This LCS Lost My Business For Life | What Not To Do If You Own A Comic Shop
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- Опубліковано 4 лют 2025
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PLEASE NOTE: In the video I said I had my APP OUT looking through the bins.. The app I was talking about was my CLZ app. I use it to see which books I'm MISSING in my runs. Seems that some folks heard that and thought it was a different app (which still shouldn't matter), and decided to get in their feelings and distort my intent and message.
@@Cruzzer2 No I didn't, and that was on purpose. Do you live in the northern California/Sacramento area?
I love the CLZ app. Both of the LCS’s know I use it to complete my Spider-Man runs and have never said anything about it
Love this video dude, & great shot-out to Comics and Collectibles. Gene definitely knows how to take care of he's peps.
I take screenshots of what I’m looking for before I go to my LCS. What’s the real difference between that and a notepad?
Love CLZ, still scanning the collection into the app and re-reading old ones while scanning.
Went dollar bin digging at my LCS a while back and found a Batwing #19. At the register, the owner stopped in his tracks, looked at me and said, "Whoa! I didn't realize this was in there. Great find!", and proceeded to charge me $1. Honoring the price earned a loyal customer for life!
Mine did that as well. I found a 1st appearance of Silk in the bin and he sold it to me at cover price. They put price stickers on anything not being sold at cover.
Great story! Lots of books jumped during the Covid pandemic. Most shop owners (grateful to be fully opened again) have a lot of catching up to do on the inventory spikes that have occurred over this past year.
Glad to hear that this shop-owner was willing to take a short-term loss in order to secure a long-term customer.
Without us, comics would be just, well, comics...
I love this story. That is how I would run a store. I would show my customers respect.
This is how it should be. Sure he could charge you a little more, but is that going to get you to open up a pull box and be a regular customer? Repeat business and positive word of mouth are important as hell.
LCS near me, I had a few books dug out (prices on the bags), nothing crazy but a few price variants, and the owner thumbed through what I had to make sure there wasn't anything marked incorrectly. Whilst he didn't change any prices, it wasn't a good look and has certainly made me hesitate buying there more than I did.
@@fanglord13 The internet has made collecting a buy/sell hobby with a very short fuse. If I catch wind of a recently ret-conned character from an older book (Ex: Enigma's intro in Marvel Spotlight #9,) I'm only accessing the same data the shop-owner has access to. If my hobby makes me more informed than your business, I serve to reap the benefit from my time invested. Otherwise, you may as well put out a sign that reads:
"All books priced at point of purchase."
And at that point, "collecting" loses half of the allure.
Comic collecting is:
50% hunting
+
50% satisfaction
(Peppered with sudden incremental moments of oppressing wallet-downsizing...)
Wow!!! One of the LCS’s I frequent does dollar bins, quarter bins, etc... on occasion. He purposely puts minor key books in there for people to find. He said the social media posts and word of mouth from happy customers helps bring more people in the door.
thats good business!
My lcs is like this too, she does the same thing, I’ve pulled a Nyx 3 for 50¢ and Thanos 13-18 for a buck a piece, both times I had to level with her and explain what they were and both times she told me she knew exactly what they were and happy that I was the one who found them...and that’s why even though I moved away years ago I still order my pull from there every week. That’s a good shop and the value of a relationship with your LCS owner, likewise I have a shop near me now where I bought a hundred books a few week ago for a quarter a piece that I priced out at over $700, they knew what I have and were just happy I was moving their books. Sucks this happened to Chris, there’s always gonna be some folks like this out there unfortunately
This guy is awesome and knows how to run a business!
It's a brilliant idea. I'm pretty sure my shop does this as well. They have a basement warehouse full of treasure. The minor keys are usually part of larger collections so the cost to let them go on the cheap is no big deal in the grand scheme of things
That's a cool store right there
I traveled to Virginia recently ( I live in Jersey) and this guy selling me his collection - his wife made me come up on the price at the LAST MINUTE and I had to walk away with nothing. changing the price is my absolute biggest pet peeve of ALL TIME
Ouch. No good!
Bait and switch.
I went from your video to this haha
Same situations but come in reverse, when selling a book or two.
Sadly, the message conveyed to you is, as a customer, you’re worth less than $4.50
Very true. Appreciate you watching and sharing your thoughts.
Exactly!!! I would of never pulled that at my shop. Makes no sense as a shop owner in my opinion. I actually will throw In a book or 2 if they have a stack of back issues.
With or without tax> ;p
@@Mikah234 Treating your customers well is just smart. It's amazing there are any business owners who don't seem to understand that.
@@PunguinYoga
I second that.
Working at a comic shop, I've definitely had people bring books up that should have been repriced. Especially this past year with so many books jumping over night. But never did we tell them that we were changing the price on them. Instead it was a learning moment for all of us at the shop for how we need to be up on all the latest news. And having an organized shop helps us as much as it does the customers!
Best answer to these scenarios!
This happened to me a year ago I grabbed a Micronauts 8 from the $4 bin they use color stickers to determine prices. I took my stack up and he pulled it aside, this was a year ago and prices hadn’t climbed much but it was hot due to speculation then. I asked why he set it aside and he said he didn’t know it was in there and it was a $10 book after I spent all the time digging through his boxes when customers were not going in stores then due to shut downs and I walked out bought nothing with him losing a considerable sale during that time of quarantine they have since closed so karma bit em.
Ouch.
I don’t get the issue here?
@@Arufonsa1 Prices as marked! I would have left too.
@@dbzmagus This is the problem with mom and pop shops though. It's not like with the larger retail stores where everything has a barcode and comes up when you scan it. They have to label everything physically. It's not a matter of just changing the number in the computer. If somebody wants they can just take a sticker off of one product and put it on another. Now obviously that isn't what happened here but the shop worker doesn't know that and if the product comes up as $10 then that's what it cost. Or else you open yourself up to being cheated and having worked in that environment selling games people try and pull that stunt all the time. Sure Chrono Trigger is $20 how could I not have known lol. Regardless of how it got to be put in that bin it's perfectly reasonable to charge what your inventory has it as. And if the dude was buying as many comics as he said I'm sure the guy would have worked with him.
@@Arufonsa1 If Chrono Trigger is marked as $20, then legally the price is $20. The store owners incompetence at marking accurate prices is their problem, not the customer's. As for switching labels, that's called shoplifting and is also illegal
I usually don't pick all my books up at one time, and keep some in my store box. Well, about a month ago, I go in and the manager apologizes to me that the books got "damaged". In my opinion, they looked just fine. But he insisted on giving the books to me at no charge. THAT is how you treat customers!
Amazing!!
So smart. It just makes sense to treat your customers well.
The most profound attitude is also the simplest and most logical: just treat people the way you want to be treated. The other statement is: my word is my bond. If you screw up, own it. Don't avoid the painful lessons. You may lose a few shekels now. But the lesson you learn from the mistake is priceless.
100% sir. I spent almost an hr going through one stores bins I will openly call out that store (I Want More Comics, Denver) I found a book that was stickered priced at $10....I bring it up to the front and the owner decides he needs to check it up on his cell phone on EBay, and then says, “oh this book is $60” I’m like “sure man, whatever keep it”. I basically did his work for him. This happened once before and I thought it was a one time thing, and realized this is his practice now. Rather than honor the sale and keep a customer he’d rather keep the book and lose revenue to his store forever. Fine by me.
Dude, that was a dick move on his part. Years ago, I was in a record shop with my mom, and she grabbed an obscure record that was marked $5. The clerk looked at it, and said it should have been marked higher, but he gave it to her for the price marked. That's how you do business. Just because you messed up doesn't mean you get to screw over the customer. I'm with you, Chris. No way would I ever go back there.
Agreed and I'm glad she got the record as marked!
My son and I had a similar experience with a LCS yesterday. We had bought comics there for the first time ever, just a few days earlier. This shop was a disorganized mess with old short boxes stuffed with comics of all ages just piled in middle of the store. There were literally piles of loose comics laying everywhere. The boxes were a mess. There were no signs or indications of the prices. My son and I took a stack each up to register and the kid said that “most of the comics were $1... maybe $2 for certain comics”. I bought 25 and was charged a dollar a piece. My son was also charged a dollar apiece for his stack. Two days later, a Dr’s appt had us in the vicinity so we went back again to look through more boxes and piles. When checking out, the same kid was working the register and he again charged my son a dollar a comic for his stack. The owner came out as he was finishing and said to the employee” whoa... what are you doing?”. This is while I’m now standing there with my stack. The owner starts looking through my stack and tells the kid that certain recent issues should be cover price and that certain older comics are worth way more than a buck. Again, the only previous time we had bought from that store, the employee had told us that everything was basically $1 out of the disorganized mess of comics. I wasn’t about to stand there for an hour while the owner researched the “real” value for each of the comics in my stack, so li left without buying any of them. We did a FB review stating the experience we had at the shop. The owner replied that we had somehow took advantage of his naive employee and that we somehow had swindled the shop. He claimed his business has been so extraordinary that they just don’t have time to organize and straighten the comic boxes. (We were the only customers in the store during our hour yesterday). Needless to say, that shop will never see our business again.
Perhaps the shop owner needs to hire knowledgeable comic book readers who may know more or less what comics are worth and what comics aren't for a dollar and besides it's the shop owner's fault for not training that employee well to show him the values of the comics and above all else to hire more people to be more organized in the comic shop simple as that wow.
Facts, if a LCS owner does me dirty I'm out. Ill find another LSC shop that doesn't screw patrons over.
Indeed!
Definitely in a online world. But yeah if your a collector that might be harder than just dropping real life shops.
What a terrible business model , getting your own customers to pick out the “hot” books for you , outrageous , you are totally in the right Chris 😤
Yo for real Chris shouldve grabbed an hours pay!
lol yeah.
That's what I figured out, too. I spent all this time looking for cool or hot books in an unmarked box just to make me wait as they are priced. Forget it if you haggle with them. They act like I am the devil.
I went into Rick's in Nashville, TN and loaded up on $1 books, but threw in a couple books at cover price in my pile. I was honest when the bill was too low about some of my books being cover price and he waived it off... I was so grateful I turned right around and bought the rest of the books I was eyeing and passed, at cover price.
Rick’s in Nashville is the best, fav shop in Nashville by far
@@infiniteclicks415 I prefer to hunt at the two great escape locations, but if I want anything more than a dollar book then Rick is my guy. Glad I live close enough to take several trips to Nashville a year if I wish.
I love Rick's and hit that shop up whenever I find myself in the Nashville area.
Awesome story!
You should try the Rick's in Clarksville tn. Only 55 miles away. Clean and well kept. Great selection. I've not been to Rick's on Fort Campbell ky
Go
I think you made a mistake. You should've walked out without buying a single book. He probably has no idea that he lost you as a customer. He sold you the other books and got to keep the one he wanted to sell at a higher price.
lol I hear you. But what matters is that I won't be back.
Agreed. They didn't deserve to make any kind of sale with you with that kind of business ethic.
Years ago I went to an LCS in a city I was visiting and picked out a few books from some completely disorganized stacks - not bins, stacks - and brought em up to the counter. The owner goes "hmmm, nah, I can't sell you any of these today. I'd have to price them first and the eBay guy isn't here today." He offered to take my name and number and call me with a quote. I already knew I wasn't going to buy anything from him, but I gave it to him anyway just to see what he'd do. Never heard from him. Fast forward: I now live in that city and I have not and will not set foot in his store. I recently found myself in their neighborhood on a day when they were closed. I peeked in the window just to see... still has random stacks everywhere.
The moment he said that, I'd have been like naw, I don't want any of it bye. And I'd have walked out with nothing but burning, righteous anger.
There was a shop here in Honolulu that would price the back issues when you came to the counter by looking up recent sales on eBay. I put half the books back and never went there again. Space is now for lease. :)
Yep. I've talked about that horrible business model as well.
I can understand doing that at a convention. But not a shop.
There's an LCS I don't do business with anymore. I've chosen not to be vocal about it because the manager is a respected member of this UA-cam comic community and I don't want beef. But yea, don't shop at his store.
Ughh. I totally understand your position. Maybe that respect is wrongfully earned though.
@@JernosComicsPopCulture I don't want to give anything away, but a channel I love and respect interviewed that manager and it was hard sitting through it. I put the community first and still had a good time supporting that channel that night....
I seriously don't want beef, I've moved on to a new LCS. If I'm being 100% transparent they're the only $1 bin game in my area so I still hunt there. I'm just done with over priced back issues and how they handle pull lists and NCBD books....
This could all be a big misunderstanding and maybe if I had a mature conversation with this person I could understand their point of view, but I'm at a great LCS that truly feels like home and I look at my LCS like you look at A-1 Chris haha. So I feel it's best just to not worry about that person and that store and just do me.
There is a shop that I go into all the time that constantly does that when I find a book of interest. Also, they won't allow me to purchase two covers of anything while I have noticed others getting as many covers as they want. Now when I go into the shop, I only purchase one book and you can tell it really ticks them off. So, I keep doing it. Sometimes I go in and ask for a book I know they don't have just to highlight more of my money their not getting. I'm petty like that.🤣
Good stuff Fam.
💥Keepitcomics💥
Once I found a store where they sold some really expensive chocolate for cheap. I made it into a habit to visit each week to pick some up. One day the store manager saw that that it was cheap and were surprised, he checked the shelf price and said: "We made a mistake here its actually seven times the price" I was saddened because it was too good to be true but he said "No you pay what it says on the shelf. This is our mistake and we will fix it after you have paid for yours." That principle was important to him, it was easy to tell. The store owner in your story have not the same principle, sounds more like an hoarder who have gotten himself a store to hide his inclination.
I agree. Same thing happened to me a few months ago. Spent an hour (of my time) pulling key books out of the dollar bins only to have them repriced at the counter. Yo!!!!
They had Spider Gwen's 1st appearance (signed), Aphra's first appearance, the list goes on and on. I was in heaven, until they were like "nope". "Gotta check the price on ebay."
What!!!
Tell me that $%@+ up front before I waste my time going through your bins! Never went back.
My gf and I went into a hole in the wall bookstore that has back issues. We've been there several times with no issues. Last time we went they started looking up prices for NM comics on my comic shop and pricing them that way. Even told us one book would be higher than the sticker price. We put many back, and bought only a few but I refuse to ever go back. Thats just not how you do business, period! At cons I pulled $15 books out of dollar bins and the guy running the booth caught it immediately, still gave it to me for $1, thats just good business!
Yeah, I can't stand folks that don't understand that pricing is based on the grade of the book! lol
When I heard your description of the store, I had to chuckle. I’ve been to that store, and your description is on point. Last time I was there, I bought one of the bundles. It was an X-Men run, with a couple of key books. I wanted to make sure those books were indeed included and that the conditions were decent. He had them taped together with packing tape, so it made it hard to see them. He made a gruff comment about how the numbers were on the label. Sorry, but not going to pay that asking price for sight unseen. Not the friendliest LCS owner, that’s for sure.
Yep. I seriously don't think he really sells any of his comics, outside of his people that get on pull lists for new releases. He's had the same taped up bundles for a decade. He has no interpersonal skills whatsoever, and I used to give him the benefit of the doubt thinking hey, some people are just like that. But I realize now, that he knows what he does.
This is probably the downfall of most shops that thought they wanted to have a comic shop but didn't realize what actually goes into owning and running a [profitable] comic shop.
Great point.
You know, when stores do this it initially may work out for them in the short term. They blow off 1 customer to make a few extra dollars, but eventually everyone knows not to go to that store anymore because he is not an honest person to deal with. Bad business that ends up closing a lot of stores and the owner wonders what the heck happened to his customer base.
Exactly.
Thought this was going to happen to me...
Found a riri Williams invincible iron man #3 it was going for $20 on eBay but he had it marked for $4... I thought no way am I getting this for that price, he’ll change it when I get up to the counter.. he did change the price but to $3. Amazing dude hero’s comics in Fresno
Thankfully I have 2 very good LCS on the north side of Indianapolis. Comic Carnival and Circle City Comics are my go to places. Both places have very honest and very good employees. I have never had a bad thing to say about either one and both have earned my business for life.
Dude! I live on the north side! Have you ever been to Downtown Comics? There’s one on the circle, one on the west side, and the most popular one up in Carmel. I’ve also been checking out The Hero House on the south side lately, their back issue inventory is insane! Like quadruple what Comic Carnival has! But I like Comic Carnival a lot too. Circle City Comics is decent, the people are cool, but they really don’t have anything before like 2010 as far as their back issues go. They have only been open for a few years tho.
@@mikeydudek2885 Downtown Comics in Carmel is awesome! I go whenever I get to Indy!
Downtown comics on the westside,, thier new place is nice. When I first got started I bought from carnival in Greenwood.
I ran a comic shop for nearly 20 years, I completely agree with you. I remember quite a few times I screwed up pricing. I had to sell a Preacher #1 for $7. lol I learned pretty quick, you gotta do whatever necessary to keep your customers happy.
I had a similar experience. I went to an LCS and started pulling some books I wanted to buy. The clerk came over and grabbed them and said, “ I’m check out these books and make sure that you don’t have anything that’s valuable.” And this shop was currently toying with the decision on whether or not to keep its location open or not. That was my first and last visits to that location. The only price they had was the cover price. And looking back I believe I was over charged and on the books after I left but I just didn’t want to go back to that LCS. Lost my business, will only head back as a last resort.
I hear this all the time about shops..even worse. Some shops tell customers they cant use their phones and or lists in their shops. I think that's crazy. Just the other day a customer brought up a thor book. That I had been looking for. To buy for my PC..And I had it in my back issues boxes. I had no idea it was in there. And like you and that shop owner. me and my customer just doing small talk and going over some of the new movies coming out. And I mentioned I was looking for that book myself. And we got a laugh over it. He also had some other books as well. And as I started totalling up the books. He asked well do you want to keep that thor book. I could of been one of those owners and said yeah I'm going to keep it. But that wouldnt be cool. He found the book it's my fault for not knowing my inventory as you mentioned about that store owner. So I said no way it's yours. And he was happy and bought even more books after paying for the 1st stack. :) so to me and my thinking. Try and make your customers happy and things will work out. For me it's not about just making money or thinking about myself. Creating cool return customers and helping collectors get what they need and want. Is my main focus. So I can totally see why you would be a bit pissed by that shop owners move. And for what $5 bucks. Nope not worth it for me and my shop. And I'm just a small shop. Great story to share and sucks that owner didnt see the value of a customers time. You looked thru all his dirty and crammed boxes and found that book. That's worth more then $5 bucks if it would bring you back. Crazy in my opinion.
Another great comment, Jesse. Thank again for sharing your thoughts and for sharing your story!
What I am running into more lately is comic shops not pricing anything. Than when you bring it up to the counter or ask them on the fly for a price, they look it up at that moment. Often, when they use Ebay prices, they don't take condition into consideration. If the book in my hand is in F condition, they will take the price of a NM copy price on Ebay. We all know condition makes a big difference in price. Its a lazy way of not having to labor over your entire inventory constantly, but i personally hate getting the sticker shock every time i have to ask. It also takes away the fun of finding a good deal. I probably won't go much anymore because if i am gonna pay Ebay prices (or higher), I might as well shop on Ebay.
I found a Cavewoman #2 a few years back with no price on it. I asked the guy if stuff unmarked was cover price, and he said yeah. When I got up to the register, he charged me cover price but was kicking himself. He insisted on charging cover like he said. Gotta respect that.
That's a good dude.
While I understand (and agree with) what you have to say; 1) most shops in my area are now pricing books when you get to the counter, so it seems like the future; and 2) there is one good thing about the ‘I can’t even bother to organize’ shops. They’re too lazy to stick their politics in my face. Whereas I find the cleaner the shop I go to, the more they want to ‘organize’ me an my thinking as well. I don’t need that. I just want to buy comics.
I have never had anyone from an LCS "stick their politics in my face," so I can't relate.
I feel you, I have maybe 3 shops in my driving area and what used to be the best shops. The owner was a similar asshat. He'd constantly put the most damaged new releases in people's pull list bags as well as up charges to priced books. Spent a large amount of money there growing up too. Had to cut ties as well. You can get better treatment for your time elsewhere. His loss
I agree. It's crazy I just saw your other video and commented about the same issue, but I think your other video flushed out some of the other issues with businesses upcharging at the checkout counter. The issue you brought up in this video was also how I felt (again beside the issues I commented on from your previous video). There is so much to be said about this type of bad business modeling. I also liked the way you handled it and think it's healthy. Can't let that type of stuff fester. You talked about it, made a choice to not do business, and didn't even name the business.
I had a similar experience recently. I found Super Friends no.8 (First Appearance of the Wonder Twins) in the $1.00 bin at my LCS.
I volunteered to help out at a local back issue place.. (because I love back issues and just wanted to help the guy organize) he was very pleased and he lets me pick old Bronze age books for free based on how long I work. Nothing earth shattering, most of them are Very Good+/Fine but it's enjoyable and takes an hour and half a week.
I had an experience like that in IL. Not only did he look them up at the counter, but he was going off eBay asking prices. This was AFTER they were already priced. They were older cap books so he said the price might have gone up.. I went digging and found them... a few went up by like $2.00. So he got a few bucks more but I never went back. There’s a thing called integrity. You price something then I expect you to uphold that. I understand things happen and sometimes mistakes happen.
I stopped going to my only local LCS back in 2008. So I support your stopping, it's oftentimes the best course of action. I've used other sources and actually increased my spending overall, which had been quite a lot back then. The LCS found out the hard way that they needed to appreciate a loyal customer, which they DIDN'T. Thanks for the vid, well done.
Thank you for sharing.
If I was in my LCS and a kid walked up to my man Jeff and asked to organize his bins and then whipped out a PRICE GUN! I’d lose my every loving shit lol
lolll
I quit an LCS recently myself. The owner complains about customers all day. I have seen him sheepishly respond to bad customers too, but with me he's always colder to me than to other customers. Been trying to be nice cause I figured he was part of some vicious cycle with bad customers and such, and maybe cause he doesn't recognize me he's just a bit introverted. So I was like all right for a few weeks, but he was so obviously treating me differently than other customers. And I stopped going cause I'm not gonna eat shit cause he doesn't know how to separate good customers from bad ones.
So I skipped a few weeks. Then I went back on the way home from a vacation to get some books I missed, and met the OTHER worker there and he was SO friendly, offered a 10% discount on everything almost immediately (which the owner never mentioned to me was possible for weeks and weeks.) and I was, all right. This guys's cool, maybe I should give it another try. They have way better selection than the other LCS I go to. That's why I even bothered coming there.
Just be a good customer, keep my head down. Buy things and pre-order early, everything. Don't be overly friendly cause the owner is just like angry at life. Then the other day he just passive aggressively insulted me out of nowhere and I'm thinking, WTF MAN! I cancelled all my orders. (And I spend $100 a week and shit) He asked me if there was an issue, and I just said, "I'm moving." I could have told him what's up but it's not worth trying to change toxic folks unless you love them.
And the real truth is Bad People ALWAYS end up creating their own hell. ALWAYS. I have never seen this NOT happen. So revenge is never necessary cause the world itself punishes the toxic. There are people, where a part of me wants to get revenge, but I learned a long time ago how to channel that energy into projects instead and it has been kind of life changing. Turn hate into productivity. Later whenever people would try to gleefully tell me how their lives are screwed these days, I would stop that, because I actually feel bad and do not want to even have like any energetic connection to the suffering of broken person.
Thank you for sharing this story. It is one I have heard before. I almost made a video about this shit myself, but i didn't want to get too heated. BUT REALLY I am grateful you made this cause it makes me feel less alone that there are assholes and it is not cool and sometimes we need to call it out.
Appreciate the feedback for sure.
I used to run a small comic book store in Los Angeles back in the late 1990's. All of my new issues were bagged with a reader copy in front of the stack. When the next months issues come out I would take all of the unsold previous issues and add a backing board, then they go into my back issue bin.
I often visit LCS and Golden Apple comics and ask the staff how many of each issue I should buy for a small shop. I was ordering from Diamond Comics my distributor. 50 copies of popular tittles and 20 copies of lesser popular tittles. I would spend an hour or so before opening to reorganize my back issue bin once a week.
I would visit my local Golden Apple store to see what they were selling their back issue were and priced mines accordingly, back in the 1990's there were no cell phones.
I remember once I ordered 100 copies of New Mutants # 98 on a speculation 1st Deadpool. And X-Men Annual #14 from New England Comics I bought all they had (66) for $2.75 each.
I'm long retired now but keeping a few key issues for my nest egg.
Not naming the comic store shows a lot of restraint and class even though I wanted you to. Much respect.
Appreciate you.
I quit buying from a LCS because they never put their own prices on their back issues. If there was a price on it, it was on there when they bought it. So the price tags are meaningless (and misleading). So every purchase was a hassle. The last straw was Green Lantern Mosaic 18. It was the last issue I needed. I saw it online for around $3. But Mile High Comics had it listed at $18. The shop's pricing method was to check online for the highest price they could find and charge you that. I told them that was ridiculous, that I could buy it online for about $6 including shipping, so I'd pay $6 just to support a local shop. Nope, it was $18. So I not only didn't buy that comic I didn't buy any of the others I took to the counter.... and I've never bought a comic from that shop again. That was about 10 years ago.
Midtown lost my business after shipping my three jokers 1/100 cover in just a plastic flat mailer nothing to protect it. When it arrived, it was literally folded in half. Messaged them and tooks pics but apparently their policy doesn't include refunding my money. I've had books shipped to me packaged better from complete strangers than from a professional business
Is this midtown comics online purchase? Midtown lost all of my business and I was a loyal customer for 10 years, ordering all of my previews orders with them every month.
I just had a shitty experience with midtown too, an online order where half the stuff was damaged due to poor packing.
Ugh. I have 2 LCS’s in my area, one is small with low inventories but the owner and workers are awesome. The other is large with multiple back issue bins but crazy over priced and more “corporate.” I rarely go into the larger one. However, last Wednesday was my birthday and I had some extra cash and was looking for some back issues of ASM. I happened to be there when they opened and noticed Nottingham #3 on the new release rack. My LCS has never had these so I got excited and grabbed one. When I got to the register the owner saw it and said “Oh, this shouldnt have been on the shelf, this is a $50 book.” I said “but it just came out today, how could it be a $50 book already?” He didn’t have a good answer for me so I left my books on his counter and left. I’ll stick with the smaller store and eBay.
Haven’t seen a .50 cent or $1 box in maybe 8 years, lol... Owner of that shop should have sucked up the few dollars loss on the one book and keep a steady customer happy.
I’ve set up at Comic Con and had buyers find books I’ve over looked and still honor what the box is marked. At the end of the day, I keep buyers happy, Karma finds its way back eventually.
I agree 100%.
This has happened to me many times. One time a shop owner put a whole stack of Bloodborne #1 in the $1 bin. I brought them all up to pay for them and he told me I could only buy 2 and also accused me of being a "speculator" because i was buying multiples of the same book. I told me I liked all the different covers (although i don't need to even explain myself). Got into an argument with him but in the end told him to fuck off and never went back to the store again
Dude I went to a LCS and his wife had a hot plastic bowl sitting on my books. They was ruined! Lucky I hadn't paid for them I refused to buy them and told him to train her. Been online reading ever since.
That's insane!
I've had people pull heat out of my dollar bins and still charge the just a dollar. They usually tag me and get me more biz from the tags. Lol
Right! Thanks for sharing David.
Preach! You are so CORRECT! I would do the same thing. Thanks for sharing!
This literally just happened to me a few weeks ago..found the miles Morales connecting covers for 4.50 each but when I got to the counter he wanted to charge me 35 for the set and this is just 1 example of many
I'm totally on point with you. I only have 1 LCS near me that is convenient. I tolerate the shop owner only because my pull list comes BnB, and on time. The owner however is not pleasant to talk to sometimes. The shop I really want to frequent is a 45 minute drive, but he doesn't bag or board new books. So it becomes a condition issue of new books.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I’ve had this happen as well and never looked back at that lcs.
We have to stand up against this type of unethical behavior.
Glad you did this video....just shared/posted this to the FB page of some of the LCS's I visit that do the same 💩.....maybe they'll get the hint😉😉😆🤣
I agree with you completely. Love your videos Jerno. Never stop. I'll be around till the end
Truly appreciate you!
I had a similar situation. I went digging through a $1 bin. I got bunch of Inhumans, X-men, got 3 avengers annual 10, old X-factor. I got over a 100 good comics. The owner asked where I got them from and I showed him. One of his employees mixed up some of the boxes after they came back from a convention. He gave them to me for $1 a piece. I have been become personal friends with him and his family, he is like family now. I have been going to his store for 15 years now.
I had issues with a longstanding but under new ownership video game/comic shop. The old owner was a bit crazy with pricing and attempted larceny against the guy he sold his own store to. Thought I was on good terms with the new owner, being super helpful identifying comic values and talking shop multiple times a week.
Suddenly I was accused of swapping stickers on movies and comics, I literally stood in front of the owner and asked why some of the stuff was underpriced and he said it must've been a mistake. Went back one day and told I was banned and he threatened to call the police cause apparently taking too long looking at my purchase and removing crummy old polybags means I'm trying to cheat him.
All of the other LCS's in my area love my business.
I felt this one so bad. I used to go to Bell, Book, and Comic but stopped going because if u bring up more than 1 copy of the same back issue(which are full price btw), he will go “something must be hot with this book” and either only sell one to u, or double the price he has stickered. He did it the day the 1st App of Knull came out and I had 4 copies (out of the 100 he had on the shelf) and made me mad, but the final straw was when he did it on a connecting DC cover that’s worth like $1, I just wanted the set.
Dayton? If so Where do you go now? I was thinking of trying mavericks here this week havent been in there I'm prob 20 years.
You’re on point, Sir. Not only do I agree with your point of view and feel you handled it correctly with them, I respect the way you handled it to us, your loyal viewers. You maintained what we call in the service “your military bearing”, and you showed self-respect and respect for your brand. Bravo Zulu, Sir. Well done. And you gave Liz and I a few things to keep our eyes open for at our lcs. We appreciate you and your efforts in putting out the content. I hope you forget this for the rest of the day and enjoy your Sunday, Sir. Liz say’s “Keep killing ‘em with kindness”.
Man, I really appreciate this comment. I really thought about not even making the video, but I'm glad I did, because I do feel like it's something that we need to take heed to.
At My favorite lcs here in Fresno, heroes comics, the owner will change the price on the cover.... but he always goes lower than marked! Especially if you’re buying a large amount. Great shop!
Well there you go!
Agree 100%. I went digging at a store with a new owner, boxes weren’t marked but after grabbing a few he made me wait like 10 minutes while looking them all up for the prices on eBay. Passed on all of them.
We need to get a public list of all shops that do this.
Honestly stuff like this has made change my collecting ways and I just wait for the complete story or collect by trade only on cheap graphic novels.
I collect HCs and trades pretty much exclusively now, from online sources & Ollie's stores, and that started due to a bad LCS experience.
When ever I went into DNA comics in humble, TX to ask about a comic, the worker always would say o I don't know about comics only cards. I stopped going there after it happened 3 times with 3 different workers. Last time I asked if they had a back order of deadpool dude said it would take to long to look for and to come back the next day. He was just sitting there. That was in like 2017 or 16 never went back I started traveling farther to Bed Rock City comics best move I ever did
Agreed! I had something similar happen to me, only I was digging through regular back issue bins. I had like 2 to 3 multiples of 2 different titles, and the owner would only allow me to buy 1 of each. The books were 3 to 5 years old, and there was no signage stating multiples could not be purchased. I'd driven nearly 100 miles to that store from my home, and had spent a good hour digging through long boxes. I wrote scathing reviews on Google and Yelp regarding that store.
Visited a bimonthly comic mart in my area about 20 years ago. When I’d go through this one sellers dollar boxes and find stuff he’d always pull a few out when I went to pay and say they shouldn’t have been in there and charge more. After this became a regular thing, much to my shame now, I eventually just started taking the cheap books I wanted without paying.
I went to am LCS for like 7 years . Spent well over 25k at the place .. they hired a new manager and he yelled at me the other day for going behind the counter to look at the book on the wall (I do it all the time ) and it gave me a bad taste in my mouth. Unfortunately they are the best shop in town so I kinda shot myself in the foot lol
Damn!
I went to a store years ago similar to a 7-11. They had a area for comics and some were old.Was able to pick up Conan barbarian.#23-35 for cover price 25 cents each visit. Books were all over the place.
Wow! What a score!
I don't go anywhere out here but A-1 comics. They know the value of books so you won't get too many steals buy they treat you right. Roseville location is my fave, great group of guys.
I can't believe that comic shop would do that and let this be a lesson for all comic shop owners to properly sort their inventory
There's a lot of shops that do the same thing
Yeah, probably too many.
If you're expecting perfect/non-marked comics in the dollar bin, you ARE THE BABA BOOEY!!!
Huh?? Lol
Hey folks i know the shop your talking about!! Ive found some jewels in his store and we got into it because like you said i was doing his work!! Every book i brought up he went to ebay!! Now thats ok if your fair, but the prices were marked!! He was changing 10$ books to e-bay prices after i did all the work and found the books!! I PRETTY MUCHED CURSED HIM OUT!! Then his worker called the cops while we were arguing and i was kicked out & banned!! F#$#$#$## THAT LCS!! Im with you 100%!!! luv ya!!
You're packing a sticker gun these days? Chris Jerno...Licensed To Price! Pew pew! 🔫💵🛒🤠
I owned a comic shop for a few years...thought I would turn my beloved hobby into a business. We ended up opening on the day DC killed Superman. It took hours and hours to price the comics from my collection. Back then there were no Apps or websites to hype up comics...so your prices were usually good until the next Overstreen guige came out. It's a different scene now and comic shop owners have to (or should have to) invest some labor in organizing and pricing their inventory to reflect any market changes they want to take advantage of. To neglect this is not a good sign to the customers...to price back issues as you check out a customer...not cool...not cool!
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences, Jack. Coming from you, it means a lot, because I know the ethics that you put behind your work.
Were the first few months/years harsh back then?
I have experienced this kind of treatment before also. My reaction was the same as yours. I never went back. Don't let him bum you out, Brother. Some people are lousy at business, and their laziness and greed sucks the joy out of collecting. Nuts to him.
Appreciate you sharing your thoughts.
The most profound attitude is also the simplest and most logical: just treat people the way you want to be treated. The other statement is: my word is my bond. If you screw up, own it. Don't avoid the painful lessons. You may lose a few shekels now. But the lesson you learn from the mistake is priceless.
I have been to that LCS you talked about. Your description brought the nightmare back 🤣 I remember that lay out. I walked in and got treated like I didn't belong there. I found a book I was going to purchase but I had a question about it. I told the cashier that I was going to purchase it. Before I could it take of out of the cheapest bag and board ever to ask my question he lecutured me on how they don't want customers taking the books out of the bags. This wasn't a high end graded book. This was a cheap ass back issue, cover price.
I asked him if I needed to purchase it first, he said no I didnt' have to do that, I was confused. I bought it asked my question but the exchange was weird like I was bothering him as if I was abusing the product.
I knew I was never coming back. The condition of the books in that shop was nothing to be proud off. The other products are the priority, comic books are an afterthought.
I shop wherever I am treated to good customer service, period. I have at list if LCS's that never get my business even I give chances to step it up and give a shit.💩
Yeah the owner has no sense of socialization. He never smiles and always sounds upset. The way I dress, I swear that he thought I was lying about what books I grabbed out of the 50 cent or dollar bins. Even though I'd been going there for years, that feeling never changed. Like, why have a set up where you the owner cannot see what the customers are doing when digging in the bins or you're going to question them?
I gave him the benefit of the doubt for a while because I learned to not take it personal. The guy just has no personality and has no sense of customer service. And as a business owner, you need that. Or, maybe it was personal. I don't know, but now I don't care because I'll never have to worry about it again.
100% on point! Forget them if they don't care go elsewhere
Funny that I found this video because this shop (yes,I guarantee it’s the same shop) lost my business for life last weekend for the same reason. I found a Prophet 1 with a signature in the dollar bin mixed with tons of Image and Valiant overproduced comics. When I went to pay for it, he looked it over and saw the signature. He said “this is worth more than a dollar” and then put the book behind the counter to not sell it. He told me the total for the two “new” books I was purchasing. If the “new” books were not selected by my young nephew, I would have walked with nothing. After this I took my nephew to another store so he could see what a real comic book store should looks like.
P.S. Yes, I know the book was worth way more than a dollar. That is the gold we find from hours of searching through the discount bin. Like you said, pay me for my work.
I got a guy at a swap meet I go to every week that takes more care in the comics he sells. He bags all his comics. He tries keeping them in a nice condition despite him hauling them up and down swap meets and flea markets. Every now and again I'll see a book he priced at more than a dollar in his dollar boxes. His response, "well it was in the dollar box so..."
Hate when stores pull crap like that.
I’m 100% sure I know which shop you’re talking about, it’s in the next town over from me. I stopped going there years ago because of how disorganized and dirty it was in there. The new release rack looked more disorganized than most shops’ 50 cent bins… and it’s hidden, out of plain view. I’m guessing nothing has changed. Good thing is, there’s really good shops in Sac, and lots of them.
Agreed. I hated buying new comics there because they were always manhandled and bent up and he would still sell them at cover price.
I understand how hard it must be for shops to keep up with hot books but like you said you spend all your time digging through his dirty ass books and it's like he wants you to do his job for him and pay for it on top of it. Knowledge is money and people don't understand how much goes into keeping up with what's hot,what's keys,what's hard to find,there's so many scenarios. I'm new to collecting comics started about 2 years ago and I still have a hard time comprehending how people remember all these keys. Love the video.
Well said, Jason.
There are around 3 or 4 comics stores in Santa Rosa, one of them is run by a very nice man but to be honest the store is a chaotic mess. I did pick through his semi-organized boxes and found some nice pick ups but his store is mostly focused on toys, vintage video games and Magic the Gathering cards. It’s too bad because he’s a nice guy and knows his stuff regarding comics.
@@jacobbornowsky4013 Hey Jacob, thank you so much for watching, that was a lot of fun to be on that show!
You know I called a couple shops in Santa Rosa when I was staying out in Petaluma for those couple of days and no one answered. One of them had a voice message that said they were still closed due to Covid.
The one in Ukiah treated me well. I'm not really sure the value of what I bought but it was well organized and friendly staffed.
@@mrj3711 what’s the name of the shop? Is that the only one in Ukiah?
That's the whole point of going through 50 cent and Dollar bins to be able to find hidden gems. This was a case of bait and switch. Really what would it have cost him $4. Instead he lost so much more revenue by losing you as a loyal customer.
Absolutely.
You're talking about Bizarro World aren't you? 😂😂
yes! I still go there, but everything he said has happen to me! bahaha
If the shop is dirty or disorganized it's a sure fire way to get me to not come back. I've never had anyone raise a price on me at a shop or show and I've pointed a few out and told them about it. They still gave me the price they had marked.
funny thing is though, if i do go to a place and the staff/seller is friendly, and professional, and the store is clean and comics are bagged/boarded and organized, i don't mind overpaying a lil bit. and usually they are super cool and end up giving me freebie comics, which i think is super cool!
I had an amazing comic shop in Spokane. Just moved to Houston and so far it’s been rough. No bags on new issues and the back issue bins are minimal. I think the days of finding gold in the dollar bins are gone. I think the owners are digging through them as much as I am. The last big find was about a year ago. It’s depressing but I think the market will correct itself eventually.
Your not going to find much gold in Houston. Too many collectors here. However, if your really looking for a good source of dollar books then I can only suggest the following:
* Space Cadets (Woodlands) - Friday $1 books are .25 (My weekly stop)
* DNA Comics and Cards (Humble)
* Atomic Monkey (Houston) (ONLY go when he has a $1 sale)
* Comics and Card Connection (Conroe) (8 to 10 long boxes)
I bought a new comic once off the rack. Last copy. And got a call 5 minutes after I left that they weren't allowed to sell that because it was reserved for another customer and that I needed to return it. I was so pissed. I returned it but really felt I shouldn't have had to. It was there fault. I work late and they're the only LCS open after 8pm so sometimes I have to go there but I really hate doing so.
Not cool at all.
Crazy! Yeah, customer service should always be key, that will keep your customers coming back. Dope vid, new subscriber...
Thanks for stopping by and for subscribing!
100% I always say if you have good customer service, you have a leg up on most other businesses. Not only did he lose your business, but I am sure others as well. There are many businesses I was not happy with and just never went back. There is someone out there that wants your business, so just move on to the next, eventually these guys will weed themselves out. 😎
Very true!
there is a stat from the restaurant business that says that 90% of people that have a problem wont even complain they just will never come back. i bet thats the same for alot of different industries or businesses.
Had about a 50$ stack once at an lcs and found a batman vengeance of bane #1 priced at 5$ maybe a vf copy. Owner pulls it to the side and says it's 65$ smh I walked out with nothing and haven't been back since. This was maybe 2 years ago
It always amazes me when businesses will throw away all potential income from a regular customer over a few bucks.
Absolutely.
Usually avoid complaint videos but I've been subscribed for a while and I thought I'd give it a view. Great video. You actually took responsibility for not checking the books! Love it. Sounds like a terrible comic shop man!
Appreciate you paying attention to detail. I definitely didn't want to come across as just being negative and complaining (some folks still didn't get that). I have never made a video talking negative about an LCS until this one. I believe it was needed.
If a store reprices a book that's marked $1 or 50 cents, at checkout, I'd never go back. They're literally stealing from you.
Your knowledge of a comic's worth is worth something. It's the store's job to know what they have, and what a fair market price is - BEFORE a customer brings it up to the register.
If a store is going to be lazy and not know what they've got, then I'm certainly not going to do their job for them in running a business.
That shit drives me bananas. So many stores out here have completely random bins. The way books are randomly spiking in value anymore there’s no way they could find anything if they tried. I used to work in a shop. If I was in one today I would be relentless at grabbing books as soon a key alert came out. One place I go last week I pulled that FCBD Star Wars with Maul’s brother unbagged for $2 the guy literally had one on the wall right behind him for $50. To their credit they have yet to try and charge me FMV when I find a key, but they are also a little wishy washy about it, when you ask them how much their back issues are they’re like “uh most of them are like 2.99 but uh some might be different.” I guess I shouldn’t complain because I keep making out, but the LCS guy in me just wants to get in there and fix it, lol.
Appreciate you sharing your thoughts and experience.
I had a LCS dealer screw me over by adding to the price at check out once. He had issue 1 and 2 of Dragonslayer for a dollar each. So, he added a dollar a comic. At the time, before I bought comics online, they were hard to find so I paid the price...but it cost him a lot more than those 2 dollars he scammed off of me. I stopped buying from him. I would go into his shop and walk out with nothing, because I lost interest in the purchase. Still glad I bought those issues, but there was nothing else I wanted from him from that point on. He's now out of business.
I often wonder if stores like this are actually just fronts. There was a game store I went too a few times and it was a mess. Games piled up al over the store with no rhyme or reason to it. Just go in there and start looking. The dust was so awful. It could freakin choke you. They had bars on the doors with security camera all over with a video screen you could see and they only payed employees under the table. Convinced that place was a front.
Ha! Hey, it's a valid hypothesis!