PSA: I tried to organize a local comic swap meet and it turned into a weird scalper convention

Set it up at the community center last Saturday, thinking it'd be chill. Charged $5 a table. Out of 15 sellers, like 12 were just guys with stacks of polybagged #1s from the 90s trying to sell them for crazy prices. One guy quoted me $80 for a 'near mint' Spawn #1, which is wild. My friend who just wanted to trade some old X-Men issues left after 20 minutes. Learned that if you don't have super strict rules about what counts as a 'fan swap' and not a storefront, it gets taken over fast. Anyone know how to actually run a good, non-scalper event? Do you need to vet people beforehand?

2 comments

2 Comments

kevinr239d ago

Sounds like you just described every comic shop I've ever been in. Maybe the problem is calling it a swap meet when it's really just a sale.

susan2959d ago

That "weird scalper convention" sounds like a normal comic event to me. The guy with the Spawn #1 for $80 is just trying his luck, same as anyone at a flea market. You set up tables for five bucks, you get what you get. If your friend left because people were selling instead of trading, maybe a swap meet wasn't the right call. Those are basically mini comic shops. You want a pure trade event, you have to make it invite only and that's a ton of work.