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how to approach a dealer about books I think might be overpriced.
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248 posts in this topic

I realized I was going to too many comic shows when my wife and I went to buy a new couch and I tried to "Negotiate" the price of the couch down. doh!

@robocard Ed your booth is always good at Long Beach. I've bought something from you every time I go to the Long Beach show. 

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There is so much to comment on in this thread!! And the vast and valuable insights from dealers and buyers,I cant think you all enough! 

 Some of the things people have suggested not to do I did when I first started going to cons and buying books, I did because I wasn’t knowledgeable. Then my former boss had to pull me aside and tell me what I was doing wrong.

 A few things that have been said here I normally do for instance, I am very indifferent on whether I get the books or not, I’m ALWAYS respectful to the dealer because my former boss and I had set up a few shows so I knew what that was like.

 

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1 hour ago, Raze said:

There is so much to comment on in this thread!! And the vast and valuable insights from dealers and buyers,I cant think you all enough! 

 Some of the things people have suggested not to do I did when I first started going to cons and buying books, I did because I wasn’t knowledgeable. Then my former boss had to pull me aside and tell me what I was doing wrong.

 A few things that have been said here I normally do for instance, I am very indifferent on whether I get the books or not, I’m ALWAYS respectful to the dealer because my former boss and I had set up a few shows so I knew what that was like.

 

awesome to hear!

I greatly respect that you gave selling at a show a try.

You definitely meet all sorts of different buyers. Most are great, there are the few that are not pleasant to deal with.

A couple of examples:

1. I had a lady with a toddler in a buggy (that was with her guy who was looking at books) take the toddler out of the buggy, place a towel on the table over the comics I had laying flat on the table...she was about to change her baby's diaper right on top of my comics.

2. I was serious when I posted earlier about a guy looking through my boxes and roughly handling the books. He was pulling the books almost all the way out of the box they were in then he was violently shoving them back into place. So violent he was bending the books. I walked out from behind the table, grabbed the book that was literally in his hand and told him he could leave. He was done here.

I loved the look on his face, but if he can't respect that he is handling someone else's property he doesn't need to be there in my opinion.

3. At a local show there is a guy that always comes to the shows wearing blue coveralls and a cap. He looks like a farmer and probably is. He has been dubbed "Mr. Coveralls."

Mr Coveralls is in my booth and he is asking me about a raw Conan the Barbarian #1 7.0 I had on my wall at $200.00. $200 is bang on the price at that time as I had priced it based on what I had been seeing same grade copies sell for on Ebay. He offers $100.00, and I politely reply "I can't sell it at that price...how about $150?"

He balks at my counter offer and walks away.

About 30 minutes later he returns and says "I will take it...." but proceeds to point at a whole bunch of other items "...and that and that and that and that and that. For the $150."

A quick tally of everything and he has added over $50 in glasses, magnets and stuff again trying to get the book for the $100 and paying $50 for the other products that did not belong to me.

I politely declined again. Then he walked over to my box of Savage Sword of Conans that I had previously priced at 50% off and they were at 50% more off, so they were outstanding prices in my opinion. Like a mag that would normally sell on Ebay for $12, I had it at $6 then 50% off of that at $3. I think they were a great deal. It was all pre issue 50 as well.

He grabbed a big stack of them and handed them to me and said "I will give you $20". I added them all up, it was slightly over $100 at my 50% x2 sale...

I said "Why would i do that?" He scowled at me and walked out of my booth and he has never returned.

Every time he attends the shows he walks by my booth. My selling partner at first didn't like what had happened but in the end we didn't lose a customer we would never make a dime dealing with the guy anyways.

Edited by Artboy99
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3 minutes ago, Artboy99 said:

awesome to hear!

I greatly respect that you gave selling at a show a try.

You definitely meet all sorts of different buyers. Most are great, there are the few that are not pleasant to deal with.

A couple of examples:

1. I was serious when I posted earlier about a guy looking through my boxes and roughly handling the books. He was pulling the books almost all the way out of the box they were in then he was violently shoving them back into place. So violent he was bending the books. I walked out from behind the table, grabbed the book that was literally in his hand and told him he could leave. He was done here.

I loved the look on his face, but if he can't respect that he is handling someone else's property he doesn't need to be there in my opinion.

2. At a local show there is a guy that always comes to the shows wearing blue coveralls and a cap. He looks like a farmer and probably is. He has been dubbed "Mr. Coveralls."

Mr Coveralls is in my booth and he is asking me about a raw Conan the Barbarian #1 7.0 I had on my wall at $200.00. $200 is bang on the price at that time as I had priced it based on what I had been seeing same grade copies sell for on Ebay. He offers $100.00, and I politely reply "I can't sell it at that price...how about $150?"

He balks at my counter offer and walks away.

About 30 minutes later he returns and says "I will take it...." but proceeds to point at a whole bunch of other items "...and that and that and that and that and that. For the $150."

A quick tally of everything and he has added over $50 in glasses, magnets and stuff again trying to get the book for the $100 and paying $50 for the other products that did not belong to me.

I politely declined again. Then he walked over to my box of Savage Sword of Conans that I had previously priced at 50% off and they were at 50% more off, so they were outstanding prices in my opinion. Like a mag that would normally sell on Ebay for $12, I had it at $6 then 50% off of that at $3. I think they were a great deal. It was all pre issue 50 as well.

He grabbed a big stack of them and handed them to me and said "I will give you $20". I added them all up, it was slightly over $100 at my 50% x2 sale...

I said "Why would i do that?" He scowled at me and walked out of my booth and he has never returned.

Every time he attends the shows he walks by my booth. My selling partner at first didn't like what had happened but in the end we didn't lose a customer we would never make a dime dealing with the guy anyways.

The bully approach never works.  Go back to the farm, old Mac Donald.  

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19 minutes ago, kav said:

The bully approach never works.  Go back to the farm, old Mac Donald.  

At the last Calgary Expo we had just received back about 20 books we had sent in for grading and one of the books is an Adventures of Pussycat magazine. The copy we sent in came back a CGC 9.2! off white to white pages. Hard to find magazine especially in that grade range. I had $1500 CDN on it on my wall. Had a guy walk up, point at the magazine and he was angry. 

"Why do you show sellers always have to rip people off! I can buy that book right now for $500 on Ebay!."

He stormed off before I could educate him about condition of book and how it affects the price. The book on Ebay was a 5.0.

20190627_205504.jpg

Edited by Artboy99
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Just now, Artboy99 said:

At the last Calgary Expo we had just received back about 20 books we had sent in for grading and one of the books is an Adventures of Pussycat magazine. The copy we sent in came back a CGC 9.2! off white to white pages. Hard to find magazine especially in that grade range. I had $1500 CDN on it on my wall. Had a guy walk up, point at the magazine and he was angry. 

"Why do you show sellers always have to rip people off! I can buy that book right now for $500 on Ebay!."

He stormed off before I could educate him about condition of book and how it affects the price. The book on Ebay was a 5.0.

I CAN BUY AN AF 15 ON EBAY FOR $10,000 WHY IS YOURS $50,000 YOU RIP OFF ARTIST!!!

Screenshot 2019-06-27 at 8.01.03 PM.png

Screenshot 2019-06-27 at 8.00.47 PM.png

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8 hours ago, RCheli said:

I've read this whole thread, and the one point that really gets to me is that the OP thought the books were overpriced. Where did he get that? From Overstreet? Ebay? PCH prices are going through the roof, and the price that was listed may very well be what current FMV is, but that could've escalated significantly even in the past year. At a show a couple of months ago, a guy set up who hadn't done anything in a couple of years and all his PCH was snatched up by a dealer at close to current guide prices because these books can sell consistently well at multiples of Overstreet. 

I am always more than happy to deal at shows, but there are a ton of factors. These include how much I paid for the book(s), how long I've had it for sale, whether it's hot or not, how the person is paying, how much they're buying, if they've bought from me in the past, and how much the offer from the buyer is.

I was thinking the same thing. It is hard to gauge "market" on stuff like that, but I guess 2-4x any recent comparable recent sale might make it qualify as overpriced.

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On 6/25/2019 at 9:36 AM, Raze said:

Hey So a little more info.

With his prices being pretty high and him admitting as much the books were a lot less than his asking prices of over $1000 for all the books. Now i spent less than that but still a fair amount. It was still the most id spent. I don’t have a lot of extra discretionary spending towards Comics.

Id like to say that in all honesty and transparency that a few books in the deal I had marked “to flip” (yes the dreaded term that everyone uses and is trying to do) in the deal and hope no one judges or thinks differently of me or my post. So when i sell something im chasing my passion books which are ECs. Everything else is read and release.

 
@Bird here are some of the books. Not all of them as id like to recoup some of the cost to keep the ones itd like to keep. I hope thats fair as a few will be offered here on the boards after I read them.

 

D548985C-3B93-4693-A87D-66006ECFB661.jpeg

DA8B78DD-A46A-4303-AB45-AAE5A7CE96CA.jpeg

FEE75F58-00A3-422A-969D-354BEB8FD0CE.jpeg

Not intended as a judgement regarding your flipping some of the books you bought - they’re yours and you’re perfectly free to do with them as you wish - I might venture an observation. 

You mentioned a couple of times that his prices were “wrong” and in this post that they were “high”.  Perhaps it’s just me, but I interpret that to mean “well above fair market value” 

However - and again, this may just be me - but I think there’s a big difference between “fair market value” and “meat on the bone to flip”. If you were able to get to the point where the books were priced to flip it makes me question how “high” or “wrong” his prices were to begin with. 

Not trying to bust your hump, just making the observation that others have made that the “rightness” or “wrongness” of a price is subjective and is often influenced by what side of the transaction your on. 

Even if it could be objectively determined that a seller’s prices were wrong I personally would never bring that point up in conversation.

I would simply ask if he’s open to negotiation and any quoting of guide prices and completed sales would be to explain where my offer is coming from, not ripping his sales model. 

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I'm in a different place from the OP, because I never buy a book to "flip". I know it doesn't 'work' on the majority of sellers, but I just communicate that it's for my personal collection, and be as nice and polite as possible (impossible, right? Me, nice?).

I buy a decent amount on eBay, and I know that sellers have to compensate for fees, but sometimes the markups are excessive IMO. I float my honest Best Offer and include a note that it's "honestly the most I can offer, not trying to haggle".

It doesn't seem to work in-person. I once tried to buy a DC Encyclopedia from a guy (priced MSRP $40/50), but the binding was completely destroyed, and I have to re-glue it. Wouldn't budge below MSRP. lol No one will ever buy it for a brand new price when it's destroyed...

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10 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

awesome to hear!

I greatly respect that you gave selling at a show a try.

You definitely meet all sorts of different buyers. Most are great, there are the few that are not pleasant to deal with.

A couple of examples:

1. I had a lady with a toddler in a buggy (that was with her guy who was looking at books) take the toddler out of the buggy, place a towel on the table over the comics I had laying flat on the table...she was about to change her baby's diaper right on top of my comics.

2. I was serious when I posted earlier about a guy looking through my boxes and roughly handling the books. He was pulling the books almost all the way out of the box they were in then he was violently shoving them back into place. So violent he was bending the books. I walked out from behind the table, grabbed the book that was literally in his hand and told him he could leave. He was done here.

I loved the look on his face, but if he can't respect that he is handling someone else's property he doesn't need to be there in my opinion.

3. At a local show there is a guy that always comes to the shows wearing blue coveralls and a cap. He looks like a farmer and probably is. He has been dubbed "Mr. Coveralls."

Mr Coveralls is in my booth and he is asking me about a raw Conan the Barbarian #1 7.0 I had on my wall at $200.00. $200 is bang on the price at that time as I had priced it based on what I had been seeing same grade copies sell for on Ebay. He offers $100.00, and I politely reply "I can't sell it at that price...how about $150?"

He balks at my counter offer and walks away.

About 30 minutes later he returns and says "I will take it...." but proceeds to point at a whole bunch of other items "...and that and that and that and that and that. For the $150."

A quick tally of everything and he has added over $50 in glasses, magnets and stuff again trying to get the book for the $100 and paying $50 for the other products that did not belong to me.

I politely declined again. Then he walked over to my box of Savage Sword of Conans that I had previously priced at 50% off and they were at 50% more off, so they were outstanding prices in my opinion. Like a mag that would normally sell on Ebay for $12, I had it at $6 then 50% off of that at $3. I think they were a great deal. It was all pre issue 50 as well.

He grabbed a big stack of them and handed them to me and said "I will give you $20". I added them all up, it was slightly over $100 at my 50% x2 sale...

I said "Why would i do that?" He scowled at me and walked out of my booth and he has never returned.

Every time he attends the shows he walks by my booth. My selling partner at first didn't like what had happened but in the end we didn't lose a customer we would never make a dime dealing with the guy anyways.

I want to apologize to you for humanity. I don't envy your position. It's why I just pay what's asked for seeing as how you have to deal with this. The first show I went to in, I dunno, 38 years, i was looking thru an xmen box and a guy kinda nudged me aside and I thought, "I guess that's how things are now" and kinda let him share my space. He got a bunch of books, haggled with dealer slammed them down,  obviously not getting his way, screaming "The customer is always right!" and stormed off still screaming, "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!" I was so embarrased I kinda wanted to just leave. 

EDIT: I buy not to flip. True, I will sell my collection in 20 years and do hope to sell for more than I bought, bout most importantly it's books I care for, not what's hot or maybe I'm the sucker every dealer hopes for. I tend to stay with a small group of sellers that I feel is fair, fully understanding I have no idea what fair is. I usually don't do my homework. I got 500$, I want that book, it's priced at 500$, here you go. 

Edited by NoMan
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57 minutes ago, TwoPiece said:

but y

I'll be nearly dead and nobody gives a mess about comics that I know. They'll take them to the LCS to sell even tho heirs have been told not to. My nieces and nephews are spoiled and in my will they go to a friend of my wife's who can't lift a hand to help anyone even tho we've given him and his family close to 100k. F- him. 

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2 minutes ago, NoMan said:

I'll be nearly dead and nobody gives a mess about comics that I know. They'll take them to the LCS to sell even tho heirs have been told not to. My nieces and nephews are spoiled and in my will they go to a friend of my wife's who can't lift a hand to help anyone even tho we've given him and his family close to 100k. F- him. 

Bury them with you!

Or cremate them with you!

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20 hours ago, Artboy99 said:

A Comment: I highly recommend every buyer at comic conventions try being a seller. Even one show will be enough. Paying the show organizer money to setup, the preparation time of pricing, bagging and boarding, organizing the comics, the load in and setup, working the show the entire day, then packing up and hauling it all back home. Some single day shows just the day of the show is a 12-15+ hour day. You never know what is going to sell or even if people will show up. I once did a local show that the organizer decided to put on Mother's Day. The worst show I have ever done, and I sold $20 worth of comics. Even then, no I don't need to sell you my copy of ASM 129 at 50% below GPA.

+1,000,000

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On 6/23/2019 at 12:08 AM, RockMyAmadeus said:

Yeah, just get a fan of 50 $1,000 bills, and wave them seductively at your face, while feigning indifference. Make sure you drape your leg casually over the end of the dealer's table.

And wear a short skirt.

:whistle:

 

I dunno about that.  Did wearing a thong work for Theo back in the day  (shrug)

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11 minutes ago, NoMan said:

I'll be nearly dead and nobody gives a mess about comics that I know. They'll take them to the LCS to sell even tho heirs have been told not to. My nieces and nephews are spoiled and in my will they go to a friend of my wife's who can't lift a hand to help anyone even tho we've given him and his family close to 100k. F- him. 

Sounds as if it's time to change the will...

Edited by pemart1966
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1 hour ago, pemart1966 said:

Sounds as if it's time to change the will...

I honestly don't want to get into it here suffice it to say, Are you married? I am and a successful marriage is a comprimise and my wife has a long history with these people and cares for them. Me, not so much.

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17 hours ago, Bookery said:

I've never understood why folks think that money is the "bigger man" in a transaction.  Money is just a way of facilitating trade.  My comic might be "worth" 3 live chickens... but if I don't need 3 live chickens, we're not going to make a trade.  Money is just a universal-trade certificate.  And in fact... no matter how abundant a comic book is... it's still technically a lot rarer than money.  Money is everywhere.  My 9.4 silver-age key is not everywhere.  If anybody should be smug about a transaction (not that one should be) it should be the person holding the collectible.  Money is only valuable to someone if it's more useful than what they possess.  Ideally, all transactions should make both parties happy.

Money does have its place, however.  I did once accept magic beans for a Showcase #22.  Don't know what I was thinking.  Frustrated, I tossed them in the back yard, and I've been paying through the nose for TruGreen treatments ever since.

Lol .. what about Collectable money... dun dun dunnnn…… lol 

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16 hours ago, RCheli said:

I've read this whole thread, and the one point that really gets to me is that the OP thought the books were overpriced. Where did he get that? From Overstreet? Ebay? PCH prices are going through the roof, and the price that was listed may very well be what current FMV is, but that could've escalated significantly even in the past year. At a show a couple of months ago, a guy set up who hadn't done anything in a couple of years and all his PCH was snatched up by a dealer at close to current guide prices because these books can sell consistently well at multiples of Overstreet. 

I am always more than happy to deal at shows, but there are a ton of factors. These include how much I paid for the book(s), how long I've had it for sale, whether it's hot or not, how the person is paying, how much they're buying, if they've bought from me in the past, and how much the offer from the buyer is.

I don't see the problem really with someone grabbing your cheap comics.. I am no way a dealer I'm a collector and rarely have sold anything.. but I believe if your selling something the onus is on you to create a price for your books if you price them to low and someone buys them that's on you and if you price them to high and they don't sell that's on you. Your a seller your responsibility is to create a price if I don't like that price "walk away" find something else maybe then you need to re think your price or wait for someone else that wants to pay your price. its just how the real world works if I am at ABC store and see blender for xx amount and I don't like that price but I go to 123 store and see that price for X and like that price and buy, it shows that maybe your not marketing/selling/pricinng your stuff properly live and learn. Its a company's own responsibility to price something and sell it for what they want to sell it for. So I see it as if you priced things and they sell and you have sellers remorse then its your own fault. If your a seller least you can do is make a price and go from there. 

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On 6/25/2019 at 5:23 PM, VintageComics said:

No matter how low of a price you put on a product someone will unquestionably ask for a better price. Even if it is below market.

 

Everytime.

I am by no means a professional dealer. Small potatoes here BUT I always do my best to make sure I’m priced competitively in comparison to the other dealers in the room. I’ll walk the room before the show opens to shop for myself but also to price books around me and adjust as needed. Inevitably, someone (almost always dealers/online flippers) wants a lower price. I’m perfectly fine with selling to other dealers, some of my best customers are my competitors. Being as courteous as possible I’ll ask them to show me a better deal at the show or I’ll even go as far as to ask if there’s even another copy at the show. Sometimes being bold turns into a sale, sometimes it doesn’t. 

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