Dealers Aren’t Your Friends…! 9 9

[Robot Man]

On 9/13/2023 at 12:17 PM, greggy said:

@FlyingDonut was my friend at the Baltimore Comic Con.

Did he give YOU money? 

[FlyingDonut]

On 9/14/2023 at 10:39 AM, Robot Man said:

Did he give YOU money? 

Not directly, but absolutely.

[the blob]

On 9/14/2023 at 10:38 AM, Robot Man said:

 

I have seen mile high chuck set up at one show in NYC. I've seen him wander around buying lots of times, but at this show he had a small table set up as his base of operations probably so he had a place to stash stuff he bought, but it looked like he was selling a collection he had probably just bought locally and I think he decided he'd try to sell off some of it rather than drag it back home. Very pleasant guy one on one as I was chatting with him while my kid and his friend rummaged. And shockingly enough, the books were quite reasonable as he just put everything out for $2 or $3 a pop and had not gone through them very carefully. Pulled  ton of 10 cent cover price books. I have actually bought mail order from him many times. You do need to hunt to find a deal though and the last time I did was early covid. 

 

[the blob]

On 9/14/2023 at 6:09 PM, the blob said:

I have seen mile high chuck set up at one show in NYC. I've seen him wander around buying lots of times, but at this show he had a small table set up as his base of operations probably so he had a place to stash stuff he bought, but it looked like he was selling a collection he had probably just bought locally and I think he decided he'd try to sell off some of it rather than drag it back home. Very pleasant guy one on one as I was chatting with him while my kid and his friend rummaged. And shockingly enough, the books were quite reasonable as he just put everything out for $2 or $3 a pop and had not gone through them very carefully. Pulled  ton of 10 cent cover price books. I have actually bought mail order from him many times. You do need to hunt to find a deal though and the last time I did was early covid. 

 

Hah, just looked on the website for a book a did a little spec on Fugitoid 1, when I think he had NM copies for $8 and I bought a bunch. $83 now!!! Even with a 50% off sale..

[lizards2]

On 9/14/2023 at 3:09 PM, the blob said:

I have seen mile high chuck set up at one show in NYC. I've seen him wander around buying lots of times, but at this show he had a small table set up as his base of operations probably so he had a place to stash stuff he bought, but it looked like he was selling a collection he had probably just bought locally and I think he decided he'd try to sell off some of it rather than drag it back home. Very pleasant guy one on one as I was chatting with him while my kid and his friend rummaged. And shockingly enough, the books were quite reasonable as he just put everything out for $2 or $3 a pop and had not gone through them very carefully. Pulled  ton of 10 cent cover price books. I have actually bought mail order from him many times. You do need to hunt to find a deal though and the last time I did was early covid. 

 

I see what you did there. 

[the blob]

On 9/15/2023 at 1:27 PM, lizards2 said:

I see what you did there. 

Not my intent at all. I live in NYC, it is just part of the landscape here, nobody looks twice. Folks stopped paying attention years ago.

[jimbo_7071]

On 8/9/2023 at 3:12 PM, rlextherobot said:

I've met way too many sour, exploitative, abrasive comic sellers in my time to believe that those who make an effort to be friendly and cordial, even when they aren't actively making a sale, are 'faking it'. There's a weirdly cynical attitude in the belief that being conversational or approachable is some kind of trick to disarm customers and make them more likely to buy from you at your price - its part of salesmanship, sure, but it's also just ensuring that your potential buyer feels at ease and has a good time at your booth or store. 

I am convinced that some comic/coin/card/antiques dealers gravitate to the profession because they don't have the social skills to succeed in more ordinary work environments. That doesn't characterize all dealers, but people on the narcissism/ASPD/psychopathy spectrum seem to be over-represented, at least at the level of local cons.

[rlextherobot]

On 11/19/2023 at 6:31 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

I am convinced that some comic/coin/card/antiques dealers gravitate to the profession because they don't have the social skills to succeed in more ordinary work environments. That doesn't characterize all dealers, but people on the narcissism/ASPD/psychopathy spectrum seem to be over-represented, at least at the level of local cons.

There's one seller who is at the larger local shows who acts mad after he works out a deal with you. My first encounter with him, I gave what I thought was a fair opening offer for a few books, we went back and forth a few times, and when we settled on a price, he huffed and puffed and acted like I was breaking his balls but he had no choice but to give me the comics at the price we had settled on, seething and muttering under his breath and stamping around. I've seen people use mock anger and outrage as a negotiation tactic as they try to bully a buyer, but this was AFTER the deal was done. I was taken aback enough that I asked a few other folks, and they confirmed this was his normal pattern of behavior. Just bizarre. 

[Ryan.]

On 11/19/2023 at 9:31 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

people on the narcissism/ASPD/psychopathy spectrum seem to be over-represented, at least at the level of local cons.

@GACollectibles?

[Ken Aldred]

On 11/20/2023 at 2:31 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

I am convinced that some comic/coin/card/antiques dealers gravitate to the profession because they don't have the social skills to succeed in more ordinary work environments. That doesn't characterize all dealers, but people on the narcissism/ASPD/psychopathy spectrum seem to be over-represented, at least at the level of local cons.

I’ve found some dealers, shop owners and employees to have treated me well and looked after me, but there’s also been a lot of contempt and disrespect.

Very rude and aggressive behaviour, the implication that you’re a dependent cash cow and they can say or do anything, get away with it, and still have you return each week for more. Attempting to boss you into buying expensive books that you’ve never actually expressed any interest in whatsoever, and then having screaming, infantile hissy fits when you don’t comply.  One of my most disheartening experiences over here was a dealer making ignorant comments about the severity of my autism the first second he spoke to me. ‘You have mild autism.’, when it’s actually been diagnosed as disabling.  But, I suppose a comics dealer knows more about assessing that than does a GP or psychiatrist.  In addition, one of his partners and their wife had an irritating habit of talking to me all the time in a tone which would insult someone with the IQ of a 3-year-old. This abusive or condescending behaviour and enablement from both persisted throughout every subsequent interaction, and little wonder that I distanced myself and bought very, very little from them.  They seemed a bit frustrated at that, but surely individuals so intellectually and socially superior to me should be able to at least predict the possibility of a negative outcome.

I’ve also posted previously about my experiences in a local store, especially quite a bit of obnoxious staff contempt, and the manager facing me down, physically assaulting me, and, in effect, applying extortion-like behaviour because I hadn’t been spending enough, or ‘anything’, in their opinion.

I also recall my last visit to central London in 2014, where I bought a nice range of books from a shop there, Orbital Comics; an EC Weird Science Archive Vol 4, Moebius’ Incal, and a modern Harbinger collection. I was really impressed with the store, phoned them up to compliment them, and while talking to their employee about my purchases, and while mentioning the Harbinger volume, I could hear him sniggering away. After the call, I thought to myself, why do I even bother wasting my time, putting myself out travelling, and buying from people like you? 
 

So, the stores I was happy with for years, staffed with helpful, thoughtful, respectful people, have shut up shop, and, cumulatively, these many other negative experiences, and the emergence of digital comics, have led me to distance myself comfortably from the various physical sources and from having to put up with any of this.

I agree with you, from my many observations over the last four-or-so decades, that there’s been an awful lot of socially handicapped behaviour inflicted by the neurotypical population in our hobby, and perhaps there should be less contempt and condescension and more respect shown to neurodivergent individuals like myself. It’s possible that you might encounter the extremes of antisocial behaviour disorder, but, at the very least, some of these perpetrators are flattering themselves that they’re social paradigms.

I hope my descriptions have been sufficiently articulate, despite my shortcomings.  After all, one well-known British dealer once said to me…

’Only mental defectives like you collect comic books.’

As a collector himself, that was really intelligent, and sad.

Edited November 20, 2023 by Ken Aldred

[GACollectibles]

On 11/20/2023 at 6:31 AM, Ryan. said:

On 11/19/2023 at 9:31 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

people on the narcissism/ASPD/psychopathy spectrum seem to be over-represented, at least at the level of local cons.

@GACollectibles?

[Robot Man]

Had a discussion with some collecting buddies yesterday about the attitudes of comic and toy dealers who have been doing this for many decades. It was a concensus that the longer one does it the more jaded one becomes.

We all threw out names who we all agreed upon. Had a good laugh about it. 

I have sold collectibles for a LONG time. I don’t consider myself bitter or jaded but I have seen and heard just about everything. I can see how if you don’t have a good attitude, you can become a little cray cray…

 

[batman_fan]

There was this guy named Mike (can't remember his last name) that worked at All About Books and Comics in Phoenix, AZ.  I would usually stop by every couple week and bought frequently.  Mike said he could contact me if they got anything interesting in so I gave him my pager number (cell phones were just starting).  I picked up a bunch from him what I considered a very reasonable price. Mike also took me and a bunch of friends to the premier of Batman 3. It was a pretty good time. 

[JC25427N]

I have the opposite problem, I keep asking my friends to be my dealer

[FigaroToe]

My experience with Con dealers has been pretty good. The only issue I ever had was one curmudgeon got pissed at me for picking the comics up out of the long boxes and inspecting them in the mylar, and then putting them back if it's not the quality I wanted. Dude, do you expect me to just buy every single comic I pulled up? His son was working the booth too and spent the majority of the time apologizing for his dad LOL

[lizards2]

On 11/20/2023 at 8:17 AM, Robot Man said:

Had a discussion with some collecting buddies yesterday about the attitudes of comic and toy dealers who have been doing this for many decades. It was a concensus that the longer one does it the more jaded one becomes.

We all threw out names who we all agreed upon. Had a good laugh about it. 

I have sold collectibles for a LONG time. I don’t consider myself bitter or jaded but I have seen and heard just about everything. I can see how if you don’t have a good attitude, you can become a little cray cray…

 

I remember the clientele in the last comic shop I frequented - they cured me of ever wanting to own my own comic shop. I remain friends with the owner, who somehow remained a nice guy.