Local LCS 0

[1950's war comics]

My local LCS finally closed up , out of business, no surprise there,  i only bought my bags and boards there, 

they had racks of moderns but their back issues consisted of a couple stacks of mostly low grade silver behind the glass counter, priced at about 5 times more than you could get them on eBay

In all actuality,  i could  have taken a stack of some of my worst vintage comics to them and they would have been far better than anything they had in the store,

i almost considered it but how can you even talk to an LCS store owner with a straight face when he has a DD #27  for sale in VG for $40.00  sticker price 

[kav]

yep that's what happens

[OrangeNemesis]

I'm envious of people with local shops.... 

[jimjum12]

We have a bunch of shops around here...... all are strong. The closest one, Comic Cubicle, just had a show dealer from Tennessee stop in and buy a short box of the OO collection that turned up recently. Mark keeps his overstock down by keeping his dollar boxes fresh. He gets nice vintage books because he doesn't offer insulting low ball offers for the better stuff when it shows up at his door. It has to be a give and take with the customers.... it can't be all about getting over. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Readcomix]

1 hour ago, 1950's war comics said:

My local LCS finally closed up , out of business, no surprise there,  i only bought my bags and boards there, 

they had racks of moderns but their back issues consisted of a couple stacks of mostly low grade silver behind the glass counter, priced at about 5 times more than you could get them on eBay

In all actuality,  i could  have taken a stack of some of my worst vintage comics to them and they would have been far better than anything they had in the store,

i almost considered it but how can you even talk to an LCS store owner with a straight face when he has a DD #27  for sale in VG for $40.00  sticker price 

Just a guess, but I think some of these guys get a little carried away with the old LCS notion of asking a bit more than you will actually accept because you expect to get haggled down.

Most collectors, in my anecdotal experience, will not even ask if prices seem too out of whack with reality. If I want the book and fmv is 20% of ask, I go ahead and offer that. Either they say no, or on rare occasion there's convoluted "logic" to the sticker price. I learned to ask ever since seeing a GA Cap with $2300 on it and the guy telling me, "Oh, I'll take $350 on that. I just use the guide mint price for my reference."  But it taught me to ask...

[ADAMANTIUM]

27 minutes ago, Readcomix said:

Just a guess, but I think some of these guys get a little carried away with the old LCS notion of asking a bit more than you will actually accept because you expect to get haggled down.

Most collectors, in my anecdotal experience, will not even ask if prices seem too out of whack with reality. If I want the book and fmv is 20% of ask, I go ahead and offer that. Either they say no, or on rare occasion there's convoluted "logic" to the sticker price. I learned to ask ever since seeing a GA Cap with $2300 on it and the guy telling me, "Oh, I'll take $350 on that. I just use the guide mint price for my reference."  But it taught me to ask...

This really is a life lesson  so many times I've been in the LCS and people saying, oh that's a cool book but I don't have enough $$. I want to tell them to make an offer or something. One of my LCS even has layaway that he started for statues, because he sells sideshows that people would not think to look up online for themselves etc. But he'll do it for comics too. But when a customer says they don't "have enough" so often no one steps up and say's anything about the "layaway"  it's sad really, I've heard them say it a few times to customer's on the big books though ex: X-men 1 1963 and FF #1

[kav]

I dont think I've ever seen a book on LCS wall for anywhere close to what I can get it for on ebay.  Not even within 50% more than ebay prices.  Usually it's like 5 times ebay at least.  sometimes more.

Edited June 27, 2017 by kav

[wombat]

There is a big difference between "asking a bit more" and grossly overpriced. I'm more of the belief they are just waiting for a sucker. Which of course is much less likely to happen these days than in the past. 

[kav]

2 minutes ago, wombat said:

There is a big difference between "asking a bit more" and grossly overpriced. I'm more of the belief they are just waiting for a sucker. Which of course is much less likely to happen these days than in the past. 

The books just sit there and sit there and sit there.  They never get that a sucker isn't coming.  Ever.  

[shadroch]

   If you can't figure out who the sucker at the table is within 15 minutes, it's you.

[Readcomix]

6 hours ago, wombat said:

There is a big difference between "asking a bit more" and grossly overpriced. I'm more of the belief they are just waiting for a sucker. Which of course is much less likely to happen these days than in the past. 

99% of the time this is the case. I just look for that outlier oddball, and annoy them with reality the rest of the time.

[marvelmaniac]

7 hours ago, kav said:

I dont think I've ever seen a book on LCS wall for anywhere close to what I can get it for on ebay.  Not even within 50% more than ebay prices.  Usually it's like 5 times ebay at least.  sometimes more.

There are still at least 5 LCS's open within 5 - 7 miles of me although I have not visited any of them in the last 10 years or so, have not been to a con in that long either, neither have any books I am looking for.

As far as the quote above pertaining to Raw books...

"Usually" it is only eBay auctions that see "real life" FMV prices, the Buy It Now prices (over 95%) are as inflated as prices can get, same goes for MCS consignment books (Yes I know it is not MCS), people who think they can get those prices or the books are worth that much must be having issues from those hallucinogenics they did back in the 60's.

[1Cool]

I think most store owners do not want to sell wall books since the primary purpose of these books is decoration.  Most shop owners I talk to do most of their business still selling new books or magic cards and back issues account for a very small amount of sales.  Getting in new wall books is getting tougher and tougher for those guys so if they sell all their wall books they will be left with blank walls.  

[Michelangelo]

1 hour ago, 1Cool said:

I think most store owners do not want to sell wall books since the primary purpose of these books is decoration.  Most shop owners I talk to do most of their business still selling new books or magic cards and back issues account for a very small amount of sales.  Getting in new wall books is getting tougher and tougher for those guys so if they sell all their wall books they will be left with blank walls.  

I would think that a successful LCS has a turnover of new material - back issues/wall books included. That's because they make money off of what they have (by not charging 5x the FMV) and they can recirculate those funds into buying new collections, etc.

It's all about cash flow. You've got to keep the cash moving to accumulate new and fresh inventory. When customers know that the inventory changes over regularly, they're more inclined to stop in often. I know I would.

To keep a wall book on the wall for 2-3 years because you've over-inflated the price doesn't make for a successful business. You end up with money tied up in inventory you can't move and customers lose interest.

[shadroch]

I used to use an assortment of colored stickers for my prices. A quick glance told me how long the book was there and the longer it was, the bigger the discount I could offer. Any wall book that didn't sell came down after awhile. The illusion of them selling was almost as important as the actual sale.

[Hamlet]

On 6/27/2017 at 9:10 AM, Michelangelo said:

I would think that a successful LCS has a turnover of new material - back issues/wall books included. That's because they make money off of what they have (by not charging 5x the FMV) and they can recirculate those funds into buying new collections, etc.

It's all about cash flow. You've got to keep the cash moving to accumulate new and fresh inventory. When customers know that the inventory changes over regularly, they're more inclined to stop in often. I know I would.

To keep a wall book on the wall for 2-3 years because you've over-inflated the price doesn't make for a successful business. You end up with money tied up in inventory you can't move and customers lose interest.

I think a dealer has to balance speed of turnover with the difficulty they have replacing inventory.  I think most LCS seem to err by having prices too high and rarely turning over books.  It's hard to judge for certain however, because I have no way of  knowing if they get offered decent collections very often.  Some of them could probably lower prices a decent amount and still be able to buy replacement inventory at a good buying Con though.  

One local shop actually appears to have the opposite issue.  Their prices are very good, so they don't have much in back issues to sell.  They appear to deal with this by getting clearance trades, toys, and other inventory.  They turn stuff over fast, but they might do a little better raising prices to get a little more out of material that doesn't walk thru the door every day.

 

[jcjames]

 

There was a LCS in town last year that had many of the regular "True Believers" issues up as wall-books for $10-$20 each.

Last time I went by there, they were closed down and gone.

I understand running a small-business is very hard work, long long hours, but I mean come on!