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Posts posted by Genesis Comics
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Hey folks!
Hope everyone is well! It’s been a while but I’ve been lurking here and there.
So, basically just need some help coming up with some comps/values
i have a JIM 83 6.5 restored B-5 not trimmed but lots of work done.
I would like an unrestored copy and found a gentleman with a JIM 83 4.5 ss stan Lee (nice sig from ‘13)
Looking at GPA a non ss 4.5 last 8 sales (2021 -7 sales, 2022 - 1 sale) an average just over 15k…last sale 16.8k
Now all that being said there is a similar JIM 83 (7.5 restored B-3) for sale at 15k, obviously a higher grade.
So was hoping the hive mind can help us to come up with fair compensation if we swapped books, what would I have to give cash wise to make it a fair swap?
Whats the Stan Lee sig premium on a book of this caliber?
Any and all input appreciated so we can work this out!
Thanks!
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Purchased a couple of slabs from Lou, communication was excellent, books arrived quickly and packed safely! Looking forward to continue to do business with you! Highly Recommended!
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11 hours ago, Genesis Comics said:
I’ll take hulk 271 9.6
Plus ASM 121 as per PM!
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Just a quick update, as I did not do one on Wed as planned. With my guy being out with the flu (he came back on Friday) I had a super long week and a half. Met with the accountant, got bad news (mostly on the personal taxes, I used my 401K to open the shop and while I thought I had withheld enough, there was a 10% penalty, which upon review, was not taken out. This caused me to owe $$ this year even while taking a loss for the business (when combined with my personal taxes), I would have received a small refund on the business. This is personal and business combined and the result was not what we were expecting.
I had a close friend pass away unexpectedly this weekend...he was 44, supposed to meet us out for dinner Saturday night...never showed...passed away on his couch, got the call during dinner...we think it's heart related as his father died at 42, but we don't know yet, he has 12 year old twins, boy and a girl...they are the one's who found him...devastating...so my focus hasn't been here at all this weekend.
Came in early today to work on some stuff, put up a door for the back room, built some more bookshelf/cubes for a larger comic area...hard to keep focused...wake and funeral this weekend...not ready for this...going to try to put my focus in pricing up books in the mean time...have a few guys helping me out here now...tough week...just kind of feeling lost...
I'm almost where I want to be as far as how the store is set up so I'll be uploading new pictures to the website soon and updating it with relevant information.
Hug your family, hug your friends, call someone you haven't talked to in a while...
Sorry this is so jumbled...just need to get through all this...
Thanks again for all the advice, encouragement, and information! I appreciate it!
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12 hours ago, SteppinRazor said:
Plus, back on page 1, he said he doesn't like packing boxes
I probably wasn't very clear earlier so I'll clarify again. I believe (I have not read back recently) that the comment I don't like packing boxes was in response to someone saying "don't open a store, just sell from home". The whole idea of opening a store was just that, so I could own my own store and do what I love, talk comics, talk gaming, all while selling stuff and making a modest living. I would rather do that than pack boxes hours and hours a day. I am not against, packing out and mailing out items, but if I had a choice I would sell everything in the store!
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On 3/4/2018 at 6:35 AM, Bird said:
I don't know if a new store like Genesis Comics is able to throw $17K into one book. And he seems to have little time and want more space, so buying 5000 copies and mailing all those variants (packed bulletproof to insure no returns) doesn't seem an ideal plan at this point in time.
A local LCS had that Deadpool $10 comic filling the spaces under their back issues (they were on top of cabinets and the Deadpool were inside). That shop closed and he sold the back issues all at once the last weekend, never discounting those Deadpool issues.
While I do understand the math, and if all goes well, there is enormous profit to be made, the risk of taking 17K into 1 book is huge...one mistake and I am under...however, I may start small, ie order 25 of an issue (that's right, I don't order more than 15 of any issue currently), and give it a "go" on a small scale...like they say, you need money to make money...
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On an unrelated side note, the guy I have helping me out so I don't work open to close 7 days has the flu this last week and a half, so I worked about 85-90 hours this week (15 on both Friday and Saturday), so sorry I didn't update on last Wednesday I had planned. I am doing some small re-modeling this week in order to make room for more back issues...this is all in my plan to get my comic situation fully completed before Free Comic Book day. I have my brother-in-law and another new kid who's "working off" some comics helping me out getting things organized and priced up.
I'm also meeting with my accountant tomorrow night. I will update with everything I did wrong and whatever issues come up that I wan't prepared for so that others that may read this in the future don't suffer the same pitfalls. I may even include one or 2 things I accidentally did right !!
I'll try to update Wednesday evening, with this weeks slow sales report as well as a few nice copper collections that came in
On another unrelated side note, the landlord came in today and asked me if I wanted another location as he likes that I keep the place clean, pay my rent early, and don't bother him with petty repairs (I just take care of it). I told him I'm not quite ready yet and that I want to take a salary first before I go and open another place
Thanks again for all who comment, participate, give advice both positive and "constructive"...it's too late to take the advice "don't do it" but I do understand it if I was only opening a comic shop, with no secondary item to support it. Keep it coming!! Thanks!
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I'm not going to "quote" any of the threads relating to "prints" as there were a lot with good information. I do actually sell prints. I purchase prints from artist JaCo Tartaruga http://jacotartaruga.storenvy.com/as well as a local artist from the neighborhood, Laura Sweeney https://laurasweeneyart.com/
I sell the unframed prints at $20 each and framed prints (they are all 11x17) for $29.95. I have 4 prints from Laura Sweeney and over 30 different prints from JaCo. I display them above the back issue comics, with 2 full rows dedicated to the prints (about 15-20). I started off with 8-10 different prints from JaCo and they sold very well, some sold out in fact, I re-ordered, and the same thing. Last order I placed was for 100 prints (I also have 100 frames as I was able to get them at Michael's during one of their 50% off frames sales. People like the fact that they were original and when the Holiday season came around I had a bunch of people come in and say "My husband, brother, son, wife, girlfriend likes "x character" but I don't know what to get them?? The prints were a great sell...not too expensive and 99.99% chance they don't have them. Some weeks 1 sell 0/1 and some weeks I sell 10+...just over 50% profit margin so not too bad AND I get to support local up and coming artists!
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On 2/20/2018 at 10:18 PM, FlyingDonut said:
I think you have to give a subscriber discount. 10% off for those subscriptions, because those books are guaranteed sales. I would also always slide in the 1:10 variant into your subscriber's pull list because they will 99% of the time just buy it. Also make "recommendations" into your pull list of like books and see if your subscriber picks those up. Offer free bags and boards to subscribers. Little things that cost you nothing that will make your customers come back. Give your subscribers first crack on any variants. etc etc etc
I do all of this exactly as you have written...subscribers get a bag and board for their pulls as well as any new books they buy when they come in, and 10% off their books. They get first crack at the variants at cover price (I never order the 25 needed to get the expensive variants, but once in a while the 1:10 and I don't mark those up IF a subscriber wants one. I rotate that around for customers who subscribe to the same book so not one person is getting all the variants. And on a seperate note, I sold all my ASM 796's (all 8 lol) at cover price to pull list customers and regulars.
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2 hours ago, 01TheDude said:
I get that you don't like putting out stuff that is not priced yet-- BUT it might be interesting if you get into the habit of putting out a different couple of unpriced long boxes on your slowest day of the week-- perhaps promote that you will be doing this ahead of time -- and simply state that these books are inventory that has not been priced or shown yet but that you will be willing to look up prices as needed.
It would be sort of like a discovery bin and I can see how some looking for the rare find might see it as a good reason to come in on one of your slower days. Also-- if they don't like the price, you might haggle a bit or at the very least, the book is now priced and can go into the regular sales floor.
That is an interesting idea...I could set up a place for "new collections, not processed yet"...a few times when I've gotten collections in I've had people ask to go through them and they've always picked some stuff out, so I have "kind of" done that before by accident...I'll give it a try for next weekend and see what happens...maybe next Sunday/Monday (a week from now) and I'll report back on the results!
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1 minute ago, 1950's war comics said:
make sure you have some decent wall books (behind the counter that nobody can steal) with a large visible price tag on them and make sure you have a couple CGC graded
and priced wall books too .....
I have a small section of CGC books, up high on the wall, just added a Cry for Dawn # 1 CGC 9.4 and a Fear 19 (first Howard the Duck) CGC 8.5 (best 8.5 I've ever seen!!!)...I have a few others on their way to CGC. All of my wall books have large price stickers that can be seen. I have silver/bronze and expensive copper/modern behind the counter on the high wall. I have copper/modern on the opposite wall. I still have some work to do on the organization of the store, but once I am done I will post a video of what the inside looks like! I try to make sure that everything is priced...I hate going into stores that don't have things priced...
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20 hours ago, 01TheDude said:
are you experiencing any problems with theft?
None that I'm aware of, but I'm sure that's naive of me. I do have cameras, alarm system, and a computer system that tracks most things...I haven't noticed anything yet, I am there 90% of the time the store is open...I need to put better systems in place, which I will do over time. I allow the people helping me to drink soda for free and snacks for free as well as give them discounts on new products. Hopefully this dissuades them from making poor decisions. As far as customer theft, there were a few times I thought someone may have grabbed a plush or a POP, but the camera angle didn't show anything. I am going to be adding more cameras for different angles that aren't as clear as I'd like them.
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19 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:
I'll say this, having a nice clean bathroom can have a significant impact on the overall image/opinion people have of your establishment. I will never forget one of the first times I drove out west and hiked the grand circle of national parks. I was with my girlfriend and my best friend and we wound up stopping at this small gas station in the middle of Nebraska. With those kinds of gas stations, I had come to expect nasty bathrooms that are lucky if they get cleaned once every couple of weeks. I try not to even go into those kinds of bathrooms unless I absolutely have too, but this gas station was different. Amazingly, it had one of the nicest bathrooms I have ever been in before. Not only did it smell fantastic (smelled like one of those really nice cinnamon candles you can buy), but it was also extremely well lit and decorated amazingly well. It had nice framed artwork on the walls, had this really beautiful large plant in the corner, and it was so clean it absolutely blew me away. It was like I had stepped into the bathroom in a 5 star restaurant. My girlfriend told me the female bathroom was the exact same way. This may not seem like a big deal and to some people it may not be, but it can leave a pretty strong impression on people, either positive or negative depending on just how nice it is or just how bad it is. I certainly remember some of the worst bathrooms I have been in as well.
I also remember this bar in Moab Utah that had these framed cork board's above the male urinals and they would pin the front page of the paper as well as the front page of the sports page on these boards so you could actually check out the news while going to the bathroom. It was certainly a lot nicer than staring down into the urinal. This is just an example of things you can do to help make the bathroom a bit nicer and a bit more memorable, in a positive way. Either way, the condition of your bathroom will definitely have an impact on some of the opinions people form of your store. My advice would to be take a page out of that Nebraska gas stations book and make the bathroom as nice as possible and make sure it smells really nice in there and always nice and clean.
I totally agree. The bathroom is a key component. When i first opened, we did out best to make it presentable. After about 1 month, it was the first thing I re-tackled. I had the floors re-done, walls painted, lights changed out, as well as molding put in. I do clean the bathroom every day, and I have other plans to put in wall mounted soap dispensers, sanitizer and paper towel dispensers. It could use some decorating as well as the walls are painted red with yellow highlights on some pipes running up the walls in the corner. I have gotten compliments on how clean it is compared to other comic stores, but that's not saying much lol...I don't have a cinnamon smell though...need to work on that lol!!
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22 hours ago, shadroch said:
Now that you have been open a spell, it's crucial you get a maintenance schedule set up and stick to it. Ten-fifteen minutes a day can really pay off. Set up a schedule -one day doing the showcases, one day straightening back issues, one day sweeping and cleaning bathroom, ect,ect.
We've been doing a good job maintaining, but there are some things that are falling by the wayside, i.e. dusting. I had planned on coming up with opening/closing checklists which will tackle some of the maintenance. I do have some days where I do things, for example I clean the outside windows on Monday AM. Bathroom is cleaned every morning. But you are right, doing it the way I'm doing it will lead to things being missed so I do need to get something in writing to remind myself! Thanks!
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22 hours ago, the blob said:
Just curious how many comics you had as inventory going into this and how much stuff you have sitting around that needs bagging/boarding/pricing now? are you getting held up checking every book on ebay to make sure you're not missing some hot book?
I had approximately 80-100 long boxes going in. I was buying stuff right up until I opened...bought 2 large collections and a few smaller ones that I had run across. I do spend some time checking out books on eBay that are from the early to mid 2000's as I was mostly in a MTG phase during that time and am only now slowly learning the "key" issues. Going in I had 90% of the stock bagged and boarded with 50% priced up and ready for the bins...I mistakenly thought I'd have plenty of time in the beginning as nobody knew I was there and I was preparing for days when nobody came in at all. Luckily that wasn't the case. I did a bad job with making sure that the "base" inventory was priced up. Looking back, what I should have done after all the books were bagged, boarded, and divided alphabeticallly, was to price the 20-30 main titles for each main company (Marvel, DC, Image, etc). What I actually did was price up everything alphabetically and got to the middle of the alphabet on the two major titles. As things got closer to opening, my time was focused on other things, things came up that were unexpected, or things took more time than I thought they would. I now have approximately 50 or so long/short boxes that need to be bagged/boarded organized and priced. My plan is to price up the main titles in the next 2 weeks (kids are off from school next week, so should be busier) and get those out. Then, once that is complete, I will be adding an additional area for comics. I plan on culling through the collections to take out any more keys I find (I do this initially) as well as any run fillers which I am lacking.
I don't think I'm wasting too much time on eBay...although I do use it as a guide for some books that I'm not as familiar with...I don't mind someone getting a good deal out of my bins as that leads them to go through the bins more often, which in turn leads to more sales.
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Hey folks...so sorry for the lack of updates the last few months...honestly I'm pretty spent...only 4 days off since August 14th (the day we started to move in)...Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, and Jan 3rd (blizzard conditions that day and 12+" of snow). There have been a few days when I said to myself, tonight before I leave I'll post an update, but then the time comes and I just want to sleep lol!!
Going to make this update short, but change it up a bit...there are so many things I can write about and probably even more stuff that I've forgotten!!
I'm going to try to carve out a few minutes each week to write a small update...the suggestions and advice here is invaluable and I'm doing myself a disservice if I don't rack the brains of everyone here! What I think might be easier for me and more enjoyable for you folks is asking questions you want answers to as opposed to me just vomiting from the keyboard ! Each week, I'll update the week with interesting, funny, educational things that I've encountered during the week as well as answer any and all questions that come up!
A couple of things that have gone poorly or not according to plan:
1) Time - I have nowhere near as much as I thought I would. Here is the most embarrassing thing, that I don't even want to admit...I have all the main DC titles priced up and organized...BUT I only have 1 row of independents, with only 4 titles (Walking Dead, Spawn, Rick and Morty, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)...and worse than that...I only currently have available Marvel titles from A-T...that's right...I do not have 1 X-Men comic out on the sales floor, no Wolverine, nothing (I do have Bronze/Silver/Wall books of these titles, but no back issue runs)...it's hard to even write that...Time...I just don't have any extra. There is no excuse though... Every time I set myself up to price books, something happens, phone calls, customers (I'm not complaining about that btw lol). My time management has never been great...and that brings me to
2) Systems - I have a few people helping me, and each day I am reacting to what's going on and giving direction on the fly, this isn't good for morale in general (although most people helping me out seem very happy)...I am not anywhere near as proactive as I need to be...I don't have opening, closing, down time checklists...I haven't used my quick books yet which is going to make tax time ridiculously hard and more expensive as there is much more work for the accountant to do now...I know what I want to do and what I need to do, but it's been a lot more difficult than I thought...I can go on and on about this topic, but you get the idea...I'm not even counting my social media, which is lacking as well...
3) New comic ordering...I've made adjustments to lower titles not selling as much just in time for, what it seems like, each week there being a hot book that's selling for $15 dollars day of release...hell, even Amazing Spider-Man 796 coming out next week is selling for $15+ already on eBay...I've had a few people bail on pull lists, which kind of stinks, but one of those people was pulling all the Dark Knight Metal stuff...so that actually worked out lol. I have about 15 people on pull lists now...I have the ComicSuite to help me with the pull lists as well as ordering, but I'm not using it efficiently...I"m still over-ordering on some titles, and I find myself still driving to other shops to pick up books I under-ordered on...
4) Space - I had to increase the table space for the gaming and have not increased the comic space...being that the gamers are paying my bills, I have to make sure my focus is on them, but I haven't set up the comic space the way I need in order to put more books out, which I desperately need to do...my back issue selection is lacking to say the least...it's not that I don't have the inventory, I do...in fact I now have more comics at my house than I did before I opened the shop!!!
My sales are still 68% MTG and 32% other last time I checked (having issues with the computer, have a call into the helpdesk), so I don't have those numbers month to date...part of that issue is the lack of product available for sale. This last month I've had my brother-in-law helping me to bag and board books...4 hours a day, 5 days a week, just bagging and boarding. I also brought on a kid who knows comics...he will be helping me as well...hopefully this will help to clear up the logjam of comics. I also placed and received a very large trade paperback order! By purchasing ComicSuite as well as the computer system for some ridiculous sum of 6000-7000 dollars, you actually receive a "credit" of $6800 that can be used on trades/toys...now this sounds great until you realize you have to order from a list, and ONLY from that list...now, DC, Valiant, and Image had very good selections! Dark Horse had some nice stuff as well. Marvel and IDW were very disappointing...I was excited to get $1000 to spend in IDW...figured I'd get some Transformers, GI Joe etc...they only had something like 14 items to choose from...$1000 and 14 items...I ended up ordering 4 of each item and still had $$ left...nothing good, nothing that will sell at full price...I'll probably have to offer 75% off to get some of it to move...now don't get me wrong...I'm gratefull for ANY free stuff, but IDW is doing a disservice to themselves but not offering up a more diverse selection of what they have...the more different the selection, the better chance of someone finding something they like, and maybe buying their product...but what do I know??? Either way, my point was that NOW I have a full bookshelf of trades, which looks much nicer!!
Some quick good stuff:
1) Lot's of collections - Way more than I anticipated coming through the door. One day I had 5 people come in to sell me comics...3 of the collections were multiple box collections...1 was paper bag and one was plastic bag lol. Turned 1 away, but bought the other 4. Lot's of MTG collections as well. I've even gotten referrals on collections as someone sold me their stuff, told me I was fair, and then sent their friends in . I've been able to keep my showcases full of magic cards and have been able to keep my wall full as well as turning over.
2) The community - The people have been great! It's been an amazing overall experience and I've met so many great people and groups. We have a group of high functioning disabled adults that come in for a "comic club" on every other Thursday, the group is SMILE and supports independent living. I provide a free place for them to meet as well as draw, read and discuss comics, watch movies, and play video games. I've also gotten involved with the local library and we have done an even where we teach trading card games (last time we taught Lightseekers and Magic the Gathering) and they allowed me to set up a table and sell items...I will be working with them going forward and am going to "sponsor" their free comic book day. They had asked me to purchase comics (2-4 long boxes) as well as purchase the "free" comics for free comic book day for them (as an aside, in case you didn't know EACH of those free comics you get on Free Comic Book Day cost between 20 cents and 30 cents each). They wanted 600 "free" comics as well. I'm going to donate to them to help the local community and build good will! They are less than 1 mile away...The customers have been fantastic! I always do my best to take time out to talk to people and find myself having 1+ hour conversations with people (TIME!! lol, this is why I don't have any). BUT, it's so important to make people feel welcome. I feel like I've done a good job with this as the reviews that I'm getting on Facebook reflect what I want the store to be.
3) I look forward to coming to work - THIS!! This 10000000 times over. For so long, I did not like what I did (restaurant manager). I worked for independently owned, I worked for chains (UNO's, Hooter's, Applebee's). I have yet to wake up and say "I don't feel like going to work today". There are days when I'm sluggish, day's when I'm overwhelmed, day's when I'm beyond tired, but there hasn't been one day when I've been unhappy! I'm glad I took the risk...I'm glad it's working out so far (knock on wood!!). I'll be even happier when I start to take a salary!! LOL...I've been re-investing into the business, whether it's inventory, cosmetic changes, or larger changes to the layout. I'm still paying off the computer system...my plan is by the 1 year mark to be drawing a salary...we will see how that goes...
Thank you all again for the advice and suggestions as well as the critiques...I appreciate you all! I will plan on updating on Wednesday nights going forward and will try to do a better job of answering questions and responding to comments throughout the week!
P.S. I apologize in advance for any/all spelling/grammatical errors as well as wandering thoughts...it's 1:45 AM and I've been here since 10AM Have a good night/morning/afternoon etc!!
- Parabellum, badback83, Jimbo749 and 14 others
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On 1/7/2018 at 3:33 AM, camera73 said:
I haven't posted on this forum in ages, but I just came across your thread and....OH MAN!
I am very happy to hear that the initial start up was mostly positive. I saw all of the friendly advice that urged you not to do it and laughed! That would have been my advice. Even the best stores are a haul - and that's with sufficient hired help. I have never owned, worked-in or in any way invested in a retail establishment. However, I do spend MUCH of my income in other people's stores.
I just wanted to mention how I shop, so that you have a little more input in the mind of another customer:
My girlfriend and I embark regularly on road-trips around the country (mostly in our region - Southeastern US) and we hit every comic shop in the radius. She shops exclusively for Funko pops! and I am in the market for 90% comics and 10% anything collectible (e.g. toys, art, mags, books, etc.). We use all tools at our disposal to locate retailers. So, making certain that your presence on Google, Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Comic Shop Locator, Funko Store Locator and all local resources is essential. We recently drove down to Florida and I put the name of one of our destinations in Craigslist - a comic shop that failed to come up in any of our other searches showed pictures of its interior and inventory. You can bet that we went 150 miles out of our way to check out a hole-in-the-wall in Alabama, that had exactly what we were looking for and we spent a ton of cash there, too.
Let me pause to mention that you should be aware of your competition at all times. We frequent Toys r Us, FYE, Hot Topic, BAM, Barnes and Noble, McKays, 2nd & Charles, Go! Calendars and more, as often as comic shops. Your location may or may not leave you vulnerable to their massive inventories and savvy pricing, but stay aware of what they are up to. For example, you said you sell pop! vinyls - most of the locations that I mentioned have exclusive pop! figures. No matter what you order, the only way that you can get your hands on them is by either buying them in person, ordering from their websites or buying them from collectors. We see all of this happening in a big collectible swirl from state-to-state. If you give collectors more reasons to come to you, instead of those other stores - your traffic (quality and quantity) will change.
That being said - be sure that you are FINDABLE!!! God! We go to so many shops that make us work to find them. Poor directions, impossible-to-figure-out-hours, insufficient signage, inadequate parking and out-of-date phone numbers are a few of the issues that we have to deal with, when we are 500 miles from home, tired, hungry and burned out by poor customer service. The easiest way to prevent most of this...post all pertinent information on Facebook. If something changes - update immediately! Post plenty of recent pictures of the interior, exterior, stock, staff, events, etc. The more you post, the more viable you look. We constantly look up stores that don't have a working phone and their last FB post was from 3 years ago in 2015. Then, when they are 50 miles away - we have to do the detective work and make the judgement call whether they are worth the stop.
Next, promote your store like an SOB! We love to see what is on the shelves of the store. One of the best indicators whether we should stop in is a picture of new stock that you just bought from a collection. If she sees a pile of new pops on the counter that were purchased in the last few months - you can bet that we are making a beeline to your door to hand over as much money as we can give you. *We have called stores that refused to give a clear answer about what they sell, how many back issues they had or what their prices were like* There is nothing better than a FB pic of a store flyer announcing the current Black Friday/Xmas/New Years/Arbor Day/whatever sale that is going on with all current discounts.
Our BIGGEST pet peeve, when shopping are those stores (Lord, there are so many!) that do not price their merchandise. Then when I walk in and inquire about prices, they say "bring it up and I'll let you know." The usual next step is - they look up each book, one-by-one online and come back with market prices for everything that I just spent half-an-hour pulling. Those are the worst stores and the ones that let me know that our return business is not needed or appreciated. On that note and understanding that margins are tight - the store clerks or owners that see that I am about to buy $150 in comics or that my GF is willing to plunk down $500 for pops, but don't automatically offer a discount of some kind are not going to see us again. Sure, it seems entitled, but I like to feel that you want me to spend at your store. Usually, when offered a percentage off of marked prices - we continue to shop and will add significant quantities of merchandise to our respective stacks. Remember, while it may not be true for many of your clientele, we are coming from far away, with gas, food and hotel costs to spend our money in your shop. We frequently walk into stores, where we get surly service and I could literally blow dust off of the back issue stock, but the person at the register gets offended that I would ask about a reduced rate if I pull a large quantity of books.
Referencing the people who came into your store to sell a collection and expected unrealistic sums - I have been in a few shops when similar transactions were happening. One of the best practices, that I have seen is: 1) seller walks in and asks if you buy comics or cards or whatever 2) retailer automatically answers with a set response. Usually it sounds something like, "Yes, we pay 5 cents for books that we are going to sell for a dollar and we'll offer 25% of what we will charge for books over a dollar." That is what my LCS does - of course they are a used book store, that just happens to sell comics as well.
Lastly, I have to say that you are making the right move by adding gaming. Nationwide, that is the trend and it is profitable for most businesses. However, stay alert to the market and be prepared to change with the winds. Gaming and pops WERE NOT the norm 4 years ago when we started our little shopping trips, but they are a major economic driver in the Sci-Fi, comic, fantasy and related markets now. That could change and only the stores that are ready to pivot will survive to tell the tale. We saw that with the early direct comic market in the 80s, with the collectible card craze of the 90s and the first decade of this century was a healing time for those stores that could not adapt. A new cycle has begun and any store that is open now is guaranteed to see quite a few swings in interests and shoppers. Be sure to entice female shoppers by catering to their demands. Bring young readers and gamers through your doors with age-appropriate material and events. Don't forget that in the summer and during winter and spring breaks, college-aged customers will be returning home and may not know that you exist. How will you ensure that they try you out? FCBD and event movies are not always maximized by some shops - try not to make that mistake.
We always walk out of a store with mental notes of our experience. We then compare impressions during our long ride to the next town. Make sure that you read online reviews of your store and take them to heart. Everything that I just wrote is based on dozens of visits to stores in large and small towns, where the stock can change, but our expectations and hope for a good shopping experience never does. Good luck!
P.S. I checked out your Facebook page after writing this and it looks like you're doing most of what I mentioned. Now...let's pass this on to all of those other shop owners around the country, who don't have it quite figured out!
Excellent advice! Thanks for taking out the time to write that all out! I will definitely incorporate some of your ideas as well as continue to maintain what's been working so far!
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11 minutes ago, Pontoon said:
While it’s great that you’ll make a tidy profit on that deal, I have to wonder if that sort of thing won’t come around to bite you. An 8.5-9.0 ASM #129 is going to be selling for around $1200-1900 these days. If the seller finds out the current FMV, she may not be so inclined to offer more books since a few hundred dollars is but a fraction of that.
I should have been more clear...when i said a few hundred I meant $600...I explained that I would be getting the book graded and that there was a cost associated with that...I valued the book at 1000-1200 and explained that I generally pay 50-75% for keys...she understood the value and understood I had to make $$ as well!
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Just trying to build up anticipation with the delays lmfao...
I was sick for a week and am still getting better, hence the no write-up, but there was also a problem logging in one day...found out mother in law has cancer, son had an anxiety attack (pretty bad one, he has smaller ones, but this one was rough) AND I had to put my dog to sleep (14 1/2 years old). Rough week...just because I'm running a business now doesn't mean that life stops outside...
This was the first real tough time I had as the guy who was helping me was also sick and didn't come in for just about a week, so I was here, solo...it was rough...I've worked open to close every day since open 8/26, and that's not including the 12-14 days of getting set up . Body started to break down and I was mentally drained...Last Friday, I was so sick, that the guy who helps me out (he was back), told me to go home lol...I took a few hours off (6-11) on Friday night. I knew I was going to have to do something eventually as I couldn't keep up the pace I was doing. While I had my hours posted 12-8 (Sun, Mon, Tue), 12-10 (Wed, Thur, Sat), and 12-1 (Friday), the closing hours weren't "hard" closing hours, as I'm not going to ask someone to leave that's in the middle of a game, so the 12-8's became 12-10ish, the 12-10 are like 12-11/12). We have the MTG events on Thurs, Fri, and Sat and those nights can go really late...Sat night until 3:50 AM...but I need to cater to the community and the times that they want to play...there is a store in the area open until 1 AM every night and my preference is to have the players here, not leaving to go to another place. So, I have to figure out a schedule that will allow for me to have some time off and still cater to the community.
Things are going well. I have enough money to make my weekly orders, pay my bills, bring in some extra product and pay a few guys a few bucks to help me out. Not taking any money out for myself yet as I'm reinvesting all I can while I can to build up inventory.
I've had some decent Magic the Gathering Collections come in as well as some OK comic collections. Inventory is turning over quickly for Magic the Gathering and not so for comics...If I was just a comic store, I'd be very nervous right now, but with Magic the Gathering continuing to lead the way, still about 70% of sales, things are solid.
I've increased the shelf area for POP's as they are in higher demand that I anticipated. I've even brought in some "exclusives" as there is a market for them. I've also brought in anything Rick and Morty that I can get my hands on, as everything sells well in this genre...comics, POP's, games, etc.
I have 6 people on my pull list, which isn't great, but not bad considering there are 4 comic shops within 30 minutes of here. All 6 are getting Dark Night Metal lol, but there are some other things as well. I'm hoping to get up to 10 by Christmas and then add 1 a month and hopefully be at 20+ by next year. I'm offering 2 different pull services, based on their preference. 1) Straight 10% off all new books or 2) 20% credit that can be used towards back issues in the bins. There is no "fee" for joining and all pull list customers get a free bag/board if they want.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I made a big mistake which cost me some $$. I did not get my POS in a timely fashion, i.e. more than 2 days before opening lol...I should have made it one of the first things I did, but hindsight is 20/20 as they say. This caused me to get the computer only 2 days before opening and only 2 days to get it going properly. There was an issue with the tax, as it was charging tax on some items and not others. It was charging tax on new comic books (tax free in NYS), and not charging tax on supplies, which it should have. Things were hectic and I didn't know how to change it myself...was too busy and didn't have time to sit down and speak with the helpdesk, so I made the terrible decision to just take tax off of everything (unfortunately I did know how to do this lol)...figured I'd get caught up in a few days...well a few days became a few weeks...and $2000 + later we finally got set up properly. It was a whirlwind and other things kept popping up that needed attention. I should have made this my first priority...expensive lesson learned. Looking back, I feel like such an insufficiently_thoughtful_person not making this a priority, but live and learn.
Had my first sweet book come in...a very clean ASM 129...probably and 8.5 but IMHO can press to 9 + as there are a number of NCB creases on back cover...girl, who's dad passed, had no idea of values...explained to her that this was a valuable book and gave her a few hundred for it...she says he has boxes of books at home and she will bring them in...she said lot's of early Spiderman books...we will see...
Banned my first guy. Guy came in, recovering addict, wanted to straighten out his life and focus on comics to take his mind off of the drugs, he also had a slight mental handicap as well..., I knew him from my local LCS, not a bad guy, just a guy who made some really bad decisions...wanted to help if I could...He was a handful...no social skills, would interrupt me, bother people, sit on the floor, take books out and put them back where ever, place random books on the "wall", etc. He would always move things around and would constantly ask the same questions as he would forget he asked them in the first place. I was doing my best to be patient with him and gave him his own set of rules. One day he came in high and I asked him to leave. He proceeded to get mad and do a bunch of "air karate" moves. I explained it would be better if he didn't return. Tried to do something nice, just didn't work out...he needs to want to change first...
My Magic the Gathering crowd is awesome, spend money, good solid crowd, clean up after themselves, etc! So happy to have them here!
My Vanguard crowd, on the other hand, not so much...messy, don't spend money, and feel like it's OK to curse whenever they want. I had conversations with them 4 straight weeks about language...by the 5th week, after a guy YELLED out, not softly, not coversationally, YELLED F&%$@ YOU!! to the guy he was playing I lost my cool and told them the next time I hear foul language they can all leave. Incidentally they didn't show up this week to play, which is OK with me...not going to tolerate that kind of behavior in my store. If they show up this week they can play, but the first time I hear foul language, they are out.
Had a guy come in thinking I was trying to rip him off. He said he had old comics worth thousands!! I told him I'd love to see them! He, his wife, and his daughter came in with a pile of the books, his wife said she finally convinced him to bring in a small stack. I went through the books, Return of the Jedi limited series, Nick Fury Agent of Shield reprint from 1983, a magazine, forget the name, that had an article about Return of the Jedi (from around the time of the release) and Wolverine 1 (1988). I said the Wolverine was the best book, and I sell them at 40...his was in nice shape, and explained if he wanted to sell it, I'd offer him $20...he sneered/snickered, looked at his wife and showed her something on his phone. She asked about the Nick Fury book and the guy interrupted me saying that it was worth $350 dollars. I explained it was a reprint and he got more and more agitated, continually showing his wife his phone and saying "See, see!! I told you they try to rip you off". At this point I was getting a bit annoyed as this guy was questioning my integrity. I asked him if he'd like me to show him why the books were priced the way they were, show him a price guide, and explain Ebay completed listings. I even explained that I would not offer to purchase the books, only show him actual values. He said the Woverine book was worth $17,000 and that he emailed a picture of the magazine to someone in California and they told him it was worth $8000. I showed him the Overstreet Guide and had him come behind the counter to look at Ebay completed listings. I explained the Nick Fury was a reprint and not the original # 1. I asked to see what he kept showing his wife and he said "Here it is!!!" He had an article from some site that said "Record Breaking Sale of Wolverine # 1 for $17,000, along with some other ridiculous prices for copper age CGC 10's At this point I had to explain grading and how CGC 10's were like unicorns. No matter what I told him, he would not believe me. When I realized that this guy just wasn't getting it (his wife and daughter understood), I showed him my Wolverine # 1 on the wall for $40. You would have thought I kicked his dog...it's hard to explain to people when they think they have gold, that what they have is basically worthless. He picked up his stuff and stormed out, his wife and daughter apologized...haven't seen them since...
Getting ready for Halloween Comic Fest this Saturday...have all the free comics in house, hired some cosplayers 12-4:30 (Harley Quinn, Green Arrow, Supergirl, and Catwoman) as well as Mr. Popintwist (3:00-5:00) who does incredible balloons of anything you can think up. Artist Creeece will be here from 12-2 along with colorist Mike McGuire. We'll be teaching the new TCG Lightseekers, and raffling off a beautiful print by JaCo Tartaruga titled "La Llorna Boriquena" to help raise some money for those devestated by the hurricane in Puerto Rico. We will also be collecting food donations as well.
So much has happened that I'm sure I've forgotten a lot, but overall it's been a positive experience! I'm glad I did it, now I'm just fine tuning it and putting more and more systems in place in order to make it run more profitably and smoothly. Thanks for all the support and for all the interest!
Any questions, fire away!!
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On 10/10/2017 at 12:46 AM, Domo Arigato said:
Alright, alright, alright lol...coming up...
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On 10/5/2017 at 10:13 PM, 01TheDude said:
You mentioned some pretty good sales figures in your first few weeks. What sort of margin are you working with? I'm assuming the gross sales for the week are not factoring in the cost of goods sold and other fixed costs need to run the store.5% a
That is correct, those numbers are total sales numbers...margins on new comics are roughly 50-60% (new store discount...will be down to 35% within 2-3 months) and MTG packs 25-30%...supplies are pretty much 50% across the board...then there are the expenses of electric, gas, phone/internet, insurance, accountant, taxes, security, rent, cc costs, computer costs, and I'm sure I'm missing a few...not to mention weekly orders...I started with a good amount of inventory which I had been building up over time which helps as the "cost" of those items was so long ago that it's hard to calculate...still in the process of breaking it all down...
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