Behind the Counter
First, I want to thank you for writing an outstanding column for so many years. I do not own a games shop, but I have been thinking about opening one for years. Unfortunately, there is no way I can do it right now, but I still love to read your columns.My question is: how do you decide what stuff to buy from people? What do you do with incomplete of damaged products that you think have value? How do you handle it if you only want to buy some of the stuff someone has? How do you decide what price to pay for it, and what price to sell it? I would love to learn your opinion about this.
Anyway, I want to thank you again, and I wish you and your family continued success!
E.
Dear E and others:
First, how do I decide what to buy from people - pretty much I will buy anything I can resell for a profit. eBay has been a boon to my business and my wife sells stuff on eBay for us. So, the super rare comic that we might never sell in our store is -on eBay- something we can sell within a week. Very easy to turn a new purchase into "cash reserve" again by using eBay to sell those items that might otherwise just sit around here. I will also point out that if you buy "some" stuff people will bring in stuff you don't want to buy. In the past couple months - with us advertising that we buy Comics, Coins, Board-Card-Miniatures Games, Video Games & Systems, Sci-Fi Books, Warhammer Armies, Movies and Music - we have been offered a TV, A large Stereo, a car-stereo with 8-Track player, a used sewing machine, and brand new Vacuum in the box and an aquarium. We didn't buy any of that, though I did consider the 8-Track player. But, in a general sense - I just try to buy as much as I can at MY prices, so I can make my target margin. Often that means I might buy a whole collection of say 50 RPG books, with the main interest being only a couple books that might be rare. The same could be true of Magic Cards, a coin collection or a big collection of DVDs. As a dealer I usually will make an offer on any re-saleable merchandise - and not pick and choose. If a customer wanted to sell a big group of books, and wanted way more than I was willing to pay - I might then ask them their price on the few key items I was most interested in. But, I usually will NOT cherry pick a collection or group of items - I usually buy the whole lot/collection that is presented to me. Incomplete or Damaged Items: Though you asked about these together, they are really FAR different things. Let's talk about incomplete items first. A video game system that is incomplete I might buy for parts - but, a DVD Set which is missing a 1 out of 5 of 6 discs - I would not buy. The video game system could be parted out, you see - the controllers and cords would still be re-sellable. I would not buy an incomplete game. Lets say someone had a first edition Talisman - these can go for serious collector dollars! But if it is incomplete - I am not interested.
Damaged items are different. A damaged Talisman game would still have some value if it is complete. If it is just box damage, then I just reduce what I pay, and what I resell the item for. If it were a warped board - well, then I reduce it even further. Since I deal in used coins - I often buy worn (a form of damage) coins. Some rare coins can be worth over a thousand dollars each in the worst condition you could still determine the date with. Others are reduced in value to the point you can just spend the coin! But, I do deal in a great deal of damaged items in the coins and comics categories, and some in the collectible cards and rare game items. I do not buy damaged DVDs, CDs, Video Games or Systems - as they are nearly unsalable.
How do I determine price? Well that is the read rub, as they say. This is the entire method by which I make my living. I am about to share a secret with you so large that...... okay, I am kidding. I look up items in price guides, on eBay and Amazon to determine value BEFORE I buy them, unless I already know. You show me a US coin and I am able to look it up on a price guide - same for comics and cards. You show me a used, old Playstation 1 game - and I can find the accurate price online in seconds - some are worth fifty cents, some are worth fifty bucks, some even more! I have to keep Internet access just so I, and my staff, can determine values on items - because while I know the value on 99% of the RPG books that come in - my staff does not.
What I pay generally has to do with the value. Here is my philosophy on such things:
I can call my distributor of new game items, and order exactly what I want, for about 50% off. Same for comics. So, if a guy brings in a collection of comics, should I pay 50% of my resell price? Frak No! Cause, I am not getting what I want (which is exactly what I would get from my distributor) - see, I am buying whatever they have - and maybe only the stuff they don't want, the extra items in their collection, or the less desirable copies.
Generally speaking - in any lot of 100 items (comics, games, coins, DVDs - whatever) I can sell 10 items in 7 days, 10 more items in 30 days, 10 more items in 60 days - and will sell 10 more items in an additional 60 days. So in 4 months I will sell less than HALF the collection of items. I bought a large collection of 1000 items in 1998, and still have over 100 of those items today, 11 years later. So, if I think a collection of 100 items has a REASONABLE value of $5 per item - or $500 - I will realize that I will make back $200 in 4.5 months, and I might be willing to pay as much as $100 for that collection of items. This allows me to make a good investment - double my money in 4 months (I need to make about 10 such deals a week to keep things rolling well) and make back about another $100 in the next 8 months, so I have tripled my money in a year. At some point I will either sell at or below cost the remnants of that deal - or throw them away (I have a large dumpster, and fill it nearly every week!). (we could have a whole other column written about how that profit goes to taxes, insurance, utilities, labor, rent and everything else - allowing me to drive a 12 year old used van)
If I had taken that same $100 and bought stuff from my distributor, I might only get 10 items. I would expect to sell 8 of those items for a total of $160 in 30 days, and reorder and resell those items again in another 30 days.
What it comes down to is this: Since I do not cherry pick collections, I pay a generally small percentage of overall value for most collections - and realize that about 20% of those items I buy - I will not sell within 2 years, and have to pitch them. But, I could just take the money I guy used stuff with and buy new stuff, and turn it at a much faster rate, at a smaller margin per item.
But, when it comes down to it - I am a collector, and I run the kind of shop I would enjoy shopping at - so I do a mix of new and used items.
As far as buying goes - I usually will look at a collection for a few minutes to a few hours determining the value. I will get a price in mind I am willing to pay. I will ask the seller what they want for their collection, and if their price is lower than what I was willing to go - I will usually split the difference to be fair. Example: If you brought to me a collection of CDs - and I decided I could pay you $150. I asked you what you wanted for them, and you said $100 - I would just say "Well, $125 seems fair, how about that?"
OTOH, if you said "I need $180" and I was only willing to pay $150 - I simply, and politely, will decline the merchandise, and ask if you need help carrying it back out to your car. :)
Finally - it is experience. If someone seems angry when they come in, I may not make an offer - since it will often just result in an argument or hurt feelings. If someone tries to sell me a coin collection, but they don't know anything about coins - it obviously is not theirs, and might be stolen - and I don't make an offer. And, if a customer who has spent a lot of money in my store comes in to sell his Amazing Spider-Man collection - he might get a lot more than the next guy - since he is my customer already, not just a guy who brought a bunch of used stuff with my competitors price stickers all over them (which happens every week). Thanks for the question, hope you enjoyed reading.
Marcus King
owner
Titan Games & Music
1504 West Michigan - Kalamazoo, MI 49006
637 Capital Ave SW - Battle Creek, MI 49015
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