"That comic there is $.25" (Yes, I am old enough to remember $.25 comics)
"Will you take $.10? It's all I have. (Little liar that I was, I had around $1.50 but still had other stands to visit)
"I don't know, how much is it worth actually? (I was known at the flea markets as "The kid with the pricing guide". Word spread quick and far)
"I'm not sure, I haven't looked it up." (Liar...Liar...Liar)
"I'm going to stick with $.25 on that."
"I only have $.10. (LIAR!)
"OK, kid. I'll give it to you for $.10"
"Thank you so much!" (I still had $1.40 and 10 more stands to go!)
"Now that you own it, what's it really worth?"
"I really don't know. I just liked the cover." (It's a wonder anyone trusted me...Hey, I was a kid. Tell me you didn't fib a little now and then.)
That comic is today one of the most controversial titles in many different media. It was Uncle Tom's Cabin and that particular comic, in the condition it was in, appraised for around $700 at that point in time. I still have it today...bagged and boarded.
The flea markets of today, however, don't haggle as much. It seems like they don't care. Has the medium saturated the market so bad that people take them for granted or is it still a type of antique that still holds little value for people?
On Sunday I walked up to a booth and looked in a box where dozens of old Archie Comics lay strewn all over. Many were in decent condition, 5 were approaching VG and then there were others that were coverless.
"How much are your comics?"
"$2.00 apiece."
They weren't worth haggling over, honestly. $2 for a possible VG and also for a coverless? Pure apathy on the sellers part. He barely even looked my way when I flipped through them.
I went to another stand.
"How much are your comics?"
"I have them sorted out. That pile is $20 for all of them, but I'll take $10."
Am I the world's best silent haggler or did he just cut his price in half without a word? I looked through the stacks. Wow. Old Action Comics in rough condition, a run of 20 Teen Titans comics all looking like they had been previously bagged and boarded, and then there were the other sets that had comics like Checkmate (which I like but are worth little). I spent $35 on 60 comics valued at over $300. It's a deal for me, but it was caused by apathy on the part of the buyer.
What happened between my childhood and now? How did people go from haggling to cutting the price before I even ask? It has to be apathy. Please understand, I'm not criticizing the seller, I just struggle to understand how in a world soaked with superheroes in movies, magazines, cartoons, and whatnot, that people don't mind searching the web for a price for fine china but not a comic book. (Please don't criticize my run-on sentences, I get excited about this kind of thing and punctuation goes out the window.)
You see, what I didn't tell you is that the same person selling old Archie Comics for $2 apiece was haggling with a woman over a lamp he had for sale. It had a high price tag and he wasn't budging. (It could have been worth $1,000, I had no clue. I'm apathetic towards lamps, I guess) I guess he really wasn't haggling then, was he? But why stick to your guns on a high priced lamp and leave old comics out in a box in the sun? I'm convinced it's apathy. It can't be lack of knowledge.
There are dozens of books, websites, magazines, blogs, you name it, that can give you prices on comics. You can't walk into a book store without tripping over a pricing guide of some kind. So, it can't be knowledge. My bet is that he looked up the price of that lamp and that's why he was sticking to it. To me it's like opening up a retail store and marking some things at the suggested retail price and just guessing on other items. (That chair is $250, that desk though...I don't know...maybe $50?)
The other person, come to find out, bought comics to flip them (no pun intended) and, as long as he made a profit, he was happy. If he can do that marking things down, all the better. It works for me and for him. Strange as it may seem, however, I feel bad taking advantage of people when I have a good idea of the value. But it can't go two ways, right? If they mark them as the price they should go for I pay more. If they mark it well below the price it should go for, I pay less. It's an odd conundrum. I would never cheat a client who brought me a box of books to sell by paying them far below market value, but at the flea market I do it every weekend. (I guess I'm two-faced AND a liar. Mom would be disappointed.)
In both cases I offered to help by giving them an idea as to what they may sell for if I could just look them over. I'd do it for nothing. Neither took me up on my offer. I guess I should just leave it at the fact that they're happy with the pricing and I should be happy too. I'll try to behave more appropriately.
The bottom line is this: As a seller and buyer know what your comics are worth. Know how to price them, know when to buy, when to sell, and when to walk away. Research is just a click away at our personal favorite www. comicbookrealm.com. Tell them The Comic Whisperer sent you.
No comments:
Post a Comment