One of the avenues I sell comics is in a co-op where the owners run the store/register, you restock, keep your booth clean and get a check each month minus rent and commission. I’ve been having issues with people swapping more expensive comic books from the bag they were in to a less expensive bag. I’m torn on what to do, I either don’t put anything over $5 in there or I need a way for the people at the register to see if a comic bag has been opened. I’ve looked on Amazon for tamper stickers but I don’t get the impression they will work on a comic bag very well. I understand on a more expensive book someone will want to open and check it out, that’s fine but it would need to be done at the register. I typically have $2 to $25 books out in boxes. Anyone have any experience or suggestions to prevent this?
Perhaps a tamper proof sticker but also put serial numbers on them and track via serial what comics were put into the bag. It’s a lot of overhead but if a seal looks like it was tampered with, a quick check of the books inside to the database you created to track would take care of it. At least for a while, whoever is swapping gets caught, they’ll know you’re keeping track and won’t tamper later on thinking you keep track even if you kind of stop after the stickers aren’t mucked with…
It’s fine until you see people folding corners and causing damage from handling them unsupervised. I’ve seen everything from direct switching to walking around using them as fans on a hot day just to change their minds after inserting big thumb bends in the middle, to people hiding them other places in the store I assume to come back for them later which may never happen. You have to watch people like hawks because there may be a few that treat your product like it’s delicate crystal but for every one of those there will be 5 that want to jam them back down in the boxes with force with elbows pointing almost straight up to the ceiling, frequently grabbing other comics on the way down and bending them across the bottom about an inch or two up. I’ve even had people carry them to other parts of the store just to open bundled sets and look shocked when I can hear the tape pulling free from the plastic and step around the corner. It’s one of the reason I’ve got 9 security cameras already and hope for 4 more by the end of the year.
I wouldn’t put expensive copies out unsupervised but you could have a simple business style card with contact info added that lets people know how to schedule an appointment with you for higher priced items in person where you can supervise or to direct them to your online listings if you don’t want to do them in person one on one. Some people even stamp that onto the backing boards or buy stickers with the info.
Write the name of the comic on the bag in sharpie. All comics in the bags match the name on the back or they don’t sell. Write the price on the back of the bag as well. Again, if the name doesn’t match don’t sell it. Let the customer worry about swapping the bag and board when they get home with a fresh one.
There is a sho in Hershey PA that uses some kind of heat seal to close their bags so they can’t be tampered with. Gotta rip open the bag to read them.
This. 
I’ve had customers break open the seal on hardbacks just to put them back on the shelf. They’ve broken the seal on Funko Sodas just to put them back and not buy them because they were not the chase according to the pog, etc. Trading cards removed from comics, digital codes pulled out, you name it, if there’s any value to someone, there’s a crook out there that’s skilled enough to scam it and a security system that requires a tired, underpaid, overworked employee to stop and read descriptions and compare to other details on stacks of comics while there may be other customers standing in line is ripe for harvesting from. It’s illegal to remove price stickers but I’ve had professionals want to stand and argue about a price they say is one number while I’ve already told them what the price is and shown them the price on the web listing eventually walk out mad just to go over and find the sticker on the floor where they left it after scraping it off. Where there’s value, there’s potential for loss or damage. Just a couple weekends ago I had someone ignore the no drinks sign on the door, sneak a canned soda in in her purse just to open it, sit it down and have the foam/fizz start pouring out the top of the can all over stuff because it had gotten shaken up being carried around. Another popular one was the beverage in one hand, something starts to fall and they reactively reach for it with the drink hand slinging soda or ice cubes all over the shelf. That’s why we can’t have drinks and such for the kids at events.
I think for now I’m just going to put lower value books out in the boxes. I have a locked showcase I can put some more expensive books in. Thanks for all the feedback…
I used to sell in an Antique store like this. Had glass booth and dollar bins. Glass booth was for variants and higher priced comics. Also sold a ton of beanie babies out of there (it was back in the day)
I’ve seen this in thrift stores. Makes sense.
“You’re paying for this” is easy to say but almost unenforceable. You’re only hope is that they’re decent enough people to do so, but others are going to claim broke and lost sales from them not coming back in for years because they “owe” you or from having to close to go sit in court make it not worth the effort for most instances. This is also a problem with the “Hold/Pull Box” concept. Once someone’s behind and can’t pick up, you lose them entirely for years at a time. Most eventually turn up years later hoping you will not remember but you always do. Deposits are the same way. If they can’t pick up, they disappear. I even had one show up a couple years later wondering if he could get his deposits back on items I’d sat on for over a year and a half before moving on at a discount to new buyers. A recent okay experience since they aren’t all bad, a mom let her toddler take every action figure out of a display lining them up on the floor. Mom leaves with toddler but dad swings over to help round them up and accidently steps on one mashing the box and figure. He went ahead and got that one when he was checking out. I could tell his wife wasn’t happy about it when she asked him at the door why he had that.
Yo. I used to make a lot of money off Beanie Babies. My girlfriend at the time was Japanese. I had just graduated from college and she was still in college. We had a small place together. Since she was on a student visa she couldn’t work. Long story short we would hit all the hallmark stores and little gift shops that sold Beanie babies and would buy them and sell them in the antique store. The other cool thing was she would sell them back in Japan as well.
You’ve been at this flip game a long time…
I still have a tie dyed crab (Claude?) somewhere. He was the only one I liked and kept.
Actually, I have a turkey I bring out in November as part of fall decor.
I always tell people you have to have a hustle.
Beanie Babie collectors were nuts! Those soccer moms got aggressive! There was a hobby shop I would take my kid brother to for his Baseball cards. The owner got sick of the Beanie Babie people pretty fast and when I started looking for them for my young nieces, he would always tell me to come in early when new shipments went out. The lines would be forming out front and I would drive around back to the loading dock where he would sell me one of each from whatever new assortment came out a little below retail price. He was good at taking care of customers that didn’t cause trouble or freak out over nonsense. I did that for a couple of years before my nieces got bored of them. Made life a lot easier knowing nobody in the family had to go out in the wild and deal with those insane Beanie moms.
Just write the #, title, price etc on one tag and put that clear tape over it…i’ts really hard to get off plastic bags. Only do that to the issues that matter.
I recall minivans and middle-class suburbia vehicles with beanie babies scattered across backseats and displayed upon front windshields like proud trophies. I thought those beanie babies would break the glass to escape when I was small; alas, it seems they never did.