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

[Zapp Comics]

Great Thread!

 

[nocutename]

Interesting analysis. With tons of sales data instantly at people's fingertips nowadays, the days of dealers inflating the prices of books over market value are pretty much over. As a semi-regular con goer, I expect to pay prices that are less than I can find on eBay. The advantages to the buyer are obvious, but the seller doesn't have to pay eBay fees and the books don't have to survive the USPS torture chamber before getting into the hands of the buyer. Also, cash transactions incur no Paypal or CC fees.

 

These are reasons that I expect to pay a little MORE as a buyer at a con. Having a book in hand and being able to walk off with it immediately after the purchase are why con purchases should cost a bit more. You actually get better opportunities to purchase books you know you will be happy with, and instant gratification to boot. If you expect to get all that at a discount I think you're being a little unrealistic.

 

It costs dealers more to set up at a con than it does to sell online. That, plus giving up an entire weekend when they could be doing something else, or nothing at all. That costs money too.

 

As for the guy selling POPs at comic shows, their gross sales may look great, but they are also paying something like $6-7 wholesale to sell them at $10. Margins are very low, so if they are paying $600 for a booth, and then having to run a trailer to get all of them there, plus hotel/gas/food/etc they can't be making a whole lot of profit.

 

He is local and I think he said he just uses a buddies pick up truck with tarps so his $200 one booth set up fees are his only fees. He did say his exclusives (not even sure what exactly that is ) are where the money is at. I'm assuming he buys a case and gets a couple rare ones in the batch?

 

I don't know if this happened in your con but in NYC one, they charge a few bucks over retails, I believe. I am not a Pops collector but wanted the Nightwing one. I didn't realize I had a store literally 7 minutes away from me that is the "King of Pops". I paid 12 bucks for him and that was 2 years ago.

 

Not to plug this podcast but this one particular show is about Pops. I didn't even know this was a growing collector's area until I listened to it. The exclusives come in monthly subscriptions. They are even "vaulting" single characters from a set. Here's the podcast link - http://comicspodcasts.com/2016/06/29/my-comic-shop-history-2-5-king-of-pops/

[namisgr]

I've learned something also.

 

There are some guys who leave money on the bone.

 

Then there are guys who determine the discount based on what size bone it is.

 

I knew money didn't grow on trees, but am shocked to learn that it grows on the bone.

[comicdonna]

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 used to be that way with little kids, until the one day a kid who looked to be about 6 took $25 out of his pocket to buy one of my more modest wall books.

 

my best story about a younger buyer was at con a few years ago...he was fairly sharp, probably 14-15, came to our booth (by himself) and wanted to look at af15's...at the time, I had at least a half dozen copies on the racks and he wanted to see the best I had (6.0 at time)... it was a $18K copy at the time... he proceeded to compare to the 15K 5.0 and the 10K 4.0, etc...commenting on various comparative flaws, etc...he asked what my best price was, and I Think I said 17,500, but that I really didn't discount af15s (even then)... he said that was fair and would be back shortly to buy it... wasn't sure if he was serious or not, but did appreciate his enthusiasm and knowledge....

 

about 20 minutes later, he returns with his dad...his dad goes on to explain that a couple of dealers wouldn't even give his son the time of day when he inquired about af15's, but appreciated that I had not only engaged with him, but treated him as a "real" buyer....

 

father handed me 180 $100 bills (didn't even want the $500 discount)... that was a pretty cool dealio

Nice story.

[nocutename]

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 used to be that way with little kids, until the one day a kid who looked to be about 6 took $25 out of his pocket to buy one of my more modest wall books.

 

my best story about a younger buyer was at con a few years ago...he was fairly sharp, probably 14-15, came to our booth (by himself) and wanted to look at af15's...at the time, I had at least a half dozen copies on the racks and he wanted to see the best I had (6.0 at time)... it was a $18K copy at the time... he proceeded to compare to the 15K 5.0 and the 10K 4.0, etc...commenting on various comparative flaws, etc...he asked what my best price was, and I Think I said 17,500, but that I really didn't discount af15s (even then)... he said that was fair and would be back shortly to buy it... wasn't sure if he was serious or not, but did appreciate his enthusiasm and knowledge....

 

about 20 minutes later, he returns with his dad...his dad goes on to explain that a couple of dealers wouldn't even give his son the time of day when he inquired about af15's, but appreciated that I had not only engaged with him, but treated him as a "real" buyer....

 

father handed me 180 $100 bills (didn't even want the $500 discount)... that was a pretty cool dealio

Nice story.

 

Agreed. Nice story. I took me so long to get to the end of this thread. These type of thread reminds me of the good 'olde days on this forum.