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At a 3-day con, do dealers wait until Saturday to bring out their full/best stock?
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49 posts in this topic

I'm selling at Long Beach this weekend. Typically you get some dealers walking around trying to pick up keys for their booths or collection or whatever. But, they usually want major discounts which wouldn't be wise to give. I'm there to make a little profit. Sure, if they pay my price they can have them (which is rare). In the end, all of the inventory is ready for sale from the start of the first day. 

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3 hours ago, justafan said:

LOL!  Dang that sounds crazy!  There must be a piranha feeding frenzy that happens during dealer setup.  It must be quite a site to see.  The hunter dealers must be watching the the loading docks and entrances like hawks for each new dealer prey that arrives and pounce on them.  As a rookie dealer you'd probably have to endure some relentless offers and assaults before you even made it to your booth.

Yeah, maybe I'll just email all the dealers my want list with condition and offer prices and make some pre-con purchases.  At worst, the dealers can start with that as the floor and fend off lowball offers from other dealers.  Guess I'll be attending Baltimore flipper con on Friday and Sunday only hoping to buy at 1st flipped prices.

A feeding frenzy indeed. I once had a major dealer going through the boxes I had in my van while I was loading the cart. Of course he found the "not for sale" box. Some personal books I brought to show some people. Of course, he didn't want to help me with load in, so I told him to scram. I've been elbowed and grunted at while looking at a dealer's boxes. I even had another major dealer pulling books out of my take pile! I'm one of those people who don't take the lids off until the show opens. I'm sure I miss sales, but the dealers all swarm in as soon as I let them. 

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13 minutes ago, Cruzin' Thru Comics said:

I'm selling at Long Beach this weekend. Typically you get some dealers walking around trying to pick up keys for their booths or collection or whatever. But, they usually want major discounts which wouldn't be wise to give. I'm there to make a little profit. Sure, if they pay my price they can have them (which is rare). In the end, all of the inventory is ready for sale from the start of the first day. 

Bringing any GA books?

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17 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

If you are worried about missing out on the better dealer stock, the best stuff is already gone by the time the convention starts. Dealers buying from dealers on setup day.

yup. Chicago looks like it's already open on setup day with all the people looking through boxes and buying stuff.

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2 hours ago, Foolkiller said:

I don't think it's crazy all the time, it's a lot of people going from booth to booth and sometimes there 3 or 4 guys, but most of the time if there are too many, you move on to some one else so you can be first there.  I will say I think that if dealers can sell retail to a retail customer they'd rather do it.  With that said, many dealers won't go and pull stuff from the "new inventory".  If you buy a bunch from dealers at retail, you will work your way into getting "first shot" as you prove you are a serious buyer.  Sometimes that means "overpaying" so that you can be first or thought of by the dealer to be first when new material comes in.  

The reason why when a book is bought by another dealer it isn't always for sale is that many dealers want to process it, look at it carefully see if it needs to be graded etc.  Many don't want to mis price it again or just quickly flip it to someone else.  

Want lists are a good idea -- they are absolutely a vehicle to getting what you want and being offered it early.  

Brian, as always your comments are spot on.

- 'If dealers can sell retail to a retail customer they'd rather do it'.  I believe this is true, however, dealers still sell first come, first serve . They are not going to turn down a sale.

- Regularly spending good money with a dealer should result in eventual granting first shot. Schmell, Brulato, yourself are examples of such.

- Newly acquired inventory bought from other dealers are generally not processed at the show. I can understand this.

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I've been to SD,Vegas,Comicazee,Palm Springs, and Long Beach comic con. For sure there's a lot of buying between dealers during set up that's nothing new. Some dealers might have a better pulse on the market on certain comics than other dealers or they just roll the dice. I know dealers that go strict overstreet prices and they don't care/look on ebay or online and other dealers know that.

also I think that sometimes for dealers it is not worth much to bring the really good stuff (i.e golden age ) because most of the attendees are young/younger ppl just looking more than looking to buy. I can only say for shows here in Cali/Vegas.

I think now the smaller shows (1 day) (Terrys Comics) or The reef etc are much better and you have a better chance to find good stuff. as those are mostly about comics . I found some great stuff at the Reef specially in the past. great topic question

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