First Con Set Up --- confessions of a rookie!!!!

[W16227]

First con under my belt - back to the day job - tired sore - and trying to plan out when I can do another........ was tons of fun at Count-I-Con this weekend.....

 

 

 

PART 1: From Clueless -to staring up the process......

 

One of the best questions I had all weekend - I was speaking to one gentleman who was looking through the books - and he asked - " are you a collector or a dealer?"... This gave me a little pause - as I am really both. In many ways - I am a collector - but I aim to be professional as one when buying or selling.

 

Some background - almost 2 years ago, I was looking for something extra to occupy my time. I was involved with the local soccer program - but my kids were leaving that behind and I was thinking of starting some side business. Noting to replace the day job - but something that would keep me busy and be able to sustain itself (not drain the budget) as the kids are nearing college age. Decided to do comics as I had a basic (VERY basic at the time) knowledge of what was involved - and had a love for the medium so I knew that I would not get bored quickly.

 

 

I am one of the engineering types - so researched out a LOT of things - ebay, shipping, grading, slabbing, pressing ( what it is and who to go to to get it done), restoration, etc.

 

Was lurking for many months on the board before my first post. Reading everything I could. Hunted around a bit - made a couple of smaller purchases. Listed and sold a couple of ebay items to make sure I knew the mechanics.

 

At the same time - picked out the name for the business (ok the kids helped) - filed a DBA and made the logo. I wanted this to have a professional feel- well as professional as a name like "Funky Catz Comics" can look......

 

 

sill better than w16227's housed of over-graded eBay slop.........

 

 

Fast forward to now - I have a successful small ebay store - usually have 150-200 mixed listings. Mostly BIN w offer because of the day job. It works well - as I can control how busy I am with pricing (can drop prices or roll the dice with auctions if I want to move a lot) - or hit the vacation settings if I am traveling that week. Works well for me and my situation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[W16227]

Part 2: Super Hero Day - or how I missed Chicago Comic Con AGAIN, .....

 

My original plan for WW Chicago - was to take some time off and hit up WW. Maybe get a dealer badge if any of the bigger guys needed some load/unload workers.

 

For the second year in a row - was not meant too be. Had to travel to Mexico again for the day job - so out of most activities (unless I wanted to only make Sunday).

 

I saw that my town was going to have a "super hero day" that Sunday as part of the larger Count-I-Con (Lake County Illinois). I figured why not. It is my town - and I know a lot of the kids and families. The event - nobody really knew if it would be big or small - but it was free for vendors so really zero risk.

 

Was a ton of fun - and actually sold about $200 in books. I brought 2 small boxes of back issues - and 6 of dollar books. Had a rack of "wall books" too - but really more for show.

 

LOTS of younger kids in costume - and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.

 

 

Rewinding the clock backwards about a month (flashback scene)

 

Along the planning stages -of super hero day I was approached by one of the organizers about the full con. Was not all that interested - as I did not think I had the stock or the time to prep. Add that to ZERO hands on experience with a con - I was really unsure.

 

Enter my friends - was talking about the super hero day with them one night at the bar- -and shared that they had more space for the con. My one friend was on my case - basically killing any excuse I had. Came down to people - I needed help in the booth - as I knew that one person can get overwhelmed if several things happen at once.

 

He immediately checks his schedule - and I have a guaranteed person for day 2/teardown. My daughter commits to help that Saturday. My excuses break down. My wife has no problem with me disappearing - and now I commit to the show.

 

 

next up ------ what did I get myself into???????????????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[W16227]

Part 3: I have to have HOW many boxes??????

 

 

Running over layouts (engineer at the day job - so I just HAD to sketch everything over and over). The 10 x 10 seemed really cramped - especially since I wanted to have access to books on both sides of my tables (outer = dollar, inner = more pricey).

 

To complicate things (in a good way) - I was able to get a special guest -

 

I am lucky enough to k now a comic book artist - Chuck Fiala. He is retired from full time comics work- but still does some occasional sketches. I was able to get him for my booth all weekend, but I needed to make sure we both had room!

 

The staff was helpful - I sent them a couple of mock up layouts for comment. Of course, , the obvious answer was to upgrade to a 10 x 20 booth ( and this was actually very reasonable). I reset the layouts- and found a setup that worked really well - but now I had to find a way to fill it!!!!!!

 

If you only sell on the internet - you have a very logical manner to grade and price - you only have to have completed what you are selling. If I want to list more - I simply go to the next box and grab what I want to price out and go. Even easier that this is not my full time gig (and mad respect to those who do this full time) - so I can go in really any order.

 

Setting up at a con - you obviously need prices for everything. Dollar bins are easy - bigger books not so much. Pretty much spent every evening for three weeks pulling books, grading and pricing.

 

The good thing about this - is even though I do not have all of my inventory sorted, I now have about 50% of it set up and organized so any future cons will be much simpler. For the "back issues" - gives me an excuse to at least get everything sorted as this will be much easier to pull for selling.

 

 

Thursday before the con - was sort/alphabetize day. One of the many tips I picked up here - was that sloppy dollar bins are a downer. At a minimum - they need to be separated into marvel/dc/indy - and alphabetized. Did all that plus numbered order.

 

At this point - I only had them labeled and knew about how many boxes I had. No idea of the mix.

 

Note on boxes - I roll with shortboxes. I can easily heft 2 around - and they are not too heavy for the kids. They fit back to back on standard tables too - so if you have limited space, you can still fit almost the same amount as a longbox.

 

 

Random wins! - turned out to be about 10 boxes marvel, 2 indy, and 6 DC. Also had 4 boxes of packages mini series that were in the "cheap" zone. This was a pretty good mix.

 

Back issues next --- pulled everything $25 and up for the "wall" -- and really any others that might be considered more "semi-key" (Rom 1 for example). Ended up with 6 marvel and 4 DC boxes. One indy as well - but that one never got sorted (brought it anyway, ).

 

Did not have time to make "$2" boxes or separate silver/bronze - I do not know if this mattered but may be an upgrade we make for future cons.

 

Had some slabs priced out - but the plan was to bring those Saturday anyway so did not pack them up.

 

Threw in around 3 shortboxes of TPS and a box of treasuries as well.

 

 

quick edit - the results of the insane effort of the past month -----

 

 

 

with all the extras - had ~ 35 shortboxes total.

 

 

next up - day 1 setup.................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[InvstmntComcSuply]

I am supposed to be working

[W16227]

Part 4: Setup!!!!!

 

 

 

the hard work was done!!!!

 

 

 

NOT

 

So - this was the basic layout I came up with - worked almost to plan. They gave me more 8' tables - but I went with only three plus 2 of my 6' ones so I would have room for racks in the middle.

 

 

 

This is what I started with -

 

 

 

Friday - loaded in all of the racks, drapes and the cheap books.

 

Got there about 1:30 - was set around 4:30

 

 

 

 

 

Starting to look like a booth now.......

 

 

 

Note on the setup - for layout and content, I could have probably have fit the same comic book layout in a 10 x 10 - but it was nicer to have more room and how cool is it to have your own artist in there as well.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[musicmeta]

Interesting

[1Cool]

Damn engineers.

[musicmeta]

Damn engineers.

 

[KPR Comics]

Where's your cosplay area?

[Gem_Mint]

I can relate to the OP of getting into comics. I inadvertently did a ton of research by just buying books on ebay.

 

I got back into comics (while at work) and just started buying things here and there.

 

Every payday I would pull the trigger on something I was watching.

 

Having packages constantly coming in, you learn how to and how not to ship.

 

Then I sent many of those key issues in to CGC, one I found out about CGC. Learned a lot about grading then (and still do with each submission).

 

Started selling those books in order to buy bigger ticket items... but once I got the selling bug, I found I liked making money (and profit) more than I did collecting. So I became more of seller.

 

Recently I have started buying books for me again. With a better understanding of grade and more focus.

[1Cool]

Part 4: Setup!!!!!

 

 

 

the hard work was done!!!!

 

 

 

NOT

 

So - this was the basic layout I came up with - worked almost to plan. They gave me more 8' tables - but I went with only three plus 2 of my 6' ones so I would have room for racks in the middle.

 

 

 

This is what I started with -

 

 

 

Friday - loaded in all of the racks, drapes and the cheap books.

 

Got there about 1:30 - was set around 4:30

 

 

 

 

 

Starting to look like a booth now.......

 

 

 

Note on the setup - for layout and content, I could have probably have fit the same comic book layout in a 10 x 10 - but it was nicer to have more room and how cool is it to have your own artist in there as well.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check the load levels on that table? That puppy is bowing!

[W16227]

Part 5: Final layout and DAY 1

 

 

:banana: :banana:

 

Things heating up!!!!

 

managed to get the 2 cartloads of back issues/higher end in the building without soaking them in the rain - had movers blanks which helped. Do not know if tarps would have been better (the blankets were heavy and did not blow around). Would have been better if I dropped them off Friday - but wanted to keep the higher end items with me (though high end is relative - my $5+ books)

 

 

Final day 1 layout -

 

 

The obligatory pre-show pic - my kid laying out the final books, Chuck prepping the art - and a dealer rifling through my dollar books checking against his stock.

 

In addition to the boxes mentioned earlier - we brought along - some sketch covers, about 1 1/2 boxes of "wall books". Not highest of high end wall books - more like Shazam 1, Spider Woman 1, Rom 1, first gorgon - and lower cost items that may have some interest (deadpool, harley).

 

Also had one of my "third eye" posters for sale. Really for sale at a "I do not want to sell this price" - but was open to offers. Had many comments on it - people loved it - but of course did not want to pony up the $$$$$.....

 

Had 2 boxes of slabs - about half modern 9.8s and half older. The higher value ones I had hidden - and had an overall list to show anyone that was showing interest. Kind of a random sampling.

 

Not the crowds of WW for sure - but day 1 seemed pretty steady. Not slammed - but people wandering throughout. I do not know the final tally - but the organizers were pretty happy throughout and said it was a bump from previous years attendance.

 

Before open - had a couple of quick scores on some treasuries. These were from a Shadrock auction (THANKS).

 

Had one major sale pretty quick - someone looking for key/semi key slabs. I had bought some from GACollectables earlier this year (at a decent price) - was intending on holding on to them but had good enough offers to let them go. By the close of the first hour= booth paid for!!!

 

 

 

The rest of the day was a mix - where I sold a lot more of the "wall" books than I thought - and a lot less of the dollars. Still was a very good day overall!

 

By the end of day 1, profits covered all expenses for the weekend (I did rent a trailer and paid my daughter and her friend to help) - so the rest of the show was gravy!!!

 

 

For a royal newbie - accomplished way more than expected the first day. Was just hoping for some business the second day to keep things moving.

 

 

 

 

 

[W16227]

 

 

 

 

 

Starting to look like a booth now.......

 

 

 

Note on the setup - for layout and content, I could have probably have fit the same comic book layout in a 10 x 10 - but it was nicer to have more room and how cool is it to have your own artist in there as well.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check the load levels on that table? That puppy is bowing!

 

 

and that was just the row of shortboxes!!!! - those with longboxes were extra scary!!!!!

 

 

They did not have a great selection of 8' tables - we had 6 to stars with - and I removed the worst three. Next time I will remember to use some of my setup boxes (I have several hard shell heavy cases) - as center props. I tested this a couple of times to make sure we were not at the very edge of dollar books becoming quarter floor books - safe enough..... (thumbs u

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thehumantorch]

 

 

This is what I started with -

 

 

 

 

Those tables are ugly, no wonder they sagged so much.

[thehumantorch]

Enjoyed you report. You put a lot of work into it and it shows.

[1Cool]

Those concrete floors are killing my back just looking at them. They sure are shiny though.

[the blob]

looks nice, but it seems like you paid for a lot of unused space?

[W16227]

Part 6: Day 2 ----

 

no way a Sunday will beat a Saturday????

 

 

So - accomplished a lot of major goals on day 1

 

Most related as to learning what it takes to put up a nice professional booth and be able to hang at a show. Not on the level of the big hitters (do not see WW in my future, ) --- but knowing what it takes to move bulk at an indy show helps my long term plans a lot.

 

My usual routine (like many) - is looking out for collections or bulk auctions that are good value - so I can sell the majority and keep the higher end items. These are to keep - or hold/sell later if I need to raise $$$. The problem with this strategy is that you get a LOT of lower end items that can sell - but are really not great for ebaying (also a lot of lower drek) . Being able to do these shows can get them into the hands of someone who will read/enjoy them and clear out SPACE.

 

 

Day 2 started great - again I hit big out of the gate - the slab buyer was back. I had a Hulk 180 at home that we had discussed the day before. Good score on that one - as it was a raw find that graded 9.2. Off to the races again. Those were really the only slabs I sold - but there was some interest in them. Given that I could spread out with the "double wide" - I had extra room. Future shows - would probably scale that back some and give more room to better raw books.

 

Day 2 - seemed to have more people - and more sales!!!! We made the dollar boxes buy 2 get 1 free so moved a bunch of them - also dealt a lot on the back issues/wall books. Looking to move stock.

 

Also brought in a different 3rd eye poster. I have three of them - two on display Sunday, the other is a keeper. Again lots of comments (including a couple of people that told me it was the coolest thing they saw at the show) - but little buying interest. I was asking a high price - but they have solid frames with conservation glass - and those are not cheap by themselves.

 

Some more pics -

 

Sunday layout - "W" making an appearance.......

 

 

 

One of the commissions that chuck drew that day -

 

 

 

 

The "wall" section - (GATOR and Dale are not worried by any means)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall - we had more $$$ in sales the second day - and my slab sales were higher the first day.

 

Was a fantastic experience for me - looking forward to the next one!

 

 

Lessons learned (and or tips and tricks) for any first timer -

 

1. This site in general has a TON of good material. Those that share their "how to" and advice - you can pick up a LOT from them. It is worth rummaging though some of the muck to find!

 

2. Bubble warp is your friend - fill your boxes to manageable levels for searching - throw this in the back for travel. Think this was a gator tip.

 

3. Small racks in front of a table - if you size them right - they add a lot to the presentation and accessibility. Do not remember the boardie - but someone had this at a bigger con and I stole the idea.

 

4. PLAN AHEAD - even if you have to switch up - when it is your first show - if you lay things out ahead of time - it is easier to adjust.

 

5. TALK TO PEOPLE - I saw so many vendors there just looking down and doing their own thing. Say hi to someone. I made more great contacts with some that have things to sell - just by being friendly. You can also find out what they like - what they may be looking for - and then help them find it.

 

6. if you have the opportunity to do a local show or even a flea market - do it! (Red84 gave me this advice when I sold him several boxes of drek). It is fun and you can sometimes make some $$$.

 

7. Be as organized as you can be - and professional. Many of the longboxes I saw at the show - looked like they had been through a war. It does not take much time to print up some paper fronts to say what is in them - if you do this often - you can laminate them and reuse. Even covering up an ugly box front - makes things more presentable.

 

8. Try and bring something unique -- even though the 3rd eye posters did not sell, I know that they are fairly rare and really stand out. We had a light on it - and you could see it from across the room. The treasuries were also something that was not in all of the booths (there was at least someone else with a couple).

 

9. Gator/1Cool (and others) - search out their show set up descriptions. They give you the great large scale / individual how to guide!

 

 

 

 

Some of the more awesome memories (for a newbie ) -- other than the $$$

 

 

Several people asking when I was doing another show.

 

 

One guy (was a local) - very friendly - looked over different things several times - did finally make a couple of choices at the end and was very happy.

 

One person asking how many shows we do a year..... and their surprise at our answer (well, one so far......)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[manetteska]

Part 5: Final layout and DAY 1

 

A Bill sighting.

[the blob]

don't people kick that display in the front of the cheap-o boxes and stuff so low to the ground generally?

 

was the table they gave you too narrow to double up your shorties like you did on the side or did you not bring that many boxes?

 

anyway, i don't want to sound critical, I'm trying to learn too. i have not had a table at a show since maybe 1999 or so. i got killed last one i did, but i had not thought it all out and it was a bit last minute getting the table, and the market was hurting then anyway. but in another 2 or 3 years, when my son is 12 or 13 and is big enough to cover a table while i go to the bathroom, i think i might try doing these things again.