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Seeding bins at a convention - how do you do it?
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172 posts in this topic

19 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

"Seeding" boxes, in my experience usually means that the seasoned "farmers" just pull the seeds before they germinate leaving the boxes still full of bad seeds...

Or you get vacuum cleaners like me. I'll admit that subconsciously I might be a little less strict in what I pluck out of the boxes if I have snagged a couple of really good books. And frankly, if you cherry pick the best 5 books out of 10 long boxes you might run into a dealer who says "why were those in there, that was a mistake"..generally that won't happen if you are buying a stack of other stuff. at least not to me.

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I hate when dealers say "Those were in there by mistake." if it's in there it's in there!

There's a local guy who sells comics in his garage (along with other collectibles). He has maybe 50 longboxes of unorganized comics. He doesn't read comics or know much about them. Most aren't in bags/boards so they are slowly getting ruined from people rifling through them and digging through stacked boxes. He sells them for 2 for $5.  95% of the stuff should be a dollar or less. One day I dug through the collection for hours and found some real gems. Some stuff that was worth a bit of money, some stuff that I'm missing from my own collection and I don't mind overpaying a bit for. I go to buy them and he (seemingly at random?) pulls a bunch out of the pile and says he can't sell those until he looks them up on ebay. It was annoying because while he did correctly grab a couple of the expensive ones I had found, he also pulled out some cheap run filler stuff I was buying. I had a few modern Deadpools and he told me "Deadpool is hot right now those are $5 each". I put back all the ones he asked more money for. 

So I was naturally pretty pissed, but I went back the next time he had a sale and found a few good comics deep in his mess of longboxes. The comics I had put back last time were now in a 'individually priced' box. With no price tags of course. Knowing he would want me to pay more for some of the comics I had, I grabbed a big stack of modern Deadpools and went to pay. He was so distracted by the Deadpools, putting them in a new '$5 each pile" (which I declined to buy) that I got to keep all my heard earned keys that I dug for hours for.

If the guy wasn't an and had better prices and didn't pull out issues I dug for like that I would seriously spend so much money there. 

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This is by far, the most comprehensive overview of convention set-ups I've seen. I'm very, very glad for it. My first one coming up (with a mentor who has done it), and I genuinely am learning a ton, laughing a bit, getting spooked, getting geeked, etc.  Months to prepare, my chunk of 250+ long boxes is being used for inventory, and I just wanted to comment here so I wouldn't lose the thread LOL.  I want to sell comics at this event and believe I will sell more due to this thread. THANKS to all in this awesome community.

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1 hour ago, williamhlawson said:

This is by far, the most comprehensive overview of convention set-ups I've seen. I'm very, very glad for it. My first one coming up (with a mentor who has done it), and I genuinely am learning a ton, laughing a bit, getting spooked, getting geeked, etc.  Months to prepare, my chunk of 250+ long boxes is being used for inventory, and I just wanted to comment here so I wouldn't lose the thread LOL.  I want to sell comics at this event and believe I will sell more due to this thread. THANKS to all in this awesome community.

There's a wealth of knowledge on these boards that's hard to beat, and I'm grateful for the input.

Just imagine the kinds of answers we'd get in a Facebook group, where they're busy chasing their tails, looking for copies of Amazing Spidey 212!

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12 hours ago, Robot Man said:

I hate guys like that. If it's in there with an old price on it, I suk it up and honor my mistake. There have been a couple of times I just couldn't and I'm sure I pizzed off people. When I do suk it up, I do let the buyer know I did, and am honoring my too low price. I can get sloppy but I'm not stoopid. 

Had a kid go through a half price SA/BA box recently. He looked at every book and pulled the one out that I forgot about. I think it was stickered $20. and I told him he got me and I screwed up. I said OK, half of $20 is $10. (the current market was around $45-$50.) He then offered me $7. I took it back, tossed it on the chair and said sorry not for sale. He was shocked and started whining that he would pay the $10. I told him I was giving him a tough life lesson.  I told him that when you score a great deal, just pay up and walk away happy. Instead, he shuffled off whimpering...  :sorry:

I've done that a couple times, the OP in this thread got a book off me that was underpriced!! 

The first 1-2 shows where I was sorting stuff to be brought to the shows with old bags/stickers I made an error where I had 2 copies of a BA semi key priced at $12 when they were selling for around $40 online.  This guy may or may not have known the value since the books he was looking at were all similar, e.g. not just hot books he could flip, and he dickered with me on $20 which I accepted as a sign of good faith hoping to build a relationship with a customer at my very first show.

I haven't done that since, but nowadays I would honor the sticker, but do what you did and use the dickering opportunity to take the books away from him.....it's different if it's an expectant repeat buyer.  The only other time I've dealt with this buyer was about a hardcover that I had priced at $20 (retailed for $80) in which he offered me $10, I flatly refused and he walked away agitated. 

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On 1/16/2019 at 1:03 PM, Bird said:

@SOTIcollector I didn't ask for the help but I DO appreciate it! I am a visual guy, do you have any photos of it in use? Do the books slide on or off the racks at all?

Here's a photo, but it wasn't really taken to show the rack so much as the books.  [Just for the record, these books are either sold or off the market.]  

As long as nobody tumbles into the rack, the books are fine.  A good breeze or a kick to one of the legs would get expensive, though.

SOTICollector_wall.thumb.jpg.38cece16087224d7453c3845fbd90a36.jpg

Edited by SOTIcollector
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Just have a cork board on an easel behind you table and pin the keys to it, preferably through the top of the comic because it holds better that way and you know the book is a key because it has a pin hole in it.

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19 hours ago, Jaylam said:

It always helps to have a nice... er... uh...selection of wall books to help increase attention and traffic to your booth.

wall books rack.jpg

Pardon me, gotta go seed some bins...

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