Should Comic Shops Be Willing To Negotiate?
I went to a few comic shops today to buy books to flip. I had pretty good success. The third and final shop I went to was a shop I've only been to once before because it's over an hour away from my house. But I follow that shop on Twitter and they've posted a bunch of books that the added to their wall in the last few weeks and I was interested in some so I decided to take the drive. I won't mention the name of the shop but it's in New Hampshire. The shop itself is nice. Good location on Main Street. I wasn't able to find parking on the street but there was a free lot about 100 yards down the street so I was fine with that. The shop is a decent size. They have a nice selection of dollar books. Not a whole lot of priced back issues but I found some decent stuff. But they have a good amount of wall books. For those of you not familiar with the term "wall books", it means books that a shop will put on the wall for customer to see, usually more expensive key issues or variants.
Sorry for the long winded intro. The point to this article is should comic shops give discounts and be willing to negotiate on their prices. So after putting a stack of dollar books and priced books together I asked one of the employees to take some books off the wall for me to look at. There were a few people working but he seemed the most knowledgeable about comics. He had no problem letting me see any book or letting me open them up to look at them. I was interested in about 10 books the ones I wanted were priced anywhere from $25-$125. I asked the employee if he would cut me a deal if I bought a few books. And right away he said no. He didn't say, " it depends on how much you spend", or "it depends on what books you want", he just said no. He tried to say he would have to ask the owner. I asked him if he was around he said no. I asked if he knew when he'd be in he said no he doesn't come in often. So I guess he had no authority to give a discount? I ended up buying 3 wall books and spending a little over $200 total at that shop. If he would have negotiated with me I would have definitley spent more than double that.
Now I know the main argument from people who say comic shops shouldn't give discounts is that you wouldn't expect to go to another store like a grocery store or clothing store and expect to haggle on the prices when you go to purchase your items, and that's true but a comic shop is different. And let me be clear I'm not saying a shop should give you a discount on new books that just came out or even regular back issues, although most shops give discounts on new books for customer that have a pull list. I'm taking mainly about wall books because the prices can vary so much from shop to shop, or if you are spending a lot of money at once. A comic shop is not like a normal store, when it comes to back issues it's basically like they're selling used items, like a thrift shop or antique store, both types of shops usually negotiate on prices.
Now could it have been that I'm not a regular so he just didn't want to give me a discount? Maybe but the staff was very friendly. And the prices on the wall books were pretty fair if you wanted to keep them for your PC, but I'm looking to flip them so I can't pay retail prices. I would think a shop would be willing to deal a little to make a sale. Now like I said earlier I spent over $200 and would have spent much more if I could have gotten a break on a few of the other books I was interested in. I consider that a decent amount of cash. I'm sure the average person that walks in doesn't spend anywhere close to that. But they weren't willing to deal.
And like I said before comic shops are not your normal retail store. You don't see customers going into a market basket or Walmart selling items to the store for them to resell but you see that at comic shops all the time a comic shop is like a retail store, pawn shop, thrift shop, antique store, and flea market all wrapped into one. I think if I can go to a comic shop to sell my comics to them and we negotiate back and forth I think I should be able to do the same with them when it comes to me buying their items.
What do you guys think? Am I way out of line here thinking I should have gotten a deal for buying hundreds of dollars worth of books? Do I sound like an entitled jerk or do you agree with me? Let me know
By the way here are the wall books I bought
Sorry for the long winded intro. The point to this article is should comic shops give discounts and be willing to negotiate on their prices. So after putting a stack of dollar books and priced books together I asked one of the employees to take some books off the wall for me to look at. There were a few people working but he seemed the most knowledgeable about comics. He had no problem letting me see any book or letting me open them up to look at them. I was interested in about 10 books the ones I wanted were priced anywhere from $25-$125. I asked the employee if he would cut me a deal if I bought a few books. And right away he said no. He didn't say, " it depends on how much you spend", or "it depends on what books you want", he just said no. He tried to say he would have to ask the owner. I asked him if he was around he said no. I asked if he knew when he'd be in he said no he doesn't come in often. So I guess he had no authority to give a discount? I ended up buying 3 wall books and spending a little over $200 total at that shop. If he would have negotiated with me I would have definitley spent more than double that.
Now I know the main argument from people who say comic shops shouldn't give discounts is that you wouldn't expect to go to another store like a grocery store or clothing store and expect to haggle on the prices when you go to purchase your items, and that's true but a comic shop is different. And let me be clear I'm not saying a shop should give you a discount on new books that just came out or even regular back issues, although most shops give discounts on new books for customer that have a pull list. I'm taking mainly about wall books because the prices can vary so much from shop to shop, or if you are spending a lot of money at once. A comic shop is not like a normal store, when it comes to back issues it's basically like they're selling used items, like a thrift shop or antique store, both types of shops usually negotiate on prices.
Now could it have been that I'm not a regular so he just didn't want to give me a discount? Maybe but the staff was very friendly. And the prices on the wall books were pretty fair if you wanted to keep them for your PC, but I'm looking to flip them so I can't pay retail prices. I would think a shop would be willing to deal a little to make a sale. Now like I said earlier I spent over $200 and would have spent much more if I could have gotten a break on a few of the other books I was interested in. I consider that a decent amount of cash. I'm sure the average person that walks in doesn't spend anywhere close to that. But they weren't willing to deal.
And like I said before comic shops are not your normal retail store. You don't see customers going into a market basket or Walmart selling items to the store for them to resell but you see that at comic shops all the time a comic shop is like a retail store, pawn shop, thrift shop, antique store, and flea market all wrapped into one. I think if I can go to a comic shop to sell my comics to them and we negotiate back and forth I think I should be able to do the same with them when it comes to me buying their items.
What do you guys think? Am I way out of line here thinking I should have gotten a deal for buying hundreds of dollars worth of books? Do I sound like an entitled jerk or do you agree with me? Let me know
By the way here are the wall books I bought
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