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Big Bad Voodoo Lou
Jan 1, 2006
If your item is worth under $10, there's no point to using Amazon Marketplace at all. I've sold a few TPBs, hardcovers, and even prestige format books that were out of print and selling for surprisingly higher prices in the Marketplace. Then I just list my copy, undercut the lowest-priced one already there, and it usually sells.

But for used DVDs, CDs, and most books, it's worthless due to the fees. I have tons of new, sealed stand-up comedy CDs that the very few places in town that offer store credit for trade-ins don't want, and I'd just lose money for extra hassle trying to list them on Amazon Marketplace. And if something is heavy and it costs more than the allotted $3.99 to ship, you're out even more money.

But shipping costs are higher everywhere. I FINALLY sold my MP-01 Masterpiece Optimus Prime (the Hasbro 20th Anniversary version) to someone on another message board, and shipping was $15, which ate into my profit, which was already less than I hoped for.

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Gaz-L
Jan 28, 2009

Rhyno posted:

You jerk!



So let's talk about the Amazon Marketplace for a moment. My store has been using it as a way to move dormant inventory for several years. About three years ago we discovered Fulfillment By Amazon, where you prep and pack your items in bulk, ship them to an Amazon warehouse and they sell and ship it for you. There's higher fees but the man hours it has saved us are countless. I no longer have to spend multiple hours packing items a week and then making PO drops and since FBA uses UPS we don't have to do anything other than tape the boxes shut and poo poo that poo poo out. We make several thousand dollars a month on Amazon this way and it allows up to keep our shelves clear of clutter and constantly move new merchandise into the store.

FBA is also probably more appealing to the buyer as well, because I believe items that are handled through that process are eligible for Prime shipping because they're in an Amazon warehouse, so given the choice between buying the thing and paying however much to get it in like 2 weeks if you're lucky, you can just get it a day or two from now and pay nothing more than what you already paid for Prime.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
Oh absolutely. Prime makes selling even easier. The fees are slightly higher but again, the man hours saved make it worth it.

Ferrule
Feb 23, 2007

Yo!
You fellas just gonna talk or are you gonna post links to these marketplaces?

Anil Dikshit
Apr 11, 2007

Ferrule posted:

You fellas just gonna talk or are you gonna post links to these marketplaces?

Go to amazon.com and click "sell your stuff on Amazon"

Medullah
Aug 14, 2003

FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

kizudarake posted:

Go to amazon.com and click "sell your stuff on Amazon"

Just be aware (as we were discussing) the shipping credit is small (I got $6.99 for expedited shipping of a 7 pound joystick) and the fees are like 20%. So price accordingly knowing what you ACTUALLY want to make.

Anil Dikshit
Apr 11, 2007

Medullah posted:

Just be aware (as we were discussing) the shipping credit is small (I got $6.99 for expedited shipping of a 7 pound joystick) and the fees are like 20%. So price accordingly knowing what you ACTUALLY want to make.

Also put tracking on literally everything you send out. If you don't, some shithead buyer will definitely eventually say they didn't get their item.

Ferrule
Feb 23, 2007

Yo!

kizudarake posted:

Go to amazon.com and click "sell your stuff on Amazon"

I want to buy stuff, dingus. From dudes like Rhyno.

FAT BATMAN
Dec 12, 2009

I just wanna say, as someone who doesn't get a chance to stop by a comic shop often, I really appreciate extensive back issues. A month ago I was able to get a copy of the ULTRA COMICS #1 issue of Multiversity, and it was cool holding a cursed comic book I could show to my friends. It felt like a piece of history...

Something I would like to maybe see is a small section dedicated to one-shot comics, #1 issues, or "Start from here!" type stuff, for when I drag my friends to a comic store and want to introduce them to something.

twistedmentat
Nov 21, 2003

Its my party
and I'll die if
I want to
So how is Civil War 2 selling at other peoples stores? Mine, its like crap. They've gotten 20 copies of 0 and 1 and barely sold half of them. I told the manager today that if it wasn't Tony vs Carol I'd not be buying it.
Rebirth on the other hand has sold out on every issue, except for the variant of the first comic, but thats because it was 10bux vs 2.99. I've got the 1 of Green Lanterns and Batman in my box, and I'll be grabbing Detective and probably Wonder Woman once they are released.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
CW is selling very well for us, we've moved 40+ copies of #1. Every Rebirth book has sold out so far, did you say your shop is charging $10 for the variants? gently caress those guys, it was a 50/50 variant.

twistedmentat
Nov 21, 2003

Its my party
and I'll die if
I want to
Only the Rebirth 0 variant was 10bux, the rest are cover price.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!

twistedmentat posted:

Only the Rebirth 0 variant was 10bux, the rest are cover price.

The Midnight variants were loving free. Those guys are asshats!

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
So the deodorizing of the Preacher comics was a failure. I kept the first three in airtight bins with a dozen dryer sheets in each one and I can still smell the smokey odor. currently exploring other options.

On the plus side, upon examining the entire run more closely, it looks like he learned what scotch tape was with issue #17 because those are all tightly sealed and have no smoke smells other then the bags.

If all efforts fail I do have a guy interested who has agreed to take them off our hands for the cost we purchased them so it won't be a loss.

trashbuilder
Dec 26, 2013

Look at all the poor opinions I have
I heard, have never tried it tho, that if you run a hair dryer on hot over each page of the book it should remove the smell. It will wrinkle the pages but they will return to normal eventually

Rotten Cookies
Nov 11, 2008

gosh! i like both the islanders and the rangers!!! :^)

Would an ozone generator work to take the stink out of them? Worked out great for my car where the PO smoked like crazy.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!

Rotten Cookies posted:

Would an ozone generator work to take the stink out of them? Worked out great for my car where the PO smoked like crazy.

I plan to try that as well, I hit up my buddy to borrow his machine. I'm not going to put a ton more effort into this though.

Endless Mike
Aug 13, 2003



Rhyno posted:

I plan to try that as well, I hit up my buddy to borrow his machine. I'm not going to put a ton more effort into this though.

You may want to find a way to shim the pages open, if possible, since they probably absorbed a lot of the smell.

Speaking of smoking, I was hanging out at a neighborhood bar yesterday and there was a guy there who has a reputation for reeking of cigarettes at all time and having a BAC of 0.15 minimum at all times. Anyway, he was sitting two seats away from me and I think I was actually having an allergic reaction to him - I was getting stuffy, sneezing a bunch, and my eyes were burning. It was distressing.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
I have dryer sheets in between pages now. Giving it a final effort before I dump them for cost.

In awesomer news, Brian Posehn is doing a signing at my store this Thursday at 5 and I am loving PUMPED.

Endless Mike
Aug 13, 2003



Get him to sign your moobs.

Squizzle
Apr 24, 2008




Beg him to read and sign your Just Shoot Me! doujinshi.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
Well Posehn's PR people suck at their jobs and didn't book him an early enough flight so he missed the event today.

AND one of my longtime customers died of cancer so this day is terrible.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
I need some ideas. Comic book dividers suck. They're thin and flimsy and the tab breaks off easily, especially when used to organize back issues that are frequently sifted through. I'm looking for an alternative. I was thinking maybe some sort of acrylic, or maybe some cheap plywood. I just need something that will actually hold up over time.

Lightning Lord
Feb 21, 2013

$200 a day, plus expenses

Rhyno since your store does gaming, did you do Free RPG Day?

Squizzle
Apr 24, 2008




Rhyno posted:

I need some ideas. Comic book dividers suck. They're thin and flimsy and the tab breaks off easily, especially when used to organize back issues that are frequently sifted through. I'm looking for an alternative. I was thinking maybe some sort of acrylic, or maybe some cheap plywood. I just need something that will actually hold up over time.

Search wire shelf divider on Amazon, and see if any of those look needs-suiting.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!

Lightning Lord posted:

Rhyno since your store does gaming, did you do Free RPG Day?

We signed up but there were some issues on the supplier end.

Squizzle posted:

Search wire shelf divider on Amazon, and see if any of those look needs-suiting.

I'll give it a look, thanks!

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
A gentleman just brought in some comics to sell and after some scrutiny I discovered some liquid damage. I continued to examine the books when the odor reached my nose ad I realized that the liquid was URINE.

That's a new one for me. If you need me I will be furiously washing my hands.

Aphrodite
Jun 27, 2006

Don't worry, it's probably not human.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!

Aphrodite posted:

Don't worry, it's probably not human.

Never underestimate what people are capable of.

Medullah
Aug 14, 2003

FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

Rhyno posted:

Never underestimate what people are capable of.

Oh look at Mr. Fancy Pants here who probably has a "reading nook" where he reads his comics instead of reading them on the pooper like everyone else.

...I'm only half kidding there. Actually surprised that you don't see this more, especially with pre-smartphone day books.

Starsnostars
Jan 17, 2009

The Master of Magnetism
A friend of mine used to keep a pile of Gambit comics next to a toilet as reading material. I could very easily believe the comics that guy tried to sell you were covered in human urine.

Lightning Lord
Feb 21, 2013

$200 a day, plus expenses

I read on the can all the time but somehow, through sheer skill I guess, I manage not to piss all over my books. Hopefully it was just some joker trying to unload garbage his cat peed on.

Rhyno posted:

We signed up but there were some issues on the supplier end.

I've heard they don't quite have their poo poo together as much as FCBD, which makes sense seeing as how they're both newer and don't have as much money behind them. The store I went to was doing it and had a blanket 15% off RPG materials, and from what I could tell they were selling bucketfuls of dice, and the FFG Star Wars RPGs were flying off the shelves.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
Rebirth is such a hit at our store that I spent several hours today modifying our display racks in an attempt to fit more books without sacrificing the full view of each cover. And then I ran out of raw materials to continue the expansion. Curse you DC for making books people actually want to buy!

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
I've been doing this for a while and I have seen some weird poo poo. This was a new one for me.

I bought this small collection of books and the box was heavy as hell. I did the full tear down so I could properly bag and board all these books and discovered why the box was so heavy. This is what they used for backboards.




They appear to be some sort of laminate counter samples. I don't know if they cut them down to comic book size or if they just happened to fit into silver age bags. Maybe they just had the material laying around and backers were in short supply? Whatever the story, it's weird as hell.

Starsnostars
Jan 17, 2009

The Master of Magnetism
Rhyno, how would your store have coped if it faced the up to 25% price increase that UK comic book stores have had to deal with?

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!

Starsnostars posted:

Rhyno, how would your store have coped if it faced the up to 25% price increase that UK comic book stores have had to deal with?

We'd be pissed but we'd figure it out. Stricter ordering, more reliance on non comic products. Two years ago out DC sales were plummeting so we were looking for options to replace the DC revenue. We decided to go forward with much of that in the last year which has ead to a massive boom in sales.

Nystral
Feb 6, 2002

Every man likes a pretty girl with him at a skeleton dance.

Rhyno posted:

Rebirth is such a hit at our store that I spent several hours today modifying our display racks in an attempt to fit more books without sacrificing the full view of each cover. And then I ran out of raw materials to continue the expansion. Curse you DC for making books people actually want to buy!

How does this compare to the N52 boom? How long did that last? I know I personally went all in on N52 but have been very reserved with Rebirth titles

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!

Nystral posted:

How does this compare to the N52 boom? How long did that last? I know I personally went all in on N52 but have been very reserved with Rebirth titles

The N52 boom got a flat tire for us very quickly. By the 6th issues we were back to the same sales levels were were before N52 aside from JL and Batman. Rebirth is stil selling out. poo poo we've sold like 40 copies of each copy of Red Hood #1 so far.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!
It's my day off but I just got a call that a customer came in and bought one of every DC Rebirth book we had in stock, including every print and every variant cover. This is probably the 10th time this has happened. DCR is selling so well we can't find the floor, we have to keep ordering crazy numbers just to be safe. Thank god for the returnability!

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Teenage Fansub
Jan 28, 2006

How many Suicide Squads and Harleys are you selling this weekend?

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