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Comic buying ettiquette? what to do when you aren't the first buyer at a sale
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Started by jsilverjanet,

84 posts in this topic

letsgrumble

letsgrumble

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, jsilverjanet said:

So my question is

a) have you ever done this? or have been on the other end of it?

b) what did you do?

a) Never, but this has happened to me. Not at a garage sale, but at a comic con.

b) Watched as it played out. Dealer had no interest in backing out of the sale so I didn't have to do anything.

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letsgrumble

letsgrumble

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4 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:
4 hours ago, bababooey said:

If I'm walking into a garage sale steps behind some guy who goes directly to six longboxes set up on a table there is no way he gets first crack at going through all six of them before me....no matter how wide he plants his legs in front of those longboxes - he's got dibs on the box he's looking through and the box on either side, if he goes to an end box I go to the other end.  If someone is already looking through six boxes of stuff I'll ask what they're done with and go through those..... but the guy walking in right in front of me gets first dibs on maybe a box or two, any more than that seems like an unreasonable expectation.

I've never tried to blow up someone else's deal like in the OP but in the BA12 example stated a post or two up, why is it that we adhere to this vague 'scavenger code of silence' ...as a collector/flipper or whatever, why is our first loyalty to our fellow scavenger rather than the person we're planning to do business with?  (shrug)

With six long boxes I agree with you. The first guy up doesn't have dibs on all six boxes. I would also stand next to him and start to browse on the other end. But in this case, there were only 40 comics. To me, that's dibs on the whole stack while negotiating.

I have gone into comic shows, stores, etc. a number of times to see someone arrive at a table just before me or at the same time and proceed to cover up multiple boxes with their bags, coats, whatever they can find so they can look through them first. This, to me, is breaking the code. I would never do that. I always ask them to move their stuff (even if I wasn't planning at looking through the box). I think that if someone gets to a box first, they have the right to go through it all first, but that's it.

I also hate it when I'm going through a box and someone says "do you mind if I check this quickly for X?" Yeah, I do mind.

While these are comic shows, I have gone to book sales and it's even worse. There's an annual church basement sale near my home that is known to have a lot of vintage books. I lined up to get in, and hit the book tables. A few minutes later, this local dealer and his lackey comes in, and started clearing all the books from the table to a section of the floor so they could begin cherry picking. The elderly volunteer asked them to stop, and he just yelled at her. That's when I started picking up hardcover tomes and started aiming them at his fat head. Not exemplary behaviour on my part, but it felt good.

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the blob

the blob

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Posted

Wow, the stories about fighting over going through long boxes!  I admit, i probably take up 2-3 longies when i go through them, but i am also about 4 feet wide, kind of square shaped (with curves). I can't stand it when someone goes through a box i am looking through as i am very quick. There is no reason, i don't pull a $1 book out and look at it for 5 minutes and compare values on ebay, opg, and mcs.

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Number 6

Number 6

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I’ve always thought it would be fun to go to a decent comic convention here in the state - like WonderCon or Yorba - and actually hunt for comics instead of just pointing and clicking on the computer. 

But every time I here these stories about jerk behavior -  hogging up long boxes, snatching stuff out people’s hands, verbally trying to blow up a deal when someone is paying -  and it’s just an absolute total turn-off for me. 

I’m not aggressive person my nature, I hate confrontation - which I’m sure is exactly what these guys are preying on. 

Love to try cons but the thought of spending all day getting into shoving matches with obnoxious comic jerks is not my idea of a fun weekend. 

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icefires

icefires

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12 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

I’ve always thought it would be fun to go to a decent comic convention here in the state - like WonderCon or Yorba - and actually hunt for comics instead of just pointing and clicking on the computer. 

But every time I here these stories about jerk behavior -  hogging up long boxes, snatching stuff out people’s hands, verbally trying to blow up a deal when someone is paying -  and it’s just an absolute total turn-off for me. 

I’m not aggressive person my nature, I hate confrontation - which I’m sure is exactly what these guys are preying on. 

Love to try cons but the thought of spending all day getting into shoving matches with obnoxious comic jerks is not my idea of a fun weekend. 

Just wear the same clothes (sleep in them too), don't bathe, and don't use deodorant for 3 weeks before the con. You will have plenty of space and no confrontations. :smile:

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NoMan

NoMan

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Posted (edited)
30 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

I’ve always thought it would be fun to go to a decent comic convention here in the state - like WonderCon or Yorba - and actually hunt for comics instead of just pointing and clicking on the computer. 

But every time I here these stories about jerk behavior -  hogging up long boxes, snatching stuff out people’s hands, verbally trying to blow up a deal when someone is paying -  and it’s just an absolute total turn-off for me. 

I’m not aggressive person my nature, I hate confrontation - which I’m sure is exactly what these guys are preying on. 

Love to try cons but the thought of spending all day getting into shoving matches with obnoxious comic jerks is not my idea of a fun weekend. 

I guess the point and clicking is about trying to not get ripped off or thinking you’re gonna get ripped off so you check what’s out there. Right?  Isnt that what dealers do when they buy from you? 

What do I know? I’m a full blown simpleton. I try to be kind to people, tho. I bought a book at wondercon and it was $150 and it was worth $150 to me so I just bought it. Didn’t haggle. Should I have?

Edited by NoMan
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Wall-Crawler

Wall-Crawler

Posted
Posted (edited)

My scenario...

I set up a local shows.  This particular situation happened a couple of shows ago.  Guy messages me asking if I will be buying or be willing to trade. I have dealt with him before and 9 times out of 10 it is a junk for junk deal but he does buy from me so I always do some sort of little deal to make him feel good. 

He shows up and I politely ask him to wait a bit as I am literally dealing with a paying customer (giving change, putting books in a bag). As I am doing this, another local flipper, who knows this guy came to see me and has only been waiting like 2 minutes tells him he will take a look at what he has and off they go outside meh

They walk back in about 15 minutes later. Buddy still has his stack and local flipper has a few books in hand. Maybe I am "off" but that just annoyed me. I would think the proper thing to do would be for flipper boy to wait until after I have looked through them or even for the junk guy to wait until I have gone through them.

As it turns out, I did not make a big deal out of it as there was nothing and I found out what flipper boy actually got but now I am just mindful of flipper boy circling around at the show to make sure that anyone who may come in with books, sees me first (I can do this at the small local show I do, obviously bigger shows I cannot).

Edited by Wall-Crawler
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Number 6

Number 6

Posted
Posted (edited)
36 minutes ago, NoMan said:

I guess the point and clicking is about trying to not get ripped off or thinking you’re gonna get ripped off so you check what’s out there. Right?  Isnt that what dealers do when they buy from you? 

What do I know? I’m a full blown simpleton. I try to be kind to people, tho. I bought a book at wondercon and it was $150 and it was worth $150 to me so I just bought it. Didn’t haggle. Should I have?

 

No. 

I was simply contrasting the enjoyment of the experience of buying in person with the rather dull experience of buying on-line.  

Nothing to do with price-checking or trying ‘not to get ripped off’

Edited by Number 6
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Diamonddave

Diamonddave

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Posted

The one collection I actually found on Craigslist that turned out to be worth my time involved a similar situation. Dead uncle left behind his comic collection in a retirement home, literally a half mile from my house. I call the number listed and asked if they were still available, listed price was $500 for everything, collection is still available so I tell them I'll be there in 30 minutes or less. Get to the collection and start to look through what is a available, 32 short boxes of mostly Copper, Moderns. Had lots of Indy titles, full first print run of Cry for Dawn, Faust, later printings of TMNT 1-10, etc. I tell the seller I'll take it, no sooner had I confirmed the sale the seller gets a call, another buyer willing to offer $2000 sight unseen. Seller tells this interloper that the collection had just sold and we were taking the books.  

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NoMan

NoMan

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Posted
53 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

 

No. 

I was simply contrasting the enjoyment of the experience of buying in person with the rather dull experience of buying on-line.  

Nothing to do with price-checking or trying ‘not to get ripped off’

But I see that all the time, checking what something sells for. Pointing and clicking GPA and what not while digging through boxes at a con. People staring at phones as they bump into people. 

Dont know if it’s good or bad. 

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