All very valid points, Willie. You would probably know best, @Uncle_Willie. In your opinion, @Uncle_Willie, what percentage of your regular customers are purely speculators? With speculator meaning someone who doesn’t collect or read comics with a genuine interest, and only buys comics to flip.
I’m fairly social at all my LCS’ and the majority of folks that I chat with seem to be readers and collectors. To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever spoken to someone who simply speculated. That’s probably because those dudes aren’t hanging around the shops to shoot the shit. So, my experiences are probably skewed.
Indeed they are. The Canadian market, I think, is a harder road to travel, due to the higher shipping from Diamond, the dollar difference, and the much smaller market. I know of 1 shop, out of about 15, that over orders. And that one guy who does over order has a very large store and customer base. There is 20-30 dudes at his shop every Wednesday at open, at least. And my pull number with him is 1409. I think that means he has that many subs. Idk. It’s a really busy shop. As you have said, Poyo, the shops that over order should go out of business, so, given that, most shops that are still open, or have been open for more than a year or two, should be ordering to sell. That makes sense…no?
That’s probably true, given that it is a speculation site, but you can not say that with any degree of certainty. I think that most who post in the comments section are speculators, but if you are counting me in that group, you would be wrong. I do speculate, but I’m a reader and collector first. So are Tony, and DRog, and Bandrew, and Todd, and Willie, and OCGuy, and Alana, and BA, and MelV, and you, Poyo…and there is no way of telling if someone who visits, and doesn’t comment, is a reader/collector and/or speculator.
For sure. But it is fun to dive into Google Analytics and it does a pretty good job on reports of age, sex and a lot of other stuff that is of interest. But don’t worry readers, we don’t see personal info… too bad Google can’t tell me who’s a reader, collector or speculator…
I’d like to proclaim a new class, “giver”… one who gives away comic books in giveaways.
I’m a reader first (really behind though in a lot of reading), collector and then I’d actually say a “giver” now before flipper… been giving away more books than selling to flip.
This is why I come here. A nice group of people with similar interests and it rarely ever escalates into arguing or name calling. I’ve been a collector, reader speculator & flipper forever. Although I don’t flip anymore, Since 99.9% of my purchases are on eBay. Timing is important and that shipping time cuts right into the items profitability. Even when I used to preorder through Midtown, the shipping time and frequency of shipments spoiled most of them. I was to cheap to have multiple shipments and opted for once a month economy shipping.
I’m heavily into collecting but nowadays I don’t read the floppies but do digital and trade paperbacks. I love Comixology Unlimited. Even if you read just one tpb it’s worth the $7-8 a month.
Any stuff I’m selling are optioned books and a cgc book I bough by mistake.
If you have time to watch TV, then you have time to read books. Just choose the latter over the former. That’s how I find time for reading. I replace TV time with reading time.
That’s what drew me into the site a long time ago. I gave a few other comic and spec sites a go round but found myself coming back to CHU in the early days and just stuck with it.
Adults can have adult conversations without it getting personal and I think that’s one thing that makes CHU click. Spare the drama that some other sites seem to draw in.
Ditto. I love to play devil’s advocate and CHU is one of the few groups who hasn’t kicked me out or banned me…yet…LMFAO…A lot of other sites really don’t take kindly to people expressing dissenting opinions.
Pure speculators I’d guess around 25% … folks know that I sell at cover for the first couple months … I also, since beginning to follow CHU, keep an eye out for what seems to be getting pre-release heat and attempt to adjust orders when possible in order to fill what I anticipate might be greater than normal demand …
Casual speculators also around 25% … those are folks that may have a pull and hold and / or buy rack copies to sell periodically … many of these Working Folks get their pull and holds and then decide to sell a book or two that has gone up big time, like when “Rise of Kylo Ren #1” first prints were selling at the high point … some sold and then called and asked me to get the 2nd print … so, another sale …
The rest are dedicated readers / collectors, some of which have been with me for 30 or more years …
I used to have to dvr my football game each Sunday so I could find time later to watch it before the next game…didn’t watch a single game this past season.
Actually, if I cut out my time spent searching for comics and listing then and packaging them…that might free me up to read them!
Better yet, if I stop spending so much time posting here I could read a few books as well.
I honestly think the ONLY people propping up the entire print market are speculators and collectors. If we only had “readers,” the industry would fold overnight and these self righteous retailers would be in for a rude shock.
Don’t get me wrong, people (even a new generation of young people- gasp!) do read comics, but it’s all online and pirated, despite what the stuffy old boomers in the comment section at Bleeding Cool want you to believe. Since no one would pirate these magnificent tales and all zoomers would gladly fork over 3.99 on Comixology. So we’re in a weird phase where people who read are progressively not the same ones buying. When this latest collecting bubble bursts, the physical copy market may go completely, who knows.
By the way, in case you think I’m wrong, go to any convention and while there’s a lot of young people, I defy you to find anyone under 30 (or a girl) trying to buy a key bronze age back issue. I am the youngest person I’ve ever seen in those sections, by far.
Makes one think, if the reader market was healthier, shouldn’t we still find spinner racks at Walgreens, CVS and the many other brick stores that use to sell comic books along with the other periodicals? Even the magazine sections are getting smaller it seems nowadays. I remember having an entire wall dedicated to magazines at the grocery stores, now I can barely locate them. The only locations I find them still with a bigger selection is BN and the airports, since it’s something to grab to read and look at on the plane.
You may have a hard time finding readers at conventions as readers don’t attend conventions. Conventions are for collectors, imo.
Speculators are a very small part of this industry, imo. I see some shops with fairly large sub box subscribers. I assume most who have a sub box are readers or collectors, and when you go to your LCS on Wednesday morning, that is the time when most speculators will be there too. Readers typically don’t rush out on Wednesday to get their books. Their books are being held for them, so they can pick it up that evening, or on the weekend, or at the end of the month. So, in short, I wholly disagree with your assessment of the state of the hobby/industry. If I thought it was just speculators selling to other speculators, then I would not be buying any new comics, and I would be selling my books, quick time.
Print is dying in general, for now. Comic books are an exception. Sales of single floppies were up nearly 5% year over year, last year. Not super healthy, but pretty damn good given the landscape. @agentpoyo, the market doesn’t require spinner racks anymore. And today’s economic landscape doesn’t allow non comic stores the luxury of carrying comic books that can be bought for cheaper by a comic book store.
