With all of the exclusive creator/talent signing deals... 4 4

[Evilawd]

On 3/24/2017 at 0:11 PM, Rich_Henn said:

You can't afford my bar tab  :

True story!

[BeachBum]

I think this is officially the first time in the history of the me being on the internet that I've been called a "troll"

Carry on.

Edited March 26, 2017 by BeachBum

[reddwarf666222]

24 minutes ago, inthehottub said:

From what I have heard that is wrong.  A facilitator cannot witness signature. A witness would need another witness if they were their own books.

But in your initial response you essentially proved my point in which there are shows I have been to working with a facilitator in which only 1 person witnessed the signature that being a witness. It's not like I have two people always with me and even with CGC I have only had one person there with me as the witness. So this whole thought process the facilitator is just there underneath Beach Bum's thought process is ludicrous they are there to make money.

[reddwarf666222]

4 minutes ago, Evilawd said:

True story!

I could hahaha, but he has to wear a Jensen Ackles shirt for an entire year.

[BeachBum]

3 minutes ago, reddwarf666222 said:

But in your initial response you essentially proved my point in which there are shows I have been to working with a facilitator in which only 1 person witnessed the signature that being a witness. It's not like I have two people always with me and even with CGC I have only had one person there with me as the witness. So this whole thought process the facilitator is just there underneath Beach Bum's thought process is ludicrous they are there to make money.

If a Facilitator is at a show he needs his witness to witness the books - the witness signs paperwork that identifies them being the witness for the show. CGC pays for that witness for the Facilitator. If a Facilitator is walking around witnessing books then they are green labels not SS. I've seen Facilitators get busted on this in the past and books end up Green Label. It's not Ludicrous - it's the rules.

All the Facilitators I know have a witness with them at show witnessing books. They are not the witness.

Edited March 26, 2017 by BeachBum

[reddwarf666222]

2 minutes ago, BeachBum said:

If a Facilitator is at a show he needs his witness to witness the books - the witness signs paperwork that identifies them being the witness for the show. CGC pays for that witness for the Facilitator. If a Facilitator is walking around witnessing books then they are green labels not SS. I've seen Facilitators get busted on this in the past and books end up Green Label. It's not Ludicrous - it's the rules.

But you said both the witness and facilitator need to be there. That is just not the case only one person needs to be there for the signing. The facilitator can be off doing other stuff to maximize profits.

[BeachBum]

1 minute ago, reddwarf666222 said:

But you said both the witness and facilitator need to be there. That is just not the case only one person needs to be there for the signing. The facilitator can be off doing other stuff to maximize profits.

Then who's watching the books?

[Par2ch]

3 minutes ago, reddwarf666222 said:

But you said both the witness and facilitator need to be there. That is just not the case only one person needs to be there for the signing. The facilitator can be off doing other stuff to maximize profits.

Correct, however, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, a facilitator who accepts customer books and or has his own inventory/stock to get signed at a show CANNOT witness these books, NOR can he witness for other facilitators books.  If his witness(es) are off getting books done then the facilitator has to wait until they return OR grab someone from the CGC booth. 

Edited March 26, 2017 by Par2ch

[BeachBum]

1 minute ago, Par2ch said:

Correct, however, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, a facilitator who accepts customer books and or has his own inventory/stock CANNOT witness books.  If his witness(es) are off getting books done then the facilitator has to wait until they return OR grab someone from the CGC booth. 

Correct - he can't take books in, then walk over to an artist/celebrity and get books done. His witness has to do it.

Edited March 26, 2017 by BeachBum

[BeachBum]

And let me just say this - Wouldn't you want the guy who you sent your prized possessions into personally handling your books at a signing and have the witness be present so you know everything is being handled the way you want it be done? Not a shot at any witnesses but I handle everything I get done at a show myself with the CGC witness present. I've seen guys like Rich Henn running around like a madman at shows with witness making sure everything is done right.

[reddwarf666222]

9 minutes ago, Par2ch said:

Correct, however, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, a facilitator who accepts customer books and or has his own inventory/stock to get signed at a show CANNOT witness these books, NOR can he witness for other facilitators books.  If his witness(es) are off getting books done then the facilitator has to wait until they return OR grab someone from the CGC booth. 

Probably which explains the huge purge of facilitators by Mike Balent about a year ago then. To where he limited to just a certain number of people who have proven themselves year after year.

[reddwarf666222]

26 minutes ago, BeachBum said:

And let me just say this - Wouldn't you want the guy who you sent your prized possessions into personally handling your books at a signing and have the witness be present so you know everything is being handled the way you want it be done? Not a shot at any witnesses but I handle everything I get done at a show myself with the CGC witness present. I've seen guys like Rich Henn running around like a madman at shows with witness making sure everything is done right.

I can say this I have only had one item come back signed with the signature in the wrong placement. To be honest that is because the facilitator did not follow the signature placement instructions sent and it was a switch off between two facilitators in which CGC shipped the comic to the second facilitator. To be fair this was Stan Lee signing at a lightning fast pace. All books, posters, and etc I have sent with instructions out they have always been signed with picture illustrating where and the color of marker request because I send that color of marker out with the request for special circumstances. As long as you cover the basics with pictures and more illustrating and a detailed paper the witnesses have made sure to get what I wanted signed with exact placement and color.Unfortunately that is just a chance you take.

Worst Case Scenario:

Best Case Scenario

Edited March 26, 2017 by reddwarf666222

[Evilawd]

10 hours ago, Rich_Henn said:

Speaking strictly for myself, and this is something that I've always been transparent about----I do my pre-sales in order to gauge how much inventory I need to order.

Especially when it comes to variant covers.  I've missed out on some really fantastic variants in the past because I didn't get my orders in early enough.

Most recently, the Elektra #2 Adi Granov variant cover.   I had customers contact me about the book, and I couldn't offer it because I didn't request any in advance.

That's just one example----but I'm constantly in touch with my LCS, multiple times a day in fact, placing orders in advance to guarantee that I have the stock available to me.

If I wasn't able to to that, it would be increasingly difficult for me to be able to successfully deliver the product.

If I was to wait until the product is physically in hand, it's extremely unlikely that I'd have enough product, let alone high grade product to offer.

Also, I'm not about to just blindly purchase books that I (think) board members might like, go through the motions getting the books graded, and then throw them out there in the hopes that there are people interested in the book, months after it's been on and off the shelves.  The costs simply do not make this a viable option.

It just makes more business sense to offer various books that I (think) rather than (hope) board members might be interested in, and then based off that interest, I'll place my advance orders with my LCS.   If I throw out there, for example Unworthy Thor #1 standard and variant, and get 3 people interested, I'm going to make sure that I have at least double that waiting for me when I purchase inventory.  Seven to Eternity #1, I couldn't supply enough books past the initial 8 ordered,  because I waited till the book was on the shelves to offer it in the thread.  Had I offered the book earlier, I could have locked in twice that many.

On the other side of that coin, there have been several books with no takers, so I'm not going to even bother getting that book done.

Without the advent of the pre-sales in the signature room, it would significantly hamper the service that I am able to offer my customers and  significantly impact the amount of business that I do with CGC.   

Rich you have always provided amazing service and sales threads posted in the open with full disclosure of what the buyer is getting. This is the standard with Dre, Torrey And Sean and you. Any others forgive me as I haven't delt with you but these others do value there relationships and honor there word. This is clearly not the case with all sellers and it sucks that a few can ruin it for many.

[reddwarf666222]

3 minutes ago, Evilawd said:

Rich you have always provided amazing service and sales threads posted in the open with full disclosure of what the buyer is getting. This is the standard with Dre, Torrey And Sean and you. Any others forgive me as I haven't delt with you but these others do value there relationships and honor there word. This is clearly not the case with all sellers and it sucks that a few can ruin it for many.

Rich is fantastic to deal with so is DScott and Par2ch.

[starlord86]

I hear that guy starlord86 is really cool. Someone should get that guy a drink.

[inthehottub]

1 hour ago, BeachBum said:

I think this is officially the first time in the history of the me being on the internet that I've been called a "troll"

Carry on.

First time for me also to hear Dre called a troll. Beach Bum is the go to man for CGC 9.8 and a top notch individual.  I could see a lot of his points and it looked as a simple disagreement not trolling.

[Transplant]

Dre raises lots of good points. I also think there are issues with people locking up creators. And I don't think for most talent it's anything more than $$$. 

[Califelix]

How much of this is creator initiated?  From what I understand, McFarlane for example chose to have private signings with facilitators because he felt his fans were being overshadowed by the "business fans" after CGC autos for resell. Most of the creators that have facilitators are usually in pretty high demand...could it be that they're doing it more so to have more time with fans as well as potential customers to the products they brought to sell?

[Califelix]

Also, Herb Trimpe also comes to mind as someone that never charged for autos and even did full body sketches for just $100 everytime I seen him. He even took more than he would originally say he'd do and work on them in the hotel room at night...

[reddwarf666222]

21 minutes ago, Califelix said:

How much of this is creator initiated?  From what I understand, McFarlane for example chose to have private signings with facilitators because he felt his fans were being overshadowed by the "business fans" after CGC autos for resell. Most of the creators that have facilitators are usually in pretty high demand...could it be that they're doing it more so to have more time with fans as well as potential customers to the products they brought to sell?

I think this is creator driven. With the big names like a Neal Adams or a Rob Liefeld telling the younger generations you only have a limited time that you can be popular for in which you can charge for high demands. As a creator you need to charge what you can make when you can make it and save up for the rest of your life. I've been told this by alot of creators that these guys and now a larger growing group of creators are trying to make artists understand this and not give away stuff for free. They are also trying to educate not everyone can have the longevity of being considered a legend and be on top.

Edited March 26, 2017 by reddwarf666222