r/comicbookcollecting • u/Depaul007ks • 1d ago
Question Convention Help
Hello. Recently re-entered the hobby after many years and am attending my first convention in a long time. Can anyone give me advice about how pricing and putting bundles together works nowadays? Or how dealers react to negotiations? Thanks. I'm not looking for super discounts or anything. More just if I pick out 3 or 5 graded slabs if it's ok to ask for like 50 bucks off 1000. I'm not buying to turn around and sell my wife and I just rediscovered our love and fun with collecting.
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u/etherealcaitiff 1d ago
Yeah for the most part you're spot on. I'd say the exception is the old dudes with their books marked up 60%. They know their prices don't make any sense, but they still want to sell. Low ball the fuck out of them. Sometimes they'll come down to acceptable prices, other times they're just there to show off their collections with no intention to sell except for ridiculous offers.
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u/Depaul007ks 1d ago
This made me laugh out loud 🤣. Thanks. It's always cool to see collections but yeah I'm not gonna pay crazy price. " low ball the fuck out of em" seriously Lmao 🤣
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u/LNinefingers 1d ago
Bring cash.
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u/Depaul007ks 1d ago
Lol. This I do remember and I will be bringing cash
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u/LNinefingers 1d ago
My experience is that there are dealers with fair prices, and those who are 20%(or more) above FMV. After a few conventions you’ll figure out which are which and you’ll know whether to dig through all the books or just pass on by.
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u/Depaul007ks 1d ago
Thank you. I guess it's like riding a bike lol. I really appreciate the advice. It's exciting to get back into the hobby and my wife enjoys it. It's difficult for us to get out these days because she was injured in a car accident and is in a wheelchair now, so collecting and conventions is something we both feel will be fun and enjoyable for us both
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u/LNinefingers 1d ago
The thing that will probably be different than you remember is the amount of pop culture that’s now at shows. If you’re just looking for books, your best bet is a small local show at a holiday inn or some place like that. Admission will be $3(or free) and it will be about 10-15 local dealers, all comic focused.
If you go to one of the big shows (think NYCC or C2E2 etc), the vast majority of the con will not be comic focused (although there will be dealers with higher end stuff).
It really depends what you’re looking for.1
u/Depaul007ks 1d ago
Ok cool. Yeah the show we're going to is not a huge regional thing, I'd say it's definitely more mid-sized at best. A few celebrities are gonna be there like A-Train from the boys and Jake "The Snake". But we're definitely going for books and just to enjoy the atmosphere and experience. We're interested more in the graded comics too if that may affect our experience at all?
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u/forlorn_hope28 1d ago
I always offer to pay in cash because it saves the vendor from having to deal with credit card fees. I feel that tends to give me stronger footing for negotiating. For example, if you ask for a 10% discount with a credit card, the seller is really taking the 10% hit, plus the 2-3% credit card fee, so it's closer to 12-13% below sticker price for them. If you pay cash, the seller only loses 10% off sticker in the deal.
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u/Depaul007ks 1d ago
Thanks. I'm a cash person with everything lol. I think it makes things easier all around
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u/Beepbobboop01 1d ago
I would always try to negotiate especially if you are buying 3 or more comics from one vendor. You can check out eBay’s sold listings to see what fair prices are though. I always went to conventions with the understanding that every comic shop I was a regular at had an annual 50 percent off of most back issues sale and this normally included at least 20-50 percent off the behind the counter books. I got 30 percent off on average spending tens of thousands of dollars from hundreds of vendors at conventions and only once did some dude get mad at me… over asking for 20 percent off a Thor first appearance… so I just bought it from someone else.
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u/Depaul007ks 1d ago
Thanks. Yeah we're going to get some great books and have some fun. Guess it's just been so long neither of us want to offer something and insult anybody with an offer.
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u/Beepbobboop01 1d ago
Ya I was always concerned about offending vendors as well but I always researched values before hand though. Particularly if you are buying three or more books from one vendor I think it’s fair to say will you sell the 3 books to me together at 20 percent off… and maybe they will say yes or say 10% off. It’s worth it. All my best deals were buying in bulk. I’ll buy these 10 books or none kind of thing.
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u/Depaul007ks 1d ago
Thanks. The last thing we want is to insult anybody. But yeah never hurts to ask as long as everyone involved is happy in the end that's our goal. And thanks for mentioning the research part. We've been doing that looking at ebay and other places to kinda see where things are going right now. What's crazy to me is how many variant covers there are. I used to go to 7-11 and get a book. Now there's issue 1 with 18 different variants which is awesome but overwhelming at the same time
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u/Beepbobboop01 1d ago
Ya the variant covers make it rough for collectors to data base their collection and I hear it’s really tough on shop owners as well in regards to hours spent ordering and organizing. On the other hand it may be keeping shops alive. I just buy all A covers in case I ever decide to catalogue my last ten years of comics and want to make it possible to enter in my lifetime.
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u/Objective_Clue_3091 1d ago
You better use go collect or some other pricing site before you spend on any slab. Raw books are a little harder to price. If you are going to collect slabs you’ll probably get better prices on comiclink or Heritage.
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u/Depaul007ks 1d ago
Cool. I'll check those out. I'm looking at graded comic collecting almost exclusively because we're not looking to turn around and sell we're collecting to keep and display. Artwork nowadays is crazy Cool
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u/Objective_Clue_3091 1d ago
Graded slabs offer zero UV protection, so fading is a danger. I have over 300 slabs and display about 30 in my room, but it’s pretty dark with no direct sunlight. I use go collect as it will give you sales of most books from auction sites and eBay for specific grades.
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u/Depaul007ks 1d ago
Dope! Would you check places like that out if you went to a convention and couldn't grab the book you wanted afterwards?
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u/TF-Collector 1d ago
They work as they've always worked, vendor dependent. Anything made "for" the event (like exclusive comics) are pretty much fixed. That said, lots of vendors are using eBay sold prices or have prices higher than that. There's a lot of "premiums" for older comics.