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Dealers!? How do you figure out what goes in the dollar box?
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106 posts in this topic

2 hours ago, october said:

That's sad to see. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that drives people out of the hobby permanently when/if they figure out they have been burned. 

Agree 100%.  I mean how stupid are the buyers to think one seller is just sitting on drek books all signed by Stan Lee?  Regardless of this last comment, something needs to be done with turtlegirl, maybe throw her down the well Borat-style?

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20 hours ago, the blob said:

Agreed, putting a bag and board on a book at a cost of what, 9 -12 cents, even if you buy them by the 1000, you're selling for $1, and likely giving a discount on beyond that late in the show or if someone buys a bunch, probably doesn't make a ton of sense. It's a shame though, because a lot of stuff gets trashed. Of course, I don't really understand putting a bag on these books either, and many dealers do that. Sure, you're spending 7-8 or whatever cents less, but you're going through the time and effort to put the book in there, tape it up, etc. You might as well go all the way. One of my usual NYCC stops did that for a long time with his $1 books (last show he said he wasn't bringing $1 books anymore), often BA books in really nice shape I would like to put a board in, but opening up the taped up bag and trying to do that makes damage highly likely and takes time. I wind up keeping the bag on and just sliding the books into SA bags/boards, resulting in double bagged books.

I've already voiced my opinion that time is the main concern here, and it's not worth it.  At what point do you bag/board books?  I have my silver/bronze books from the 70s that are bagged/boarded but they're old bags - I think I would move more of them if I put in fresh bags at least.  This could be the basis of a good social experiment....hmmmm

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13 hours ago, DocHoppus182 said:

I have a friend that has owned a store near me for about 25 years now.  He hasn’t done shows for at least 10 years.  He bags all of his dollar books using the resealable bags.  He does not put them in order, just puts a new box out whenever it’s ready.  Never in my life, have I seen someone sell more dollar books than him.  His customers can’t get enough.  This guy is known for buying and selling big books (at least a grand each) constantly.  But, he doesn’t even have to sell the big books from collections because he sells so many dollar books.  Maybe it’s just his customer base, I don’t know.  I do know one thing, it’s always a feeding frenzy every week when he freshens up the dollar boxes.  Many of his customers over the years have told me how much they like that his dollar books are bagged.

If he runs a store maybe this is an output of a few things: having a store where new books are always coming in, having a store where new and existing customers are walking in, and having advertised/regular sales that buyers are aware of - no cost of buyer acquisition.  I don't know if a dealer could do it, but sounds like your friend has it all figured out. 

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On 3/15/2018 at 12:56 PM, 1Cool said:
On 3/15/2018 at 12:09 PM, F For Fake said:

I will also say that it is my experience that most of these collections are being put out for sale exactly as they were received. So if the dealer bought a collection that was bagged and boarded and sorted, that's how they go out. If they were all "raw", that's how they go out. The entire point of buying and selling bulk is to buy cheap and turn the junk over quickly. Putting time and money into bagging and boarding and sorting a box of drek you probably paid $20 for is counterproductive. It's worth taking a flip through to make sure you didn't overlook any gems, for sure, but that's about all the time that's worth it. I would be surprised if a dealer piped in and said they noticed they made better dollar bin sales when they bagged and sorted the books, though I could be wrong.

I see a lot of people looking thru $1 boxes with want lists so I'd think those people would be more inclined to grab a stack of books if they are in order.  

True - you make it easier for them - but the the list guys might only look in specific locations.  If they dig - odds are they look through a lot more of the boxes and might pull extras on a whim.......

I only had one person complain about digging. I kindly explained that then they would have to be $2 books to justify the labor to sort.

I will bag and board most - but then I have free labor for that ( my kids) - well, almost free - they get comics......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I completely understand the reasoning behind why a dealer wouldn't think it's worth his time or money to bag/board his dollar books.

But as a buyer if I see dollar books laying in box unprotected I'm most likely going to pass, or at the very least make it low priority.  If I have time I'll hit on my way out; if I run out of time oh well.  

Of course, at a yard sale or swap meet, it's different, I kind of expect that.  But in a comic shop or convention? IDK, maybe it's just me, I expect a little more.

Honestly, I'd rather the dealer price the books at $2 and have them all bagged/boarded then have them be $1 and unprotected.  It's not that the bag/board itself is that important to me; I'll change them out with my own when I get home.  I don't expect 9.8s, but I just want the best shot at not getting something that's been unnecessarily thrashed by being pawed through raw.

As far as organization: if they're in order that's great, but if not, that's not going to stop me.   

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22 minutes ago, W16227 said:

True - you make it easier for them - but the the list guys might only look in specific locations.  If they dig - odds are they look through a lot more of the boxes and might pull extras on a whim.......

I only had one person complain about digging. I kindly explained that then they would have to be $2 books to justify the labor to sort.

I will bag and board most - but then I have free labor for that ( my kids) - well, almost free - they get comics......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm a "list guy" then, looking for specific issues of indies. I like the digging aspect, but if a dealer has say 6 longs of 1$ books and I know that boxes 1-5 don't have indies I can save a lot time and still "dig" for stuff in a specific location.

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3 hours ago, Jimbo749 said:

I'm a "list guy" then, looking for specific issues of indies. I like the digging aspect, but if a dealer has say 6 longs of 1$ books and I know that boxes 1-5 don't have indies I can save a lot time and still "dig" for stuff in a specific location.

This --- I do have --- time permitting I will even try to make patches of like books ( hulk, xmen) ......

lol - the one big show I try to do ----- probably 10 longs of just indys!!!!

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1 hour ago, Mercury Man said:

I think the dealer that bags and boards $1 books, will ultimately have more to $how for it at the end of the day. 

Have you ever tried to rebag and board 80 long boxes? 

So I guess this leads to the next question. When we are saying bag and board are we speaking brand new bags and boards or whatever they have been in for last twenty years?

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9 hours ago, Pike's Comics said:

Have you ever tried to rebag and board 80 long boxes? 

So I guess this leads to the next question. When we are saying bag and board are we speaking brand new bags and boards or whatever they have been in for last twenty years?

The thought of bagging, boarding and taping 80 long boxes made me throw up a bit.  I rebadged and boarded 4 long boxes this winter and even that amount was a pain.  I would never go thru that effort for $1 books.  If someone wanted me to do that they better expect to pay $2 each.

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What are wholesale rates for bags and boards in volume?

At my local shop a hundred bags and boards probably cost $11 or so. That's $0.11 per book, a pretty good chunk of change when you only selling something for a dollar. Add in the ridiculous amount of time it takes to bag and board dozens of longboxes and it seems like a losing proposition.

Edited by october
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39 minutes ago, october said:

What are wholesale rates for bags and boards in volume?

At my local shop a hundred bags and boards probably cost $11 or so. That's $0.11 per book, a pretty good chunk of change when you only selling something for a dollar. Add in the ridiculous amount of time it takes to bag and board dozens of longboxes and it seems like a losing proposition.

I've managed to get brand new bags/boards at 11 cents CAD (per book) through serious research to find the best prices with shipping, and developing a local contact to get boards at wholesale prices.  

I think the assumption of buyers requesting bags/boards is for new bags/boards because the majority of guys that buy collections have old bags/boards already.  Regardless of whether it's bagging/boarding books new or replacing the bags/boards (which actually takes more time) the outcome is the same - it is simply not worth the time/effort.  I think $2 book is a good metric to use for putting in new bags/boards; assuming these are $2 books that will sell....and here's the caveat, bagging/boarding these books should be the last item on your to do list.  It's not efficient to waste time bagging/boarding books if you have a shortbox of $10-100 keys you want to list on ebay....

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11 hours ago, Mercury Man said:

I think the dealer that bags and boards $1 books, will ultimately have more to $how for it at the end of the day. 

Well...yes and no....I had a pile of 50 cent books I was bringing to shows - turnover was pretty good, 20-25% of the boxes with limited attendance.  Those four boxes represented a total inventory value of maybe $500....one long-box of semi keys will have an inventory value four times the aggregate of that and you don't have to deal with the hassle of lugging all those boxes.  

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1 hour ago, 1Cool said:

The thought of bagging, boarding and taping 80 long boxes made me throw up a bit.  I rebadged and boarded 4 long boxes this winter and even that amount was a pain.  I would never go thru that effort for $1 books.  If someone wanted me to do that they better expect to pay $2 each.

And what if it takes so long to sell those books they'll need new bags/boards again!  lol

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11 hours ago, Pike's Comics said:

Have you ever tried to rebag and board 80 long boxes? 

So I guess this leads to the next question. When we are saying bag and board are we speaking brand new bags and boards or whatever they have been in for last twenty years?

I am sure it's tedious.  I don't particularly care if they shiny new bags and boards.   Just any old bag and board would suffice, (with some type of organization to it). 

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12 hours ago, Mercury Man said:

I am sure it's tedious.  I don't particularly care if they shiny new bags and boards.   Just any old bag and board would suffice, (with some type of organization to it). 

I dunno about that... if my hands are black from flipping though your stuff, or if the tops of the bags are brittle and flaking off, or if your bags are wrinkled and sticking together, that's a big turn off.  You don't care about this stuff, why should I?

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9 hours ago, FineCollector said:

I dunno about that... if my hands are black from flipping though your stuff, or if the tops of the bags are brittle and flaking off, or if your bags are wrinkled and sticking together, that's a big turn off.  You don't care about this stuff, why should I?

How's this for a promotion?  You bag get a free comic out of the box for every 10 you bag/board. 

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On 3/16/2018 at 10:12 PM, Pike's Comics said:

Have you ever tried to rebag and board 80 long boxes? 

So I guess this leads to the next question. When we are saying bag and board are we speaking brand new bags and boards or whatever they have been in for last twenty years?

You don't re-bag $1 books unless the bags are in poor condition. But you're going to lose sales if your $1 books aren't bagged and boarded, unless they're books that shouldn't really be in a $1 box.

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I don't care if the bags aren't new unless they are so deteriorated that i can't see the book, or they are falling apart, or sticking badly etc. 

I do care of the books aren't at least bagged. I like digging through boxes, but usually skip anything that isn't at least bagged. 

I have my own new bags and boards at home to re-bag/board with.

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BCW bags and boards --- can be .10 a set if you order as an individual ( need to order 10 sets each plus enough total for free shipping).

If you are a wholesaler - you can get them for under .07 a set but the minimum order goes up ( $1000 to get free shipping). 

bagging and boarding can go fast with help - and you do not need to be especially careful with the comics ( they are the cheap ones after all).

I see it as protection for moving the books from place to place - as well as rough handling by people digging.

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