Let me first say, I’m a 24-year-old woman in a hobby that is mostly made up of older men. I’ve been told all kinds of rude, sexist, and downright stupid things at various conventions. I’ve had dealers laugh in my face, I’ve been told I can’t afford certain books, and yet at the same time I’ve met dealers who are more than eager to talk to me, and I’ve even made a friend or two.
Yet still, I see dealers act like know-it-all to all kinds of people. Lots of customers walk away from sales because they might feel ashamed, frustrated, or just plain angry. Lots of younger fans get discouraged and plain old drop out. Whatever you do, don’t let some dick of a dealer make you leave this hobby. While many people want to pretend that there is no crying in comics, there is. No hobby is 100% peaceful.
If you do happen to come across a bad dealer, do not let them break you. Majority of these dealers do this for a living. Most of them know that if they treat customers like shit, they will not make money. If they don’t make money, they can’t afford food, clothing, rent, hookers or cocaine (ok, maybe not the hookers and cocaine part. But wouldn’t that be funny?)
In fact, do what the members at the gym I work at do. CALL THEM OUT ON IT. I work at a gym where the membership fee is roughly $100/month. That’s $1,200 a year per member. That does not include personal training, Pilates, guest passes, ect. If an employee is coming off as rude to a member, that member will have no issues calling said employee out. They also have no issues complaining very vocally to the director of the club. 9 times out of 10 the employee will get in trouble, and maybe even get fired. However that doesn’t work in the comic business, so the only way to really do anything about it is to call them out, and don’t buy from them.
Many customers forget that they are the back bone to this hobby. Without you buying these books, dealers would not be in business. But even that gets twisted, and a customer will still buy from a dick dealer because they have a certain book you want. Should you buy it even then? No. I firmly believe no book is truly rare. A unicorn is rare. I was told an Archie #2 was the hardest book to find in the Archie collection (bullshit) and I own two of them.
The bottom line is, people will always need money, so if you hold out long enough that elusive book you want will go up for sale. Customers, do not give up. There are lots of great dealers online and at conventions who are super-duper. Metropolis, Harley Yee, Peperpeddler and Dale Roberts are a few of the dealers I really like and do buy from (well, I buy a lot from Metropolis).
-Lauren
Tags: Lauren
Girls With Comics 
August 23, 2010 at 3:44 pm |
There are definitely rude dealers out there that have no knowledge or lack thereof “customer service.” In this day and age with online sales you would come to believe sellers would be fawning over potential customers, but sometimes they just plain don’t care; either they don’t care about the potential money loss or future customers.
I’m no longer a big purchaser of hobby items that I used to be, but I continue to purchase from dealers that treat customers with respect instead of saving a few bucks from someone that doesn’t answer questions, is rude or doesn’t seem to care. Now I don’t expect a seller to grovel for my $20 bulk purchase from their bargain bin, but at least ask me if they can help me or have questions. Then that seemingly minuscule $20 purchase will result in your getting a constant purchase from me every time I visit instead of going online. Deal!