Comic Shops when they have to break the news that comics aren't worth squat. 2 2

[kav]

45 minutes ago, the blob said:

People want to convince themselves of stuff, that they have a treasure or paid a great price.  I was working a friend's table at a pre-NYCC Javitz show (dunno if it was the only one) and a guy comes up and asks why we aren't "half price" like the other table, only 25% off, and he shows me some Dell he bought for $10, half of $20.  We had the same issue for like $15, pre-discount.  But his copy is trashed and our copy is about a VF.  I'm telling him our's is $1 more or whatever, but is a much better copy.  He just isn't getting it.

Best to just tell these dolts 'I could explain but you wouldn't get it and just get angry.  This isn't my first rodeo.  Come back when you've spent 20 years selling comics.'

[punksdropdirtysrh]

This thread inspired me to go check my local CL. Found this one to be slightly amusing. It's hard to hold back from teasing this seller.

[lou_fine]

On 4/22/2017 at 10:50 AM, Ken Aldred said:

On 4/22/2017 at 9:51 AM, Artboy99 said:

He also has no idea about current trends. Yes that complete new 52 Batman run USED to sell for $350.00, now it is difficult to sell at all as the buyers have moved on to Rebirth.

 

Yup.  That's another key factor - timing.

+1

Most definitely, as virtually all MA books tend to have a very short shelf life before the speculators move onto the next "hot" book.

As a result, MA books tend to depreciate in value as time goes on, while vintage quality collectible books tend to appreciate in value as time goes by. 

Edited April 25, 2017 by lou_fine

[kav]

Do this: someone comes in with bunch of junk go Oh my god! oh my god! OH MY GOD!!!  Do you know what you have here???????

-a bunch of worthless junk.

[1950's war comics]

3 hours ago, kav said:

Do this: someone comes in with bunch of junk go Oh my god! oh my god! OH MY GOD!!!  Do you know what you have here???????

-a bunch of worthless junk.

Youngblood #1 Comic Book Image 1992 :
On sale now Kav. $3.62 hurry up before the new movie hype and it takes off........
 

[kav]

1 minute ago, 1950's war comics said:

Youngblood #1 Comic Book Image 1992 :
On sale now Kav. $3.62 hurry up before the new movie hype and it takes off........
 

Liefeld character name generator-pick one from column A or B then add to one from column C.  Flip a coin to see if column C word comes before A or B:

A                               B                             C

Kill                        Blood                      Shatter

                             Dead                        Shot

                                                               Star

                                                              Young

                                                               Pool

                                                               Bath

[1950's war comics]

3 minutes ago, kav said:

Liefeld character name generator-pick one from column A or B then add to one from column C.  Flip a coin to see if column C word comes before A or B:

A                               B                             C

Kill                        Blood                      Shatter

                             Dead                        Shot

                                                               Star

                                                              Young

                                                               Pool

                                                               Bath

Ha ha so very true !!

[kav]

Shatterkill and Bloodstar team up was awesome

[Lazyboy]

4 hours ago, punksdropdirtysrh said:

This thread inspired me to go check my local CL. Found this one to be slightly amusing. It's hard to hold back from teasing this seller.

While the listing doesn't give issue numbers, it's possible that the price may at least be close to recent, if not current, FMV. It's not like the listing is for a set of West Coast Avengers.

How anybody was ever suckered into paying $100 for a New 52 Batman 1 is another story.

[punksdropdirtysrh]

13 minutes ago, Lazyboy said:

While the listing doesn't give issue numbers, it's possible that the price may at least be close to recent, if not current, FMV. It's not like the listing is for a set of West Coast Avengers.

How anybody was ever suckered into paying $100 for a New 52 Batman 1 is another story.

I actually thought of that after posting. Maybe it's not too far off I guess. 

As for $100 for that book...sucker born every minute. "Oooh it's number one!"

[Ken Aldred]

46 minutes ago, kav said:

Shatterkill and Bloodstar team up was awesome

[kav]

 

WHERE ARE THE POUCHES??

[kav]

I dare LCS owners to declare without even looking that people's books they bring in aren't worth anything.  The odds are strongly in your favor-you could say 'valuable comics are so rare that I feel confident in telling you that box of comics has no value even without looking at it.  I've been doing this a long time'.

[Logan510]

12 hours ago, kav said:

I dare LCS owners to declare without even looking that people's books they bring in aren't worth anything.  The odds are strongly in your favor-you could say 'valuable comics are so rare that I feel confident in telling you that box of comics has no value even without looking at it.  I've been doing this a long time'.

I've actually seen this. At a store in my area that is no longer around ( the owner decided to close due to lease issues, not because the store wasn't successful ), I heard him tell people on the phone more than once " no, we don't buy collections, sorry". When I asked him why he said that more than 90% of the time the collections would be 80's -90's drek that he wasn't interested in. He had a pretty extensive back issue selection, so it wasn't like he was starving for books to sell.

[kav]

38 minutes ago, Logan510 said:

I've actually seen this. At a store in my area that is no longer around ( the owner decided to close due to lease issues, not because the store wasn't successful ), I heard him tell people on the phone more than once " no, we don't buy collections, sorry". When I asked him why he said that more than 90% of the time the collections would be 80's -90's drek that he wasn't interested in. He had a pretty extensive back issue selection, so it wasn't like he was starving for books to sell.

There's also the trolls my buddy said some old dude came in his store and said he had this old superman book what was it worth?  My buddy said he'd have to see it.  The guy kept getting frustrated saying 'it has superman lifting a green car-how much is it worth?' my buddy just kept saying 'I'd have to see it'.  

[Rip]

The worst is when they think they have something like a Hulk 1 or Action 1 and you have to break it to them that its for the most part worthless.

I've been called some mean names in my time.

Early this week I had someone show me a baseball card that he thought was an original Tobacco T-207 Lewis Boston. I showed him on the back where the card had printed, the history of the card telling the rarity and the value. I explained to him, if it was original it wouldn't have that.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Rip

[kav]

12 minutes ago, Rip said:

The worst is when they think they have something like a Hulk 1 or Action 1 and you have to break it to them that its for the most part worthless.

I've been called some mean names in my time.

Early this week I had someone show me a baseball card that he thought was an original Tobacco T-207 Lewis Boston. I showed him on the back where the card had printed, the history of the card telling the rarity and the value. I explained to him, if it was original it wouldn't have that.

You mean when they printed Action #1 they didn't put 'the most valuable comic of all time!' on it?

[Ken Aldred]

29 minutes ago, kav said:

You mean when they printed Action #1 they didn't put 'the most valuable comic of all time!' on it?

Just ' Must-have collector's item first issue'.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Ken Aldred

[fmaz]

One of the big issues is that if that lady had brought in a pile of valuable comics to a comic shop... or a pile of worthless books with one gem in the middle of them, in MANY cases, the comic shop owner would have said they weren't worth very much and tried to get them for a song... or at least that's what people are inherently expecting when they come in. People are so afraid of being taken that, even when people in a comic shop are trying to offer friendly advice... advice, by the way, which they've been ASKED to provide... it's still going to almost always met with suspicion.

That's why when you see people getting bad news on Antiques Road Show they take it so much better... they go into that situation trusting that they're getting an objective opinion. 

Oh and by the way for personal experience? The few times I've checked out someone's collection and decided not to buy it because it was just a lot of junk?  What I have said is that those particular books are not what I collect, but that I've seen collections like that sell pretty often on ebay and they should check it out.    That seems to get me off the hook and, I always hope, points them in the direction of finding out what their books are really worth, if even by accident.

 

[kav]

1 hour ago, fmaz said:

One of the big issues is that if that lady had brought in a pile of valuable comics to a comic shop... or a pile of worthless books with one gem in the middle of them, in MANY cases, the comic shop owner would have said they weren't worth very much and tried to get them for a song... or at least that's what people are inherently expecting when they come in. People are so afraid of being taken that, even when people in a comic shop are trying to offer friendly advice... advice, by the way, which they've been ASKED to provide... it's still going to almost always met with suspicion.

That's why when you see people getting bad news on Antiques Road Show they take it so much better... they go into that situation trusting that they're getting an objective opinion. 

Oh and by the way for personal experience? The few times I've checked out someone's collection and decided not to buy it because it was just a lot of junk?  What I have said is that those particular books are not what I collect, but that I've seen collections like that sell pretty often on ebay and they should check it out.    That seems to get me off the hook and, I always hope, points them in the direction of finding out what their books are really worth, if even by accident.

 

Then you get those guys if you tell em this book is worth $1000 they want $1000 for it.  So you're supposed to buy a book for $1000 then turn around and sell it for $1000.  They never get that part.