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Post by Ozymandias on May 26, 2021 0:58:06 GMT -5
I bought a lot from them in the 90's. Even later, up to 2012, their prices were normal, so I still ordered from them. Then I looked at their inventory during the confinement, about a year ago, and they were only competitive while their 65% discount was in effect (my last order ever?). BUT, fast-forward to the present day and good luck hunting comics at reasonable prices. Even at a 50% discount (something they do every other day), a comic from the last decade might set you back for about 10 times what they would ask somewhere else (Lone Star, eBay).
So the question is clear, does Chuck still view his business as a shop? He keeps talking about scarcity of back issues and promoting his buying-collection-trips, but it looks like he wants them to keep in the vault, not wanting to let them go unless they go at a heavy premium. And he adjusts prices upward all the time, to avoid selling them I guess. Other shops don't seem to face this imbalance, but on the other hand, big shops like newkadia show clear shortages. Market be crazy.
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2021 2:23:41 GMT -5
Simply put, the prices there for books in VF-NM are disgusting. I haven't shopped there in over 10 years. If others choose to, their choice....
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Post by profh0011 on May 26, 2021 7:42:43 GMT -5
Sounds like the prices are living up to the store's name.
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Post by tartanphantom on May 26, 2021 8:20:19 GMT -5
Hoarding is a real mental disability. I seriously think Chuck wants to be the last man standing and the sole source of comics for future generations.
However, it's his business, his money and he can run it the way he pleases. I'm not going to defend his business model, but he's obviously not hurting in the cash-flow department, and my lack of patronage with Mile High is of no consequence to him.
I still get his mailing list, because a cursory glance is good for a laugh now and then, especially those newsletters where he is begging for orders.
One area where I will give Chuck huge props though-- he does a TON of charity work with the Denver-area homeless population... not just handing out bottled water and potato chips either.
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 26, 2021 8:28:44 GMT -5
There are some things you can do well with at Mile High.. there are certain titles/times that Chuck has no interest in, and thus you can get mid grade copies for dollar bin prices. Granted, some of that stuff SHOULD BE dollar bin fodder, but it's a nice, organized dollar bin Totally agree anything high grade or moderately current is out of this world. I think I've ordered from them 3 times in the last 10 years, on the bigger discount codes.. it's a good place to fill in lower tier books you just want to read.
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Post by Icctrombone on May 26, 2021 8:29:28 GMT -5
Hoarding is a real mental disability. I seriously think Chuck wants to be the last man standing and the sole source of comics for future generations.
However, it's his business, his money and he can run it the way he pleases. I'm not going to defend his business model, but he's obviously not hurting in the cash-flow department, and my lack of patronage with Mile High is of no consequence to him.
I still get his mailing list, because a cursory glance is good for a laugh now and then.
One area where I will give Chuck mad props though-- he does a TON of charity work with the Denver-area homeless population... not just handing out bottled water and potato chips either.
Okay, okay, I'll stop buying comics...
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2021 9:25:22 GMT -5
Hoarding is a real mental disability.
Sorry man, but you know what I do when I see a Warriors comic......
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Post by tartanphantom on May 26, 2021 9:30:40 GMT -5
Hoarding is a real mental disability.
Sorry man, but you know what I do when I see a Warriors comic......
Oh, no doubt! I do the same thing with certain titles... DC 70's 100-page issues in general are a weak spot for me, and even though I have all 113 of them, I still buy them if I see a good deal.
All collectors have at least some hoarding tendencies... but most don't have two warehouses worth of stockpiled material that's not even up for sale.
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Post by Ozymandias on May 26, 2021 10:15:35 GMT -5
[...] he's obviously not hurting in the cash-flow department [...] And when he does, he raises the discount from the usual 40-50% to 65 and that's it. He got swamped in orders when he did that last year, and he only stopped because the backlog was reaching critical proportions. It looks like a good strategy, if his prices were usually 65% lower, he'd have a much harder time getting people to accept a doubling or tripling of prices.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 26, 2021 11:04:37 GMT -5
Didn't he make out like a bandit in recent years, with the skyrocketing real estate pricing, selling warehouse property? If so, then he can probably afford to sit on things and only sell at premium prices. Also, the internet has proven, time and time again, that people will pay them because his site is visible and easy to use and they are too lazy to comparison shop.
I don't know the guy and can't speak to any mental health issues; but, he has had a history of promoting things for the "industry" that are really just marketing for his own business and used connections with Jim Shooter, during his EIC reign, to try and corner the market for Marvel Comics (I recall Peter David calling him out on that in CBG, at one point). That may be "business," but it does speak to character. At the same time, philanthropic efforts of real value also speak to that; so, you end up with a complex person.
I haven't bought in years, but always got a good deal from there.
The one thing I learned in 4 years of earning an economics degree was that most of it only worked in ideal models and fell apart when you applied the real world. Any business with enough market share can control their prices, regardless of market forces, by manipulating their customers, via advertising. Just look at Apple products. There was no demand for many of their products and they set a price that market research showed that customers would pay. They then marketed them with psychological campaigns to designed to appeal to the egos of their customer base, convincing them that these would make them cool, change their lives, cure cancer and get them l.....companionship. Lots of tech companies do the same thing. the spend billions researching buying patterns and use that information to tailor their pitch to fit those patterns.
Chuck is pretty much doing the same thing, feeding into the collector need to grab it before it is gone, offering them "discounts" after inflating his list price to make it look like a bargain, feeding the idea that the product is scarce, yet no one is running out of them, etc....
Economics is really about smoke and mirrors and that is pretty much what every MBA has learned in the past 40 years and that's how business operates, in the modern world.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 26, 2021 11:47:54 GMT -5
Like I said in another thread, a 65% discount isn't worth it when the comic is already 300% higher than 99% of the rest of the online comic stores.
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Post by Ozymandias on May 26, 2021 12:00:00 GMT -5
Didn't he make out like a bandit in recent years, with the skyrocketing real estate pricing, selling warehouse property? He did. IIRC, it was to compensate for the cost of a failed physical expansion. He regrouped to his Jason Street shop and focused on online sells. In the process, he liquidated a very lucrative asset. But that would only last him so long, if you keep buying collections and selling only a fraction... A good measure of how little he usually sells, given the amount of comics he has, is the fact that he operates with a skeleton crew.
Like I said in another thread, a 65% discount isn't worth it when the comic is already 300% higher than 99% of the rest of the online comic stores. I'd say it's way more than that in some cases.
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Post by tarkintino on May 26, 2021 13:40:30 GMT -5
Like I said in another thread, a 65% discount isn't worth it when the comic is already 300% higher than 99% of the rest of the online comic stores. That's right, and in case he was in suspended animation for some time, there are other sources where one can get just about any old--meaning some very rare Golden and Silver Age titles. Mile High was the "thing" decades ago, but others have long since entered that game to offer any title and you do not have to sell your home and kidneys to afford it.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 26, 2021 15:33:50 GMT -5
I bought some stuff from them last year during a 50% off sale with free shipping, but honestly, I think I could have gotten the same price, if not better from mycomicshop. I doubt I'll ever shop there again.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 26, 2021 22:46:03 GMT -5
Like I said in another thread, a 65% discount isn't worth it when the comic is already 300% higher than 99% of the rest of the online comic stores. That's right, and in case he was in suspended animation for some time, there are other sources where one can get just about any old--meaning some very rare Golden and Silver Age titles. Mile High was the "thing" decades ago, but others have long since entered that game to offer any title and you do not have to sell your home and kidneys to afford it. With DC and MCU I think he profits a lot from speculators. I have a feeling actual readers of comics know better than to fall for his gimmick. It’s sad comics have become the Wall Street of nerds. (Yeah I’m admitting to being a nerd to make that statement lol)
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