LCS vs Online2543
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Steverogers11 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hey doc. Basically same story here but with bedrock. Resto and trimmed books | ||
| Post 26 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
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VaComicsGuy private msg quote post Address this user | |
| LCS once or twice a month for my little guy to get his books but most of my stuff comes from online. Books at my LCS are always beat up. | ||
| Post 27 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
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dpiercy private msg quote post Address this user | |
| LCS. I have a shop right next to where I work and one like 5 minutes from my house. I like to read the weekly stuff when it comes out, I get a 20% discount, too. | ||
| Post 28 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
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jdangerc private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I have two local comic shops. Both have great owners and employees that I love talking to. The only problem is that I don't collect new stuff and their back issues are usually 30%-50% higher than online. But I do support both shops by buying comic supplies and an action figure here and there. It sucks because they have overhead, but can't justify paying that much more for something I can get online much cheaper. I guess it's the nature of the beast. | ||
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 I bought a meat grinder on amazon for $60 and it's changed my life.
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kaptainmyke private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I am only signed up for Amazing Spider-man, Turtles, and BTTF. My LCS lady is too small to order any variants worthy of my purchase. I often buy what I'm looking for elsewhere online or from Jetpack comics online through pull lists at comixology. | ||
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Absolute_Zero private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I have two LCS here in town and try to buy my books from them. Granted one has more back issues than the other due to it being opened for more than 25 plus years. But something that i have missed or they could not get i go online. I will use TFAW or Midtown for some but if i find a great deal will use other sites.but most times its for a variant i really admire and appreciate. | ||
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 COLLECTOR
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BigRig private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Now I will say I dont go to my LCS to sell any books or to buy any keys. I brought them a Superman 123 about an 4.0-4.5 one day. They offered me 75$ I sold if for over $250 on ebay. I also had a copy of New mutants 98 with me offered both to another shop who acted if he was to busy in the back to even acknowledge a customer. When I did have his attention he said they were in horrible shape that noone would want them. Little to say I never went back again. It wasnt my first bad experience with them. And any back issue keys are always over priced at any LCS. I go oline for that. I have my pull list and get moderns and just supplies I may need from my LCS. | ||
| Post 32 • IP flag post | ||
 COLLECTOR
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Wolverine private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My main LCS has upped the prices on books because our Canadian dollar is such shit which does suck but I understand. They'd lose a ton of money if they didn't so I'm cool with it. And there prices are prettt good on the keys issues they have. My only beef is that they charge way way to much for older back issues. Usually 4-5 bucks which is a lot if it's just random series issues to fill a collection. There's another LCS that is just straight up an ripoff joint. Over charge on all action figures, models, key issues, back issues and slabbed books. They offer rock bottom shit money when they are buying but then turn around and ask for the moon. Case in point: FanExpo Canada 2026 last year. They had a DRK #4 for sale for 60$ unslabbed. I wasn't paying that. I asked to see it. I asked why it was so much. Their answer? "Oh it's a hard to find first printing" I said no it's not. There are a lot of them here. Unless your first printing is different from everybody else's. They didn't like that comment very much. It has a few noticable dings and marks on it. Was able to argue them down to 40$ after pointing all the things out but it was like conducting a police interview. |
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comicsforme private msg quote post Address this user | |
| LCS is not the place to sell comics. They are only there to make money. They buy low and sell high and Cons are the worst if you are there to buy variants at low price your wrong and cons dont even sell supplys. That sucks. | ||
| Post 34 • IP flag post | ||
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Oxbladder private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by BigRig Every week. I have, never really bought much online as it has never been the cheapest alternative for me ... largely due to currency conversion and shipping. Now I almost never buy online except when I cannot buy locally or it is not available locally. |
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| Post 35 • IP flag post | ||
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LemonMonster private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Where do you guys live? I'm reading how all the comics at you LCS have a lot higher prices than online. Our back issues are only 25-50 cents on top of the cover cost. Unless it's a issue that has gone up in price then it would be fair market price. | ||
| Post 36 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
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BrianGreensnips private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I agree with DocBrown. The only way your going to get a deal on back issues is if you know what you are looking at and the store does not. For example, a few weeks ago , I found a Batman#21(first Duke Thomas) from new 52 series in real high grade for cover price. | ||
| Post 37 • IP flag post | ||
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DocBrown private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by BrianGreensnips I have never, since the internet went mainstream, seen a comic store price things LOWER than they could be found online. Say, a copy of Ultimate Spiderman #1. Online in 2002, it was a $100 book in "NM." This was also its average 9.4 price. I would go to a store, and never, ever see it priced at $75. It would always be priced at $150 or more. "Overhead" was the excuse. Yes, and most of those stores are long out of business, because they failed to grasp the simple mechanics of cash flow. "But comics can't be sold too cheaply, it disrupts the market, and you have to consider replacement cost!" says Chuck Rozanski...who found the greatest comic collection of all time, and used it to finance his business ventures. Again...most stores, not so lucky. There was a store in Dublin, CA, called "Comic Ink." He opened in 1993, my last full year of living there. He had all sorts of cool stuff, including a Superman #10 which is probably worth a lot more than he was asking...but that was 24 years ago. He also had many things that I wanted, including VARIANTS! Lots of premiums, like Valiant golds, Image golds, Ultraverse holograms, the works. He wanted "full price" for them. I bought $0 worth. Fast forward to 2006-ish. He sold his store. The new owner moves around the corner. I'm browsing through stuff, and he shows me a long box...filled with those very same variants from a decade+ earlier. I bought them...maybe a long box worth...for about $1.50 each. Had the original owner not been such a miser, he could have (and WOULD HAVE) sold those all to me for $20 each...I would have gladly paid it, and been "stuck" with them all these years. But, no, he had to get full "market" price on them, and he wouldn't budge....and got visibly annoyed that I would DARE ask! He ended up selling them at a loss...after all, they had to be stored all those years, and that costs money...when he could have made hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars from me. And I'm just one guy. I outlived him...literally...and got those books for the price I wanted to pay...which, by 2006, was a hell of a lot cheaper than in 1993. Lesson? If you chase after mythical $100s, turning down lots of $10s on the way, you'll end up with dimes. |
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DocBrown private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I go to a local permanent convention called "Frank & Sons" on Wednesdays...and run into the exact same thing. A bunch of wannabes trying to sell everything they have at top dollar. There's one guy who has everything priced at the highest market. He had a bunch of 9.0-ish Hughes Wonder Womans...all marked at $40, but HALF OFF! I buy nothing from him, unless it's something he isn't aware of. Got a killer Howard the Duck #16 35 cent for $1. Glad to do it. And God forbid you offer to buy more for a discount. These guys take it personally. And this mentality seeps into eBay, too. There are a couple of guys with Batman #404 9.8 signed by Miller. You all know the story. One guy has it priced at $800, the other at $900. The last EIGHT sales are as follows: $281 $325 $460 $330 $256 $425 $271 $260 So, the last four were this last couple of weeks. Before that, the prices were $256, $425, $271, $260. So, I saw these listings...and I'm hesitant to make what would be perceived as "lowball" offers for these books...and I offer $275 plus shipping... ...which was a higher price than THREE of the previous FOUR sales...right about FMV. Both of them auto-declined. I wrote both of them. The $900 guy was like "that's the price it will take for me to sell it!" To which I say "you have a book priced at FOUR TIMES what it's currently selling for. I'm a buyer at MARKET price RIGHT NOW." Nope. Not as bad from the $800 guy, and he WAS willing to go all the way down to $475...so I wait. And lo and behold FOUR MORE COPIES show up! Oh, and guess who paid $330 and $281....? Yeah, ok, sure, I have raw 9.8, and Miller's signing, and I probably could have paid the absurd fee and risked it...but I didn't in this case. Now, I have two copies, for just a little bit more than I wanted to pay, but hundreds less than what I was "offered" by the museum guys. |
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DocBrown private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Oh, and the hilarious part is that the seller of the THREE-FOUR TIMES FMV copy, "bodmer71", is not only asking $900 for a $300 book...but he charges shipping, too. I mean, come ON. If you're going to ask 3-4 times the going rate, at LEAST throw in free shipping!  |
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| Post 40 • IP flag post | ||
 Beaten by boat oars
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Studley_Dudley private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I use Graham Crackers online store as a pull service for my new books. Outside of that, keys and supplies are acquired through the LCS. I have at least 6 in my region (all within an hour's drive) so they generally have to be competitive. I use two on a pretty frequent basis. I also don't like spending a lot online for a key that I can't physically see and hold. I'll buy graded books and cheap back issues online. I've found most of the brick and mortar stores in my area will negotiate on prices if paying in cash. | ||
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 I don't believe this....and I know you don't care that I don't believe this.
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GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by DocBrown Dude!!! I agree with EVERYTHING you've written in all your posts!! Well said and you make perfect sense!! |
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| Post 42 • IP flag post | ||
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Themaxx35 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| So, I think I am beginning to feel for everyone here who has said they don't have a good go to LCS. I had to be in San Francisco unexpectedly for work yesterday. My appointment ended early so I thought I would check out some of the LCSs in the city. The one I popped into had really friendly staff, but no back issues and tons of TPBs. It was just bizarre to me to see a shop without wall books and long boxes. From what I could tell from online reviews a lot of SF comic shops are that way, geared less to collecting and more to reading, unless I totally overlooked one. I would have thought SF was a treasure trove of unique back issues. I respect the reader first mentality, but I'm reminded how much the hunt is a part of the fun. Counting myself lucky again for the good LCSs I have here at home. |
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| Post 43 • IP flag post | ||
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VillageIdiot private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Steverogers11 Richard Evans?...no, impossible  Please, I feel for you. |
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| Post 44 • IP flag post | ||
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jrs private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @DocBrown's experience was also my experience from years ago, unfortunately -- and it's the predominant reason why I haven't returned to brick-and-mortar stores. I'm sure overhead is a significant consideration in pricing books, but the extent to which some books are overpriced is frankly ludicrous. On the same note, every decent, graded midgrade silver age book I find on eBay today is priced at $100 or more. Still, I'd be willing to bet those prices are more competitive than physical stores. Why? Minimal overhead! |
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Homer private msg quote post Address this user | |
| When one is browsing back issues at shops you have to consider that what your looking through is a bunch of comics that have not sold. The hot books and books with decent grades for the price sell right away. What's left is essentially the commons and off grade books. Unless you have first shot at newly priced collections, your probably looking at a bunch of scraps and left overs. Each shop is different and your mileage will vary. | ||
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