Dealers / Rinse and Repeat model 7 7

[N e r V]

On 8/16/2018 at 11:53 AM, blazingbob said:

I would not say that over time you become jaded.  Unfortunately with customers that I know for a few years I tend to know ahead of time who is easy to work with and those who will grind you down to the point of telling them to go F off.  Now before readers of this go and say "Is he talking about me you know who you are". 

First time customers can determine their responses by a number of things that give them away.

1).  When you are tapping away on your phone I know you are on GPA.  When you see me tapping away I'm looking up my cost into the book.

2).  Flipping open the price guide.  You are a OSPG guide buyer and the only thing I need to find out is what percentage of guide type buyer you are.  Slamming the book shut quickly is not a good result on my end.

3).  Taking 3 hours to make a buying decision.  You have a limited budget and are doing math in your head to determine what percentage of the pile you will buy.  Your offer generally comes in pretty close to your credit limit or cash in the wallet.

4).  "I'm just curious" means you have NO money and are wasting my time.  Very few "I'm just curious" customers ever buy something.  The Bob or John face is what you will usually get.

5).  "What is your most expensive book".  Again you have no money and are basically wasting my time.  I'm not a museum and while you are trying to impress your wife,  girlfriend on what she should have let him buy years ago it basically results in No sale on my end.

6).  Quoting GPA will generally result in my finger tapping on my phone.  Playing games with GPA like picking which average works for you doesn't always result in good responses.  

7).  Asking me if i want to "Turn this over quick" on a $45K book and offering me $30K will result in a pretty fast response.  It is generally not a good one.

8).  Fair offers result in sales.

9).  Trade as payment is not Retail for Retail.  I am taking on YOUR expense/time of selling the book.  

10).  Commenting that you don't want to pay higher prices for "Graded books" won't get me to lower the price.  It is YOUR choice not to buy graded books.  It is MY choice to sell them.

I’ve bought from you at cons before and I think I finally placed my first order with you online this year but your posts on this thread are so entertaining and remind me of the parts I hated at being a dealer I plan to regularly check out your site and give you business whenever possible. The above made me smile so thank you. 

[N e r V]

On 8/15/2018 at 11:06 AM, blazingbob said:

I've heard the comic book back issue market has been crashing since 1976.  

So when it finally does you’ve had at least a 42 year warning so that’s pretty fair amount of time if you ask me. 

[HENRYSPENCER]

One of my pet peeves on eBay are messages like the following I received this morning:

"Hello
I’m interested in the XXXX.
I’m retired from the Army and 100 % disabled.
What would you be comfortable with as an offer?

Regards
Bruce"

I appreciate your service as I do other military personnel, doctors and my attorney (not politicians LOL), but what in Christ's name does that have to do with me accepting your low ball offer?

[DR.X]

1 minute ago, HENRYSPENCER said:

One of my pet peeves on eBay are messages like the following I received this morning:

"Hello
I’m interested in the XXXX.
I’m retired from the Army and 100 % disabled.
What would you be comfortable with as an offer?

Regards
Bruce"

I appreciate your service as I do other military personnel, doctors and my attorney (not politicians LOL), but what in Christ's name does that have to do with me accepting your low ball offer?

I use to get those also when I was selling on e bay. I just ignored them like I do Greggy.

[ComicConnoisseur]

On 8/12/2018 at 5:58 PM, Mercury Man said:

 Model Trains and Stamp Collectors have gone the way of the Do-Do.  Young people don't care about rare Lionel Model trains or elusive mint Stamps.  The average age of this demographic of collectors keeps inching up and up. That is not good for their hobby.  

Those hobbies never could get younger generations to get into them.

I would say going forward the best hobbies would be comics, sports cards, video games and records.

Why?

The all have popculture characters that people want to own those first appearances of from Spidey, Batman, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Super Mario, Zelda to Beatles and the Doors.

Like hobbies like Stamps and Lionel Model trains really don't have a Hulk #181 everyone wants.

Edited August 21, 2018 by ComicConnoisseur

[N e r V]

8 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Those hobbies never could get younger generations to get into them.

I would say going forward the best hobbies would be comics, sports cards, video games and Lps.

Why?

The all have popculture characters that people want to own those first appearances of from Spidey, Batman, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordon, Super Mario, Zelda to Beatles and the Doors.

Like hobbies like Stamps and Lionel Model trains really don't have a Hulk #181 everyone wants.

I’d like to have this train set...

 

[batman_fan]

46 minutes ago, N e r V said:

I’d like to have this train set...

 

You and me both.  I bought the Pride Line Mickey and Minnie pump car several years back.  It is actually really nice quality but still doesn't come close to the original

 

[FlyingDonut]

8 hours ago, blazingbob said:

When a customer instructs me on how to mail their package I'm guessing that they don't know how many packages I send out a week.

They must also think that I have a warehouse full of shipping supplies and that every CGC book regardless of what they paid for shipping is shipped "Bomb proof".

While I appreciate that there are those out there that do that type of packing I am not that person. 

I do the best I can within the shipping limitations and handling that all of the carriers provide.

None of them are the best.  Each has their strengths and weaknesses.

Amen brother.

[RockMyAmadeus]

2 hours ago, N e r V said:

So when it finally does you’ve had at least a 42 year warning so that’s pretty fair amount of time if you ask me. 

I dunno...the late 90s crash was pretty hardcore....

 

[N e r V]

47 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

I dunno...the late 90s crash was pretty hardcore....

 

That would have been for new comics and recent “hot” back issues that speculators fueled. 

I was a legit dealer from 1989 thru 2002 and never had any problems selling GA and SA books during that time. Very good market for me and the other dealers I knew at the time. BA books were still maturing during that period but things like Hulk #181; New X-Men, etc. all sold well too.

To me the 1990’s slump was limited to the speculators and their hot book of the month investment plan...

Edited August 21, 2018 by N e r V

[ComicConnoisseur]

2 hours ago, N e r V said:

I’d like to have this train set...

 

I consider that more a Mickey Mouse/Disney collectible than a model train collectible.

Disney collectors are bringing the juice to that more than the model train collectors.

Edited August 21, 2018 by ComicConnoisseur

[N e r V]

10 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

I consider that more a Mickey Mouse/Disney collectible than a model train collectible.

Disney collectors are bringing the juice to that more that the model train collectors.

I know what you were saying.   Just noting the exceptions.

I actually loved model trains growing up but stopped playing with them around the time I read the EC story “Well Traveled”. 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2018 by N e r V

[DR.X]

2 hours ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Those hobbies never could get younger generations to get into them.

Almost all of the hobby shops in the area here are long gone. Remember when as a kid we would go there just to look at the train and slot car layouts. You could spend hours in there looking at all the models and stuff. When we were kids we built all kinds of stuff, flew model airplanes with those .049 and .029 engines. Built hand gliders, built models, made all kinds of stuff in the basement with balsa wood and glue. Had Stombecker slot car sets, H.O. and Lionel trains, H.O. Aurora race sets, we did all kinds of stuff. They even had big slot car tracks up town and had races there on Fri and Sat night. No one even knows what that stuff is anymore. Their idea of fun is looking at a stupid cell phone.  Who remembers the Cox slot cars, or K @ B. Those were some fun days.

Edited August 21, 2018 by DR.X

[RockMyAmadeus]

5 minutes ago, N e r V said:

That would have been for new comics and recent “hot” back issues that speculators fueled. 

I was a legit dealer from 1989 thru 2002 and never had any problems selling GA and SA books during that time. Very good market for me and the other dealers I knew at the time. BA books were still maturing during that period but things like Hulk #181; New X-Men, etc. all sold well too.

To me the 1990’s slump was limited to the speculators and their hot book of the month investment plan...

I'm glad that wasn't my experience. Without the crash of the 90s, I never would have been able to put together the Silver Age collection I did, which included most of the keys, and much of the production of DC and Marvel, including Batman #100-up, ASM #20-up, Adventure Comics #300-up, Tec #250-up, X-Men #1-up, etc.

Whereas, in the early mid 90s, 1993-1994, I had to pay "full Wizard" for any SA books, by 1998-1999, that was no longer true...and the advent of eBay was a godsend. I bought acres and acres of high grade Bronze from Lange's sports from 1999-2005 or so, for $3-$5 each...books that have graded 9.4-9.8.

GA was, of course, a different story, but I even managed to put together about 30-40 Batmans below 100, going all the way down to #4, for substantially less than OPG from about 2000-2011. For example, I paid $666 for a VG/F Batman #11 in 2005-ish, and $500 for a VF restored Batman #9 (that was from Dave Anderson.)

The crash was so bad, Overstreet completely slashed prices for everything not "NM" between the 1997 and 1998 guides....for everything.

[N e r V]

14 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

I'm glad that wasn't my experience. Without the crash of the 90s, I never would have been able to put together the Silver Age collection I did, which included most of the keys, and much of the production of DC and Marvel, including Batman #100-up, ASM #20-up, Adventure Comics #300-up, Tec #250-up, X-Men #1-up, etc.

Whereas, in the early mid 90s, 1993-1994, I had to pay "full Wizard" for any SA books, by 1998-1999, that was no longer true...and the advent of eBay was a godsend. I bought acres and acres of high grade Bronze from Lange's sports from 1999-2005 or so, for $3-$5 each...books that have graded 9.4-9.8.

GA was, of course, a different story, but I even managed to put together about 30-40 Batmans below 100, going all the way down to #4, for substantially less than OPG from about 2000-2011. For example, I paid $666 for a VG/F Batman #11 in 2005-ish, and $500 for a VF restored Batman #9 (that was from Dave Anderson.)

The crash was so bad, Overstreet completely slashed prices for everything not "NM" between the 1997 and 1998 guides....for everything.

I actually left in the early 2000’s for a few reasons but one being my “part time” job had become overwhelming. I started in the ads/catalog era and left as the internet was becoming the thing either with eBay, auction houses or your own web site. Lack of business never seemed an issue but maybe I shouldn’t speak for anyone else outside my circles during that time.

 

I do believe the internet has had a profound impact on the hobby to connect more fans and collectors to the hobby giving it strength like never before. Probably nothing else since the early connections made in the fan movement of the 1960’s/70’s has pushed the hobby like it is today. The internet connection coupled with the amazing rise of superheroes and such in the media is why I’d be more optimistic for comics back issues sales into the future vs other hobbies that others noted have disappeared.

That’s not to say that peaks and valleys aren’t  still coming to the hobby in general which should be expected.

Edited August 21, 2018 by N e r V

[N e r V]

28 minutes ago, DR.X said:

Almost all of the hobby shops in the area here are long gone. Remember when as a kid we would go there just to look at the train and slot car layouts. You could spend hours in there looking at all the models and stuff. When we were kids we built all kinds of stuff, flew model airplanes with those .049 and .029 engines. Built hand gliders, built models, made all kinds of stuff in the basement with balsa wood and glue. Had Stombecker slot car sets, H.O. and Lionel trains, H.O. Aurora race sets, we did all kinds of stuff. They even had big slot car tracks up town and had races there on Fri and Sat night. No one even knows what that stuff is anymore. Their idea of fun is looking at a stupid cell phone.  Who remembers the Cox slot cars, or K @ B. Those were some fun days.

I think that this is one of the biggest gaps between the Gen Xers (that’s me!) and the Gen Yers (now referred to as millennials). A lot of Gen Xers grew up with the social experiences of hanging out with friends in comic book stores, record stores, arcades, hobby shops, malls or whatever.

Gen Yers (millennials) hang out with friends too but a lot of that time has been replaced with an electronic appearance vs live and in person unless you need too.

A lot of the current internet content including much of social media was created by Gen X who arrived in the middle of the computer age but it’s the millennials who really got absorbed into social media interactions.

Edited August 21, 2018 by N e r V

[DR.X]

and that's the problem. they don't interact on a personal level anymore. when we were kids we were out from sun up till sun set. we couldn't stand being in the house. no these kids don't want to leave the house. hell, we'd even meet up at the park on certain days and everyone would drag boxes of comics to read or swap. or sometimes on Saturdays there would be a good fight there between a couple of neighborhood tough guys while we watched with a bag full of penny candy from the local store.

 

" But the didn't scare Little Bill did it. "

Edited August 21, 2018 by DR.X

[TheWatcher]

9 hours ago, DR.X said:

Almost all of the hobby shops in the area here are long gone. Remember when as a kid we would go there just to look at the train and slot car layouts. You could spend hours in there looking at all the models and stuff. When we were kids we built all kinds of stuff, flew model airplanes with those .049 and .029 engines. Built hand gliders, built models, made all kinds of stuff in the basement with balsa wood and glue. Had Stombecker slot car sets, H.O. and Lionel trains, H.O. Aurora race sets, we did all kinds of stuff. They even had big slot car tracks up town and had races there on Fri and Sat night. No one even knows what that stuff is anymore. Their idea of fun is looking at a stupid cell phone.  Who remembers the Cox slot cars, or K @ B. Those were some fun days.

My local hobby shop was my Nirvana. The nearest comic shop was miles away, and inaccessible as a kid, but the hobby shop was at the end of my block. I would spend hours there trying to figure out which model kit I would buy to build: military planes and vehicles, muscle cars, monsters. Great memories 

[RockMyAmadeus]

9 hours ago, N e r V said:

Horace sounds like Jeff Goldblum...

 

[1Cool]

17 hours ago, Not A Clone said:

What show? I need to find me some little local shows. I miss those. I can't do anymore Wizards. Anything near C-Bus?

NEO Con in Lorain, Ohio.  Not a huge Con but for $8 it definetely is a must if you want to check out some books.  All the proceeds go to Make A Wish and it gets about 20 local comic vendors.  My only disappointment was Zapp Comics brought only toys and no comics.