Should Con dealers beat/match online prices? 3 3

[kav]

The ones I hate are the dealers that when you sell them a book its a 3.0.  Soon as it's theirs it becomes a 7.0.  

Edited February 28, 2017 by kav

[wombat]

Replace Ebay prices with GPA. Do con sellers think they should get a premium over GPA?

[Junkdrawer]

There are a few books in life that I really really want and would be happy to over pay for at any outlet. I still enjoy attending a show knowing very well that the best stuff is at either Heritage, Clink or CC, but I still like to attend . Having said that, I know I am not going to likely find what I am looking for. The odds are incredibly out there and so my new focus is price...pretty much what can I buy and flip and make a buck. Its a challenge, you gotta circle the room like a vulture for hours (I normally open and close a show), you got to make and take notes, feel out the dealers, see who is there to sell books at a great price and thats the guy. There is usually just one dealer at a show who gets my money. I get the right dealer and give him all my money and I get the better deals flowin. Bundle them, package them, and make that guys show and its a win win. It also helps if you know enough about whats hot and whats not. Tryin to take his IH181, Tec359, etc etc and wanting to tell him what he will make if he ebays it isnt what I'm talkin about. A step down or 2 from the white hot eye candy and you can get deals galore with wads of hundreds. Knowing the tough stuff for them to sell and bundling it up works for me. I can usually attend a show, buy raw books, have them graded ,send them to auction and come out ahead. It often may take me a few shows to amass enough books to submit. I like the economy tier and I search for books in that 300-500 range and when I get 25 of them, they're off to CGC and then Clink. The biggest problem I face is the show itself. Some shows are just worthless. I'm not even going to attend Boston this year. Waste of time and money. Silly show of cosplay in my own back yard. I'm Happy to fly cross the USA for Terrys show, drive to Ny for a Carbo show and I'm likely going to Baltimore this year based on all the positive things I hear about it being a good buying show. I dont expect dealers to match ebay on certain books. Dealers need the hot books up on the wall to attract passers by. Lure them in and hope to sell something else. Blowing out hot wall books or even at FMV may likely result in that dealer replacing that same book for more than he just sold it for, so why bother. Knowing what to buy is so important. Avoid the IH181 and Tec359. Dont even inquire about price cause it usually wont end up as a deal.

[the blob]

There are a few books in life that I really really want and would be happy to over pay for at any outlet. I still enjoy attending a show knowing very well that the best stuff is at either Heritage, Clink or CC, but I still like to attend . Having said that, I know I am not going to likely find what I am looking for. 

---------------------

Maybe my vision is clouded because the only show I ever go to anymore is NYCC, but that place certainly has everything and more that you will find at the auction houses. Price is another issue although the reputable dealers who post here and do that show say they don't raise their prices for the show, so their best stuff is out on display at their real priced.

[1Cool]

11 hours ago, wombat said:

Replace Ebay prices with GPA. Do con sellers think they should get a premium over GPA?

Don't think I've ever sold a slab at a Con and I price my books at the 90 day GPA or possibly a smidge over to account for everyone under the sun wanting a discount at shows.  Slabs seem to be eye candy at most booths I talk to.

[1Cool]

11 hours ago, Junkdrawer said:

There are a few books in life that I really really want and would be happy to over pay for at any outlet. I still enjoy attending a show knowing very well that the best stuff is at either Heritage, Clink or CC, but I still like to attend . Having said that, I know I am not going to likely find what I am looking for. The odds are incredibly out there and so my new focus is price...pretty much what can I buy and flip and make a buck. Its a challenge, you gotta circle the room like a vulture for hours (I normally open and close a show), you got to make and take notes, feel out the dealers, see who is there to sell books at a great price and thats the guy. There is usually just one dealer at a show who gets my money. I get the right dealer and give him all my money and I get the better deals flowin. Bundle them, package them, and make that guys show and its a win win. It also helps if you know enough about whats hot and whats not. Tryin to take his IH181, Tec359, etc etc and wanting to tell him what he will make if he ebays it isnt what I'm talkin about. A step down or 2 from the white hot eye candy and you can get deals galore with wads of hundreds. Knowing the tough stuff for them to sell and bundling it up works for me. I can usually attend a show, buy raw books, have them graded ,send them to auction and come out ahead. It often may take me a few shows to amass enough books to submit. I like the economy tier and I search for books in that 300-500 range and when I get 25 of them, they're off to CGC and then Clink. The biggest problem I face is the show itself. Some shows are just worthless. I'm not even going to attend Boston this year. Waste of time and money. Silly show of cosplay in my own back yard. I'm Happy to fly cross the USA for Terrys show, drive to Ny for a Carbo show and I'm likely going to Baltimore this year based on all the positive things I hear about it being a good buying show. I dont expect dealers to match ebay on certain books. Dealers need the hot books up on the wall to attract passers by. Lure them in and hope to sell something else. Blowing out hot wall books or even at FMV may likely result in that dealer replacing that same book for more than he just sold it for, so why bother. Knowing what to buy is so important. Avoid the IH181 and Tec359. Dont even inquire about price cause it usually wont end up as a deal.

Well written post.

[G.A.tor]

I don't sell online, via a website, on ebay, etc... I will occasionally sell a book from inventory to someone that inquires, but that is not my normal modus operandi...

I generally only sell "wall" books at conventions (I keep some kewl under $1000 books in the store, like Walking dead 1, or tec 359 or ASM 129, etc, but that is only for the occasional out of towner...locals tend to like to just buy new books or cheap back issues for entertainment)...

I buy books year round. I don't have a secret source to procure them under FMV...I generally get the majority of my inventory from auction houses and other dealers, and then just cycle books into my wall/con inventory as I believe they have appreciated...

My typical mark up is single digits to maybe 20% on raw bronze (just general, always exceptions)...

My price is my price, regardless of what someone else is selling for (ebay, another dealer, etc...)...I can't do anything about what I pay for a book, except wait till the market will bear the price I'm asking... and I'm ok wanting folks to purchase a like book elsewhere for cheaper, if they can...that's good for them and doesn't hurt me at all...

my model is not typical, I don't believe... I could play games and mark the books up an extra 10% (or whatever %) so that I can "discount" them that % , but that seems like a lot of work to me, and many times at a convention, I just don't have the time to constantly "negotiate", because often it is just me (my wife and son are generally there, but their vintage book knowledge is limited). I like taking my cost, putting a fair mark up on the book, and sell it for what it is marked. The resistance I encounter is that traditionally, most sellers build in some margin to discount at a con...I don't... many times the book I have for $200, is $250 elsewhere, so the "discount" is already built in....sometimes I am higher than someone else in the room, but my 4.0 might "look" better (or have better pq, or some aesthetic bonus)... sometimes I just pay too much and am just higher for no other reason... many times I am the only one in the room with certain books, and I get no resistance from consumer... just a myriad of different examples...

 

so, match ebay? my answer is a simple "no"...

[Bookery]

45 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

I don't sell online, via a website, on ebay, etc...

Your model is surprisingly close to my own.  Only I don't even do shows.  I sell here at the shop and that's pretty much it.  That may seem highly restrictive, but we're near the crossroads of I-70 and I-75 -- two of the world's busiest highways -- so we get a lot of out-of-state collectors and dealers in.  I sell stuff pretty reasonable so that a good portion of our business is to dealers... but I save on all of the hotel and table costs, so if I take less than I might get at a show, it all works out to about the same.  But I don't negotiate.  I have my own 600-page pricing guide I've put together, and I pretty much stick to it (though of course adjustments need to made on volatile books on a regular basis).  I have some customers and show promoters tell me I'd do so much better if I did shows, or put books on eBay.  But I don't know how, since my sell-through on anything halfway decent is pretty much 100%.  The only things that are hard to move, even at large discounts, are the things that are slow everywhere... Disneys, Classics, old westerns, etc.  And even then I generally move them here eventually.

There 's no trouble selling stuff.  The trick is getting to buy it.  The one thing no one has mentioned is that for every customer that wants you to match or beat an eBay price, there is a seller expecting the same thing.  "Well, this is selling for $50 an eBay, so unless you give me $50 for it I'll just sell it there".  Basically, I'm supposed to pay $50 to match the eBay price, and then turn around and sell it at $40 to beat the eBay price.  No thanks.  I grade tightly and price fairly, but that's it.  It sells when it sells.  And like G.A.tor... on the big books anyway, it's generally the same deal... tough to make much more than 10% - 20%, so really there's no choice in the matter.

[chrisco37]

Glad to see a post from you!  

[the blob]

2 hours ago, G.A.tor said:

I don't sell online, via a website, on ebay, etc... I will occasionally sell a book from inventory to someone that inquires, but that is not my normal modus operandi...

I generally only sell "wall" books at conventions (I keep some kewl under $1000 books in the store, like Walking dead 1, or tec 359 or ASM 129, etc, but that is only for the occasional out of towner...locals tend to like to just buy new books or cheap back issues for entertainment)...

I buy books year round. I don't have a secret source to procure them under FMV...I generally get the majority of my inventory from auction houses and other dealers, and then just cycle books into my wall/con inventory as I believe they have appreciated...

My typical mark up is single digits to maybe 20% on raw bronze (just general, always exceptions)...

My price is my price, regardless of what someone else is selling for (ebay, another dealer, etc...)...I can't do anything about what I pay for a book, except wait till the market will bear the price I'm asking... and I'm ok wanting folks to purchase a like book elsewhere for cheaper, if they can...that's good for them and doesn't hurt me at all...

my model is not typical, I don't believe... I could play games and mark the books up an extra 10% (or whatever %) so that I can "discount" them that % , but that seems like a lot of work to me, and many times at a convention, I just don't have the time to constantly "negotiate", because often it is just me (my wife and son are generally there, but their vintage book knowledge is limited). I like taking my cost, putting a fair mark up on the book, and sell it for what it is marked. The resistance I encounter is that traditionally, most sellers build in some margin to discount at a con...I don't... many times the book I have for $200, is $250 elsewhere, so the "discount" is already built in....sometimes I am higher than someone else in the room, but my 4.0 might "look" better (or have better pq, or some aesthetic bonus)... sometimes I just pay too much and am just higher for no other reason... many times I am the only one in the room with certain books, and I get no resistance from consumer... just a myriad of different examples...

 

so, match ebay? my answer is a simple "no"...

Don't you have some heavy duty books in inventory?  For real, you only sell them at shows and rarely through your brick & mortar, you have no web presence?

[the blob]

Bookery: Your model is surprisingly close to my own.  Only I don't even do shows.  I sell here at the shop and that's pretty much it.  

-------

But you do advertise your recently acquired high end items on your facebook page, so while you're not quite selling them through that venue, you're not totally using 1970s selling techniques...

[STORMSHADOW_80]

Coming from a collector's stand point. When I got to shows I mainly buy books for my personal collection. Most of my graded books I submit myself so it's important I find nice copies. Like others have said, I don't mind paying a little over ebay prices if I'm able to look at a KEY raw book in person. For filler books that's a different story. Those should be at ebay prices or below imo.

Where I do have a problem is paying a high end graded cost on a book that is not actually graded. Sometimes you would end up paying twice as much (or more) as opposed to buying it graded already.

[G.A.tor]

2 hours ago, the blob said:

Don't you have some heavy duty books in inventory?  For real, you only sell them at shows and rarely through your brick & mortar, you have no web presence?

Correct. I don't typically sell any of my convention stock online or in the store. Just sell it at the 6-8 shows I do a year. Rest of the time they just sit in boxes. 

[Sqeggs]

1 hour ago, G.A.tor said:

3 hours ago, the blob said:

Don't you have some heavy duty books in inventory?  For real, you only sell them at shows and rarely through your brick & mortar, you have no web presence?

Correct. I don't typically sell any of my convention stock online or in the store. Just sell it at the 6-8 shows I do a year. Rest of the time they just sit in boxes. 

Don't they gain weight and lose muscle tone?  

[G.A.tor]

1 hour ago, Sqeggs said:

Don't they gain weight and lose muscle tone?  

No, but hopefully they appreciate 

[Comicdey]

I buy wall books all the time ?

[VintageComics]

On 2017-02-26 at 3:32 PM, Knightsofold said:

As buyers, should we expect dealers at cons to beat or at least match ebay auction house buy it nows?  

Do the table/travel fees = about the same as the % from ebay/paypal, auction houses etc?

I'm fine negotiating, but I don't like pointing out I can buy the same graded book cheaper online.

Should? No.

Will they? Maybe. Not all of them.

There's something to be said for seeing a book in hand and walking home with it with little to no risk.

You also can't compare online books to seeing a book in hand for inspect flaws.

Some dealers will hold for their price regardless of what is available out there.

Bottom line? It's a relatively free market and there are no hard and fast rules except for supply and demand.

[the blob]

It's funny, once upon a time I looked at wall books all the time, even bought some, but that was like 2001 or before.. now they are regularly tagged at multiples of their FMV.  I negotiate, but nobody is cutting the price 70%.

[the blob]

15 hours ago, G.A.tor said:

Correct. I don't typically sell any of my convention stock online or in the store. Just sell it at the 6-8 shows I do a year. Rest of the time they just sit in boxes. 

Obviously your method pays the bills just fine, but aren't you tying up a lot of capital this way or do you feel these are bluechips where time is your friend?  

[VintageComics]

18 minutes ago, the blob said:

Obviously your method pays the bills just fine, but aren't you tying up a lot of capital this way or do you feel these are bluechips where time is your friend?  

If you don't need capital there's not a reason to be in a hurry to sell.