First convention purchase 1 1

[jas1vans]

I went to the Milwaukee Comic Con to see what it was like, hoping to find a few books for the collection. I made a lap around, checking out all the comic vendors. I tried to stick to a short list; 12 unlikely books and 20 that I thought were more realistic. First time at a con and I didn't want to get bogged down trying to get everything. I picked a vendor that had more on my list than the rest and bought 6 books (priced $20, $20, $35, $35, $35, $80) for $175.

I feel that I could have gotten some nicer books for less. I questioned the $80 book and got a reply of "Well the graders must have..." and he trailed off as he walked away to total everything up. I'm not complaining about the purchase. I went there to buy, got my first con experience, and got some books I want for the PC. Is this kind of par for the course at a con? Pump the prices a little to make up for gas, hauling longboxes in, etc?

[KingOfRulers]

Nice books!

It's difficult to determine if I'd consider your purchase to be a good deal or not. But my general inclination is that you paid high on them, assuming generally mid grade books. But that doesn't matter too much. They are cool books either way. Furthermore, you got experience. We've all paid more for books than we should have at some point. It takes time/experience to understand the market and all the in's and outs of things.

I hope you enjoyed the convention and enjoy the books!

[boomtown]

Most of those books present pretty nicely VF+/-, but yeah you payed the Comic Con premium on them. Not sure which of those books would go for $80, but it was certainly over priced. Personally, I prefer buying online, with nice large, clean scans, where I can judge a grade and do some comparison shopping. If you enjoyed the convention experience, that's not a bad price for an afternoons entertainment.

[The Commissioner]

Those books are cool. Personally I believe that if you enjoyed yourself and got some books for the personal collection that you wanted, that's really all that matters.

[bronze_rules]

On 2/12/2023 at 1:13 PM, jas1vans said:

I went to the Milwaukee Comic Con to see what it was like, hoping to find a few books for the collection. I made a lap around, checking out all the comic vendors. I tried to stick to a short list; 12 unlikely books and 20 that I thought were more realistic. First time at a con and I didn't want to get bogged down trying to get everything. I picked a vendor that had more on my list than the rest and bought 6 books (priced $20, $20, $35, $35, $35, $80) for $175.

I feel that I could have gotten some nicer books for less. I questioned the $80 book and got a reply of "Well the graders must have..." and he trailed off as he walked away to total everything up. I'm not complaining about the purchase. I went there to buy, got my first con experience, and got some books I want for the PC. Is this kind of par for the course at a con? Pump the prices a little to make up for gas, hauling longboxes in, etc?

Always loved the SM 16 cover.

[D2]

On 2/12/2023 at 5:05 PM, KingOfRulers said:

Nice books!

It's difficult to determine if I'd consider your purchase to be a good deal or not. But my general inclination is that you paid high on them, assuming generally mid grade books. But that doesn't matter too much. They are cool books either way. Furthermore, you got experience. We've all paid more for books than we should have at some point. It takes time/experience to understand the market and all the in's and outs of things.

I hope you enjoyed the convention and enjoy the books!

On target 

[Stefan_W]

Hard to get the best deals when vendors are trying to recover table fees for a given con. I will echo what others have said - the books look pretty good, and if you are happy with them then all good. At those price points if it is an overpay it is not a massive one. 

[Gaard]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:47 AM, Stefan_W said:

Hard to get the best deals when vendors are trying to recover table fees for a given con. I will echo what others have said - the books look pretty good, and if you are happy with them then all good. At those price points if it is an overpay it is not a massive one. 

+1

It's not free to have a booth at a convention. The dealers need to make their money back some how to justify being there. How do you think they do that?

[1Cool]

Which book was $80 - I'm assuming it was the 2nd Sub-Mariner book but which one was so much of a premium?  And what possibly could the end of his statement have been?  The graders must have had it as a high grade?

[Gaard]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:52 AM, 1Cool said:

Which book was $80 - I'm assuming it was the 2nd Sub-Mariner book but which one was so much of a premium?  And what possibly could the end of his statement have been?  The graders must have had it as a high grade?

The OP must've been dealing with someone other than the dealer himself. It isn't normal, is it, for a dealer to have someone else grade his books ... as these weren't CGC books (unless the op cracked them all out, but then he definitely overpaid).

[Robot Man]

I much prefer buying at Cons. You can hold the book, negotiate, and buy or pass. If you want it, buy it. If not, move on. There are ALWAYS deals at cons. You just have to dig and work at it. And know what you are doing.

Auctions are just for the people who pay the most.

Glad you found some books you like! 

[jas1vans]

On 2/13/2023 at 7:52 AM, 1Cool said:

Which book was $80 - I'm assuming it was the 2nd Sub-Mariner book but which one was so much of a premium?  And what possibly could the end of his statement have been?  The graders must have had it as a high grade?

 

On 2/13/2023 at 8:13 AM, Gaard said:

The OP must've been dealing with someone other than the dealer himself. It isn't normal, is it, for a dealer to have someone else grade his books ... as these weren't CGC books (unless the op cracked them all out, but then he definitely overpaid).

The Sub-Mariner 21 was $80. It seemed like the dealer was the one running the tables. He'd been getting chewed over prices and I wasn't there to continue doing that. I was there to buy some books, experience my first con, and see if I could find a value on a book I'm certain I gave a fair offer on f-bay. I asked about a book I knew was overpriced and let him decide how he wanted to handle it. If he'd have been more flexible, he would have gotten more money. There were a couple books on his wall I would have talked myself into buying.

[jas1vans]

On 2/13/2023 at 10:38 AM, Robot Man said:

I much prefer buying at Cons. You can hold the book, negotiate, and buy or pass. If you want it, buy it. If not, move on. There are ALWAYS deals at cons. You just have to dig and work at it. And know what you are doing.

Auctions are just for the people who pay the most.

Glad you found some books you like! 

I liked being able to hold and look at the books too. I'm terrible at looking head on and seeing what's really there.

Learning what I am doing was one of the main factors. The boards are a tremendous resource, and I am very appreciative of all the advice shared, but going in and making a decision was what I wanted to accomplish. If the decision was a mistake (cost wise, not a chance on the books), great. I have never, ever learned anything by being right.

[Tec-Tac-Toe]

I have not been to a convention in a great many years but as with any other venue you may be able to find a higher grade copy of an issue for less from one dealer than another is asking for a lower grade copy; well, at least many years ago that was possible. As mentioned by other posters, it does take work to find such if it is available as I would typically show up before the doors opened and not depart until the bitter end each day, visiting every dealer.

[KingOfRulers]

On 2/13/2023 at 12:00 PM, jas1vans said:

I liked being able to hold and look at the books too. I'm terrible at looking head on and seeing what's really there.

Learning what I am doing was one of the main factors. The boards are a tremendous resource, and I am very appreciative of all the advice shared, but going in and making a decision was what I wanted to accomplish. If the decision was a mistake (cost wise, not a chance on the books), great. I have never, ever learned anything by being right.

I'm at the point where I pretty much only buy comics at conventions. The only time I'll buy online is if the seller is very reputable or if it is CGC graded.

I recommend doing page counts of all books that you purchase that are worth any sort of significant money to you. I've been working on a mid-grade (5.0-7.0, mostly) X-Men run for years, so often times a random Silver Age book that I'll purchase will be around $30-$50 each. I'll take each one out of the bag and do a full inspection. That's checking the grade, resto check, and a page count. There's too many books out there for even the best dealers to fully inspect each book in their inventory. Lots of books, unknowing to the dealer, might have missing pages, cut coupons, or resto. That's the real benefit of buying in-person, so take advantage.

[Lazyboy]

On 2/13/2023 at 7:47 AM, Stefan_W said:

Hard to get the best deals when vendors are trying to recover table fees for a given con. I will echo what others have said - the books look pretty good, and if you are happy with them then all good. At those price points if it is an overpay it is not a massive one. 

Or it should be hard for vendors to recover table fees when they have overpriced junk.

[jas1vans]

 

I will be updating this shortly with pics. The day following the con, I went online and purchased some books, some with scans, some without. I hadn't bought online other than fu-bay so I'm looking forward to their arrival. I got three of the same books for a side by side comparison. I spent $50 more online, but the total for both was a little less than I planned on spending at the con alone.

I received and paid the invoice yesterday, just didn't want to jinx it by mentioning it early.

[bronze_rules]

If it helps any, I would go around tables with an Overstreet guide. Things might have changed with CGC slabs and online pricing, but it certainly helped me provide a baseline for negotiating over the years. The grading part is also something to pick up, and usually most dealers will be honest and fair if you make a reasonable argument.

[1Cool]

On 2/16/2023 at 11:27 AM, jas1vans said:

 

I will be updating this shortly with pics. The day following the con, I went online and purchased some books, some with scans, some without. I hadn't bought online other than fu-bay so I'm looking forward to their arrival. I got three of the same books for a side by side comparison. I spent $50 more online, but the total for both was a little less than I planned on spending at the con alone.

I received and paid the invoice yesterday, just didn't want to jinx it by mentioning it early.

I like the commitment! You bought three of the same books that you bought at the con to check to see if the grading stacks up?  And you paid more - I like that kind of dedication!

[jas1vans]

On 2/16/2023 at 3:22 PM, 1Cool said:

I like the commitment! You bought three of the same books that you bought at the con to check to see if the grading stacks up?  And you paid more - I like that kind of dedication!

I did buy one more book than at the con. The cost of the Sub-Mariner 21 was $16 (vs. a slight drop from $80, I didn't math it out) and, at least from the scans, looks to be in much nicer condition. The MSH 28 and WMD 3 cost more but appeared to be in much nicer condition as well.