Wall-Crawler

Given the change in journal format, less traffic and seeing as I have no new shows coming until the new year and collection buying is typically slower in the colder months here, seems like an appropriate time to sign off and take a break from the journal for awhile. I will still frequent the main boards and thanks to all of those who read my journal posts, commented and offered advice. I have learned a lot over a short time span and I have nothing but genuine appreciation for all of the knowledge and stories that were shared. Tyler

Mid Week

Gabe? Is that you???

Just launched an 85 book, predominantly Zenescope variant cover auction along with a few other variant and non-variant stragglers. All books start at $0.99 or $1.99. https://www.ebay.com/sch/more_fun_comics/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=&rt=nc&LH_Auction=1 Any questions, feel free to ask! Thanks!

I had "At CCS" for a bit and is now showing "received". No way they were pressed that fast (I wish)...If this is the new tracking system and not a bug, I would prefer they kept the "old way" where you could "see" what stage the books are at...

I'm not sure I would deny a sale based on the person buying my book and flipping it for some profit. That is what makes the business go around (some do it more ethically than others, yes). However, if I found out that person was misrepresenting the book, then I would have a problem. The only time I nearly refused a sale and this customer is borderline with me now, is because of his attitude. I had never had a problem with him before and at the last con, he didn't want to pay my asking price, so we negotiated and when I would not go any lower he went all troll on me and made a bit of a scene. In the end, I told him that was my best and final offer. He could buy them or not. He begrudgingly purchased the books but if there is a next time and he behaves like that again, I will just close the door on any future transactions. And the $$$ I see some people spending on some of these raffles, especially some of the bigger players on IG...Great for the winner but there are a lot of people flushing $100's of dollars away. Zero protection too...They all want e-transfer or PayPal friends and family. Not sure how PayPal can't catch on...

I support this idea...I think if the change was made and it was "like the old one" that people would "come back". As for a name? CGC Board Chronicles? CGC Board Confessions? CGC Bulletin? Daily? Logbook? Notebook? I know those are not the best but thought I would offer something semi serious...

Here are the before and after I added lighting photos. In the first pic you can see the venues idea of "better lighting" with that multicolour thing on the side. The before photo doesn't look too horrible in the pic as it was taken early afternoon and the lighting just got worse and worse as the clouds/rain and evening rolled in. Like I said customers were literally using their flashlight apps to browse. The lighting I added came in handy for sure as on Day 2 it became very overcast and there was next to zero natural lighting on the room and would have been very dark.

Ok, so here goes... The 2018 Spring Edition of this show (the first one), I did very, very well. The show was very well attended and I did pretty strong numbers with lots of new casual buyers. My primary complaints were that the room that I was in was very poorly lit and there was no real signage to direct show goers that there were other vendors in the side room I was in as I was not in the main hall. Oh, and the venue ended up being booked by the event center for Sunday evening and all the vendors then had to "clear out" pretty quickly. In speaking with the organizers, they said that those concerns of lighting and signage would be addressed as would the move out issue. Now, before I rant, the organizers do want to put on a good show. It just didn't happen this time. First of all, I was again in the side room but I was ok with that as I was told there would be better lighting and signage. Plus, I was in the room with the vinyl dealer who played cool tunes all day and I did alright before, so figured it would be better. Wow. Was I wrong. First of all, this show they had Friday from 4 PM to 9 PM and Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM. The signage was not improved AND the lighting was terrible. All the venue did was add these two small up lights in the corner that did nothing to improve the lighting situation. I had no time to correct the situation for Friday evening and as there were only two windows at the opposite end of the room, I had customers having to use their flashlight app on their phone to even be able to SEE the books. While my customers knew it was not my fault, I was very annoyed and tried to keep smiling and jovial about it but make not mistake, I was seething on the inside. Customers were also sparse on Friday night (as I expected) and it was wet and cold outside so despite another downtown event, people likely opted to stay home/inside. I got up early on Saturday (the next morning) and went to my local hardware store and picked up two small clamp desk lights that I affixed to my display board that improved the visibility by quite a bit but it still was far from ideal. Saturday was probably the slowest show I have EVER had in terms of actual number of buyers/lookers coming to the booth...It probably tied for the slowest day for any show I ever done (which was a Sunday of a two day show from a previous local show). It was not just me though. The entire show was D-E-A-D. Any vendor I spoke with said it was slow. I pity out-of-towners who set up. I bet there are several who by the time you factor in costs, likely lost money. I don't know the final count but by even looking in the main room at what should be peak times, it looked empty. There are a variety of reasons I think why this was, which I can go into if people care. The "icing" on the cake was, 10 minutes before official close of the show (and I was the only one in the room with a customer still browsing), the organizers (while they did apologize and said they were upset themselves) told us that the venue had rented the side room we were in for a freaking birthday party at 6 PM and had to start clearing out immediately (our show was supposed to go until 6 PM and were told we would have adequate time to load out). So, basically they rushed my last customer out and then they brought in "help" to get my stuff moved into the adjoining hallway so they could close off the room and I had to tell them to slow "F" down, this wasn't garbage they were hauling but the whole thing still ended up being rushed. Seeing vendors in the main hall being able to take their time to move out nearly pushed me over the edge. The only saving grace was my loyal customer base. I advertise a lot on my own FB Page and while not a lot of them came out (which again, there are reasons for), the ones who did still made it a profitable and worthwhile show for me to do. Had it not been for them though, the show would have been a complete DISASTER for me. Again, thankfully for my regulars, I still managed to do about 14 X my booth and other costs (like dinner, lunch and lamps). The organizer already reached out via text to thank me for participating and would like to hear my thoughts and hope to have me back for the Spring 2019 show. Right now, I am not so sure if I will bother, but if I do, I will have mandatory conditions, and the one that will be non-negotiable is for me to be set up in the main hall or I'm out for sure.

Anyone want to hear how my last show went? It was "interesting" but not in a good way...

Pretty much ready for the show...As per usual, never get enough "new" "new' stock processed but I have added A LOT more sets. I get to move in Thursday evening but might ask for Friday afternoon as show opens at 4 PM on Friday Until 9 PM. Saturday from 10 AM to 6 PM. The Friday shall be interesting as it is "timed" with a downtown event, the Downtown Gallery Hop where a bunch of shops, particularly "art" boutiques stay open late. We have talked about social media advertising. I boosted a post on my Facebook page and this is what it is showing me so far. For $20 CAD, what the heck...For the record for one six foot table and two 8 foot skirted tables was $80, pretty good deal, so what's another $20?

The new journals are a disaster. I did most of my communication with board members through my journal and had been a source of great insight from more seasoned sellers and for swapping ideas and stories...Now I just wonder what is the point of even posting. I also use to enjoy reading other members journals and now it is so dang unfriendly to use, like others, I am not bothering to "hunt" for them. The comic focused journals will now likely become a wasteland...Sad!

will also consider High Grade to NM/NM+ raw copies... Anyone?

The Fall Edition of the new show in town (Great Northern Antiques to Oddities Show) is taking place on the evening of Friday September 28th and Saturday September 29th. I will be ramping up my social media advertising for the next week (Facebook and IG - I still don't know how effective it is, but it can't hurt) and my booth has been paid for. I will again not be in the Main Hall but rather off in a smaller room, the "Map Room". Initially, I was put off by this last April but it turned out to be a good thing and I don't think I "lost" sales by not being in the main hall. Vendors are set up in the hallway, the Main Hall and the Map Room (only myself and the vinyl dealer will be in the Map Room). The organizers have said they will address my (minor) complaints of having better signage/direction to patrons to come into the Map Room this time and, my number 1 issue, better lighting. Seeing as how Venom comes out a week after the show, I am going to try to make my Spidey/Venom related books the focal point of my central display, similar to what I did at the last show I did, Northern Game Expo, when Infinity War was right around the corner and I laid out all things Avengers/Thanos related that I had. That worked out pretty successfully. For my "wall books", I am also going to change things up. Instead of having them all be "higher end" books, I am going to split my wall display up. One row will have "higher end books" and the other row will have books in the $10 to $50 range up that have a cool cover or subject matter of popular characters. While I have priced up some new individual title inventory, I have been focusing on sets. Sets have not yet really disappointed me. I had a long box and a half of near complete sets and I decided to send a list to a well-known comic dealer in western Canada and was able to fill 99% of my order, so while I put out some money, I no longer have one and a half long boxes of near completed sets. I don't have to wait and wait and wait to track down an issue here and there to complete all those sets. I'm glad to get that done and add a lot more new sets to my set inventory.