Convention Tips for Dealers: How to Sell More Comics

So I took a drive over to FALLCON on Saturday.  As Minnesota's (and the upper midwest's) biggest comic book convention of the year, it's always worth checking out.  Obviously, it's nowhere near as big or well organized as the major national conventions, but sometimes that's a good thing.

None of the panels really interested me, so I spent most of my hour and a half at FallCon tracking down and buying back issues (before the heat and B.O. got the best of me).  While searching for the issues I needed (at the best prices), I was astounded at how miserable the shopping experience was at so many dealer tables.  So much so, that I thought I'd put together a little list of tips on how comic book dealers can increase their convention sales.

1.  Try to leave more than one millimeter of space between the comics in your long boxes.  Wedging in more comics than the box can hold may save you space, but the comics are nearly impossible to look at without (possibly) damaging the books and exhausting my patience.  Ideally, your customers should be able to see the issue numbers, the title logos, and a bit of the cover art to allow for quick scanning.  Why the cover art and not simply the issue number?  You'd be surprised how many comics I buy on the strength of an attractive cover.  If I have no hope of seeing the cover art, I won't bother looking through your over-packed boxes.

 

2.  Most dealers are pretty good about putting their stock in order alphabetically and by publisher, but a depressing number of them still show up with a mishmash of books in no particular order, leaving it up to the hapless customer to sort through the entire mess to luck onto something they might be looking for.  If you can't take the time to organize your stock, I won't take the time to look at it.

 

3.  If you're going to display your stock two or more tables deep from the main aisle (creating sort of a "mini-store" experience), please... PLEASE make the aisles large enough to fit the Big Boys.  Some of the Con attendees are tipping the scale at three to four hundred pounds, and they're not going to maneuver well in your little lab rat labyrinth, thereby blocking the rest of us from escaping your booth.

 

4.  Can you guys who bring the shabby, disheveled comics separated with bent cardboard or particle board dividers just not bother showing up? Same for the guys who display the comics in dilapidated long boxes that look like they were exhumed from the Tomb of Horror.  Do you really think I'm going to look through those piles of garbage?  There's a place for you guys at it's called "eBay". 

What drives me so crazy about the skeezy collections is that convention booths probably aren't cheap. More reasonable than the San Diego Comic Con, I'm sure, but probably not a pittance either.  You'd think after paying the fee to display comics, a dealer would have the basic marketing sense (and common sense) to make his stock as appealing and easy to look through as possible.  Years ago, sure....they could get away with a sloppy presentation, but now?  Come on guys...you've gotta up your game if you want anyone to look at your stuff, much less buy it.

5.  I really like the guys who show up with competitive pricing.  The "50% Off" tables are the only ones I bother visiting, since the prices make it worth my time to patiently review the stock.  I understand that some 50% Off dealers may play games with their sticker prices (in fact, I can spot those guys immediately), but most of them are straight-shooters and I appreciate their willingness to price their comics to move.  I say all that to transition to a type of dealer I don't much appreciate or understand.  These are the dealers who show up at conventions with all of their books priced at absolute top dollar...at, or most likely, far beyond the Overstreet Price Guide.  I realize a handful of Mr. Moneybag collectors pick up high grade comics with no concern for the cover price, but I venture the vast majority of attendees won't be paying $85 for a mid-1970's issue of Daredevil...especially when I can get the same issue at the same condition for $5 two tables over.  The price gougers are usually the same guys I overhear moaning and groaning about how slow the sales are that day.  Gee, pal...I wonder why?  I mean, wow...who wouldn't want to pay 130% of guide for a comic book?

6.  There's gotta be a better way to sell reduced price stock (a.k.a. "the Quarter Bins") than throwing it all under your table on the floor. It's a spectacle that's hard to describe, as bargain-starved fanboys on hands and knees dig through them like squealing pigs at a trough, completely oblivious to who sees their canyon-like butt cracks.  My fellow Fanboys...have you no dignity?  Is it really worth all that to get a full run of Team America or Atari Force?

So, to all of those FallCon dealers lugging boxes of unsold comics back to whatever hole they came from, try to keep some of my pointers in mind if you come back again next year.  Put a little time and thought into improving the presentation of your stock.  That way, maybe I'll give you some of my time...and, most important to you...my money.

Comments

[Siskoid]

I've never been to a convention, but these are good tips for honest-to-God STORES!

[Mark Engblom]

Good point, Siskoid. I hadn't considered that, but having been in more than a few lousy comic book stores, all the tips seem to apply equally to them.

[katie cook]

wait a minute... did you come say hi to me?
i was totally there!

[Mark Weinstein]

I agree with all your tips and I'd like to add my own 2cents to tip #4: if a comic has been around since the 80's in the same plastic bag which is now sticky and yellowed with age, put it in a new bag!

[Mark Engblom]

Katie-

Sorry, I wasn't able to find you...along with a handful of other folks I wanted to say "hi" to (sorry Tom and Doug!). Truthfully, I was so irritated with the comics shopping experience, and it was so blinkin' hot, I left in a hurry.

[Mark Engblom]

Mark- Absolutely! Quite a number of these guys had some pretty old comic bags on their stock. Sure, it's a drag to change them...but it's even more of a drag having to look through them.

I don't think I'm asking for a "gold platter" experience...just some common courtesy when it comes to marketing something they want me to buy. Am I asking too much, or is this something more than a few comic collectors are tired of?

[Lisa from Neptune]

LOVE the butt crack picture!! And jamming so many comics into a box that one can't really flip through it at all to see what's in there - that happens a lot and it is always equally irritating.

[Mark Engblom]

Thanks, Lisa. Glad you liked it.

Yeah, it's definitely irritating to pick through those tight-packed boxes. Making the comics all but impossible to look at clearly is almost like a car dealer covering up his cars with a tarp. It sure doesn't make sense to me.

[James Meeley]

Love the piece, Mark. Especially with point #5. I mean, what is with those guys? Did no one ever tell the story of why you don't see any comic shop owners in the Fortune 500? Did they miss the memo that says almost all comic retailers are in this for something other than getting rich (and that if that's your reason, you need to get out NOW)?

I understand you might have some high grade stock, but unless you are going to one of the huge national Cons, bringing that stock to a smaller show will only get you glassy-eyed looks by evnious readers, before the utter shock of the "sticker price" hits them. High dollar stuff belongs on eBay and other online venues of that nature, or kept in a nice spot in the shop. It doesn't belong at a show, where you know people are looking for BARGINS! Sheesh!

[Mark Engblom]

YEAH!....er, uh...yeah! Glad you liked the piece, James!

Regarding the high price guys, like I alluded to in the piece, there must be someone who buys enough of the overpriced comics to justify them showing up....but it seems like a lot of trouble to go through for something he could just as easily do online.

However, something I have noticed about the smaller local Con is that very few dealers still do the "huge wall of Golden Age Comics" display...since most of them are far, far beyond the scope of the typical convention attendee. They must be exchanged primarily at the dealer and investor level at this point.

The good news is is that there are still plenty of dealers who show up with competitive and reasonable prices. If dealers want to adhere to the Overpriced, uh, I mean Overstreet Price Guide, I'm not interested. It's this sort of "Wild West Free Market" that I find the most refreshing about convention sales.

The butt cracks? Not so much.

[D Wright]

LOLs, I've only been to a few conventions, the 25th San Diego Con back in 1994, which was fun, and few of the old Dallas Cons, which sadly went defunct. I'd add one more rule, which I find bewildering & annoying.

I'd notice that while I'm looking at a long table filled with long boxes someone would come up either behind me or beside me, and then have the brass to start actually going thru the same long box I'm looking at... sometimes even shuffling thru the area my hands are shuffling thru... Does the words patience or etiquette not fit in with going to a convention? I guess it's some sort of fanboy mania...

Oh and as far as price gouging, I guess the buyer beware, but after all it's called a Con... ;)

Oh and the deodorant comment: priceless ;)

[Mark Engblom]

"...and then have the brass to start actually going thru the same long box I'm looking at."

It's astonishing, isn't it? Now, part of this might be due to some folks being mentally or developmentally disabled (a small but noticeable percentage of con attendees), but I think most of it is due to so many of our fellow fanboys (and girls) just being a little behind the curve when it comes to socializing in public. At the risk of evoking the standard fanboy stereotypes, I have to say there is definitely some truth to those stereotypes, at least in respect to their ham-fisted social interaction skills.

"Oh and as far as price gouging, I guess the buyer beware, but after all it's called a Con... ;)"

Heh. That's right. I sometimes feel like just looking at the dealers, smiling, and saying "Oh, come on. Really? REALLY?" Some of the price inflation is truly shameful.

[D Chambers]

I just discovered this blog today, so this comment is coming a long time after the post, but what the hey...

I'm going to a con next Friday and fully expect to encounter everything you've mentioned here. You have really hit the nail on the head with this list. But I think of everything on the list, #2 & #3 are the WORST. There are always a few dealers who just throw everything they have in boxes, with no regard to order whatsoever. I only go to this particular con for one day, so I have a very finite amount of time in which to check out all the dealers to find the stuff I'm looking for. Looking through boxes at these "out-of-order" dealers' booths takes up way too much time and it is almost never worth it. I often think about asking these dealers what they will pay me to put their books in order for them. I'm sure the answer is "nothing" because if they cared, they would have done it themselves already.

#3...ugh. I've been EXACTLY where the smaller guy in your artwork has been I don't know how many times. But many times it's been sort of a combo of #3 and #6. There are often large guys digging through boxes on the floor that just SIT DOWN in the aisle and start thumbing through boxes, totally blocking the way out of the dealer's area. And they have absolutely no intention of moving until they are through. I have had to literally step over people who were sitting in the floor blocking the exit aisle. I suppose they thought it was rude when my leg suddenly swung in front of them, but I thought it was pretty rude of them to sit there and not move when I said "excuse me" too.

Ahhh, this is what I have to look forward to Friday. But I can deal with it to fill in some holes in my collection, and it is fun nevertheless.

[Mark Engblom]

You're right...despite all the irritating stuff, the hobby itself is still lots of fun. Hunting down comics to fill holes in my collection is a blast, regardless of all the smelly, badly-organized, or unprofessional distractions at comic conventions.