stormflora

I also did Tom & Jerry #99 last night, but because it was VG/VG+ to begin with, there wasn't really much room for improvement. I attached some shots of the most noticeable changes. I wouldn't self-grade it any higher than what it was before, due to other underlying issues that weigh down its grade. But it does look a bit more appealing. Regardless, it's kind of fun fixing up these comics for conservation. I do apply some tape on the inside of some issues that are in really rough shape (tearing spines, ripped edges, etc., but that's because I don't want my comics to fall apart later down the road. I think I'm going to try some staple replacements once I have the opportunity.

Hm, doesn't look like long runs. Are they specific key issues of each cartoon series, or? Also, as @D2 says, it's just so sleek and tidy. Simply aesthetic. What are those dividers that you use? Do you have a link to Amazon or something?

May i just compliment how beautiful those boxes and its contents look? Like hot damn, is it super clean!

Considering how some GA/SA comics can end up losing pages, it's not surprising that some people would resell individual ones. Either for people to have at least a piece of an extremely rare comic (e.g. Action Comics #1), or to buy and fix an existing comic they have that's coincidentally missing that/those page(s). @shadroch Conan has graciously resolved the issues with my orders, and I remain totally satisfied

Impulsive purchases get the best of us. Hoarding is an actual psychological problem that people do fall victim to and can't entirely blame themselves for being in that position. It feels satisfying and empowering to be materialistic and own stuff that others do not. The fact that you have realized that it should be strictly a casual hobby and nothing more is already a turn for the better in your life. Sure, you could have set more realistic goals to prevent yourself from falling into a death loop that kept a a tight lid on your finances, but everyone is human and makes mistakes. Selling off your collection is essentially giving the hobby closure while also helping you recoup the money you put in. Just treat the entire adventure as a game that you've paid for and finally finished playing.

That photo's super blurry, so I can't make out most of it. I guess the particular comic issues I look for simply don't have low auction starts. I can understand superhero comics being a dime a dozen, so one cent bids are probably not so uncommon.

Huh. Strange. I could've sworn I never encountered one cent minimums as I was looking around comic auctions. Or maybe everyone just sets at least $1 or something. (Or maybe I'm blind and never really looked?)

What auction site allows you to only bid one cent? Or is it some local thing?

You paid a cent for it?

I see those are the British versions. Are you in the U.K.? Or are you collecting them because of their uniqueness? Do you know whether those variants differ from their American counterparts?

I am totally in the same boat. I've collected Chip 'n' Dale and now finishing off with Tom and Jerry. Prices aren't ridiculously high, and runs are realistic to collect. I actually enjoy the hunt and the comics as well, without being too pressured about having to fork out hundreds for a handful of issues

Tom & Jerry #96. Cleaned and pressed. Before was roughly a GD+, now it's more like a VG-.

Scarcity. As time passes by, more and more comics go out of circulation for various different reasons. Obviously, if you were there from the very first few years, I'm sure the comics probably costed you at worst no more than lunch to buy. If everyone knew that Action Comics #1 would end up being worth millions, you'd bet that every single person back then would buy hundreds of copies to hold and pass onto their heirs until now. Life goes on. Speculation is speculation; we will never know what the future holds. If everyone knew that Amazon or Microsoft or Google would become trillion dollar companies, they would've bought millions of shares after the dot com bubble and held them forever. Or they would've bought millions of Bitcoin when it was worth less than tenths of a cent. We cannot dwell over opportunities that we missed. Because we simply did not know, and could never have known without taking a gamble.

In my case, I have a ton of these plastic self-adhesive bags I had from a past business venture. I think they were meant for books or clothes or something. So I repurposed them for my raw unbagged comics. And for the backer boards, I just fetch some cheap construction paper from the dollar store and cut them to size.

Storage units should really only be for temporary use and should not be used to hold high value items. Simple as that.

Yeah, I know. It's just a possible option, if you don't have family/friends to borrow their basement for a little bit. I'd still highly advocate taking the time to move everything yourself. It's the only safe way.

One possible alternative is to tackle it in multiple trips, and if space is necessary, rent a storage unit for a month or two. More effort involved but shouldn't cost more than a professional mover. But since I'm in Canada, I have no idea how long of a distance it is between the source and destination for the OP. But yeah, personally transporting the high value comics and leaving the rest to the movers is a sound alternative as well.

That duck is asserting its dominance.

Out of curiosity, what is the highest possible grade attainable with tape on/in a comic in any fashion?

Of course, there are many out there with their basements filled with boxes of comics, mostly common low-value ones. I've done my feed of online retail sales in other markets, so I know all about that sort of business. I've since moved on though, as I have a better paying job now that involves far less effort than dealing with the small profit margins of resale. The space is probably more important to me now.

With artificial scarcity of comics/TCGs, it's really only feasible for business/warehouse owners to buy lots of first prints/boxsets to sift through and sell the high valued contents, and liquidate the rest. Ordinary folk wouldn't have the space to do that, or even the cash to indefinitely sit on.

Well, modern sports cards are not nearly as valuable as modern TCGs, due to oversaturation. There's like, a hundred or a thousand sport card for every one TCG card right now. It makes sense, since they came first and have existed for over a century now. I see hundreds of listings of bulk lots of sports cards going for mere dollars because of how numerous they are. I think even amongst seasoned sports card collectors, they'd have a bit of trouble trying to figure out what is or isn't worth $$$ with each new set of cards. Even if a card is worth a lot, it probably doesn't flip as quickly as a modern high-value TCG card, due to the lower traffic and exposure.

Wow, I guess I just don't visit police stations enough. Never really had a reason to. But certainly good to know, thanks.

I like to compare these modern comic CGC 9.8 pump-and-dump schemes to how TCG corporations do business in this day and age. Artificial scarcity. Essentially, legally printing money. Insiders of publishers or their direct retailers/wholesalers get first claim to their freshly minted books, which are guaranteed to be NM/M. Some factors then easily pump up their value, such as artwork or rarity. To avoid depreciation over time due to busted speculation, these first owners quickly flip them at high prices to whales willing to pay money for them. The same issue has plagued TCGs forever (Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!). Rarity, strength or usefulness of card, etc. We've moved on from the days of collecting holo first edition Charizards to collecting cute anime girl holofoils that only appear in 1 of every 1,00 packs at $500+ a pop.

They do? I swear I've never seen them before in my entire life. Must be a downtown-only thing.