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When will the “comic con” bubble burst?
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251 posts in this topic

2 minutes ago, jsilverjanet said:

no doubt about that but is that because of Wizard and their prices (booths and to customers) or sales at those shows, or purchases by buyers. I saw some dealers were missing but there were still plenty of booths from comic dealers and plenty of books to be purchased and were purchased.

again my point, if you are a dealer that knows what you are doing - buying the right books, at the right prices, pricing those books correctly, bringing those books to the show, then I don't see how you aren't making money. Of the dealers that aren't coming back, are they doing something wrong or is the comic con bubble bursting?

I think it's the former and not the latter

 

i'd consider the guys who set up at Chicago to be some of the elite dealers in the industry and if those guys are throwing their hands up and not renewing booths then I'd think it's a bit more then people not bringing or pricing books that will sell.  Is the sky falling - I'd not go that far.  But I would say a large number of very knowledgeable dealers are obviously not paying booth fees at a bunch of shows and the booths are being filled with knick nack booths.  Will the nick nack booths not be back next year and the comic guys will be back to get the cash available (doubt it from what I saw) or will even less dealers set up next year (I'd bet on it)?  Time will tell.

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1 hour ago, thehumantorch said:

A $1500 booth is a lot if you don't have the inventory to make it work, especially if you're an out of town dealer and have to pay for travel, hotel, hookers and blow.  I'm always looking to sell 10X my cost so perhaps $25k gross sales at a multi-day, out of town show which would require at least 250k in inventory.  You won't make bank no matter how many buyers are there if you don't have enough inventory.

And Bob is right, setting up at single day shows is a lot of work.  I'd much rather set up at a multi-day show and get 2, 3, or 4 days of selling before dragging it home.  

 

hm

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4 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

i'd consider the guys who set up at Chicago to be some of the elite dealers in the industry and if those guys are throwing their hands up and not renewing booths then I'd think it's a bit more then people not bringing or pricing books that will sell.  Is the sky falling - I'd not go that far.  But I would say a large number of very knowledgeable dealers are obviously not paying booth fees at a bunch of shows and the booths are being filled with knick nack booths.  Will the nick nack booths not be back next year and the comic guys will be back to get the cash available (doubt it from what I saw) or will even less dealers set up next year (I'd bet on it)?  Time will tell.

who didn't set up? The assumption has been that the dealers who didn't set up were comic dealers at WW Chicago. Maybe it was some funco pop or other merchandise that didn't set up. The dealers I purchased from last year were there this year.

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1 hour ago, 1Cool said:

The chance for sales are always there but 100% of the shows I went to this year there was either a small reduction in comic booths (Baltimore) to a huge reduction in comic book booths.  I heard Cincinnati was a disaster, Cleveland Wizard Con was terrible, Chicago Wizard is being described as way down.  The number of comic booths do not drop across the board for no reason.

Agreed. 

Too many shows competing for the limited collector buck, too many auction sites and online venues, high entrance fees, crowds, and too many other things to buy besides comics.  A hard core collector will beeline for comics but a lot of discretionary buyers may come in the door, buy some funko pops or t-shirts or dust collectors and not have much to spend when they spot a comic dealer.

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3 hours ago, blazingbob said:

When you think small you are ($80 for $800 for $1500 for $15000).  If you have a accurately graded/fairly priced collection and can read a exhibitor list I think the big show is where my best chance at doing big sales lies.  You can go to the local show and sell to local dealers but you are confined by the local "financial demographics".  National dealers have "national budgets" and frankly I would love nothing more then buying a new unseen collection of fairly priced books then looking at my competitors inventory.  I would think that more local dealers would seek me out at shows and tell me that they have some new books versus me having to seek them out.   I have had some local dealers do that and spent a lot of money with them.  Being fair worked out for the both of us.  

Back when I had inventory that lasted longer than a month, I set up at one big show a year in a major market (always Chicago). I would much rather sell to 10+ well-capitalized national dealers after paying $1200 for a table than sell to local collectors and dealers after paying $150 for a table. 

My expectations may be unreasonable, but I need a minimum of five figures in sales if I am going to set up at a con. It's just not worth the time and hassle of pricing, hauling, taking time off, otherwise. Too much work for someone who has a regular career. 

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7 hours ago, Treco said:
  • So what you're saying is that there needs to be a movement initiated by dealers to organize cons that cater to the book buyer?  :idea: Yes please. Growing up, the best thing was going to a rented hall somewhere that had nothing but table after table of dealers with piles of boxes. No decoration, no cosplayers....just hard-core nerds flipping through back issues. A bit nostalgic, yes...but it sure was fun. 

These were the best. I remember a small con that was (I think) four times a year in a small KC area hotel where your $10 entry fee got you an empty short box included. I would put those empty shorties to good use walking around the limited, but comic loaded, tables. In a lot of ways, much better for comic buying than Planet ComicCon or KC ComicCon (the two big KC cons that are in the big convention center, and command $30+ entry fees...and no short box).

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@grebal we have the local Eckmann's show Jan 13th- We are gonna blow out a lot of runs of Silver and Bronze stuff from our bargain stuff.  We saw you that one show when you brought us all Tacos ( and they were AWESOME tacos, a million blessings be upon you!) You had to split due to some emergency at the restaurant and I don't think we've seen you since!

 

 

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43 minutes ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

@grebal we have the local Eckmann's show Jan 13th- We are gonna blow out a lot of runs of Silver and Bronze stuff from our bargain stuff.  We saw you that one show when you brought us all Tacos ( and they were AWESOME tacos, a million blessings be upon you!) You had to split due to some emergency at the restaurant and I don't think we've seen you since!

 

Because I are an idiot.

The last two shows I  friggin realized I missed the show two weeks after it was over  - "smart phones" my butt, hah!  Never missed shows 20 years ago when I used a calendar.

But I got the postcard taped up - Jan 13, May 12 and Oct 13, thanks for kind words bud.  But I did end up making it back to that show before it closed that afternoon.  !

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1 hour ago, wormboy said:

This is exactly why Marc (House of Comics) and I started Berkeley Comic Con. (thanks for the mention silver web!).

We had gone to a large "Comic Show" that had less than a dozen comic vendors, and decided to start our own show that was about comic books!

No bootleg DVDs, no T-Shirts, no insurance companies, no cosplay (well, we had one last show).

It has been a great blend of local dealers, and guys selling their collections. We rotate sellers so there are always fresh books for buyers. $5 Admission.

We're getting interest from National dealers now that we've been doing it awhile. It's a lot of work, but a ton of fun.

Next one is Jan. 20th - check it out!

 

 

 

IMG_0467.thumb.JPG.66a222aa3034af43ab9b1db47d99282a.JPG

That looks like a blast! 

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The big cons are no longer about comics and are more about exclusive more than anything else. They are more entertainment cons more than comic cons.  I am fortunate where I live in northern NJ that I am able to hit a lot of the bigger shows like Baltimore and NYCC and able to hit up at least two smaller shows a month all within a couple hours drive in any direction.  With being able to attend all these shows I see mostly the same dealers at the monthly shows that attend the big shows as well and if you do not turn over you inventory and get new stuff I will more than likely stop checking out your both, so if you are not into the entertainment stuff and you have dealers with the same inventory you are going to get people who are not buying as much.

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