Offers on comics through Metropolis

[FFB]

Didn't you learn your lesson last time you accused Metro of poor grading?

 

What lesson would that be? I've had similar experiences as well. (although I didn't turn into Hulk and SMASH)

 

Me too. But I don't pretend to have had more bad experiences with Metro than I've actually had just to make them look bad, unlike one particular Canadian poster we all know and love.

[The Black Hand ®]

To be fair, Steve sent me the invoice which showed I bought two Peps in that order. A G+ Pep 45 and a G- Pep 49 which would bare Steve out. But at the time that Steve interjected, I had said nothing about the grad, so I find it a tad sensitive on his part. Still, my apologies on the misunderstanding. Now Grade this Pep that I bought from Met.

[thedude]

To be fair, Steve sent me the invoice which showed I bought two Peps in that order. A G+ Pep 45 and a G- Pep 49 which would bare Steve out. But at the time that Steve interjected, I had said nothing about the grad, so I find it a tad sensitive on his part. Still, my apologies on the misunderstanding. Now Grade this Pep that I bought from Met.

 

VF 8.0

[The Black Hand ®]

To be fair, Steve sent me the invoice which showed I bought two Peps in that order. A G+ Pep 45 and a G- Pep 49 which would bare Steve out. But at the time that Steve interjected, I had said nothing about the grad, so I find it a tad sensitive on his part. Still, my apologies on the misunderstanding. Now Grade this Pep that I bought from Met.

 

VF 8.0

 

I can't remember, maybe Steve still has the invoice?

[jbud73]

The last page and a half of this thread really puzzles me. Here is what I learned about Metro in my experience.

 

- They don't offer scans under $500

 

- Vinnie HAS offered to look at books if requested by board members.

 

- They have a no hassle refund policy, though you have to pay the shipping.

 

Know these things before you deal with them and decide whether you want to do so or not. If you are buying a book where there price of shipping might not be worth the return then maybe with no scan and sometimes spotty grading you are better off elsewhere, the trick is for the PEP books you mentioned who else HAS the book? <crickets chirping>

 

I don't agree with some of Metro's policies so I don't buy non-CGC books under $500 off of them - so they have their policy, the key is to formulate yours.

[Aces]

Just out of curiosity, I got this from Met a few years back,cover detached,pages tan with dark tan edges rough backcover, How would you grade it. See attachment.

 

Before I peek at an answer (if there is one)...

 

G-(1.8) at best due to GA curve.

 

1.0/1.5 if this were Hulk 2 or something else Silver.

 

The cover is creepy...

 

Why is Archie day-dreaming about a superhero guy checking out his butt?

[The Black Hand ®]

The last page and a half of this thread really puzzles me. Here is what I learned about Metro in my experience.

 

- They don't offer scans under $500

 

- Vinnie HAS offered to look at books if requested by board members.

 

- They have a no hassle refund policy, though you have to pay the shipping.

 

Know these things before you deal with them and decide whether you want to do so or not. If you are buying a book where there price of shipping might not be worth the return then maybe with no scan and sometimes spotty grading you are better off elsewhere, the trick is for the PEP books you mentioned who else HAS the book? <crickets chirping>

 

I don't agree with some of Metro's policies so I don't buy non-CGC books under $500 off of them - so they have their policy, the key is to formulate yours.

 

You listed some good points, I guess this thread got off track. I guess my advice is buy a book and see what you think, you can always send it back. And sticking with CGC'd books might be a safe way to go with any seller, particularly ebay.As far as where the Peps are, I'm sure they're around, I still manage to find them, you just have to know where to look.

[The Black Hand ®]

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cover is creepy...

 

Why is Archie day-dreaming about a superhero guy checking out his butt?

 

There's a lot we don't know about Archie. Oh yes, a whole lot.

[joe_collector]

[but I don't pretend to have had more bad experiences with Metro than I've actually had just to make them look bad, unlike one particular Canadian poster we all know and love.

 

Are we back to the "JC didn't spend that much, so he should shut his trap" argument?

 

Trust me on this, I had a list as long as my arm from Metro website that I was going to lay the hammer down on, if even half the books I initially ordered came back on-grade. I think losing that "buy list" pizzed me off more than anything.

[Thegoldenage]

I have said this before:

 

When I was buying comic books, Metropolis gave discounts WHEN THEY COULD.

 

If they had "too much" into the book, they could not give a discount, sometimes they pay very high to have the right book in their inventory. Buying is usually better than selling for most dealers. It is easy to sell low, it is much, much harder to buy low.

 

I have been friends with Vinnie for about eleven years and Steve much longer, I got a discount when they could give me one and did not get a discount when they could not.

 

Also, why should Metropolis sell a book at a discount when they might not be able to replace it for the correct amount of money. Metropolis sends out "discount" emails quite a bit these days for books that are replacable or that they do not have as much $ into.

 

That is how their business works. Like auction sites (Comiclnk, Pedigree,Heritage and others), they need to make a profit, but unlike the auction sites, they (and Highgrade, Superworld, among others) don't "show" what percntage/premium the buyer and seller are getting/giving. For all we know, it is less than the % the auction sites make.

 

Just my 2 cents...........

 

I have been buying from Metropolis for close to 20 years. In my experiences their grading is hit or miss, and I have always found that making offers usually gets you nowhere.

 

In regards to the comments that they might have too much into a book at the moment, I can recall one specific event at San Diego in 2000. The book was stickered at 3k. A buddy of mine offered 2800 for it and it was declined, with the explanation that someone was coming in within the hour to purchase the book at full sticker price. Well, the book is still on their website, some five years later, and it is now at 3600. My buddy recently contacted them and offered 3k, but that too was declined. I am not sure what the "correct" price is for that book, but it ain't been reached yet. Go figure.

 

I find that with venues such as ebay, heritage and other auction sites dominating the marketplace, dealers have become, at least for me, nearly irrelevant.

[Foolkiller]

I'll just say this about the Metro "we don't give deals" structure. It can't possibly be that they are making less than a 10% margin on their books. So, Steve, I respectfully disagree with you when they say the CAN'T give a discount. They could, but choose not to in order to stick to their business model.

 

Although Metro's inventory is fast, unfortunately, with all the growing competition, Metro is not as relevant as they used to be. They are still #1 in my opinion, though I feel that this resistence to change in their business model with the general perception they do not discount will eventually get them in trouble, as their prices are not always even close to the market. Sure, they can afford to sit on books, and that's their choice.

[metropoliscomics]

Without question, Metropolis has more discounted books on our site that most dealers have books. Outside of the discounts already listed, we are always happy to give additional discounts in certain circumstances.

 

However, there are many books that we do not discount. Books that would be difficult to replace are not discounted. Books in 9.6 are generally not discounted (and sometimes are). It all depends on the book.

 

However, it never hurts to ask.

[OldGuy]

.......as their prices are not always even close to the market.....

 

Hasn't been a problem for Mile High....

[DKB]

.......as their prices are not always even close to the market.....

 

Hasn't been a problem for Mile High....

 

Yeah, but Mile High offers 83% off sales that get their overgraded books down to only twice guide. Practically a bargain right there.

[metropoliscomics]

If you look at the massive amount of discounted books on the Metropolis site, you will note that the discounts are based on guide. Therefore, 25% off is actually 25% off guide. Not 25% off of 3.75x guide.

 

Thought I would mention that.

[Foolkiller]

Actually, I have looked. The books that are most generally discounted are books that are mid grades and low grades. This, of course, is the industry practice. Most dealers will give discounts on those grades (i.e. mid grade and below) if you ask between the 33%-50% off range.

 

Most dealers will not discount heavily on CGC books in high grade or high grade raw.

 

However, dealers with the same or lower stickers will give some sort of discount on high grade.. The question, is how flexible is Metro on books that are a little bit more desirable than common run mid grade 60s books?

 

Let me give you an example. A while back I contacted Metro about the Cap 110 CGC 9.4 they have on their site -- which is priced at $475, asking if they would consider coming down to the top price for a Boston copy was selling for, which was $350 on Comiclink. That book had not hit it's high mark, and is now part of the Comiclink auction. It hadn't even had a $350 offer, yet I was willing to pay that to Metro.

 

Also, there was a copy on Pedigree that sold around $350, and at the time, there had been a recent ebay sale around the same amount. Metro could not go any lower.

 

That's $125 (or about 33%) above the going market value for that book, a Steranko Cap.

 

Now let's breakdown the rest of the Cap market that Metro has up for sale/discount. They are offering 20-33% off on Caps that are basically found anywhere. So what the discount really means is that you can buy from Metro the same Caps that every dealer has also discounted, usually even greater. There are plenty of opportunities to buy mid grade Caps at 50% off at most major shows.

 

The question is, what kind of flexibility does Metro have on the high grade stuff, even 10% would be a nice show on Metro's part. That's a discount given out by many high grade dealers, even on their best stuff, that's often stickered lower to begin with than Metro. I've found that in dealing with, let's say Bob Storms or Harley Yee, I can get 10-20% off books graded 9.0, or 9.2 -- and the books in Bob's case are priced much closer to FMV. In Harley's case, you can often times talk him down on 9.2s and 9.0s -- and sometimes even certain 9.4s. The flexibility to negotiate does not seem present with Metro.

 

Plus, the reputation Metro's grading carries is that it is hit or miss. Thus, without a scan, and only a presence of their best material at shows, you never get a chance to inspect the books in person, thus when sales are run at 50% off, they look at the material and are concerned that the grading is not going to be accurate across the board, then they reconsider that these discounts are commonly available on low/mid grade.

 

While you may be correct that Metro has more advertised discounts than many other dealers, many dealers either have bid systems in place that are taken seriously when 20-25% off offers are made, OR they are easy to negotiate with on even their best high grade material.

[OldGuy]

.......as their prices are not always even close to the market.....

 

Hasn't been a problem for Mile High....

 

Yeah, but Mile High offers 83% off sales that get their overgraded books down to only twice guide. Practically a bargain right there.

 

 

[tth2]

However, it never hurts to ask.

I... I... I can't handle the rejection!

[shrunkenhead]

 

Let me give you an example. A while back I contacted Metro about the Cap 110 CGC 9.4 they have on their site -- which is priced at $475, asking if they would consider coming down to the top price for a Boston copy was selling for, which was $350 on Comiclink. That book had not hit it's high mark, and is now part of the Comiclink auction. It hadn't even had a $350 offer, yet I was willing to pay that to Metro.

 

Well, first off, I do think that 33% off a dealer's listed price is generally too much to expect on a big dollar book. If it's a 10 dollar book and you offer 7, ok, you've got a chance. But $125? Nah, I don't see that as realistic. I don't think that you can fairly use the argument that Metro's price isn't FMV. So what? They're not a FMV outfit. They're a retailer. They charge top dollar. That's their business. They're not ebay.

 

So I'm confused, why even try to negotiate with Metro if you can get the book at your desired price via comiclink? Is that what you ended up doing?

 

My general rule of thumb is to ask for no more than a discount of 25%, and then expect a counteroffer that's more like 15-20%. If I can't make that right in my head, then I don't even try to haggle; I just move on to the next book on my want list. It's true that there are many books on Metro's site that I want but do not buy because even at 25% off, I think they're too high. But that's certainly not true of their entire inventory, high grade stuff included. I've paid too much for some books from them (and took a significant loss on one), but some books were priced just right, and others I bought from them and flipped successfully within six months time. So it just depends.

 

I think the key here is that it's fair to expect some reciprocity if you don't jerk the dealer around. That means Metro has to bend sometimes, and the buyer needs to keep counteroffers reasonable and not wave the banner of "FMV" in the dealer's face (I'm not a dealer, but I can imagine that getting irritating REAL fast). And if somebody else is offerring the book you desire for less, it's perhaps best to just quietly go that route and make your acquisition.

[Foolkiller]

shruken:

 

Quickly, I wanted to try and give Metro the business, hence why I didn't buy it off the Link. I like Vinny and wanted to try and buy the book from Metro. Plus, factor in that I could pick up the book because they will still do shows.

 

Your rule on a discount is a good one. As I noted, I'm not looking for 33% off on high grade, but on mid grade, every dealer under the sun will discount common non key 60s and later books.

 

Believe me I understand fair reciprocity... but don't you think it's rather interesting that few people other than Steve Borock came on with the line of "they only discount when they can" to support Metro's pricing policies.

 

Y'know, I do like Vincent, so I really would rather not rip Metro, as I respect them, but their pricing does pain me sometimes, and I would love to do more business with Metro, but the mindset is just frustrating to me.