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Rebecca Jansen
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Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4410
Posted: 19 January 2019 at 8:41pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

I've honestly never had any such bad vibes from a comic shop, I guess I've been lucky that way, just a couple times other 'customers' who seemed to, er... live there. Once I felt like I was interrupting their floating role playing game to try and buy something and the employee was very respectful then, and another place I got heckled for the kiddie comics I was asking about (like it was any of their business) and again the employee was helpful and visibly a bit embarrassed or angry at the other 'customers'. Imagine someone asking if they carried say Gay Comics or Barbie in front of such barnacles, then again, ya gots ta be tough to get watcha want in dis world! (Popeye voice, but I do a much better Olive Oyl) So maybe like me they  wouldn't care about the opinions of dudes in psychotic leering Lobo shirts anyway.

But yeah, how about being bright, open to the general public, clean, organized, inviting even... that would be bad how?

Oh yeah, the other kind of experience I had once too... Giant-Size X-Men #1 on the wall, VG-FN, priced at $50-ish, it's the mid '80s. "Oh I might buy that, just have enough on me." Guy takes it down, then without a word removes the price tag and writes a new one that says $70. Last time I ever went in. Only time I had a chance at that comic. Shop went under not too long afterwards.
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Greg Kirkman
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Joined: 12 May 2006
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Posted: 19 January 2019 at 9:44pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

"then the clerk pulls out a copy of Overstreet to price out each and every book while you stand at the counter."

Once or twice a year, I had to go through all of our bins and price EVERYTHING.  My god, I wish we had thought of that practice. Or just put a store copy of the book out that we would use so anyone could check for themselves before they got to the counter. Really though, I get what you are saying and about wanting to know the price up front.  It is a fair request and if the act made customers happier, then I am glad we did it.  After all, I am sure nobody complained because they were there.

++++++++

I suppose it comes down to how often the books would need to be repriced. It’s surely a tedious process. After all, prices ebb and flow often due to trends and whatnot (such as a film featuring a certain character driving up demand for key back issues). 

Speaking purely as a customer, it’s just really annoying to not even know how much a book will cost until you’re at the counter, having implicitly made the decision to buy the books. Who wants to look like a cheapskate or a poor person in front of everyone by then requesting to not buy a bunch of books after learning how much they’re gonna cost? 
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Brian Hague
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Joined: 14 November 2006
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Posted: 20 January 2019 at 12:42am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

It's the store owner's responsibility to know the value of their product. If you're just looking that information up when the customer brings something to the counter, you're doing your job on their time. Plus, you're inviting haggling. Three seconds ago, this book wasn't worth the time it would have taken you to price it. Now, suddenly, it's eight bucks. Really? How about we meet in the middle and call it, I don't know, three-fifty? Oh, no, it says right there "eight?" Well, on the cover it says 60 cents. As the customer, I expected to pay the marked price. That's not how it is in this business? Funny. That's how it is everywhere else. So, three-fifty or is this good-bye for the two of us? 

Or, y'know, you could have just... priced... the... book when you put it out. Just a thought.

Ah, but prices change. Things fluctuate. So, keep up with it. Come in a little early one day and mark up the rising books and mark down the... oh, who am I kidding? The prices never go down, right?

I have no interest whatsoever it the trials and travails of my local comic book store owner's difficult life. Either there's a price on the book and it's good, or it's no sale. Which many a store owner has told me is fine with them. They're not going to lose money on this... book... they... had... no interest in pricing... until it appeared under their nose. Huh. Yeah. Super valuable commodity, that. 

I watched an otherwise pleasant transaction melt down because a used book dealer decided the woodworking magazines my friend was buying were worth more than the price written on them. Just so we're clear... She'd gotten them in, priced them at some point, put them out, and would not sell them at the price she'd marked. 

This is the downside to pricing things in advance; the idea that things could shift in value over time. This is where the bozo with the Overstreet will tell you he's the smartest man still standing. He's not going to lose money on that sale. He'll just kiss that customer goodbye (forever) and make it all back when he sells the books to the wealthier guy in line behind him. Provided those are the books that guy wants. If he wants something that was the price it was when you put it out and now is more, well, you're now losing two customers in one day. 

Might be more prudent to just... y'know, sell the books at the marked price and call it good; learn the lesson and scout your store for the valuable stuff before the customer finds it, & mark it up then. All of this cloak and dagger stuff at the time of purchase is perhaps fun for the hardcore garage sale hagglers, but the rest of us...? We were just trying to buy a book. It's okay. We didn't really need it. You hang on to that. It's your ticket to easy street, after all.

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