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A message to dealers.

19 posts in this topic

As most of us know there has been much said about unresponsive dealers in this hobby on other threads so I would like to add my 2 cents .

 

HEY DEALERS ! KEEP YOUR SITES UP TO DATE !

 

It has gotten so bad that I hardly deal over the web any longer because much of what is listed is not available and I just wait to see those dealers at conventions. It is very frustrating.

I know the thinking by these dealers is that if they make contact with the buyer perhaps they can sell them something else ,so who cares .That’s sort of a new take on “Bait and Switch”,but if I’m feeling frustrated then I’m sure other collectors are as well.

Who am I talking about ? Just about all of the bigger dealers except for Romitaman who is always on top of his site and the profession,but to the rest of them I say “Get with the Program”.

You are losing business!

Any thoughts?

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I can only think of one dealer who does this.. Nostalgic Investments.. Never really had a problem with anyone else..

 

Ricky

 

yes he's had sold stuff up for years. i also bought something from Eder and it was up for a year after i had purchased it. Burkey has more than a few Kirby pages that have been sold for quite some time. I guess they want to show that people are buying.

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I agree. As a potential buyer, this practice is annoying. I don’t mind if it is up a couple days or maybe a week but it often goes far beyond that. The only reasons I can think of for keeping sold art listed as available are not good ones.

 

If you are going to have a site, keep it updated. Pretty simple.

 

If you are leaving up stuff that is sold but keeping it listed as available to draw people in, that’s just bad business. I find it hard to believe this to be the case as you could just leave the art on the site and mark as sold.

 

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I agree. As a potential buyer, this practice is annoying. I don’t mind if it is up a couple days or maybe a week but it often goes far beyond that. The only reasons I can think of for keeping sold art listed as available are not good ones.

 

If you are going to have a site, keep it updated. Pretty simple.

 

If you are leaving up stuff that is sold but keeping it listed as available to draw people in, that’s just bad business. I find it hard to believe this to be the case as you could just leave the art on the site and mark as sold.

 

To me, the only thing worse than this is publicizing new pieces for sale on your site, and they are marked with "please inquire" or "offers". When I see that, I don't even bother reading the dealers/sellers next update. They've wasted my time and they've list me as a customer.

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I agree. As a potential buyer, this practice is annoying. I don’t mind if it is up a couple days or maybe a week but it often goes far beyond that. The only reasons I can think of for keeping sold art listed as available are not good ones.

 

If you are going to have a site, keep it updated. Pretty simple.

 

If you are leaving up stuff that is sold but keeping it listed as available to draw people in, that’s just bad business. I find it hard to believe this to be the case as you could just leave the art on the site and mark as sold.

 

To me, the only thing worse than this is publicizing new pieces for sale on your site, and they are marked with "please inquire" or "offers". When I see that, I don't even bother reading the dealers/sellers next update. They've wasted my time and they've list me as a customer.

 

Agreed. I've refused to buy from a specific dealer because he often lists using this practice, or has private bidding wars. I get it if you're an individual collector (variable circumstances), but not as a dealer.

 

Prior to making this decision, I had communication problems as he never e-mailed me back on numerous occasions (I don't have a reputation one way or the other, so that baffles me), and consequentially he lost out on a five-figure purchase when I approached the artist directly. Silly...

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Yes, another “business” tactic that I despise. I cannot stand a new piece listed as TBD as that is tantamount to “private bidding war desired, please inquire. “

 

I saw a page listed a few months ago that interested me. I inquired about it and a couple other pages. Slow response and when I got one it was roughly ‘I am fielding several offers on this, what is your offer?’ I made an offer with slow response once again and then came a ‘I am getting offers above XX’ which was higher than mine. I dropped it … don’t like playing games.

 

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I don't mind playing games, but once I get the sense that you are manipulating me or engaging in unethical sales practices.... I will pass on art every time. There are a few names and a few auction sites that I have made a point to stop looking at, due to this.

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There are a few names and a few auction sites that I have made a point to stop looking at, due to this.

 

can you name them and note the dubious practices? whenever discussions like this come up people chatter on and on but don't provide details that would be useful for newer collectors.

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I agree..

 

i've never believed a practice of putting INQUIRE or MAKE OFFER for something in your FOR SALE art gallery is ever a good practice.

 

i used to have a "WAITING ROOM" gallery where i could put art images up beofre i had the time to write up my detailed descriptions (which takes me a lot lot of time to do)

 

but more than a few people said this wasnt good...so i got rid of it.

 

by the way.. We just put some VERY key covers on Romitaman.com in my NEW UPDATE "TODAY" if anyone wants to check em out:

 

a STUNNING Art Adams cover!

 

a sweet John Buscema Silver Age AVENGERS SPLASH!

 

an ever sweeter John Buscema Silver Age FANTASTIC FOUR COVER!

 

a superbly detailed John Byrne X-Men Hidden Years Cover

 

2 of the most BEAUTIFUL Gene Colan / Bill Everett Cap #137 SPIDERMAN pages you will ever lay eyes on!

 

Gil Kane / John Romita Sr ASM cover!

 

A superb Jack Kirby Thor/ Loki 1967 THOR page!

 

An incredible JIM LEE SPAWN #150 Anniversary cover!

 

a very detailed Joe Madureira Uncanny X-Men Cover

 

an ICONIC Frank Miller / Klaus Janson 1980's ASM cover!

 

a beautiful Joe Quesada cover!

 

Jerry Robinson / Sprang / Neal Adams / Murphy Anderson / Shelly Moldoff BATMAN MIXED MEDIA HUGE COLOR PINUP!

 

John Romita Sr. ASM Spiderman Cover

 

an UNCANNY (first Run) X-Men cover by the great John Romita Jr

 

a very nicely drawn WOLVERINE cover by the great John Romita Jr/ Terry Austin!

 

An ICONIC Bernie Wrightson FRANKENSTEIN PLATE WITH THE MONSTER ON IT! WOW!

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

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Great additions today Mike. I found the ASM annual 15 price a little startling considering how little is on the cover but I guess when its Miller and a classic issue I shouldn't be surprised. Consider this sour grapes because I'd love to have it! lol Good luck with the sales!

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Great additions today Mike. I found the ASM annual 15 price a little startling considering how little is on the cover but I guess when its Miller and a classic issue I shouldn't be surprised. Consider this sour grapes because I'd love to have it! lol Good luck with the sales!

 

I found it startling for other reasons... wasn't it $15k on the site not too long ago?

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Great additions today Mike. I found the ASM annual 15 price a little startling considering how little is on the cover but I guess when its Miller and a classic issue I shouldn't be surprised. Consider this sour grapes because I'd love to have it! lol Good luck with the sales!

 

I found it startling for other reasons... wasn't it $15k on the site not too long ago?

 

I don't watch the site closely enough to know, any comments?

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Great additions today Mike. I found the ASM annual 15 price a little startling considering how little is on the cover but I guess when its Miller and a classic issue I shouldn't be surprised. Consider this sour grapes because I'd love to have it! lol Good luck with the sales!

 

I found it startling for other reasons... wasn't it $15k on the site not too long ago?

 

That's the last price I recall as well.

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