Comic Con sellers seem to be in the wrong business. SMH

[1Cool]

It is important to separate yourself from "collectible" when you are selling comics. View them as widgets. If I purchase a widget for $1 and sell that widget for $50 even though others are selling that widget for $75, I'm making profit. If it costs me $25 to replace that widget - but I can easily source it - having $25 profit in hand NOW is better than waiting for a potential $50 in profit.

 

"FMV" is, to me, a dagger if you're selling something. If I'm selling something where I've made my profit on the item already, the selling price is essentially meaningless. I was happy to sell high grade Silver slabs to Brian for 30% off "FMV". Why? Because I already made my number on those books, my COGS on them were already accounted for, and that sale gave me a positive cash flow to purchase more widgets.

 

I said this at a small show on Sunday to a bunch of people - if you can't make money in this market selling comics, you're doing something wrong. Network, move your items, set your bottom and work off that - its pretty basic at this point. You have to understand what the market is, and that's work, and you have to understand how to price and how to market, and that's work, but at the heart of it, its just selling widgets.

 

How did you pick the $50 price tag? If you paid $1 then a $5 sale would have been a money maker. I'm assuming you knew the market was in the range of $75 and knew the $50 would sell quickly so that is where the $50 came from but just checking if you would come up with the $50 price tag differently.

[THE_BEYONDER]

It is important to separate yourself from "collectible" when you are selling comics. View them as widgets. If I purchase a widget for $1 and sell that widget for $50 even though others are selling that widget for $75, I'm making profit. If it costs me $25 to replace that widget - but I can easily source it - having $25 profit in hand NOW is better than waiting for a potential $50 in profit.

 

"FMV" is, to me, a dagger if you're selling something. If I'm selling something where I've made my profit on the item already, the selling price is essentially meaningless. I was happy to sell high grade Silver slabs to Brian for 30% off "FMV". Why? Because I already made my number on those books, my COGS on them were already accounted for, and that sale gave me a positive cash flow to purchase more widgets.

 

I said this at a small show on Sunday to a bunch of people - if you can't make money in this market selling comics, you're doing something wrong. Network, move your items, set your bottom and work off that - its pretty basic at this point. You have to understand what the market is, and that's work, and you have to understand how to price and how to market, and that's work, but at the heart of it, its just selling widgets.

 

Widgets

[VintageComics]

One things for sure, people with emotional ties to their products do not make good business decisions.

 

Oh, and STFU on your birthday.

 

 

[TheRealVenom]

My 2 cents-

 

Attended Fan expo canada again this year.

I couldn't find a single book I wanted that wasnt priced about 20% above GPA

 

Everything was overpriced. I see the comments about getting it cheaper on ebay vs the getting it in your hands without shipping and I feel its better to get it off ebay then. Most dealers I talked to weren't willing to budge on prices.

 

I understand that as a dealer you're there to make money, but you won't if you bring books you won't at least talk about a deal. Seems most dealers are content with selling the one or 2 books at above gpa and hauling the rest of their product back home.

 

I know for a fact if i ever had a booth id want to move everything. Im there to make money so i want sales. Sunday should be a firesale man. everything must go! haha

 

 

[Beastfeast]

Ya'll are such an insane wealth of knowledge

[thehumantorch]

I found that the $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 books were selling pretty good but I don't think that we sold a book over $400. We had quite a Few Slabbed books on our Back wall and I think we sold 2. I had some Slabs priced right at GPA and Others 10% over just for haggling purposes.

 

One thing that we were constantly hearing on the Last day of the show was "Chit! I didn't see you guys till now" or "I've never heard of you guys before" We had a one guy tell us that after seeing our books and prices he was immediately feeling buyers remorse from the purchases he just made 15 mins prior

 

I think the main thing that hurt us in making sales on Big Books was the fact that it was our first show and no one knew to even look for us. I guess the more shows we do the more people will get to know us, plain and simple.

 

What you say is true for many vendors like me and others here when I started set up a table 2 years ago with my buddy. Our first time was not bad and many people asked us if we are new or if we owned a store somewhere? Our profits was small. Sold a LOT of $1.00, $2.00 books at this time.

 

Now after 2 years since, we have moved up slowly with better selection and a new wall rack. We get a few returning clients. Many tell us that we give good reasonable prices, grades good, and have some wiggle room on bigger books. Seems they like what we are doing, we must be doing something right.

 

There is one I want ask you about. What about the pre-opening of con shows when only vendors/dealers are checking other tables to seek good deals? Among dealers, we have an unwritten code that a dealer should sell below FMV to allow room for a dealer to make money. Most wants ...let's say, 25%,30% or more?

 

How does the dealer handle this deal without losing money after spending $$ on a book to flip? Use an example ... let say I'd buy a ASM 50 VF 8.5 white pages for $250, half of guide value. Put it on wall rack and mark up at FMV. At a con pre-opening, another dealer spot it and wants offer $300-350 for this book. What do the selling dealer do about that? I am curious about how other dealers do themselves?

 

Forgetting about the grading option - it would have to depend on how well I knew the other dealer. If it was a guy like Robert on the boards (or others) who always gives me a great deal I'd let him have it for $350 since I made money and we have a good relationship. If it was a guy I see at a few Cons and he will probably have it on his wall for $450 10 minutes after I sell it to him I'll probably say no. I don't see Spiderman 50 VF+s at half guide ever so why leave that much meat on the bone if I probably will not see another anytime soon.

 

I'd agree with Bob to take the easy 40% and the cash in hand, let the other guy work harder to make the lower margin if they so choose. What difference does it make if you see them again or not, or if they sell the book at that same show or not? Their money still spends, and you're not doing anything sketchy ethically to get it.

 

Good post.

 

I wish more dealers would understand this. Its the reason why shows sometimes suck. The lack of simple business sense at a convention is staggering sometimes.

 

Greed just makes people stupid

 

Agree completely.

 

Had an interaction with another dealer this weekend that was very sour and it is all due to his awful business sense.

He had an NYX 3 in about 9.0 raw that I was trying to get, he said he was looking for some books and gave me a list. I took his list and went back to my booth and took the time to pull a small pile of books on his list, once I had the pile I went back to his booth.

His sticker was $500, mine totalled $200. I told him I am aware he is trading down, so I asked him how much cash he wanted as a part of this trade/cash deal we were working on.

To me this is a simple transaction and any dealer with some business sense could come up with a dollar figure within 30 seconds and we would complete the deal. Instead he decided to pick up his phone and make a call that took several minutes. Frustrated I walk back to my booth.

30 minutes later the deal is still not done, walking back and forth between our booths to find he doesn't want to do the trade/partial cash deal. He asks how much for my stack of books I say $150 to which he scoffs "to much!". I walk back to my booth totally annoyed at the wasted time and grab some cash and go back to give him the full asking price. Apparently in the 30 seconds I was gone he claimed he sold it to another dealer. I note the book is still in his booth, so I guess the other dealer had to go get his cash or something.

 

I had some choice words for him, for the complete waste of time. I will never deal with him again. His behavior is very rude and I can not believe he sold the book to someone else while we were in the process of negotiating.

 

I know what really happened, he decided to keep the book so he can re-price it at his absolutely astronomical prices.

 

GPA for a NYX 3 9.6 is running around $500 so I think he did you a favor. I'm sure there would be someone willing to sell you a raw 9.0ish copy for $300 - $350 if you posted it up in the WTB thread. Just saying.

 

But I 100% agree he sounds like he was jerking you around and I'd not go back to them again.

 

The price was Canadian, so while it was high like every book he had, it wasn't crazy high. There is another side to this story: the seller didn't have a very good show, so we were trying to help him out a little by getting a book we wanted for our booth and help him get some books he also wanted and give him a bit of a break/deal.

 

Gotcha. That's a double slap in the face since you were trying to do him a favor. Ouch.

 

We spent a couple hours working on that deal. Walked to his booth 4 or 5 times. Dug out the books he wanted. The NYX 3 also included #1,2 4 so a little more value than just #3. This dealer is also just a pain in the butt, always wants our stuff at dirt cheap prices and won't budge on his stuff. When he wants something I know it will be difficult and he'll offer less than I'm willing to sell it for and he won't reciprocate when I want to buy something of his. He even got in a fight at the last show when he parked in the only loading dock well before the show ended and then refused to move for 5 minutes when another dealer needed the dock to move out a heavy machine that couldn't be moved out any other way. Police were called sigh.

[entalmighty1]

Since most folks are talking about dealers not budging on price, I figured I'd chime in and say that I've experienced almost the exact opposite, with a couple exceptions.

 

Almost every con I've attended in person I've been able to come away with books from reputable dealers (some have a board presence, some don't) at prices I was happy with. 99% of the time the dealers are very willing to come down on their prices, especially when carrying cash, and even moreso when you're making a multiple book purchase.

 

My local con is next month, so I'll try to remember to report back with successes (or failures).

[thehumantorch]

My 2 cents-

 

Attended Fan expo canada again this year.

I couldn't find a single book I wanted that wasnt priced about 20% above GPA

 

Everything was overpriced. I see the comments about getting it cheaper on ebay vs the getting it in your hands without shipping and I feel its better to get it off ebay then. Most dealers I talked to weren't willing to budge on prices.

 

I understand that as a dealer you're there to make money, but you won't if you bring books you won't at least talk about a deal. Seems most dealers are content with selling the one or 2 books at above gpa and hauling the rest of their product back home.

 

I know for a fact if i ever had a booth id want to move everything. Im there to make money so i want sales. Sunday should be a firesale man. everything must go! haha

 

Are you factoring in the exchange rate? Shipping cost, GST and GST collection fee?

 

If I buy a graded book off ebay for $1000 us$, add $25 us$ for shipping, $50 cnd$ for GST and $10 cnd$ for Canada Post collection fee and I'm at $1440 cnd$.

[KPR Comics]

That is conveniently forgotten by those who claim everything is overpriced

[THE_BEYONDER]

One things for sure, people with emotional ties to their products do not make good business decisions.

 

Oh, and STFU on your birthday.

 

 

Waiting patiently by the door for my present.....

[blazingbob]

Because as you know the dealer is responsible for that countries Central Bank exchange rate.

 

 

[TheRealVenom]

My 2 cents-

 

Attended Fan expo canada again this year.

I couldn't find a single book I wanted that wasnt priced about 20% above GPA

 

Everything was overpriced. I see the comments about getting it cheaper on ebay vs the getting it in your hands without shipping and I feel its better to get it off ebay then. Most dealers I talked to weren't willing to budge on prices.

 

I understand that as a dealer you're there to make money, but you won't if you bring books you won't at least talk about a deal. Seems most dealers are content with selling the one or 2 books at above gpa and hauling the rest of their product back home.

 

I know for a fact if i ever had a booth id want to move everything. Im there to make money so i want sales. Sunday should be a firesale man. everything must go! haha

 

Are you factoring in the exchange rate? Shipping cost, GST and GST collection fee?

 

If I buy a graded book off ebay for $1000 us$, add $25 us$ for shipping, $50 cnd$ for GST and $10 cnd$ for Canada Post collection fee and I'm at $1440 cnd$.

 

 

That 1000$ USD priced ebay book was priced at 1700 at fan expo. It was really out of control.

 

Saw a legends #3 raw book. around a 9.2 with a 150$ price tag on it haha

Saw a batman adventures 12 cgc 8.5 with a 1200$ price tag. crazy.

 

Also just want to pipe in with, when Im at a con I dress to feel comfortable, shorts t mess back pack. Dont judge me when I ask to see a top shelf book! Sure I probably looked a little bummy but the 8K in cash in my pocket probably would have looked really good to you.

 

So many dealers couldnt even be bothered to take a book down for me.

[romanheart]

My 2 cents-

 

Attended Fan expo canada again this year.

I couldn't find a single book I wanted that wasnt priced about 20% above GPA

 

Everything was overpriced. I see the comments about getting it cheaper on ebay vs the getting it in your hands without shipping and I feel its better to get it off ebay then. Most dealers I talked to weren't willing to budge on prices.

 

I understand that as a dealer you're there to make money, but you won't if you bring books you won't at least talk about a deal. Seems most dealers are content with selling the one or 2 books at above gpa and hauling the rest of their product back home.

 

I know for a fact if i ever had a booth id want to move everything. Im there to make money so i want sales. Sunday should be a firesale man. everything must go! haha

 

 

I think they were budging on prices. The questions for me were

1) did you actually want that collectible?

and 2) did it make sense to buy it given its' grade regardless if it was price adjusted or not?

 

Usually hot books go on sale at the big cons. The small ones will help fill your back issues.

 

There were dealers who doubled their prices and overgraded their material badly. No doubt about it.

[Silver Surfer]

It is important to separate yourself from "collectible" when you are selling comics. View them as widgets. If I purchase a widget for $1 and sell that widget for $50 even though others are selling that widget for $75, I'm making profit. If it costs me $25 to replace that widget - but I can easily source it - having $25 profit in hand NOW is better than waiting for a potential $50 in profit.

 

"FMV" is, to me, a dagger if you're selling something. If I'm selling something where I've made my profit on the item already, the selling price is essentially meaningless. I was happy to sell high grade Silver slabs to Brian for 30% off "FMV". Why? Because I already made my number on those books, my COGS on them were already accounted for, and that sale gave me a positive cash flow to purchase more widgets.

 

I said this at a small show on Sunday to a bunch of people - if you can't make money in this market selling comics, you're doing something wrong. Network, move your items, set your bottom and work off that - its pretty basic at this point. You have to understand what the market is, and that's work, and you have to understand how to price and how to market, and that's work, but at the heart of it, its just selling widgets.

 

I call BS, Dan. Then why won't you sell me your FF widgets?

[Iceman399]

My 2 cents-

 

Attended Fan expo canada again this year.

I couldn't find a single book I wanted that wasnt priced about 20% above GPA

 

Everything was overpriced. I see the comments about getting it cheaper on ebay vs the getting it in your hands without shipping and I feel its better to get it off ebay then. Most dealers I talked to weren't willing to budge on prices.

 

I understand that as a dealer you're there to make money, but you won't if you bring books you won't at least talk about a deal. Seems most dealers are content with selling the one or 2 books at above gpa and hauling the rest of their product back home.

 

I know for a fact if i ever had a booth id want to move everything. Im there to make money so i want sales. Sunday should be a firesale man. everything must go! haha

 

Are you factoring in the exchange rate? Shipping cost, GST and GST collection fee?

 

If I buy a graded book off ebay for $1000 us$, add $25 us$ for shipping, $50 cnd$ for GST and $10 cnd$ for Canada Post collection fee and I'm at $1440 cnd$.

 

 

That 1000$ USD priced ebay book was priced at 1700 at fan expo. It was really out of control.

 

Saw a legends #3 raw book. around a 9.2 with a 150$ price tag on it haha

Saw a batman adventures 12 cgc 8.5 with a 1200$ price tag. crazy.

 

Also just want to pipe in with, when Im at a con I dress to feel comfortable, shorts t mess back pack. Dont judge me when I ask to see a top shelf book! Sure I probably looked a little bummy but the 8K in cash in my pocket probably would have looked really good to you.

 

So many dealers couldnt even be bothered to take a book down for me.

 

That's cause you didn't both to look at my books

[KPR Comics]

That's a great point about prejudging a potential customer. At one show I did a guy came to the booth about a half hour before show close. Looked like he couldn't afford the price of admission let alone comic books. He pulled at least 20 books from my boxes and asked to see a wall book. 15 minutes later he spent $700 with me. Young me might've said sorry I'm shutting down as he rolled up. Glad it was old me that day

[1Cool]

My 2 cents-

 

Attended Fan expo canada again this year.

I couldn't find a single book I wanted that wasnt priced about 20% above GPA

 

Everything was overpriced. I see the comments about getting it cheaper on ebay vs the getting it in your hands without shipping and I feel its better to get it off ebay then. Most dealers I talked to weren't willing to budge on prices.

 

I understand that as a dealer you're there to make money, but you won't if you bring books you won't at least talk about a deal. Seems most dealers are content with selling the one or 2 books at above gpa and hauling the rest of their product back home.

 

I know for a fact if i ever had a booth id want to move everything. Im there to make money so i want sales. Sunday should be a firesale man. everything must go! haha

 

 

I look forward to your upcoming sales thread where you will be blowing out key books in a firesale! I'll definitely be there with cash in hand!

[TheRealVenom]

My 2 cents-

 

Attended Fan expo canada again this year.

I couldn't find a single book I wanted that wasnt priced about 20% above GPA

 

Everything was overpriced. I see the comments about getting it cheaper on ebay vs the getting it in your hands without shipping and I feel its better to get it off ebay then. Most dealers I talked to weren't willing to budge on prices.

 

I understand that as a dealer you're there to make money, but you won't if you bring books you won't at least talk about a deal. Seems most dealers are content with selling the one or 2 books at above gpa and hauling the rest of their product back home.

 

I know for a fact if i ever had a booth id want to move everything. Im there to make money so i want sales. Sunday should be a firesale man. everything must go! haha

 

Are you factoring in the exchange rate? Shipping cost, GST and GST collection fee?

 

If I buy a graded book off ebay for $1000 us$, add $25 us$ for shipping, $50 cnd$ for GST and $10 cnd$ for Canada Post collection fee and I'm at $1440 cnd$.

 

 

That 1000$ USD priced ebay book was priced at 1700 at fan expo. It was really out of control.

 

Saw a legends #3 raw book. around a 9.2 with a 150$ price tag on it haha

Saw a batman adventures 12 cgc 8.5 with a 1200$ price tag. crazy.

 

Also just want to pipe in with, when Im at a con I dress to feel comfortable, shorts t mess back pack. Dont judge me when I ask to see a top shelf book! Sure I probably looked a little bummy but the 8K in cash in my pocket probably would have looked really good to you.

 

So many dealers couldnt even be bothered to take a book down for me.

 

That's cause you didn't both to look at my books

 

 

I couldn't find you! damn 1100 isle. I'll make it a point next year!

[revat]

That's a great point about prejudging a potential customer. At one show I did a guy came to the booth about a half hour before show close. Looked like he couldn't afford the price of admission let alone comic books. He pulled at least 20 books from my boxes and asked to see a wall book. 15 minutes later he spent $700 with me. Young me might've said sorry I'm shutting down as he rolled up. Glad it was old me that day

 

I like to wear a tuxedo then haggle over dollar books.

[jimjum12]

It is important to separate yourself from "collectible" when you are selling comics. View them as widgets. If I purchase a widget for $1 and sell that widget for $50 even though others are selling that widget for $75, I'm making profit. If it costs me $25 to replace that widget - but I can easily source it - having $25 profit in hand NOW is better than waiting for a potential $50 in profit.

 

"FMV" is, to me, a dagger if you're selling something. If I'm selling something where I've made my profit on the item already, the selling price is essentially meaningless. I was happy to sell high grade Silver slabs to Brian for 30% off "FMV". Why? Because I already made my number on those books, my COGS on them were already accounted for, and that sale gave me a positive cash flow to purchase more widgets.

 

I said this at a small show on Sunday to a bunch of people - if you can't make money in this market selling comics, you're doing something wrong. Network, move your items, set your bottom and work off that - its pretty basic at this point. You have to understand what the market is, and that's work, and you have to understand how to price and how to market, and that's work, but at the heart of it, its just selling widgets.

 

I call BS, Dan. Then why won't you sell me your FF widgets?

 

 

...those aren't widgets..... they're WIDGETS GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)