Jim Crocker of Modern Myths in Northampton, Massachusetts, saw retailer L.E. Becker’s comments about selling All Star Batman and Robin #10 on eBay (see “L.E.Becker of WARP 9 Comics & Collectibles on Delivery Timing and 'ASBR' #10”) and says retailers should consider how and when to take advantage of “windfalls:”
It was interesting to read L.E. Becker's self-serving justification for his breach of trust with DC. It provided significant insight into the roots of the public reputation for cynical avarice enjoyed by independent comics retailers.
There are two areas where his attempts to spin his bad behavior into “everybody does it” territory that I felt required comment:
"And before anyone else lights up the board, let me just say that EVERY comic store is a collectibles store."
While we certainly all sell stuff that some people collect in our store (I prefer the term another retailers coined, “comics accumulator”), I think that when most people in the industry make the distinction between a “collectibles” store and, say, a “bookstore,” it has everything to do with business model, philosophy, and the message you send to customers about what sort of experience you believe you're selling. The idea that because we all have some ostensibly “collectible” product in our stores, so none of us should view askance the desire to crassly exploit the “collectible mentality” that Mr. Becker's FIFTY DOLLAR eBay comics beckon to is self-serving to the point of insult. In short, Target carries some furniture, but that doesn't make them a furniture store.
The FAR more revealing quote is this: "If you were handed a potential windfall would you actually give it away? Seriously? If you say yes, I am sorry, but that is just silly. In today's economy, giving up a potential couple hundred, if not a couple thousand dollars in extra revenue is just career suicide."
The answer any right-minded and ethical businessperson should offer to this (clearly intended as rhetorical) question is: It depends on the nature of the windfall.
A windfall that required me to anger my best business partner? That basically dared that partner to respond to my action when public pressure forced them to do so or risk others doing the same in the future? That required me to be thought of as unethical by many of my peers? That was odious enough that it required me to do public damage control on my reputation? How is passing that up career suicide?
I urge anyone who needs remedial instruction on the potential problems of taking advantage of every “windfall” that comes their way, without regard to the ethical conflicts or other problems that may result, to take some time out to NetFlix No Country for Old Men.
At the end of the day, of course, most of us didn't even have the chance to make an ethical decision, because our copies of this book were intercepted before they even shipped to us. Mr. Becker forgot to mention that as one of the other fine perks of early delivery: it drives up the market value of books you've been ordered to destroy.
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
