9 Classic Batman cards


Given out by Juniors

DC8-1: Jostled by the Joker
DC8-4: Fangs of the Phantom
DC8-7: Caged by the Catwoman


By Mark's Non Sports

DC8-3: A Wretched Riddle
DC8-6: Inhospitable Hatter
DC8-9: A Fatal Joust


By Triangle Cards

DC8-2: Cornered on a Cliff
DC8-5: Jack Frost's Jinx
DC8-8: Snaring the Sheik

Oh man, seriously?!?

All true.

Crypto just sent an email to those on its mailing list with pictures of all 9 promos

I went to Mark's Non-Sports Cards booth and Mark told me that I had to buy a box of Cryptozoic product to get the promos.

Typical by this dealer that's why he gets little sales or loyalty it all comes around. You reap what you harvest!

So then they are not promos, but dealer incentive cards...

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
So then they are not promos, but dealer incentive cards...

Now your getting it.

Because of the way card collectors have chosen to buy and sell promo cards, I would argue that there is no such thing as a promo card.

For those that are legitimately licensed, what we call promo cards are just advertisements that are distributed via specific channels and then enter the secondary market like any other card. Their perceived worth depends on the same factors as any other card: demand, supply and availability of that supply.

A promo card, handed out for free, should never be worth much more than the nominal value that might come from transferring ownership. Of course that's not the case. Promo cards like all other cards become worth what someone is willing to pay and promo collectors have been willing to pay a lot for certain ones. So of course card makers take the next step and start producing limited promos, numbered promos, autographed promos and all manner of stamped or unstamped dealer, show and outlet specific promos.

And if I'm a dealer who knows that these things are going to be sold as soon as I'm handing them out for free, I'm not handing them out for free. At least not without some customer connection to my business.

This is the hobby structure that promo collectors have allowed card manufacturers to create and by in large they must like it because the promo demand is there. The truth is, we are very far away from what was the original intention of a promo card and you can file them now under any name or category that you want. Promo cards were meant to be advertising given away for free. Once they achieved their own market status, it no longer applied.

I sent a facebook message to Cryptozoic and the person who responded said he would look into it but didn't know when he'd have a hard answer. I have a feeling the answer won't come until after the convention. But he did respond fairly quickly.

I have not seen alot of the 9 promos show up you know where--very few

Which leads me to believe that not many were released by the dealers who had them ?

Not good public relations !

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
I have not seen alot of the 9 promos show up you know where--very few

Which leads me to believe that not many were released by the dealers who had them ?

Not good public relations !

I'm sure they will turn up in sufficient numbers fairly soon, but I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and take what you might call the dealer's side. However I think it may also be the collector's side from my personal experience.

At shows and the larger conventions everybody is looking for freebies. Yet ideally the notion of giving something away for free is going to get you something back either as a required purchase then and there, or a future purchase in the case of advertising. Some people go to shows only for the freebies. Freebie hunters will take anything, whether it means something to them or not. If it is something that may be flipped for some value, you will find more "pros" looking to pick it up at a free or nominal cost.

I went to a NYCC a few years back. I visited a manufacturer's booth. I was buying boxes of this maker's particular product. There were nice promos that had already been advertised as being available. They had a lot of them. It was mid-show and all the promos that belonged to the product I was buying were gone. They had a steady stream of people who wanted one and they were all given away as freebies before I got there. Now here I stand, a paying customer, and I can't get the promos, but they will be listed you know where the next day.

When that happens, is that fair to people who are collecting that title and spending money on it? No it's not. It's not fair to regular customers when free perks are given away to people who will never be seen again and you get the same thing as a non-customer does or perhaps even worse, nothing at all.

So I get that collectors want free promos to be free, but promos have value and people who are only interested in that value are standing on those lines too, sometimes in greater numbers than the real collectors. I do not blame dealers for not wanting to give away the store without some customer relationship. Public relations is no good to them unless that public becomes customers, but all too often freebie hunters are never seen again.

Just MHO of the other side of the issue and I'm still mad about missing those promos.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and take what you might call the dealer's side.

How dare you.

when Rittenhouse gave promos to the dealers and they were to be given away - I followed proper procedure and gave them away for free as told - to make someone buy a box of cards to get a partial set is unspeakable - I got none of these promos and WANT NONE - there was too much other GREAT STUFF to worry about these

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
I have not seen alot of the 9 promos show up you know where--very few

Which leads me to believe that not many were released by the dealers who had them ?

Not good public relations !

Like Raven, I can see both sides on this one.

It would be great if every collector who is interested in the subject matter could get a set of these cards. But at event like SDCC, that just isn't going to happen. The majority of the cards would end up in the hands of flippers, to be listed on Ebay that night.

I did manage to get all 9 cards last weekend, but I also bought something from Tony, Mark and Henry. The promos weren't my primary reason for making the purchases that I did. However, I would have been less than pleased if any of them had given them all away to non-paying customers, and left me in the cold

The only real glitch with the set was that at the last minute (or so it seemed) three of the cards were given to a fourth dealer for distribution, and I didn't know who. But thanks to ma' peeps at the Card Talk dinner, I was able to complete my set. Thanks peeps!!

lets be honest - if you had to make a purchase to get these promos - and many people did not do this - lets really guess who will be profiting from the many many many remaining promos that were not given out - so these cards are truly in the hands of the dealer flippers on ebay

quote:

Originally posted by sherlock2:
lets be honest - if you had to make a purchase to get these promos - and many people did not do this - lets really guess who will be profiting from the many many many remaining promos that were not given out - so these cards are truly in the hands of the dealer flippers on ebay

So lets be honest, as a card collector you should support dealers that conduct their business in an ethical manner and treat you well as a regular, returning customer. If you disapprove of their practices, when you know something funny is going on, find another dealer.

Too often we see something we know is not right, but it either doesn't effect us or may even work to our advantage, so we go along with it. Then one day it happens that we are on the wrong end of it and we are shocked I tell you.

There should be common sense and fair treatment in this hobby, just as in every other business. Dealers need customers, customers need dealers. If you know someone is abusing the system, don't contribute to it.

quote:

Originally posted by sherlock2:
lets be honest - if you had to make a purchase to get these promos

Actually, I'm not 100% certain that I did, as I had a prior relationship with each of these dealers. Quite possibly I could have just walked up to the booth, made pleasant small talk for a few minutes, then politely asked for the promos? But, each of them had at least one card that I wanted to purchase, so I didn't need to test that theory.

In that case the dealer really should have set aside a set of the promos for each box available for sale. That would have been a nice "show special" that buying customers would have appreciated.

Then again, if you arrive at a show late, you can't expect to get the same freebies as the earlybirds. Would it be fair to the people who came to the show early so they wouldn't miss out on any freebies that were going to run out if some of the freebies were held back to be given out later in the day? I see both sides of that.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

I went to a NYCC a few years back. I visited a manufacturer's booth. I was buying boxes of this maker's particular product. There were nice promos that had already been advertised as being available. They had a lot of them. It was mid-show and all the promos that belonged to the product I was buying were gone. They had a steady stream of people who wanted one and they were all given away as freebies before I got there. Now here I stand, a paying customer, and I can't get the promos, but they will be listed you know where the next day.

When that happens, is that fair to people who are collecting that title and spending money on it? No it's not. It's not fair to regular customers when free perks are given away to people who will never be seen again and you get the same thing as a non-customer does or perhaps even worse, nothing at all.

So I get that collectors want free promos to be free, but promos have value and people who are only interested in that value are standing on those lines too, sometimes in greater numbers than the real collectors. I do not blame dealers for not wanting to give away the store without some customer relationship. Public relations is no good to them unless that public becomes customers, but all too often freebie hunters are never seen again.

Just MHO of the other side of the issue and I'm still mad about missing those promos.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
In that case the dealer really should have set aside a set of the promos for each box available for sale. That would have been a nice "show special" that buying customers would have appreciated.

Then again, if you arrive at a show late, you can't expect to get the same freebies as the earlybirds. Would it be fair to the people who came to the show early so they wouldn't miss out on any freebies that were going to run out if some of the freebies were held back to be given out later in the day? I see both sides of that.

[/QUOTE]

Exactly, there are different sides and different cases, that's all I was trying to say.

Just to clarify, this happened about 4 years ago and it was not a dealer, it was the card maker. They had other promos left, just that the ones that belonged to the product I came for were really nice and they had all been snapped up as hand outs. Not the end of the world, just disappointing when you are purchasing the boxes.

I heard the dealers had to buy Cryptozoic product to get the promos. I made a couple of purchases and managed to put the set together. Even though I am a collector only I can completely understand why they wouldn't give them away. I am sure it is expensive enough to do the show without the additional cost of more product they probably already own. I guess we have to call them dealer incentives vs. promos as they shouldn't be paying for the rights to promote something for someone. The dealers were great about giving me the cards. They were within their rights to not freely hand them out. Why should they pay for something just to give it away for free to someone who may be trying to resell it? Wouldn't be in business very long, would you?