thehumantorch Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 2 minutes ago, TheFifthHorseman said: THAT is the key right there. Stack bundles. Work those deals. You know how many sellers I've tried to drop offers on MULTIPLE books and they turn me down every time. Apparently nobody wants to make a nice chunk at once. I turned down offers . I had a guy offer 50% of my sticker on a CGC graded and accurately priced Avengers 1 and when I turned him down he tried to bundle it with a Daredevil 1, also at 50% of my sticker. He seemed surprised that I'd turn down $3k for books that cost me 5K and were currently selling online for 6k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazingbob Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 2 minutes ago, thehumantorch said: I turned down offers . I had a guy offer 50% of my sticker on a CGC graded and accurately priced Avengers 1 and when I turned him down he tried to bundle it with a Daredevil 1, also at 50% of my sticker. He seemed surprised that I'd turn down $3k for books that cost me 5K and were currently selling online for 6k. Clearly you don't know what FMV is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Cool Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 40 minutes ago, blazingbob said: For that pricing model to work they all have to be the same grade, not "high grade" which could mean 8.0 to 9.6. I'd think so but other then on the boards the vast majority of people just want a high grade copy or investment grade copy. Explaining the difference between 8.5 and 9.4 gives a complexed looking response and them leaving to go find the cheaper nice looking copy in the room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFifthHorseman Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 6 minutes ago, thehumantorch said: I turned down offers . I had a guy offer 50% of my sticker on a CGC graded and accurately priced Avengers 1 and when I turned him down he tried to bundle it with a Daredevil 1, also at 50% of my sticker. He seemed surprised that I'd turn down $3k for books that cost me 5K and were currently selling online for 6k. Well that's a little ridiculous on his part I was talking more in the area of a few $75.00 books Inventory that I know has just been sitting there. thehumantorch 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Cool Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 19 minutes ago, TheFifthHorseman said: Nobody wants to INVEST in a book. If you believe in a comic or a character you should be willing to drop a little cheese on it. Otherwise nobody else will want to value it also. And then prices continue to bottom out. We're too quick to use GPA and past sales as markers of a book's value. Why not use raw emotion to drive our buying? "I want this and I am willing to pay for it." Not everything has to be a bargain. So 5 years ago thinking. People now have unlimited access and it appears unlimited time to price check everything. Emotional buying is designated to $5 print and even that will need to be checked to see if its $4 on Amazon. If you are competing with every selling in a room it's a fair fight. If you are competing with every seller in the world you need to be cheap or just have the stuff with more demand then supply (ie key hot books). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazingbob Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 3 minutes ago, 1Cool said: I'd think so but other then on the boards the vast majority of people just want a high grade copy or investment grade copy. Explaining the difference between 8.5 and 9.4 gives a complexed looking response and them leaving to go find the cheaper nice looking copy in the room. I don't even know why I bother sometimes. So I should sell my 9.2 that in guide is worth $65 because I choose to grade it for $45 because there are 3 other copies that are "High grade 8.0, 8.5, 9.0" based on your definition? Naturally the spread could be wider on a more expensive book. Larryw7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFifthHorseman Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 1 minute ago, 1Cool said: ie key hot books You're right - key books are what's driving the market right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazingbob Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 2 minutes ago, 1Cool said: So 5 years ago thinking. People now have unlimited access and it appears unlimited time to price check everything. Emotional buying is designated to $5 print and even that will need to be checked to see if its $4 on Amazon. If you are competing with every selling in a room it's a fair fight. If you are competing with every seller in the world you need to be cheap or just have the stuff with more demand then supply (ie key hot books). So how is that business advice working out? Clearly you would be the most successful dealer since you clearly have the pulse of how to sell in this market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Cool Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 1 minute ago, blazingbob said: So how is that business advice working out? Clearly you would be the most successful dealer since you clearly have the pulse of how to sell in this market. Based on my opinion you quoted I don't think it's possible to be the most successful seller unless you can find dirt cheap keys and sell them for a little less then everyone else. I have no idea how to sell to the current Con goers. People appear to be becoming more and more fickle with how they spend money so I don't have a clue on getting them to spend money other then being pactient on E-Bay and letting the sales trickle in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Images Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 52 minutes ago, 1Cool said: Great question. I find people will know there is 4 nice copies of a book (lets say X-Men 141) up for sale between $50 - $65. They will want it for $45 since the lowest price is $50 so they need 10% under that price. Never mind the actual grade of the $50 copy compared to the $65 copy but all of them are nice enough to be considered high grade so in their mind that is the price point for all the nice X-Men 141 at a show. I have seen this work both ways. I have dealt with plenty of con dealer and shop owners run to eBay look at the highest price sold/offered and use that wether it is even close in grade to what they are selling. I personally use a combination of GPA and Overstreet. I generally won't set a new GPA but if its a book I want will gladly pay GPA/FMV. If I come across a deal great. Too many "collectors" want to buy low to sell high because they are not really collectors just in it for what they think will make them rich one day. Hence the key collector market of today. jmho WoWitHurts 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazingbob Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 (edited) 8 minutes ago, 1Cool said: Based on my opinion you quoted I don't think it's possible to be the most successful seller unless you can find dirt cheap keys and sell them for a little less then everyone else. I have no idea how to sell to the current Con goers. People appear to be becoming more and more fickle with how they spend money so I don't have a clue on getting them to spend money other then being pactient on E-Bay and letting the sales trickle in. Sorry but you don't get a free pass on your business advice "If you are competing with every selling in a room it's a fair fight. If you are competing with every seller in the world you need to be cheap or just have the stuff with more demand then supply (ie key hot books)". If you are giving us advice you are not using that please state that because that is what you just said "Based on my opinion you quoted I don't think it's possible to be the most successful seller unless you can find dirt cheap keys and sell them for a little less then everyone else. I have no idea how to sell to the current Con goers. People appear to be becoming more and more fickle with how they spend money so I don't have a clue on getting them to spend money other then being pactient on E-Bay and letting the sales trickle in" I do sell to convention customers, I do sell to website shoppers. Yes there are Facebook groups and Instagram and if I had the time I would still be driving that customer base to the website which is what a lot of "companies" do. Consumers are not just throwing money around or doing repeat business with just anybody. There has to be some type of trust/relationship for that to happen. Edited November 21, 2017 by blazingbob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsilverjanet Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 31 minutes ago, TheFifthHorseman said: THAT is the key right there. Stack bundles. Work those deals. You know how many sellers I've tried to drop offers on MULTIPLE books and they turn me down every time. Apparently nobody wants to make a nice chunk at once. If someone buys multiple books from me, I give you a discount price when I give you the total even if you didn’t ask for one. I probably lose some money, but make up for it when they come back and buy more after they’ve walked the room thehumantorch, mrc and mysterio 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumantorch Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 33 minutes ago, blazingbob said: Clearly you don't know what FMV is Clearly. And dollars to doughnuts he was planning to put them on ebay and double his money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFifthHorseman Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Just now, jsilverjanet said: If someone buys multiple books from me, I give you a discount price when I give you the total even if you didn’t ask for one. I probably lose some money, but make up for it when they come back and buy more after they’ve walked the room I may have bought from you before then because someone did it once for me. I've also done it for buyers. Tbh when I sell on ebay I obviously want to make some profit (very little maybe). BUT if I can spark someone's interest in the hobby by selling them something they really enjoy, then that's a win for everybody. mysterio 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizards2 Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 2 hours ago, mysterio said: Question to @1Cool and others who expect a discount to eBay at cons. Why would you expect dealers to take a discount to FMV after hauling books across the county for you to see? I guarantee that it’s cheaper and easier for them to sell on eBay, so why expect dealers to work harder for less money? You expect less risk, more choice, AND a discount? That sense of entitlement seems to me to be part of the recipe that ends comic cons as we know/want them. I don't think it is entitlement. I can sit on my @ss at home and get great deals off the internet. Why would I want to spend time and money for travel, hotels, admission fees, elbow around a bunch of stinky comic nerds until I get a massive headache, and if I'm actually able to find something I want, pay high prices? It just doesn't make sense. For me, comic cons would make mores sense if they had comic books, but I long ago pretty much gave them up. grebal and Shadow Images 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFifthHorseman Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Just now, lizards2 said: For me, comic cons would make mores sense if they had comic books, but I long ago pretty much gave them up. Yeah I'm not too interested in t-shirts, mystery boxes, swag, retired wrestlers, or sushi dice. The cosplay is fun. We can keep that. Larryw7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Cool Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 (edited) 33 minutes ago, blazingbob said: Sorry but you don't get a free pass on your business advice "If you are competing with every selling in a room it's a fair fight. If you are competing with every seller in the world you need to be cheap or just have the stuff with more demand then supply (ie key hot books)". If you are giving us advice you are not using that please state that because that is what you just said "Based on my opinion you quoted I don't think it's possible to be the most successful seller unless you can find dirt cheap keys and sell them for a little less then everyone else. I have no idea how to sell to the current Con goers. People appear to be becoming more and more fickle with how they spend money so I don't have a clue on getting them to spend money other then being pactient on E-Bay and letting the sales trickle in" I do sell to convention customers, I do sell to website shoppers. Yes there are Facebook groups and Instagram and if I had the time I would still be driving that customer base to the website which is what a lot of "companies" do. Consumers are not just throwing money around or doing repeat business with just anybody. There has to be some type of trust/relationship for that to happen. Not sure I'd call my first quote business advice more my lamenting the fact that everyone is price checking every single purchase and comparing Con prices to E-Bay prices. I do believe you have to be cheaper or have the key books if you want to compete with every seller in the world. Do you find you can be higher priced and not have key books if you want to be successful? As a primarily E-Bay seller I find I have to accept some fairly cheap offers from time to time or risk sitting on books for a really long time. I favor cheap since finding high priced key books is not easy (as I'm sure you know). Edited November 21, 2017 by 1Cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazingbob Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Everyone is checking con prices to Ebay prices? I never check ebay prices when I buying raw books at shows. I never see my competitors checking ebay for raw purchases. Exactly how long would that take if I'm trying to buy a bunch of books? I check my database and OSPG and the condition of the book when I buy it. I also know what I can sell it for. As far as the can I be higher and not have key books to be successful how do you think many dealers started? Do you think I magically fell into my inventory. It is years and years of hard work. If I didn't have the ability to buy and turn over my inventory year after year do you think I would still be in business? This business is not entirely built on price. You can be the cheapest but if nobody knows you then so what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revat Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 7 minutes ago, 1Cool said: Not sure I'd call my first quote business advice more my lamenting the fact that everyone is price checking every single purchase and comparing Con prices to E-Bay prices. I do believe you have to be cheaper or have the key books if you want to compete with every seller in the world. Do you find you can be higher priced and not have key books if you want to be successful? As a primarily E-Bay seller I find I have to accept some fairly cheap offers from time to time or risk sitting on books for a really long time. I favor cheap since finding high priced key books is not easy (as I'm sure you know). I went to a garage sale last week. There were two long boxes of comics. Each comic was 50 cents. Another guy got there first. Dude was price checking like every other book on his phone. I finished the 1st box he already went through in about a minute. Then had to wait nearly 20 minutes for him to price check the other box. Nothing in any of the boxes was worth more than $4 on a good day, though I did get a couple of comics I wanted, yay. This is not so directly relevant, but it is frustrating, and I think goes to a mentality change which has become part of our culture. A larger portion (percentage) of our enjoyment (as a society) now comes from being sure we're getting the best possible price or the best deal. While there are ways to capitalize on that mentality, that mentality also has a cost, and some of the ways things were done before aren't so effective anymore (though some still are!). mysterio 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFifthHorseman Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 4 minutes ago, revat said: I went to a garage sale last week. There were two long boxes of comics. Each comic was 50 cents. Another guy got there first. Dude was price checking like every other book on his phone Apparently this guy had never heard "time is money" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
