. We have no need to lower the prices even more. Even if you buy an entire kitchen set, you're still usually getting them for cheaper than you would anywhere else.

 

The store you worked at must have had some uptight and sucky employees. The type that enjoy messing around with customers. I must have been lucky with the stores I buy from because I never had a bad experience and no one was angry or pissed off.

[Meeklo]

I didn't mean you specifically, but that Best Buy is a big box retailer and more than willing to haggle. The more you buy, the bigger the discount. Factoring in the free delivery, set up and haul away, I rarely go anywhere else.

 

I would say it depends on who you are talking to.

 

Overall as a company, Best Buy will not haggle. Now individuals who work there, specifically managers and store managers who have a quota to meet, may be more inclined to haggle if they need to pad their numbers.

 

But I always advise, never go into a Best Buy expecting to haggle. It usually just pisses off the employees and managers who will not or cannot haggle.

 

In my case, our pricing is usually lower than the competition and sometime even lower than Best Buy itself. We have no need to lower the prices even more. Even if you buy an entire kitchen set, you're still usually getting them for cheaper than you would anywhere else.

 

The store you worked at must have had some uptight and sucky employees. The type that enjoy messing around with customers. I must have been lucky with the stores I buy from because I never had a bad experience and no one was angry or pissed off.

 

At least to your face...after you leave it's a whole different story. Go look at the Best Buy Memes Facebook page...there are a ton of memes about customers on there.

 

And I understand that customers usually do not care if they off an employee, but keep in mind, not just with a place like Best Buy, but with any retail you shop at. These employees may have your phone number, address, email, credit card numbers, purchase history, warranty records...people who have that kind of access to info are usually high school or college kids who could do some decent damage with that info.

[CAHokie]

Meeklo, I hate to break it to you but not everybody in retail is an and some people actually try to do their jobs correctly. I don't need to look at memes. I am more than familiar with your personal views on BB and customer service in general.

 

I didn't off anyone, and more often than not they suggested the discount. I can read body language, tone and micro/macro expressions very very well so I am sure of this.

 

I do completely agree with you that I wouldn't want you to have all of my personal info though.

[Meeklo]

Sorry, I caused this to get off track...yes, there are more people who do their jobs correctly than people who do not.

 

Overall, any retail store, whether Best Buy, Walmart, or a local grocery store does not haggle. There will be a rare occasion where you can haggle (open box items ) but I would not recommend going into any of those places thinking it is okay to ask for lower prices.

 

Like I said before, "mom and pop" shops are okay, flea markets, and comic book shops. Any place that deals with the items second-hand. Those prices are usually more flexible.

[Sal]

I would have given the shop owner the benefit of the doubt. I mean, he has to live in Fayetteville. That's enough all by itself; adding additional stress is just cruel

[01TheDude]

Haggling is part of the dealing with many places. You almost have to assume that certain items are priced with the thought that here is some wiggle room on the item. Not everything obviously-- but many.

 

Would you just take whatever price a car dealer had listed without trying to get a better deal? Probably not.

 

Ignore the amount involved and try to get your best price. If they aren't having it-- it is still your choice to buy it or move on.