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Moderns that are heating up on ebay!
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63,730 posts in this topic

1 minute ago, 1Cool said:

I think it partly depends on if you are young and fit or old and overweight.  Lugging around long boxes is back breaking work and makes for a tough day especially if you toss in an extra 10 long boxes of $0.50 books.  $125 a long box is pretty good money but you usually have to put quite a few $2 - $5 books in there to get people to grab a stack.  I set up a booth of just 2x$1 drek at a low cost local show and I'll not be doing that again since the time and effort to get books sorted and set up wasn't worth the $200 in profits (after paying for the booth) for the day.

I am 45, Two Young Kids below 3, 30lbs over weight and Bad Back.  I Cringe at anything bigger than a Short Box now

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Just now, Jaydee said:

I am 45, Two Young Kids below 3, 30lbs over weight and Bad Back.  I Cringe at anything bigger than a Short Box now

I'm 39, I exercise 5 times a week between a variety of sports (hockey, baseball, squash) and strength and cardio (gym, yoga, biking).  I consider myself in very good shape for my age, but lugging these boxes is still very tiring, regardless of how good of shape you are.  I just don't think it's worth the effort lugging 50 cent boxes, again maybe it depends on your show but I ran this experiment for 4 months and realized it was just not worth my time.  The worst are guys that spend an hour in them to dig through for a number 1 issue you purposely left in there as part of a run of 5-20 comics that you left in there, thinking someone would buy the whole run.  I put a stop to that, I created cheap sets of readers that averaged $1/piece give or take, but the sale was for a higher dollar amount because I'm forcing the buyer to buy the lot and not cherry-pick. 

Also, there were a few months I was running these 50 cent boxes where I had unlimited space.....it was lugging the damn things back and forth that was super annoying.....just dealing with 50 cent boxes took time away from me bringing and pricing higher-priced books, bagging/boarding personal stock, listing stuff on ebay, etc. etc. 

Sorry for the rant, if 50 cent books work for you guys, then definitely keep doing it!

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7 hours ago, spreads said:
7 hours ago, Jaydee said:

I am 45, Two Young Kids below 3, 30lbs over weight and Bad Back.  I Cringe at anything bigger than a Short Box now

I'm 39, I exercise 5 times a week between a variety of sports (hockey, baseball, squash) and strength and cardio (gym, yoga, biking).  I consider myself in very good shape for my age,

Wait, is this a dating site....?

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I think what some are missing here is $1 books drive traffic to your booth. Yes they are pain and yes they profit isn't huge,
but which dealer are you going too the guy with just a wall of keys or the guy with keys and $1 books. I realize when asking
this question my audience will say the guy with a wall of keys, but the normal buyer will choose option B.

 

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46 minutes ago, fastballspecial said:

I think what some are missing here is $1 books drive traffic to your booth. Yes they are pain and yes they profit isn't huge,
but which dealer are you going too the guy with just a wall of keys or the guy with keys and $1 books. I realize when asking
this question my audience will say the guy with a wall of keys, but the normal buyer will choose option B.

 

Preach! I don't even glance at wall books lol. Very rarely anyways, it's always dollar diving for me and back issues.

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8 hours ago, fastballspecial said:

I think what some are missing here is $1 books drive traffic to your booth. Yes they are pain and yes they profit isn't huge,
but which dealer are you going too the guy with just a wall of keys or the guy with keys and $1 books. I realize when asking
this question my audience will say the guy with a wall of keys, but the normal buyer will choose option B.

 

Exactly. They're loss leaders in many cases in order to bring folks in with the hopes that they purchase higher margin/ticket items too. I ALWAYS do VERY well when I have 10+ long boxes of $1 books to complement the 'better' stuff. Also, having a constant crowd makes others pay attention.

I've done many smaller shows where I'm limited to a just 1 table. Those are shows where I have to be much choosier, so I bring "wall" books of various prices points only due to space limits. And I must say, those shows are nerve-wracking because the average shopper is not looking for "wall" books. Hours can go by without a sale, but the dollar amount is worthwhile once a sale is made. But the risk is always there of making just a couple (or no) sales that way.

It takes a lot experience to understand your audience and know what to bring to each show, as well having a good grasp of numbers when you factor in the cost of each event. Not to mention all the overhead such as your time, cost of inventory, etc... One thing is of certain though, I no longer bring $1 books to the bigger, expensive events that are costing upwards of $600 for 1 table. Having to empty 3 long boxes (nearly half a table) to just cover a table makes no sense to me. I'd rather use true 25-50% off bins as loss leaders for those shows. 

Edited by KEY ISSUES Comics
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6 hours ago, KEY ISSUES Comics said:

They're loss leaders in many cases in order to bring folks in with the hopes that they purchase higher margin/ticket items too.

Loss leaders? You're paying more than $1 for your $1 box stock? :whatthe:

6 hours ago, KEY ISSUES Comics said:

Having to empty 3 long boxes (nearly half a table)

??? What terrible shows are those and what kind of garbage tables are they providing? A standard 8' table holds 11 boxes.

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7 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

Loss leaders? You're paying more than $1 for your $1 box stock? :whatthe:

??? What terrible shows are those and what kind of garbage tables are they providing? A standard 8' table holds 11 boxes.

You misunderstood.

3 longboxes = roughly 600 comics
600 comics x $1 each = $600.00
$600.00 = cost of 6' table at some shows

That equals a loss leader in my books whether you paid $1/book or $0.20/book. Simply not worth it to me if I have to sell 3 long boxes of stock just to cover the cost of the table.

Cheers!

 

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4 hours ago, KEY ISSUES Comics said:

You misunderstood.

3 longboxes = roughly 600 comics
600 comics x $1 each = $600.00
$600.00 = cost of 6' table at some shows

That equals a loss leader in my books whether you paid $1/book or $0.20/book. Simply not worth it to me if I have to sell 3 long boxes of stock just to cover the cost of the table.

Cheers!

 

That's not what loss leader means, so probably that's where the confusion lies...

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20 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:
5 hours ago, KEY ISSUES Comics said:

You misunderstood.

3 longboxes = roughly 600 comics
600 comics x $1 each = $600.00
$600.00 = cost of 6' table at some shows

That equals a loss leader in my books whether you paid $1/book or $0.20/book. Simply not worth it to me if I have to sell 3 long boxes of stock just to cover the cost of the table.

Cheers!

 

That's not what loss leader means, so probably that's where the confusion lies...

(thumbsu

I understand a dealer not wanting to bother with $1 boxes at a more expensive show, but that's something else.

But what kind of show charges $600 for a table and only provides 6' tables? That's awful.

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5 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

That's not what loss leader means, so probably that's where the confusion lies...

No, it's a loss leader in that scenario when I'm pricing normally $4-10 books at a buck a book to stimulate sales elsewhere. It's just not profitable at that price at the more expensive cons. Depends upon your definition of a "loss leader." I'm employing the one where it's sold at below it's minimum profit margin. (thumbsu

Edited by KEY ISSUES Comics
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