Opinions on Viewing Comics From Dealers at Cons 2 2

[the blob]

2 hours ago, 1Cool said:

But where is the break point?  $1 books?  A busy dealer can’t unbag everyone’s books for them and it’s a huge risk to have people unbag books in a busy Con.  I don’t see a good solution done I agree people should be able to check over a book but there has to be limits.

I don't look at $1 books. You're right. But $2 books, I just take my pile off to the corner and quickly zip through them. I don't want to spend $2 on a book that will become a freebie. I usually buy 100-200 books like this at a show, if 5% are wastes, it adds up. In exchange for me taking up space, I don't try to haggle other than a minor round down...if I have $212 worth of books, make it $200? Most dealers do that without me asking. If I can't examine them I'd want a much better round down.

And, honestly, no dealer has told me not to inspect the books (even the guy who sells the ones with the bad back covers...indeed I regularly spend money with him at shows, not a lot, sure, but I look at the books closely). I would not expect a dealer to open $2 or $3 books. I may even say "if I cause a tape pull, that's my problem." And usually I have a big stack, so they probably don't want me to walk away.

Obviously it depends on how busy it is, but it is pretty rare that I can't find a corner to do this. And when I make my stack it is my intent to buy everything in the stack unless I see something I really don't like upon examination. Also, I AM NOT looking up cheap books on ebay, so that speeds up the process. Frankly, what I do takes a lot less time than some guy going through a long box and looking up every third book.

With that said, in recent years I have been limited to NYCC. I used to go to 3 or 4 shows a year. So most of the guys I am buying a bunch of stuff from recognize me (Zapp, JS Comics, Dolgoff (who may no longer come?), Alex MVP, and a few others) and know I am not there to pull out 6 million comics, take up a lot of space, produce a lot of odor, and not buy anything.

Edited October 3, 2018 by the blob

[F For Fake]

For high dollar books, the dealer really should be the first to offer to open it up and let you take a look. The way I usually approach it is to say "Hey, I have cash and I'm interested in the book, if you could just open it up and let me take a quick peek inside, we'll be all good." I don't ask to look at books until I've made it clear that I'm planning on buying them, given that the inside matches the outside. Also, I don't ask to open the books myself, I prefer to have the dealer open the books and take them out, because until I pay for it, the book is still theirs, so if they rip the cover off with a piece of tape getting stuck, that's on them, not on me.

For cheaper books, I just take a flyer that the book is probably going to look as good inside as it does outside, but I also tend to buy from the same folks at the same shows, so I generally know that if I have a problem, I can come back and talk to them about it.

As for dealers denigrating you and cursing at you, screw that. Do not deal with them, and spread the word that others should not deal with them. There are a lot of jerks and thieves in the hobby, but ther eare also a lot of good, honest dealers. No reason at all to give the jerks any business.

[bondtrader54]

dealers at cons have to expect customers to want to examine a book.  Especially a book at  lower prices simply  because a  book like that will be at several stands and a buyer will want to buy the issue that presents the most bang for his buck.

I can't say i ever bought books like  that at a Con. I like to find more difficult books and later on in the week when its easier to get a  bargain.

[Artboy99]

as a seller I will let a potential buyer see any book that they ask to see. If the book isn't that valuable I will even let them open it themselves. If the book is important/ valuable I will open it for them to see.

Something from a seller's point of view:

Over the course of several years ( 8-10 years ) I have a guy that requests to open and inspect every single book he is "considering". He looks through every single page from front cover to back, then puts it back into the bag. The problem? He has never bought anything from me in well over 20 shows. How many books should I allow him to "read" before I tell him to move on from my booth?

 

[bondtrader54]

33 minutes ago, Artboy99 said:

as a seller I will let a potential buyer see any book that they ask to see. If the book isn't that valuable I will even let them open it themselves. If the book is important/ valuable I will open it for them to see.

Something from a seller's point of view:

Over the course of several years ( 8-10 years ) I have a guy that requests to open and inspect every single book he is "considering". He looks through every single page from front cover to back, then puts it back into the bag. The problem? He has never bought anything from me in well over 20 shows. How many books should I allow him to "read" before I tell him to move on from my booth?

 

tell him get lost and  haunt somebody  else. Its  certainly your right.

[thehumantorch]

15 hours ago, ExodusGear said:

So....I have just started getting more into comics, not that I wasn't a fan before but, more of a reader now turned collector. Anyways, I have been going to cons and buying books here and there to start building a small collection, I have run into a few dealers that refuse to let you take the comic out to make sure it is intact. I more recently started asking to do this as I got slightly burned on one purchase, wasn't very expensive about 10-15 bucks, but after I got the comic home I wanted to inspect it and saw that the entire back was torn up. I've also had dealers just start cussing at me because I don't want certain variants that they're selling. Key example, comicpalooza was looking for a Spider-Gwen Venom variant, guy had a issue #1 from Mexico but not what I was looking for, told him I was not interested and he started cussing me out that I couldn't afford it anyways and I wasted his time. So as a newbie, I was curious as to how some of you out there handle dealers like this? It's very aggravating but I don't want to get into a yelling match at a con, so I just tend to step away. Is there certain etiquette to asking someone to see the comic fully? Should I just be automatically worried if someone doesn't want to actually present the item? 

 

 

Thanks In Advance 

I’ve never seen a dealer who doesn’t want a customer to examine a book, certainly I prefer if a customer looks closely at a book so he knows exactly what he’s buying.  But many dealers prefer to remove the book from a bag and board rather than the customer to avoid damage or tape pulls.

Rather unusual that a dealer would curse at you because you didn’t want a particular variant.  You’re relatively new to the hobby so perhaps you unknowingly did something to antagonize him or perhaps he was just a  jerk.

[the blob]

3 hours ago, F For Fake said:

For high dollar books, the dealer really should be the first to offer to open it up and let you take a look. The way I usually approach it is to say "Hey, I have cash and I'm interested in the book, if you could just open it up and let me take a quick peek inside, we'll be all good." I don't ask to look at books until I've made it clear that I'm planning on buying them, given that the inside matches the outside. Also, I don't ask to open the books myself, I prefer to have the dealer open the books and take them out, because until I pay for it, the book is still theirs, so if they rip the cover off with a piece of tape getting stuck, that's on them, not on me.

For cheaper books, I just take a flyer that the book is probably going to look as good inside as it does outside, but I also tend to buy from the same folks at the same shows, so I generally know that if I have a problem, I can come back and talk to them about it. 

As for dealers denigrating you and cursing at you, screw that. Do not deal with them, and spread the word that others should not deal with them. There are a lot of jerks and thieves in the hobby, but ther eare also a lot of good, honest dealers. No reason at all to give the jerks any business.

I'm just not going to do that (go back) for some $2 books, I'd just rather not spend the money. A stain on the back isn't a misrepresentation, it is what it is, someone may still like it for $2.

[the blob]

2 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

as a seller I will let a potential buyer see any book that they ask to see. If the book isn't that valuable I will even let them open it themselves. If the book is important/ valuable I will open it for them to see.

Something from a seller's point of view:

Over the course of several years ( 8-10 years ) I have a guy that requests to open and inspect every single book he is "considering". He looks through every single page from front cover to back, then puts it back into the bag. The problem? He has never bought anything from me in well over 20 shows. How many books should I allow him to "read" before I tell him to move on from my booth?

 

Tell him he has been looking at your stuff for years and never bought anything, so buh-bye.

[Artboy99]

11 minutes ago, the blob said:

Tell him he has been looking at your stuff for years and never bought anything, so buh-bye.

I tolerate him because I share a booth with 3 other people and I don't want to jeopardize anything for anyone. Still I am weary of letting him use my inventory as a library.

[F For Fake]

32 minutes ago, the blob said:

I'm just not going to do that (go back) for some $2 books, I'd just rather not spend the money. A stain on the back isn't a misrepresentation, it is what it is, someone may still like it for $2.

Yeah, i mean, i generally know the value of the books I'm looking for. If I buy a book for $2, there's a reason why it's $2, and that's either because it's simply not worth very much, or it's not in great shape. I'm not going to return a $2 book. 

[Mr. Zipper]

16 hours ago, oakman29 said:

There's a simple answer this question.

Just don't buy from anyone that won't let you inspect the book.

BINGO.

I always ask if I can take it out. If the answer is, "No," I politely hand the book back and walk away. Simple.

Just happened to me at a show with a book priced at $80. How do I know there are not rusty staples, cut coupons or any variety of things that could make it a $5 book? 

#WalkAway

[the blob]

38 minutes ago, Artboy99 said:

I tolerate him because I share a booth with 3 other people and I don't want to jeopardize anything for anyone. Still I am weary of letting him use my inventory as a library.

Fair enough. There is a guy who goes to the NY shows, I have seen him for years as he frequents the cheap boxes (and he is a fellow smelly fatty ... mind you, I shower and deodorize before shows, even wear clean clothing, but by the end I no doubt stink). He pulls out every third book and meditates over them. He totally shuts down any progress on people getting through the long boxes. I have never ever seen him buy anything. But at least I don't see him asking dealers over and over to open up $500 books. frankly, as a dealer I would be worried this is a diversion for someone else to shoplift.

[the blob]

23 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

Yeah, i mean, i generally know the value of the books I'm looking for. If I buy a book for $2, there's a reason why it's $2, and that's either because it's simply not worth very much, or it's not in great shape. I'm not going to return a $2 book. 

Well, yeah, I like to think my brilliance and expertise allows me to search through a few thousand $2 box books to extract the mispriced potential $5-$15 books (and heck, occasionally more), but yeah, even my reject bad back cover books are perfectly reasonably priced at $2

[kav]

1 hour ago, Artboy99 said:

I tolerate him because I share a booth with 3 other people and I don't want to jeopardize anything for anyone. Still I am weary of letting him use my inventory as a library.

all you're jeopardizing is a guy that goes thru a bunch of books, blocks actual buyers, and never buys anything.  They would definitely want you to jeopardize that.  Tell him its been real-and later.

[Artboy99]

2 minutes ago, kav said:

all you're jeopardizing is a guy that goes thru a bunch of books, blocks actual buyers, and never buys anything.  They would definitely want you to jeopardize that.  Tell him its been real-and later.

would be what I would like to do. I honestly have never seen him buy a book but I have seen him look through entire books at multiple dealer booths.

[kav]

15 minutes ago, Artboy99 said:

would be what I would like to do. I honestly have never seen him buy a book but I have seen him look through entire books at multiple dealer booths.

everyone needs to just stop and say 'you're done'.

[Artboy99]

9 minutes ago, kav said:

everyone needs to just stop and say 'you're done'.

I have done that with other potential buyers.

Had a guy that was browsing a longbox and he was pulling books up to look at them then jamming the books back into the box so hard that the books were bending as he did so. I walked out from behind the table, took the book he was holding at that moment out of his hand and told him "you are done here."

[piper]

6 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

as a seller I will let a potential buyer see any book that they ask to see. If the book isn't that valuable I will even let them open it themselves. If the book is important/ valuable I will open it for them to see.

Something from a seller's point of view:

Over the course of several years ( 8-10 years ) I have a guy that requests to open and inspect every single book he is "considering". He looks through every single page from front cover to back, then puts it back into the bag. The problem? He has never bought anything from me in well over 20 shows. How many books should I allow him to "read" before I tell him to move on from my booth?

 

[oakman29]

There is a happy medium here. A 2 dollar book in a long box I wouldn't expect a seller to allow a book to be inspected, but if I want that 5K book? 

I'm inspecting it or a seller loses a sale.

[kav]

4 minutes ago, oakman29 said:

There is a happy medium here. A 2 dollar book in a long box I wouldn't expect a seller to allow a book to be inspected, but if I want that 5K book? 

I'm inspecting it or a seller loses a sale.

not me I would buy it without even seeing it or a pic just based on the seller's vague description 'it's in the 2.0-9.0 range'.