So it sat there for probably years and now he’s pissed he sold it… makes perfect sense. If he found it and put on the wall for $15 or $20, it’d probably just sit there for a few more years…
But then he could smugly dream about selling it rather than actually selling it.
These stores should just eBay it and move it at higher prices rather than let it sit overpriced on their wall. That’s what I would do.
Leave it in the bin priced for about 35% of what ebay is charging, or just let people buy it for cheap. I believe your main goal is to drive traffic into your store so that they possibly buy other items, rather than be upset that someone is in your store getting a ‘deal’ (remembering that you most likely paid 40-60% off cover for that comic…or cheaper if it came with a purchased collection).
Or, keep better track of your inventory
eBay
Stores need to make money, they should be flipping these for the best price possible. Leaving it in the bins is costing them a lot of profit. On the flipside, dont be mad if someone finds a deal. Its better to sell it at 35% then to not sell it.
I think it’s a fine line. One of my LCS does not put a price on anything other than of course brand new books and has a huge sign, “Prices subject to change at the counter.” I only buy new books there because I’m not going through the hassle of asking “how much” for everything I want to buy. I literally don’t even look through the long boxes any more because there is no deal to be had.
At the same time, I have two other stores I’ve walked out with $50+ books I’ve paid $3.99 for multiple times. Even though it sucks for them, guess which ones I’ve spent more money at? I guarantee you they’ve already made back whatever they “lost” on my deal findings.
Some comic shops have a lot of inventory and not much staff, it’s a serious chore to catch every single thing that is suddenly worth 5X more.
It’s harder for smaller shops, with just 1 or 2 employees. Capstone in Austin before they closed, the owner was pretty much a one person show as he had his loyal base and plenty of back issues, he normally could only afford one person to help out on the register and handle pulls and such each week. I once asked him if he ever thought about selling more online as he had mountains of boxes of in the back that had gone unsearched for quite sometime, years with probably tons of hidden gems. His stance was, to have a normal work life balance, just didn’t have the time and if he sold online, that would take away most of his spare time just pulling, packing, etc.
For those shops with huge inventories and not many employees, double checking back inventory when you have a crap ton of back inventory is very time consuming and costly.
Yes, very costly to search, pull, price (94 reprice), display. Costs a fortune in manual labor. However, if you can inventory in a system right when it comes in, and have some way for someone to be able to check the price online / barcode scanner, the only time you would spend would be making sure you are up to date on current trends.
You also need to know your customers and ensure that they are most likely looking for a flip as well, and that way you need to “share” the profit. Otherwise the inventory won’t cycle because it’s too pricey. My local shop here does it to themselves constantly…when Cover A’s are behind a protected glass with the incentive variants, you know there is a problem.
Hire someone to go through the boxes and eBay them for you. Offer them 20% commission on all sales.
Its not rocket science. Most established stores could find customers to work park time and dig thru boxes.
My LCS gets volunteers and then usually hire the volunteers. Kind of like an internship I suppose.
I would dig through boxes for free. Shoot. Let me at em.
My lcs has said when this is over (Covid) they will let me pull keys out of the warehouse and I can buy them at 50% off eBay or earn credit for pulling them.
He did once say he had many volunteer to go through the boxes and then some would want to buy the books (keys and gems found) at very low prices instead of selling them. He said it would just cause more headaches.
Did you feel mentally and emotionally relieved after you got your shot? Like you were more free and just generally a little more easy going? Cus, that’s how I felt.
He told me he’s hitting the strip clubs this weekend and plans to lick all the stripper poles…
I immediately started licking door knobs left and right.
I have to wait two weeks to be fully safe but have my dollar bills all lined up.
Poles or Holes?