darkstar Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 On 11/27/2017 at 4:21 PM, mysterio said: The statement I was reacting to detailed a buyer expectation of a 10-15% discount to online prices. That sort of an expectation does seem like entitlement to me, if buyers are indeed willing to walk if dealers won’t discount that strongly. I’d agree with your point that there is more information and competition in the marketplace today. But to me the safety, convenience, and experience of shopping at a con with merchandise in hand is worth a small premium to FMV. I know what I’m getting because I can inspect it, which minimizes condition risk, and I take it with me so I remove the cost and risk of shipping. To expect all those benefits plus a discount to online prices (which price the various risks into the equation) seems like entitlement. But it isn't entitlement. Taking out the fun aspect of attending, buyers often need an incentive to attend a convention and actually spend money on books. If they are just there to buy books the only true incentives they have is that the con either offers books they can't find online or the books are priced below what they are online. If you price your books equal to or above the available online market price your only hope of selling that book is if your potential buyer a) doesn't shop online or b) needs the book right then and there or c) only buys books that they can inspect before purchase. However, this being a hobby that involves collecting and collectors tending to be anal while also possessing the ability to easily rationalize overpaying for something that satisfies their collecting need, a dealer can still clean up at a convention despite an aggressive pricing model. But you have to consider that a book listed online is available for sale to the entire pool of interested buyers in the world (or same country depending on shipping). A book for sale at a convention is only available to the hundred(s) or thousand(s) of attendees. A book listed online effectively has no timeframe in which it needs to be sold. A book for sale at a convention only has a market lifespan of a few hours. Going in with the expectation that your books will likely sell for market price at a convention despite being only available to a smaller buyer pool for a brief period of time is not realistic. Those selling at conventions also need to recognize that a percentage of potential buyers have no interest at all in paying market price for books. They are there strictly to obtain books from you that you have overlooked. These are the people that attend conventions and then go home and complain on the internet that the prices were too high. It is a vocal minority that does this but they're out there. grebal and jsilverjanet 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent 007 Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 I've been waiting for the stock market to crash as well. Hasn't happened yet. I'm betting AF15 will, but I've been wrong for years on that train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batman_fan Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 I just ran the numbers through the universal comic book crash equation and it say the crash will be tomorrow. lizards2 and Ken Aldred 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizards2 Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 33 minutes ago, batman_fan said: I just ran the numbers through the universal comic book crash equation and it say the crash will be tomorrow. batman_fan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatchaman Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 On 11/19/2017 at 7:27 AM, 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? 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. This is what we have started doing in Tacoma, WA. We have held two cons already and people love them. Seller tables are just $40 and entry is $3. This allows a better selection of high dollar and low dollar comics to be sold. On our last show one seller, who had a lot of dollar books, was selling them by the arm load. I was able to land some pretty good deals on my Cochram and Byrne X-Men books for my own collection. A lot of people liked the back to basics show. We had Justin Hunt, Jason Metcalf, and some local artists. A new con, here, called Rencon, charged $30 entry and hardly anybody showed up. A lot of sellers didn't even make their booth cost back. I really didn't like Jet City, this year, as the amount of comic sellers was so small. I think I had more at my show. Here a shot of the show I cohosted. (there's another half room of sellers with this one) wormboy and Treco 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, batman_fan said: I just ran the numbers through the universal comic book crash equation and it say the crash will be tomorrow. This seems familiar. Isn't it actually the Mile High Comics pricing algorithm? Edited December 4, 2017 by Ken Aldred ygogolak 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batman_fan Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 25 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said: This seems familiar. Isn't it actually the Mile High Comics pricing algorithm? If you set the profit variable to infinity in the above equation it simplifies to Price = FMV x 12.767 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkdrawer Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 Comicons today are morphing for money, just like MTV was all nonstop awesome videos turned real tv bs and no videos, even Playboy was a thin traditional magazine in its infancy turned into 3/4” block of bound printed matter of ads and in the end no more nudes. Money hungers rather have Lasix Eye than some comic book shmuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Ager Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 (edited) Hopefully it'll burst soon, so we can go back to normality/sanity (but opinions may vary as to what that may be). It's weird- every collecting hobby I've taken up has had people flood in and make an overpriced, miserable wreck of things. Edited December 4, 2017 by Silver Ager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spidey 62 Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 I would like to think there is some type of contraction on the horizon, but I think of the Creation fan shows. They do Trek, Supernatural, and other shows. They keep churning them out and fans keep going...and going, and going. I am guilty also. Been to Vegas Trek several times. Same celebs, charging the same, and sometimes more per signature and photo op. Always well attended, and the tickets are not cheap. Saturation is their business model. Lucky Baru 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1950's war comics Posted December 6, 2017 Share Posted December 6, 2017 "cosplay costumes have no pockets" Lucky Baru and FoggyNelson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
