I would never patronize such a store, just on principle.
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I didn’t notice anyone new.
Oh, the shop does sound like a stereotypical Star Wars Cantina type. I would have just smiled, said “good luck” left everything on the counter and left never to return.
Changing the price on already priced items is just crappy business and illegal in some states.
Looking books up on ebay is one thing. Not honoring listed prices much worse.
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Let this be a lesson to LCS’s with poor business practices/customer service. If you change the price of a tagged comic at the register based off current eBay listings… you shall be flooded… with water… not customers.
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My comic shop seems to work like that. I do it all the time for books I want but want to keep shopping. I think I still show a Stray Dogs 1 3rd print in my cart- the price has gone up since I added it, but it’s still there for me to buy. It’s not a consistent thing though. I never know if something I added will still be there or not once they disappear from the main site to be sold.
One of my shop owners is pretty fair/cool about the situation. He will honor the price/cover price, whatever, but he simply asks that if it is in fact a very hot book, or one that he has more copies of to just let him know. He has always said, he is too busy to keep up with it all, and he would rather have “any sale” of back issue versus playing games over pricing and such. I’m a regular…maybe he wouldn’t be that way if he didn’t know me.
Here’s the thing about the “too busy” thing that I often hear. I work full time, have kids, grandkids, wife, home to care for, etc, etc…and yet I somehow stay pretty informed of all of this.
If I was a shop owner, and my living/income/business was that important to me, I’d be coming in a half hour early, staying a half hour late, or whatever, to read up, check an app, check forums, and quickly dig for the current heat. Or…I’d take that half hour to go through my surplus long boxes a bit at a time to also look for gold. That excuse I often hear just doesn’t hold water with me.
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Man. Grab some other cheap books that aren’t selling for much on eBay and have him sit there and price them all out. Like a lot. And put that Thor on the bottom of the stack and see if he gets tired first.
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Spider-Man 17 (infinity gauntlet tie in) moving copies the last few days. Anyone know why? Seems odd for that book to pick up the
pace.
I also sold a Thanos 17 1st print after it sat for about a year this morning…
I agree with you. I try to keep up with everything as well, reading as much as I can about new books, and I still miss stuff. This is more of a hobby, and I also have 4 kids, wife, full time job, and still (somehow) find time to play video games. Different breeds of people…most of you are probably go getters too, looking for stuff to do, whereas some of these guys just want to sit there and do what they want and be left alone, but still want customers to buy stuff…
If you are going to be in business, you have to know your business, and keep up with trends…otherwise, maybe not tomorrow, but you will be out of business at some point…and someone who did pay attention will come along and pass you up.
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It would be a shame if someone accidentally dropped their books on the floor while checking out, as the retailer looks up prices for his inventory. 
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I would walk in with my portable folding chair, plop it down and tell him I’m interested in every back issue book and proceed to tell him I will wait for him to price them all before I decide to buy each that I want. 
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I thought I had future-proofed my listing at $200, but just sold my Doctor Voodoo 1-5 set for 5X what the last week’s sale was after the #1 variant was on the spec 10. And these were just A covers.
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I really like this idea 
I like voodoo spec. I’ve been buying up his 1st app as Sorcerer Supreme.
I’ve done something like that…but not intentionally.
Brought a bunch of Comics up to the counter without prices. Made the owner look them up…didn’t like his assessment. Walked out.
The thing that really is silly is that they do this, but many just look at the book through the bag and the back is obstructed by the board. And if they’re using eBay they’re not even comparing what the condition is what’s selling. They just assume their book is gem mint?
Unless the price is super low (as in, assigned a price before something jumped in value) why would I trust their assessment to begin with?
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My other problem is, are they using the last sold listing or looking at the average over 60 days? They should price it according to average when doing such lookups.
That’s why you find the books that have cooled off, the wall ones they might still have overpriced and go… hey, I want that book. It’s going for $200 less on eBay, so I want it at the new going rate… if they’re gonna go by eBay prices, they need to be willing to come down on the prices a well. It’s not a one way street, it’s two way…
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Comic shops unlike any other shops make their own rules. It’s like the wild wild west. Good owners continuously sell their through their stock and have a thriving business. Bad owners just let their inventory pile up and look like they just hate life 99% of the time.
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Then after he has gone through them all, say eBay is listing them for cheaper and you changed your mind. It should work both ways right?
I just thought of something. What if some facebook group organizes something to get a few hundred people in their area to visit a store in their town that has this practice. First guy/gal goes in and grabs a HUGE stack of back issues and brings it to the counter. After the shop owner checks up the prices on everything, they tell them it’s too much and don’t want it. Walks out, next guy comes in and repeats.
This goes on all day until the owner has to come up with a new strategy. 
or decides it’s not worth it and submits and taps out.
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