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Thoughts on art dealer Spencer Beck
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101 posts in this topic

14 minutes ago, Bird said:

Yes I agree. But incompetence by design is still incompetence.

 

Claudio (and I am with him on this one) is right. And those who disagree are also right. There can be two truths here.

If memory serves me, he is in the process of trying to build a new website. Didn't he say he took over that website from someone else?

And honestly, I have always found him to be pretty good at replying to my emails. 

So, I'm not sure it's been incompetence by design so much as limited capabilities due to unfortunate circumstance. 

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3 hours ago, comix4fun said:

 

So, if you're going to base things on "number of complaints" you have to also look closely at their sales volume, number of artists represented, volume of inventory, etc. If you don't do that then you could be comparing "Bob's Discount Hammers" operating out of Bob's apartment selling 2 hammers a month on eBay to, say,  Home Depot....and wind up with an entirely wrong conclusion. 

And we should REALLY be careful of conflating/equating "worse track record" with "questioned". 

Can you name another rep that has run a 30-50% sale annually, covering the majority of his represented artists, for well over a decade?.....Can you name a rep that has done it once or for more than handful of artists? I ask because, from what I have seen here, that's where most of the questions come from. Other reps might have run a sale on 1 or 2 or a handful of artists, for a handful of pages, which is easy to manage. Spencer's tried to find a way to open the gates to everyone on almost everything. Folks who had not participated before had questions when it took weeks to sift through the orders (mostly because some creators hold onto the physical artwork and have to confirm with Spencer that they did not sell it at some convention or lost it or gave it away and failed to inform Spencer before), but anyone who's participated more than once realized that the trade off of waiting for order confirmation was well worth it for the massive discount on the art they wanted that wasn't available or offered anywhere else. 

So, I posted simply to caution against looking at total number of complaints and not taking into account total volume

 

I am not basing things solely on number of complaints.  I am basing them on my experience as well.

The fact that he has a lot of volume does factor into my thinking.  I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt at the beginning.  I dealt with him in 2005 or 2006 and bought my beautiful Doomsday splash from him.  I will always be grateful for that.  But in 2007ish, I bought a GL page from him.  That transaction left me less than satisfied.  I didn't buy again from him until 2012.  I placed two orders within days of each other.  I paid twice for shipping because I knew he was busy and I didn't want to bother him with coordinating the two orders.  Besides, one order was before the sale and the other was after.  He sent one package and I thanked him.  I asked about my second order.  He said it was included in the first box.  I felt like he was accusing me of trying to rip him off.  I was shocked.  The missing art amounted to about 150 bucks.  The art I received was significantly more valuable.  After a couple of days the art arrived.  The whole time he couldn't find a record of the package.  In his last email, he talked about having a stern conversation with his assistant.  That kind of put me off.  If he had read my emails, he should have been able to track the package easily.  

The reason I spoke out after all this time is because I can definitely see how miscommunication occurred.  The OP has communication issues.  I believe that Spencer does as well.  Putting both together is just a recipe for disaster. 

All that said, I wouldn't completely rule out doing business with him again.  I think he is rude and disorganized but I do think he is honest as well.  

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Handling tons of artists and nearly six figures quantity of art is certainly something. But is it good business? Or is it just busywork? Not having the art on hand but soliciting it for sale - is that good business? Only the customers and the artists know if either community is being served really well. I don't know. 50% off sales sort of imply that the pricing the rest of the year isn't getting the job done, right? I can't bother to navigate the site. Even with ComicArtTracker.com helping mightily...I still can't find the energy to make it happen. That's the number one reason I haven't done business with Spencer in about fifteen years and even then only live in person at some shows. I'm not certain, the memory fades with age, but I don't believe I've ever bought anything off his site.

Comparisons to the #1 most complained about dealer may be relevant to whether Spencer is #2 or not, but otherwise those differences (mostly related to what I would call "fraud" on their part and not something I've ever heard about Spencer) do not answer the issues I raise above. His business, he can run it however he wants and it does seem to be working (he's still in business!) but it's definitely not the way I'd run it.

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Spencer’s site drives me nuts, especially the inability to see images on art for sale and all the “PI” artwork (the occurrence of both seems to be proliferating in recent years). That said, I have made multiple purchases from him and he has always treated me fairly and took care of a situation where art was stolen in transit in a way that exceeded my expectations. I used to look forward to his annual sale and was happy to hear when people would say the site is too much work to dig out art as it meant less competition for me. Sadly, I am on the other side of the fence these days and don’t bother with the sale any longer due to the aforementioned reasons. I assume I will buy from him again at some point if I can find some art I like and can see what it looks like.

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My sense having had a couple transactions with Spencer -- with no issues other than going through his admittedly unique process and waiting a bit for stuff to show up -- is that anything that deviates from that process or throws a wrench into the works takes things down a messy path rather quickly. The outdated website, mailing stuff in and waiting for a response works great, I'm sure, when the buyers' communication is crisp and clear and on point. 

If, as in the OPs case, the ships pass in the night communication-wise, all bets are off. That being said, Spencer's far from the worst dealer I've had to deal with, and my experience in the hobby is far newer than some. So even on a short time horizon, I'd classify him as a goodif ( a bit wonky buying system) egg.

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I've found Spencer to be honest, and straightforward in my dealings with him.  Oh, and for those who have an axe to grind I hope you all donated to Mike DeCarlo's wife gofundme page that Spencer set up.  Because he set-up a page that has gotten a wonderful response to a terrible situation that happened on March 24th.  It was great to see how artists, industry people, and Mike's fans have responded to the call that Spencer put out there.

Edited by Lucky Baru
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20 hours ago, Comic Art Factory said:

Any news regarding the artist choice new website ? 

Spencer is neck deep in revamping while repping, working, and trying to figure out what he actually has.

A lot of his stuff was mislabeled from the artists he picked them up from so he took some help on and is going through and verifying what he has. When I spoke with him a few weeks ago he stated they were about (:baiting:)% done. But he wants to very of what is up on the site is what he has. He also said the new site is mostly coded already and he'll be offering more than just o.a., stuff like celebrity autographs and what not.

The takeaway is that it won't be soon, However, what he has planned sounds great and will be a huge improvement over what's there and should be a l'il ahead of the curve from other sites.

As you can guess redoing that site is a massive undertaking and it's taking a lot of eyes, hands, and time. Things will likely change somewhat from what he described to me and that's why I'm not going into specifics much.

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I had an amazing piece commissioned by Mark Bagley through Spencer and everything was amazing and very smooth. I have reached out to him since then showing him the piece, thanking him or his assistance, and also inquiring about other pieces of Mark's. He was nothing but pleasant and responded very fast. I will continue to do business with him in the future. The transaction went basically like this ...

1 Me - Im looking for something like this (shows image)

2 Spencer - OK $XXXX

3 Me - Done (paid)

4 Spencer - Mailed me the art

5 Me - Super Happy

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I've dealt with Spencer before and haven't had  a problem. About 2 1/2 weeks ago I sent him a request to see purchase some Tom Raney art if it was still available. So far I haven't gotten a reply. I met Tom this last weekend at the LBCC and he confirmed that Soencer is still his rep. Not sure where to go from here.

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10 minutes ago, cmaeditor said:

I've dealt with Spencer before and haven't had  a problem. About 2 1/2 weeks ago I sent him a request to see purchase some Tom Raney art if it was still available. So far I haven't gotten a reply. I met Tom this last weekend at the LBCC and he confirmed that Soencer is still his rep. Not sure where to go from here.

Patience. Speed isn't always one of his strong suits.

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14 hours ago, cmaeditor said:

I've dealt with Spencer before and haven't had  a problem. About 2 1/2 weeks ago I sent him a request to see purchase some Tom Raney art if it was still available. So far I haven't gotten a reply. I met Tom this last weekend at the LBCC and he confirmed that Soencer is still his rep. Not sure where to go from here.

 

Posting here helps - Spencer has friends who let him know what's being said, and may prompt a response. 

Plus, after a few weeks of waiting, you can consider re-contacting Spencer.  I've had radio silence before, and a fresh email helps jog his memory. 
Or you could check with Tom , if he still has the art in question or has heard from Spencer.  Spencer is probably trying to do the same, which is the hold up.

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14 hours ago, Spidey 62 said:

I know it isn't always an option, but I much prefer going through the krap ton of pages he brings to a show.  I have found (what I believe to be) real bargains.  You see what you get, and no shipping.

I'd LOVE to go through this art at a show.  But I never know what show's he's attending

Are there shows he attends regularly?

 

 

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2 hours ago, Catwoman_Fan said:

I'd LOVE to go through this art at a show.  But I never know what show's he's attending

Are there shows he attends regularly?

 

 

 

2 hours ago, JadeGiant said:

I think he does NYCC regularly so you might have a chance in a few weeks

He is also a regular at Terrificon in August at Mohegan Sun. That is where I see him. 

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3 hours ago, Catwoman_Fan said:

I'd LOVE to go through this art at a show.  But I never know what show's he's attending

Are there shows he attends regularly?

 

 

Spencer will be set up at the following shows during the remainder of 2018:

NEW  YORK  COMIC  CON  --   OCTOBER  4 - 7, 2018  --  NEW YORK,  NEW YORK
 
ACE  COMIC  CON  MIDWEST  -- OCTOBER 12 -  14, 2018 - CHICAGO, IL.
 
SOUTHWEST  FLORIDA CON    --   NOVEMBER 18, 2018    --  FORT MEYERS,  FL.
 
LOUISVILLE  SUPERCON  --  NOVEMBER  30  -  DECEMBER 2, 2018

 

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