So I talked to some shops today and I asked if once things get back to normal, will they continue to use eBay for pricing new book and or hot books? Some answer no other answered yes.
I asked them why? The ones that said no, said because they don’t use those tactics to get customer. They said that without customers they can’t sell books and they are in the business of selling books. They also said that they have been in business for a long time and have plenty of happy customers.
The ones that answered yes, said that, that’s the way they have been doing business and has been working for them. They said that the reason why they started to do this was because couple of people have done shelving clearing and don’t leave any for the other customers. They also said that if they are going to do that, they will have to work a little harder and there for they will up the price. They also said that the price gouging is not there decision but there bosses.
I asked the people that said yes if they will consider limiting there customers to 1 or 2 per person? They said no.
I also asked them how they find out when a book is hot or is going to be hot? They said they use speculation websites.
In all conclusion, I will keep my regular LCS as they are ones that will not be playing the game and keep buying my books to read and collect and maybe sell.
I have a question for both customers and shop owners.
Shop owners, will you be playing this game after the pandemic?
Customers, are there shops in your are that will continue to play this game?
I’m not a shop owner but yes, there will still be shops that play the secondary market game sadly.
I’m pretty sure I know of one shop that will in my area. It’s been mentioned here a few times.
That’s the actual simple solution to sway shelf clearers and truly shows their real motives when jacking up the prices on day of release hot books, greed.
This just means they don’t want to address the actual problem with a real solution that works. They just see they can potentially make more money… which eventually back fires. A shop that just hikes up prices on hot books on release day will just make their customers get their products from the competitors who don’t resort to such tactics.
Dragon’s Lair use to have no limit. My guess is they started getting shelf clearers, so now they have a limit to 3 per customer on release week… anything on the back issue shelves (they only keep about 6 months worth), is fair game.
The biggest frustration about this chain store is that they have a store in almost every mall and since the whole shut down, they only have their main location opened. So I assumed that they wouldn’t do the Secondary Market Game any more since they only have one store opened. Guess I was wrong.
The other stores that I talked to are start ups that have only been in business for some time or have switched owners. So I guess they need the Speculation Game to keep there doors opened.
I quit going to a store that always marked things up as soon as release day, or would claim all their copies of a hot comic were, “Damaged,” besides a couple. The store I made the post about that, “Mailed back,” all their copies of, “Hell Arisen #3,” and such. Nah, we done.
That’s what I did. I stopped doing business with this chain. And I am only doing business with 2 companies as they are the only ones that don’t do the Speculation Game.
I would suspect that any retailer that played the spec game pre pandemic will continue to do so post pandemic, and vice versa for retailers who did not play the spec game pre pandemic. I do not see why the pandemic would alter any retailers selling philosophies.
I also stop buying new books from any shop that plays the speculation market. I’ll still raid their cheap back bins for some potential heat, but they will lose me as a customer who reads and collects. I will only shop as a speculator when shopping in a speculators store.
Absolutely 100% agree with this and do the same. Quite frankly, I think many of us on here remain one or two steps in front of the “spec game” quite often. There are many times I (we) catch wind of something before it becomes wildly known or before the ebay sales catch up to the buzz.
My biggest “taboo” when it comes to a shop is the not honoring a price on a book. If you have it in a box, and you have a price on the item…do not try to give me the run around. You will 100% lose me as a customer with that nonsense.
I feel like some shops literally use their customers to do their work for them.
I 100% agree on you on shops not honoring their prices. A while back, a shop that closed down 2 years ago did the same to me. It was a signed Chew #1 book. They gave me a price, then 15 mins later they called me back and told me they screwed up cuz it was going for more on eBay. I stopped doing business with them even though they where around the corner from my house.
One shop that I sometimes frequent will occasionally buy a collection. The last collection they bought was a beauty. About 15-20 long boxes of some complete runs on lots of titles from the mid/late 70s - early 90s. The shop didn’t even bother to price them. They wanted you to pick your books, then wait while they used CBR to price them all. I ended up going home and researching CBRs prices, I then went back with a list of ‘hot’ books whose prices were not correctly reflected on CBR. I picked all the ‘deals’ and left some absolute gems buried in those boxes due to high, off market pricing that CBR had for certain ‘keys’. The biggest book I got from that particular collection was a high grade (9.6+,) IF14. But, I don’t shop at that store regularly anymore because of the shifty way that the owner operates it.
And spec sites… maybe CHU should start charging retailers access? Keep it free for everyone else… hmm… now how to implement? Okay, everyone must submit a full background and employment check… yes, Anthony will know everything about you when all said and done…
They are making bank of off the info that the website is providing and they already get a discount on top of that. I see this as a good idea. Free for the poor and fee for the rich lol. JK JK.
I’m sure Uncle Willie’s idea of “Let’s pay monthly fees for CHU!” would go away in a hurry if that was the case. I kid Willie, I kid…
I have my own feelings about retailers and how they’ve done harm than good with their perspective, but I think I’ll keep it to myself. CHU has always been cool to me and I allow myself to get more hotheaded on sites that aren’t respectful and cultivate a snooty bandwagon mentality (such as reddit).
Couldn’t agree with you more… He’s one of those people that you want to sit down and lesson to what they have to say. Maybe he should do some Podcast? I would lesson to those word of wisdom
) IF14. But, I don’t shop at that store regularly anymore because of the shifty way that the owner operates it.
