spreads

Just curious, it seems like most of your submissions are a single book or a few books? Wouldn't it be a lot more cost effective to send more than one at a time?

I think the startup costs (security especially) would probably be quite high and would leverage the business significantly more that it might not be worth the risk in the event submissions come down. I'm sure CGC has done LOTS of forecasting on opening up a second location, if it were to ever happen I think opening up an international location would make more sense than a second one in the US. They would have a lot more business by submitters from Europe that don't submit as often because it's cost prohibitive on many books....

Be appreciative you don't have to ship internationally....both ways! Remember that sending a batch is like a capital expenditure, a large lump sum at once that gradually pays off in the short-medium term.

I would think graders wouldn't be allowed to send their own books, I could be wrong....

I think the different tiers have dedicated graders, no? It's like a supermarket, maybe they've hired a lot of butchers but could use more bakers?

Based on this and the other value submitters it really seems that this level of service is by far the slowest, quite a bit more than modern....

Yes, the Red #1 (FCBD) spiked at $500 a few times....there's still demand for it, recent sales North of $100. Regarding Oni Press, Scot Pilgrim FCBD has been valuable for awhile. I don't know if this was mentioned or not, but Infinity FCBD is a strong seller as well.

This is amazing! If you are in a city big enough to appeal to collectors I'm sure you would have people willing to pay you for help in constructing something! Are the cabinets connected at the bottom? In your last pic it looks like the cabinet has interior walls, but in the third picture it looks open, e.g. the short boxes extend past the cupboard they're in?

Thanks for clarifying, sorry if I wasn't clear in my previous responses I had a combined 7 hours sleep over the last three days (new born girl!). I wanted to mention that Zenescope does have a strong cult following and things like those prints would best be served moving online. Ebay is definitely worthwhile, I'm in the same boat - sitting with an average 45-50 listings for sale - not maximizing my store enough....increasing those auctions are one of those 'to do' list items but I am getting close to being caught-up in my personal comics and dealer obligations so maybe I'll work on that. I have stolen your idea of using store connections and worked-out a deal with one of the local shops in town, I make it a point of telling everyone when I give them a business card that I offer referrals....you gotta hit the pavement!

You bring up some good points, the most obvious being not being able to quickly restock. It does also seem odd you don't have an autonomous relationship with this owner, the other employee setting-up and then the existing relationship with a different buyer? I think you're well within your rights to request a shot at collections that stroll in; do you know if the owner asked this competing collection buyer a table like what you've been offered?

Well most people (highly recommended) submit online, you cannot select that option until you have an invoice of at least 25 books (the pre screen autopopulates onscreen).

The CGC website is very thorough, just read through every page and go over the FAQ section. Go through all that and come back here if you have specific questions we'll be able to help.

Check the FAQ section on the website, there's all the info in there in the world! In short, the prescreen is a way to prevent having books CGC'd (encapsulated and graded) below a minimum grade. In a recent batch lately I had a pile of books I would be happy with if they graded 9.4 and above, but I probably wouldn't want the book if it was a 9.2 or a 9.0 for example, the prescreen will stop that from happening....

Hi guys, somehow I've missed this thread.... I think it sounds like a box of 'cheapies' is really the only way to approach this, the consignment deal is wrought with a number of reasons: 1) A store that appears profitable and well-run can change quickly and suddenly over time; the largest established LCS here in Ottawa is in financial distress (three locations, two of them being comic shops) has a large consignment collection for sale. There isn't a lot of big books there, but there's a ton of books priced in the double digits, several hundred at least....I doubt the owner will be getting all of those books back! 2) Knowing a guy that seems decent is not really any type of added security. As THT pointed out with his partner; I also got ripped off a year ago shipping comics to a dealer (low amount) that I had known for over 20 years - he ran the local LCS that I visited as a kid! It was a small amount, but the principle of it really, really pissed me off. ...why I think a longbox of cheapies is the only way to go. I don't know if it's the stigma of LCS being expensive for back issues, but I don't know many people that shop or look to shop there for those type of comics. Also, I find that being in a retail setting, LCS do better moving books at prices ($2/$3/$5,etc.) than I would have at shows at those same prices. So if you can get 2-3 $1 longs, 2-3 $2 books, 2-3 $3 books and one $5 box you should be able to move $3-400 in inventory with just the minor additional operating costs of stocking the boxes maybe twice a month? Not really additional work needed and you probably already have buyers lined-up like you suggested.....factor in maybe 5-10% of this cannabalizing some of your existing sales and theft/damage and you're still doing well!

This is amazing! One of my long-term collecting goals is to have a straight run of X-Men/Uncanny-Xmen until at least issue 400...they've always held a special place in my heart since watching the cartoon as a kid in the 90s.

No. Read through the CGC services details and FAQs, I think I read somewhere where it said CGC does not know if CCS pressed a book or not.

Oh right, that's super ....why even have the QC check?

If potential for sale is the primary reason, wouldn't # of copies available for sale, and completed transactions be better determinants for evaluating the market? Tangible data versus wild guesses....

One day doesn't seem bad?

What exactly does QC entail, label check?

Agreed. The first issues have always been popular and valuable, but once you get past the top ten and a few select books most do not sell for big money....still an amazing series, I like it much better than TWD.

I've very familiar with the value of #1 I've owned three copies, currently have one as part of my final collection...7-8 years ago I remember #1 was a solid $100 book in VF/NM raw, I know because I sold one on ebay. It's been a gradual increase, and I'm not disagreeing with you but the price increase in this book over time has been much more organic and 'natural' then what we usually see in this thread. #44 for example, has spiked and fluctuated, but this book and other keys in the series have not seen any of the collectors going after them specifically like they did for TWD keys (like first gov, first michonne, ect.). You can't buy the whole run now for $300, but there was a time you could buy a huge run of it for $400-500 pretty easily...

Invincible is greatly underrated, but before the heat of the series in the last 12-16 months full runs did not sell for much premiums over cover price. Unlike TWD, invincible didn't have a lot of collectors/speculating going after key books and appearances, two years ago I couldn't get more than $2/book for a big run of these comics. I finally sold the lot online last year when interest started to spark, but it wasn't an easy sell. Issue 1 has been on a slow gradual increase for several years, maybe a decade or so (I'm down to my last copy), but of course it's spiked even more so in the last year+. The first few issues have been valuable too but once you get past the double digits you can find most if not all of them for a pretty reasonable amount.

No, you didn't (at least not in the last dozen or so pages, I haven't gone through all posts in this entire thread). You should be able to summarize my question with a few words sentence....why does it matter or why do you care if there are 333 or 555 copies of a variant? I'll even give you an example, I monitor and track house sales in my neighborhood. There are a variety of reasons why I enjoy doing this, but to answer with a few words: I want to see how the average homes in my neighborhood sell versus comparable properties within a certain geographical area.