There was a video I saw several months ago of some guys that checked it out…and they were finding some good stuff, until they were priced at the counter.
Here’s a video that’s gives an idea of what the place is like…
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Had my first priced at counter experience and I didnt like it. Found out a shop i visit on occassion had a backroom of old stock and back issues I didnt know about. I didnt have a lot of time so i searched through a few of the 40 or 50 boxes. Nothing was priced so knew that was going to be a bad sign. Found some Turners i didnt have and 2 Ultimate Spiderman 8. At the counter i ask about the lack of prices and said do i just make an offer? He laughed and told me that they look them up and price FMV.
My face must have given away what i thought of that because he apologized and said they dont have time to go and price verything even though the room had been full of boxes for a very long time.
He overprices the Turners at $5 each and tells me that one is $5 USD but he wont charge me extra. Then he doesnt even look up the USM 8 and gives them to me at cover. Karma was strong at this store.
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Ha. I will overpay on cheap stuff to get good stuff cheap.
That’s funny. I totally loved mine. 
Don’t own a shop, then. Get the f out of the business. Or you will drive your customers away.
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On the topic of pricing at the counter…
Experienced a little myself today.
Spent about 5 hours at a warehouse sale. 10s of thousands of comics randomly in long boxes. Last time I was there I didn’t realize there was this back room and the guy was wheeling and dealing toys but comics weren’t priced out and was asking $3/book when checking out. Many of the long boxes are piles on top of another so I know most flippers are likely not going to dive into moving heavy boxes.
So I went back today (it’s been maybe 3 months) and now a large portion was priced. Basically someone must or started going through and pulling out keys, using a code scanner and website, as anything priced was over priced…but he said prices books were half off and everything else was $2-$3.
Still a large about of books not priced, and still boxes stacked…so after the 5 hours of digging I had maybe 75 potential buys…looked up ones Inwasnt sure about (many the price had dropped more than I thought or wasn’t the value so thought it was), so ended up with 23 books I felt were worth $3. So expecting $70 at most. maybe he’d give me a deal.
Well he immediately put aside a Scooby Doo Where are You #1 high grade aside for scanning…(damn…he knows keys, I’m thinking). But that was the only one. Comes back with $30 for Scooby and I decline.
So I’m thinking $70 w/tax For the other 22 books maybe. He comes back with $96! Far from the $3/book I was quoted when I asked earlier.
I’m like, “I thought I only about 20 books. “
So as you can imagine I’m a bit stunned. I the time I was digging $2-$3 rose to $4-$5. I made him recount the books, to make a point and to be sure he didn’t grossly miscount.
Counts 22 books. And says, “these books are about $4-$5”.
That was the first time in 5 hrs I had been digging that he quoted ANYONE looking at the books a price higher than $3. And a lot of people asked. He must have realized I was about to walk (and probably never come back) so he quickly comes back with “I can do $80.”
So having driven an hour and not wanting to pass on my 5 hrs of work for an average of about 60 cents/book, that
Were decent books, I agreed. I didn’t really say thank you, I was tired and needed to go.
I’ll show the books later and you can tell me if they were worth $3.60. I had only gotten through maybe about half of all the unpriced books…so if I do ever go back I’ll be sure to make a point to ask upfront what the price is, and I’d that’s firm.
(Sorry for the wall of text…hopefully it was somewhat entertaining).
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Post SDCC stuff that had just been sitting there is moving again. So weird.
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I guess people didn’t find it at sdcc…so back to eBay.
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A comic shop about an hour from me is doing a gofundme to stay in business. They have a ton of stock and the goal for the money is to pay staff but continue to buy new comics and new collections.
I don’t know how I feel about this. They tend to have high prices. When they have sales it seems that it’s not books purchased in the past two weeks (but every thing seems to be purchased in the last two weeks) and even then the prices seem to be in line with what things are on eBay. I was thinking of riding out and buying stuff. But the more I think about it the less I like the idea.
Gofundme is not for businesses…
Bad business decisions dont deserve bailouts.
Smh
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If you have a ton of stock and are in trouble, would you not try harder to blow out some of the stuff you already have? Or at least give customers a shot at a decent discount – have a “wheel of deals” or something as an incentive for visiting. There should be basic things they could try rather than ask for money.
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This is kind of what is holding me back from going. I buy a ton of crap books just to support people and shops. Don’t know how I feel on this one.
I agree with you in the sense that I don’t like it either. I feel that the store should have a clearly marked price for whatever we want to buy—not just random boxes that are full of books priced at the counter. They are, in essence, making you price their books for them. It seems lazy and unprofessional to me. I find it to be in bad taste.
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I agree but for one point. I supported a GoFundMe for someone at a comic shop I love who developed an illness. It was emphasized the money was for his medical expenses that insurance would not cover. I’d say 90% of the time he is the one who is there working hard at the shop (the other owners are more silent partners) but he had to take some time out for Chemo, recovery, etc. That is a GoFundMe I did not hesitate to support. If it were just a shop struggling, then I would definitely not support that. In the case of the shop an hour from you, I would not contribute, clearly.
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That’s 100% different.
Now, if the business had something unfortunate out of their control occur (theft, flood, fire) and it was a pillar in the community and needs help to recover, I get it. But why should anyone fund this…? It’s basically up pricing new comics and begging people to pay those prices so you can keep selling them.
Either the shop is in a bad location, or they made bad business decisions. Best to put them out of their misery rather than string them along. A go fund me is not a recovery plan that fixes the underlying problem.
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Did anyone hear if they are continuing these DC x Sonic later printing covers? The last one came out in July and nothing on FoC. Someone posted an image on this site a while ago with all the covers they were planning to do, but I can’t find it.
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I’m pondering how those LEGO’s work on his shoes… 