|
|
Post by G on Jul 31, 2007 20:33:37 GMT -5
I still have a hard time letting go of what was for me the glory days of the early 90s. I used to be heading somewhere in my car and may stop off at a 7-11 or Drugstore just stopping to get a drink. And happen to glance at the Comic Section (those were the days) and seeing the latest hot book just sitting there on the racks for cover price waiting for me to take advantage of it. I was admittedly not very rich back then. I might have wanted to grab the whole stack of maybe 20 or so copies. But, I may have only been able to afford 5 at the time. So I took them up to the counter and paid my $10 (assuming $2 cover price at the time) and took them home. Some 5 weeks later, I would be doing my next show and the same book would have a spot on my Comic Display sporting a $5 to $10 price tag and selling those 5 copies before the day was over. My $10 and 5 weeks of patience would net me $50 - $100. With that, I would buy half in new comics and still be better off than before I started. Gosh, it was such easy money and it happened time and time again. Was I speculating? Or did I just know what was what and I could take advantage of that knowledge? Does this still happen? Anywhere? Anybody?  Yes its greedy...and some called me a Fanboy and a Speculator and maybe even said I was contributing to ruining the hobby. But I also read my books. And enjoyed them. Somebody has to sell you a comic. Is every dealer ruining the hobby? You have to buy it from somebody. Why not me? I guess what is missing now is the volatility. It used to happen over and over. Now, I still see it happening. But, it appears a lot harder to make that pick. If you make the pick now....are you speculating? Or do you have the knowledge? I felt years ago I had both. But if I did it today..I would only be speculating. And without the volatility. Id probably lose my shirt. Can it still happen? Does it still happen? Is anyone doing it enough and quickly enough to make it worth their time like it used to be? Or are the days over and long gone never to be found again? Or still yet, is it available only to the select few that have the knowledge of whats happening now? Am I living in the past? Or can it, does it or will it continue to happen? |
|
|
|
Post by leonmallett on Aug 8, 2007 6:21:13 GMT -5
I think it is a small scale thing. I managed to pick up to 5 Ultimate X-Men 1/2's for about £5. Keeping the best, the rest were ebayed individually for about £8-10. Specualtion? no. I just wanted the book.  Then we Captain America 25 recently. Whoa. Didn't see those crazy prices coming, and wish I had. Unrelated but I was given a Mars Attacks 1/2 by a seller on ebay for nothing. I put it up for sale. It went for £5+. Really. |
|
|
|
Post by comickings on Aug 9, 2007 18:58:55 GMT -5
Once every couple months a book is hot the day it hits. Like the previous post said...Cap 25 was smoking! Sinestro Corps #1 was hot the day it hit.
There would be alot more hot books if the internet wasn't around.It is just too easy for tons of copies to make it back onto the marketplace.I see so many books get hot for a week or two and then they're done.So many get scattered across the world in a matter of days the demand dies just as quick as it started.
Back when I first started,we were setting up at monthly shows,and taking out ads in the CBG and doing a really good back issue business in hot books. If you were a collector and you wanted a hot book...besides the shows,the CBG was the place to look for the dealers that had it.It was a weekly mag and I would be like a fiend waiting for the next issue every week,trying to scoop up on somebody that had some stuff cheap.And there were lots of guys just like me. The supply was out there,but you had to pay to advertise it or pay for a table at a show to sell it.It wasn't as easy to be a dealer as it is now when the market to sell to is a click away and open 24/7/365!
|
|
|
|
Post by G on Aug 9, 2007 19:16:38 GMT -5
These are the kind of posts that I think you have tremendous insight on Joey. So, I always appreciate what you have to say on this kind of stuff. I wish I was doing selling off of CBG back then. I didnt really buy from the other dealers in there. I was buying pre-order. I wasnt knowledgable enough to take advantage of CBG the way you did. But, I did like being an average Joe and able to preorder books easily too. I thought for awhile, I didnt do bad. I dont think I have that luxury these days. And even if I did, Im not sure I would want to do it. But, back then, it was a lot safer. You were just doing it at such a higher level than I was. And much different and better avenues. Thats why I work where I work and you have a shop. You made the moves I didnt think of. So, anything you share about the subject is insightful to hear.
|
|
|
|
Post by cfs on Aug 9, 2007 21:04:01 GMT -5
Once every couple months a book is hot the day it hits. Like the previous post said...Cap 25 was smoking! Sinestro Corps #1 was hot the day it hit. There would be alot more hot books if the internet wasn't around.It is just too easy for tons of copies to make it back onto the marketplace.I see so many books get hot for a week or two and then they're done.So many get scattered across the world in a matter of days the demand dies just as quick as it started. Back when I first started,we were setting up at monthly shows,and taking out ads in the CBG and doing a really good back issue business in hot books. If you were a collector and you wanted a hot book...besides the shows,the CBG was the place to look for the dealers that had it.It was a weekly mag and I would be like a fiend waiting for the next issue every week,trying to scoop up on somebody that had some stuff cheap.And there were lots of guys just like me. The supply was out there,but you had to pay to advertise it or pay for a table at a show to sell it.It wasn't as easy to be a dealer as it is now when the market to sell to is a click away and open 24/7/365! I think my friend Lee was buying 10 packs of pre-unity Valiant from you back then. He had s#itloads of it. I tried to get him to dump it when Shooter was fired, but he held on thinking he had the next Amazing Fantasy #15. Did you have a brother in the business? He dealt with so many distributor/dealers that I lost track. cfs |
|
|
|
Post by comickings on Aug 10, 2007 7:09:01 GMT -5
Once every couple months a book is hot the day it hits. Like the previous post said...Cap 25 was smoking! Sinestro Corps #1 was hot the day it hit. There would be alot more hot books if the internet wasn't around.It is just too easy for tons of copies to make it back onto the marketplace.I see so many books get hot for a week or two and then they're done.So many get scattered across the world in a matter of days the demand dies just as quick as it started. Back when I first started,we were setting up at monthly shows,and taking out ads in the CBG and doing a really good back issue business in hot books. If you were a collector and you wanted a hot book...besides the shows,the CBG was the place to look for the dealers that had it.It was a weekly mag and I would be like a fiend waiting for the next issue every week,trying to scoop up on somebody that had some stuff cheap.And there were lots of guys just like me. The supply was out there,but you had to pay to advertise it or pay for a table at a show to sell it.It wasn't as easy to be a dealer as it is now when the market to sell to is a click away and open 24/7/365! I think my friend Lee was buying 10 packs of pre-unity Valiant from you back then. He had s#itloads of it. I tried to get him to dump it when Shooter was fired, but he held on thinking he had the next Amazing Fantasy #15. Did you have a brother in the business? He dealt with so many distributor/dealers that I lost track. cfs I had a partner named Jim back then. I used to do shows before the shop opened,then Me and Jim went into business together and he was doing most of the shows after that and I did the mail order/shop stuff. We were dealing 10 packs,but there were a handful of other guys doing it more than we were. W |
|
|
|
Post by comickings on Aug 10, 2007 7:12:07 GMT -5
Once every couple months a book is hot the day it hits. Like the previous post said...Cap 25 was smoking! Sinestro Corps #1 was hot the day it hit. There would be alot more hot books if the internet wasn't around.It is just too easy for tons of copies to make it back onto the marketplace.I see so many books get hot for a week or two and then they're done.So many get scattered across the world in a matter of days the demand dies just as quick as it started. Back when I first started,we were setting up at monthly shows,and taking out ads in the CBG and doing a really good back issue business in hot books. If you were a collector and you wanted a hot book...besides the shows,the CBG was the place to look for the dealers that had it.It was a weekly mag and I would be like a fiend waiting for the next issue every week,trying to scoop up on somebody that had some stuff cheap.And there were lots of guys just like me. The supply was out there,but you had to pay to advertise it or pay for a table at a show to sell it.It wasn't as easy to be a dealer as it is now when the market to sell to is a click away and open 24/7/365! I think my friend Lee was buying 10 packs of pre-unity Valiant from you back then. He had s#itloads of it. I tried to get him to dump it when Shooter was fired, but he held on thinking he had the next Amazing Fantasy #15. Did you have a brother in the business? He dealt with so many distributor/dealers that I lost track. cfs I had a partner named Jim back then. I used to do shows before the shop opened,then Me and Jim went into business together and he was doing most of the shows after that and I did the mail order/shop stuff. We were dealing 10 packs,but there were a handful of other guys doing it more than we were. It was kind of a close knit circle,and it was cool to be able to call up somebody and get 50-100 copies of any hot book at the time...granted you had to pay a price...but man those days are gone! I can't find anybody with quantity of anything anymore. If they do have it,they are more than likely just piecing it out on Ebay one at a time getting top dollar for it. |
|
|
|
Post by cfs on Aug 10, 2007 11:41:41 GMT -5
I think guys like you and Kingpin helped cement the popularity of modern comics back then. Stores that sold out of hot comics could call up you or Kingpin up and restock the next week. Comics would not have increased in price so fast if that were not possible. I was able to predict the market prices by seeing stores sell out one week and knowing that to restock they have to pay your prices or whatever the best price on the market was out there. If they had to restock at your prices, then then their price would jump up 20% - 30% minimum. usually it jumped more like 50%. Some of the price increases were staggered but I was pretty accurate at guessing when when prices would double. thanks to your ads and you competitors ads, I was able to buy a bunch of Magnus #12's before it was on anyone's radar at $4 each and then hold onto them until I could get $90 trade credit on the Silver age keys I wanted. Your ads were a great favor to me when I was trying to get top dollar for my duplicates. I loved seeing your ads in the CBG every week.
cfs
|
|
|
|
Post by cfs on Aug 10, 2007 11:42:11 GMT -5
Did Jim have a brother named Steve?
cfs
|
|
|
|
Post by comickings on Aug 10, 2007 15:19:39 GMT -5
Did Jim have a brother named Steve? cfs No,thank God Jim didn't have a brother. One of him is enough for this planet! Some of the guys I used to hit up for stuff back then was...Mike Kryston in New Jersey and Alex Kam in Hawaii...(those 2 guys were the ones that really got me going!My phone bills back then were crazy!!)...there was Lane at Cosmic Dreams Unlimited,Fantasy Distribution,Greg Buls,Kim at Spider's Web,Kevin at Comic Connection,Friendly Franks,and Jef Hinds,Edge Man,and Comic Kings (out of New Jersey,that's where we stole our name from back then). That was most of the guys that I was scrambling around checking with back then. |
|
