Tales from the Comic Box - Rookie Adventures in Buying/Selling/Cons 5 5

[Artboy99]

3 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

It's a one day Sunday show so I don't think he's thinking about driving Friday night after work.  I would suggest driving down Sunday morning, it's not that far and the show doesn't open early.  Keeping expenses down applies directly to the bottom line.

We just got back from a one day Sunday show.  Set up began at 7 a.m. Sunday.  It's a 3 hour drive away.  I hated to pay for a hotel but hitting at the road at 3:30 a.m. Sunday wasn't attractive and the drive home in the dark after such a long day would be tough.

And don't forget your partner would have to leave his place at 3:00 AM to get to your place at 3:30.

I remember the drive home the time we did drive in on the same day: You were falling asleep and we had to stop frequently, and you got out and walked around to wake up.

I am happy to pay for that hotel.

[Artboy99]

On ‎8‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 5:39 AM, FineCollector said:

I'd never let anyone in my house, even you shady buggers!   The convenience isn't worth the risk that someone's just scouting houses to break into, even in Ottawa/Gatineau.

Public places might not be comfortable for everyone, some people have anxiety issues that they cant control.  If it's hindering a deal, they should just tell you, and not be embarrassed.

I strongly dislike letting anyone into my place. I had a break in many years ago, it really does change you.

In those days I had a 2 bedroom apartment and I had comics in frames all along the hallways. I had a technician in to setup my internet, and a couple of days later several of my comics went missing. I can't prove it was that tech, but I am sure it was him.

 

My favorite transactions are out of my car. One time I had a frequent buyer contact me looking for a few books he knew I had ( he sold them to me! ), and knowing what type of books he likes I seeded my trunk with boxes of books. We meet up in a McDonald's parking lot, and I tell him the books are in the trunk and I open it up and he sees 6-7 longs of books. He asks "what is all this?" And I say I hadn't unloaded since the last show ( a few weeks previous ).

Sure enough he looked through the boxes and bought more than he planned to

Edited September 13, 2017 by Artboy99

[Wall-Crawler]

19 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

And don't forget your partner would have to leave his place at 3:00 AM to get to your place at 3:30.

I remember the drive home the time we did drive in on the same day: You were falling asleep and we had to stop frequently, and you got out and walked around to wake up.

I am happy to pay for that hotel.

While my show opens later and driving there that early would not be murder and while I do recognize that things like hotels, etc. eat into the bottom line ( I am also not a fan of 'burning books'), my wife and I might make a weekend of it...We have no real "big box" stores here like Costco, etc. so we might make a shopping day and date night out of it as their movie theater is also way better than my one here.  This way can arrive nice and not be stressed for setting up at this show for first time. We shall see though. Plans may change but yes, going to this show early in the morning would not be all that dreadful either.

Edited September 13, 2017 by Wall-Crawler

[Wall-Crawler]

18 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

I strongly dislike letting anyone into my place. I had a break in many years ago, it really does change you.

In those days I had a 2 bedroom apartment and I had comics in frames all along the hallways. I had a technician in to setup my internet, and a couple of days later several of my comics went missing. I can't prove it was that tech, but I am sure it was him.

 

My favorite transactions are out of my car. One time I had a frequent buyer contact me looking for a few books he knew I had ( he sold them to me! ), and knowing what type of books he likes I seeded my trunk with boxes of books. We meet up in a McDonald's parking lot, and I tell him the books are in the trunk and I open it up and he sees 6-7 longs of books. He asks "what is all this?" And I say I hadn't unloaded since the last show ( a few weeks previous ).

Sure enough he looked through the boxes and bought more than he planned to

Our family cottage was robbed years ago. Snowmobiles gone. TV gone. Game system gone. My dad lost whatever tools he had there...Knowing someone had rifled through your drawers. It was an awful feeling.  Thankfully they did not trash the place.  Ugh. I hate thieves.

I am also weary of having service people come in...My 'man cave' is not yet complete so I only have a few items out, everything is in a closed closet that they would have no real business opening, but STILL...

No more word from crazy "I want to come over to your house guy", which is fine by me.  I do like your idea about showing up with other books though for "parking lot" deals that is brilliant! What do they call that in retail, "upselling"? Anyway, smart.

................................................So long as they don't pull out a gun on you and you don't "wait some time" to report and actually warn the collecting community with the specifics of said "robbery"....

[Wall-Crawler]

Picked up another collection today.

This is from an individual whom I have purchased from before.  A total of 8 long boxes. Mostly modern. Lots of variants and will be able to build some nice sets of popular characters. 

This individual is also a Zenescope collector so I got a ton of con exclusives and a few limited limited ones. Not my cup of tea, but I will resell it as there is money to be made.

I did not really have a lot of time to take any pics as I had to rush out to my folks to help take down a chimney and move wood stove as they are "over" dealing with wood and converting to gas and sad thing is I won't have a chance to really, really go through them before upcoming shows,  but I digress...

Sample of books includes: 

Batman #608

Run of Batman (New 52) #0, #2 - #12 and Annual #1 (no #1 proper grrrr)

Run of Batman & Robin (New 52) #0 - #12

Run of Dark Knight (New 52) #0 - #21 + Annual #1

Deadpool books, most notably #65 (first series) and #36 Dell'Otto Variant (2013)

Gotham City Sirens #1 (and hodge podge of misc. Harley Quinn books, a few from 1st series)

Nice assortment of J. Scott Campbell ASM, Spider-Gwen and other JSC variants (though none of the "mega" ones)

Spidey books:  Marvel Team Up #141, ASM #1 (2014 Power Up Rewards and Convention Game Stop variants)

Other random moderns and some semi-keys...Lots of Zenescope con and limited editions (again, not my cup of tea, but...)

...And the lone silver age book...

[spreads]

15 hours ago, Wall-Crawler said:

Picked up another collection today.

This is from an individual whom I have purchased from before.  A total of 8 long boxes. Mostly modern. Lots of variants and will be able to build some nice sets of popular characters. 

This individual is also a Zenescope collector so I got a ton of con exclusives and a few limited limited ones. Not my cup of tea, but I will resell it as there is money to be made.

I did not really have a lot of time to take any pics as I had to rush out to my folks to help take down a chimney and move wood stove as they are "over" dealing with wood and converting to gas and sad thing is I won't have a chance to really, really go through them before upcoming shows,  but I digress...

Sample of books includes: 

Batman #608

Run of Batman (New 52) #0, #2 - #12 and Annual #1 (no #1 proper grrrr)

Run of Batman & Robin (New 52) #0 - #12

Run of Dark Knight (New 52) #0 - #21 + Annual #1

Deadpool books, most notably #65 (first series) and #36 Dell'Otto Variant (2013)

Gotham City Sirens #1 (and hodge podge of misc. Harley Quinn books, a few from 1st series)

Nice assortment of J. Scott Campbell ASM, Spider-Gwen and other JSC variants (though none of the "mega" ones)

Spidey books:  Marvel Team Up #141, ASM #1 (2014 Power Up Rewards and Convention Game Stop variants)

Other random moderns and some semi-keys...Lots of Zenescope con and limited editions (again, not my cup of tea, but...)

...And the lone silver age book...

Nice grab!

You're a better man than I on the renos; at few years back my mom bought a BBQ that required assembling.  After spending my Saturday putting-it together, I told her next time she makes a purchase like that I'll pay to have it pre-assembled...lol

[Wall-Crawler]

7 minutes ago, spreads said:

Nice grab!

You're a better man than I on the renos; at few years back my mom bought a BBQ that required assembling.  After spending my Saturday putting-it together, I told her next time she makes a purchase like that I'll pay to have it pre-assembled...lol

Thanks!

I will try to post a few more pics of some of the collection but won't be able to post all.  

For the record, I am strictly "manual labour"...My dad has all the skills and is the "foreman"

[HouseofComics.Com]

On 9/12/2017 at 5:47 PM, thehumantorch said:

Absolutely.  A seller should figure out what the added expense will be, pull out an equivalent value of easy selling books, and imagine burning them.

Hahaha!

[Wall-Crawler]

9 minutes ago, HouseofComics.Com said:

On 9/12/2017 at 8:47 PM, thehumantorch said:

Absolutely.  A seller should figure out what the added expense will be, pull out an equivalent value of easy selling books, and imagine burning them.

Hahaha!

For the show (Northern Game Expo) this was being discussed (making a day of it and staying over night before, etc), decided that there is no real reason/need for us to stay day before at this time so we will just have everything all loaded up and ready to go on Saturday and then get up early on Sunday, drive and set up same day and come home after the show (I was never staying night after as I have my regular job to report to on Monday).

[Pirate]

On 10/16/2016 at 11:46 PM, Wall-Crawler said:

Final Report

 

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I only ended up getting three tables even though I was told I could have 4 and that was a bit of pain to deal with as I had to on-the-spot re-jig my entire layout and selection.

 

Saturday had decent traffic and overall I was pleased with the sales. However, there were less people through the doors than the previous show last April. Fewer by at least 150 I would guess.

 

Sunday was gloomy and rainy in the morning so I thought that would be a good thing but then it cleared up and there was hardly any traffic at all at the venue. I did not have anywhere near as many sales on the final day and that seemed to be the same for everyone. At one point it was just mostly dealers walking around talking to each other.

 

Costs

 

Booth 2 day rental fee: $225

Extra table cloth: $25

Total expenditure: $250

 

*Note the venue is close to my home and I ate breakfast at home, packed a lunch and was home around dinner time each night, so no "real" meal or other expenses.

 

Sales

 

Books & Other Comic Related Items Sold: $901.00

 

Total Profit: $901 (books sold) - $250 (expenses) = $651.00

 

Analysis

 

I think there are a variety of factors that contributed to lower turnout.

 

Firstly, I think the timing and weather. The weather was pretty good all weekend and lots of other stuff for people to do this time of year and people are busy with outdoor activities and yard work. In April, not so much.

 

Secondly, Advertising and Signage. I think the organizers need to have a more effective advertising campaign and have better signage. They had a few things in some of the free community papers, but not much else. I had people walking in say the signage was poor and there were nothing other than at the entrance to the venue and what was there was hard to see.

 

Thirdly, I had at least 4 good customers not attend the show. The vast majority of attendees are not looking for comics but antiques and other collectibles. I'm the "niche" dealer at the show.

 

Summary

 

Overall, I am pleased. However, due to increased cost, my profit was not as good as the single day show last April, despite there being an extra day.

 

The sales definitely "mattered" in terms of the grand total, but it was a SLOW Sunday. Like I said, at one point dealers were freely wandering during the show, checking out other dealers stuff and just chatting.

 

I will continue to attend the show so long as it is profitable and I signed on for the single day show in April, but if they decide to do a 2 day show again, I will likely pass.

 

Also on the plus side, I think I am at the point now where I feel comfortable taking the next step and going to an actual "comic con" as there are a few that are gaining steam within 1.5 to 3 hours from where I live.

Great thread.  Curious to how you calculate profit.  Were all your books free?

[revat]

22 minutes ago, Pirate said:

On ‎10‎/‎16‎/‎2016 at 8:46 PM, Wall-Crawler said:

Final Report

 

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I only ended up getting three tables even though I was told I could have 4 and that was a bit of pain to deal with as I had to on-the-spot re-jig my entire layout and selection.

 

Saturday had decent traffic and overall I was pleased with the sales. However, there were less people through the doors than the previous show last April. Fewer by at least 150 I would guess.

 

Sunday was gloomy and rainy in the morning so I thought that would be a good thing but then it cleared up and there was hardly any traffic at all at the venue. I did not have anywhere near as many sales on the final day and that seemed to be the same for everyone. At one point it was just mostly dealers walking around talking to each other.

 

Costs

 

Booth 2 day rental fee: $225

Extra table cloth: $25

Total expenditure: $250

 

*Note the venue is close to my home and I ate breakfast at home, packed a lunch and was home around dinner time each night, so no "real" meal or other expenses.

 

Sales

 

Books & Other Comic Related Items Sold: $901.00

 

Total Profit: $901 (books sold) - $250 (expenses) = $651.00

 

Analysis

 

I think there are a variety of factors that contributed to lower turnout.

 

Firstly, I think the timing and weather. The weather was pretty good all weekend and lots of other stuff for people to do this time of year and people are busy with outdoor activities and yard work. In April, not so much.

 

Secondly, Advertising and Signage. I think the organizers need to have a more effective advertising campaign and have better signage. They had a few things in some of the free community papers, but not much else. I had people walking in say the signage was poor and there were nothing other than at the entrance to the venue and what was there was hard to see.

 

Thirdly, I had at least 4 good customers not attend the show. The vast majority of attendees are not looking for comics but antiques and other collectibles. I'm the "niche" dealer at the show.

 

Summary

 

Overall, I am pleased. However, due to increased cost, my profit was not as good as the single day show last April, despite there being an extra day.

 

The sales definitely "mattered" in terms of the grand total, but it was a SLOW Sunday. Like I said, at one point dealers were freely wandering during the show, checking out other dealers stuff and just chatting.

 

I will continue to attend the show so long as it is profitable and I signed on for the single day show in April, but if they decide to do a 2 day show again, I will likely pass.

 

Also on the plus side, I think I am at the point now where I feel comfortable taking the next step and going to an actual "comic con" as there are a few that are gaining steam within 1.5 to 3 hours from where I live.

Great thread.  Curious to how you calculate profit.  Were all your books free?

I was wondering the same thing.  But I think he might have read previously in the thread that most remaining books were from prior purchases where costs were already covered by other sales, making most future sales essentially 'pure' profit (if one chooses to do their accounting in that fashion).  That's my vague recollection, but I get threads mixed up too.  Who knows?

[Wall-Crawler]

1 hour ago, Pirate said:

Great thread.  Curious to how you calculate profit.  Were all your books free?

@Pirate 

Wow, blast from the past as this was one of the older show posts, that was the one and only local 2 day show they have tried in my home town.  All of the other one day shows have been more profitable based on per day and "investment".

I wish all my books were free .  As @revat stated, the bulk of the collection had been bought and paid for PRIOR to my foray into local shows as I have been active on eBay longer.  I have bought two collections this summer though of which I have not really sold any from yet, so technically, for those two collections, I am "in the hole.  

Overall, I am still "ahead" by a fair margin from previous shows and ebay sales.

[Pirate]

6 minutes ago, Wall-Crawler said:

@Pirate 

Wow, blast from the past as this was one of the older show posts, that was the one and only local 2 day show they have tried in my home town.  All of the other one day shows have been more profitable based on per day and "investment".

I wish all my books were free .  As @revat stated, the bulk of the collection had been bought and paid for PRIOR to my foray into local shows as I have been active on eBay longer.  I have bought two collections this summer though of which I have not really sold any from yet, so technically, for those two collections, I am "in the hole.  

Overall, I am still "ahead" by a fair margin from previous shows and ebay sales.

I try to start threads when possible at the beginning

[spreads]

I've only been doing shows for three months (once a month), I like to use the Sales X Cost multiple.  It's a quick, simplified method that you can use to gauge time and cost of buying/selling collections.   

[Wall-Crawler]

1 hour ago, revat said:

I was wondering the same thing.  But I think he might have read previously in the thread that most remaining books were from prior purchases where costs were already covered by other sales, making most future sales essentially 'pure' profit (if one chooses to do their accounting in that fashion).  That's my vague recollection, but I get threads mixed up too.  Who knows?

@revat @Pirate

Yes, the bulk of the larger collection I purchased that initially really helped 'catapult' my foray into buying and selling has been paid off some time ago (but didn't happen overnight), even after all expenses such as rebagging and boarding and buying other supplies has been taken into account.

I also have the good fortune of not having to pay for storage space. The only thing that is inconvenient is that I don't have "immediate" access to my books.

Basically, when it comes to shows, I take into account all my costs, such as show fees and supplies.  I subtract that from my earnings to determine my "profit".  For the larger show I did I took into account the hotel fees but not food and the movie date I had with the wife.  I do not take into account "my time" into my bottom line when selling.  Basically show costs vs sales.

I also keep track via written receipts what sold and for how much. While it is a bit of a pain, I like being able to see exactly what sold.

I am now at a point where I have all the show supplies I need, with the exception if I buy a new collection and they need to be rebagged and boarded, need to buy new  price stickers, etc.  For very minor purchases like that, I don't bother to record it but say if I have to spend $100 or more for new bags and boards, I do.  That part is a bit willy nilly.  For selling online, I also take into account shipping supplies and fees but I don't "track it".

When I get a book graded, I obviously have to look at all the costs to get the book , the cost involved to see if it would be "worth it" after grading and shipping fees, and there have been some misfires, but hey, part of learning experience. 

Overall, I am "ahead" and have a floating comic buying fund and savings.  Technically, I am "in the hole" for the last two collections I have purchased this summer and just this weekend, as I have not had the time to actively sell them but a lot have been or will be "show and ebay" prepped. So yeah, those two collections are a bit of a drag right now and whenever a "new" collection comes into the mix, I am not sure how to best "track" when I am in profit mode as some go into boxes for shows, some go to ebay, some may go to CGC, etc.  Generally speaking, I try to recoup my costs as fast as possible, but like I said, those two recent collections are both currently "negatives".

I am sure there are more "technical" ways to monitor expenditure vs profit, but I am not an accountant though my wife bugs me to keep more of a formalized record and tracking system, I  don't have the time and that is not my particular skill set.  Would I like to be more "professional"? Absolutely.  However, where I am now seems to be working but a goal is to get everything cataloged and a better accounting system put in place at some point.

Edited October 3, 2017 by Wall-Crawler

[spreads]

I don't know if you need to get that granular, if you're buying stuff in bulk you know what you're into for a specific comic.  This is what I do; I use a spending-app on my phone for just comics.  I put all NET income and expense transactions, for example I bought $50 on supplies last month so I add that expense line on the app -  It takes about three seconds.  You can also do that for non-bulk buys, e.g. if you purchase a few comics and flip you have the net income and expense line.  For shows I just do a one-line item for net sales (which is pretty-much gross sales minus maybe other books bought, etc.).

A few pros of this approach - within less than a second you have a running tally of net income/expense for the year.  Also, each transaction is dated so you can run your own projections or analysis on cash flow.  The cons are I'm not taking any kind of inventory for books sold, I have a pretty good memory on my stuff but I can't say with absolute certainty what I have. 

The other downside is that I'm not calculating any kind of return metrics; I work for a major investment firm so I'm capable of doing serious financial analysis if I wanted to - but this is hobby for me! 

 

Edited October 3, 2017 by spreads

[HouseofComics.Com]

Yes, beware the two day show that should really be a one day show! Those are killers. Typically sales on Sunday are like 50-60% of Saturday and you may have a hotel expense too.

[Wall-Crawler]

8 hours ago, HouseofComics.Com said:

Yes, beware the two day show that should really be a one day show! Those are killers. Typically sales on Sunday are like 50-60% of Saturday and you may have a hotel expense too.

Fortunately this show was local, so no travel but yes, they decided to try a two day show and it bombed...I know a lot of vendors were really upset, thankfully, I lived in the same city as the show.  There are a variety of factors that contributed as to why it bombed, but  needless I will not be trying another local two day show anytime soon without substantial changes.  Ever since, it has only been a one day show.

All of my upcoming shows are one day shows.  There was a one day show about 2.5 hours from where I live that I attended as a guest last May to see how it was (it was their first show) and based on that I thought about setting up at for 2018.  Unfortunately,  they changed the date and made it two days, so I really don't know if I will try it now.

Even for "bigger shows", I wonder how the "last day" of a con "typically" is?

Edited October 4, 2017 by Wall-Crawler

[spreads]

The single day shows are definitely were it is - lesser risk.  I chatted with a dealer that setup at a major Toronto show (I think it was comic con) and it cost $2800 for rent (not factoring in anything else).  As he was describing the poor performance, I thought he was gonna cry!  That show was busy, it just didn't work for him - and he's a veteran dealer.

[HouseofComics.Com]

With the major shows, I like that they are 2-3 days because it's been so much work to get the stuff there and set up, etc. Happy to be "installed" for the weekend. it's just the regional ones that see $$ by expanding to two days that are disappointing.