W16227

- any chance I can get to post that cover is good with me! just need that Archie movie now - first Pureheart and first Eviulheart waiting in the wings

hey - ducks can be super.... along with rabbits, taz,,,,, whatevers..... - not disagreeing with you at all, though - some of the first appearance pops on books are

I sold a raw 9.2 a few months ago for $45, so I'd say $35-40. First squirrel girl - 90 day average for 9.0 (3 sales) $64

Was this a personal collection pick up - or part of the business? If for the business - do you mind posting the grade and the cost (all costs including shipping) ? - if so I will give you an example of the math/estimating I do when evaluating an individual purchase. heck - ignore that - lets use this as an example - recent doc strange ebay sale So - doc strange 169 is a decent minor key book. I might pick one up individually with the intention of slabbing for keep or resale - in either case my "math" is the same. So - the book as a 4.5 was for sale for a total of $70 (with shipping) Preference is in hand not ebay - but it kind of works the same (though I want more buffer for an ebay sale). Looking the book over - and comparing to GPA. As a slabbed 4.5, you can get 90-100 for the book. Value track - ~ 25 to slab - if you are confident in the grade then it is a break even buy. Not bad for me - but my comics "business" is a side business and I can make pickups and break even - especially minor keys that I could sell quickly if I needed to (so I would not mind holding on to them). The true value in these pickups - is if you can determine if they are undergraded or if a press/dry clean may have a significant effect. Books in hand are much easier to evaluate - but this book actually looks like an ok candidate if you think it can get to a 5.5 or higher. Looking at the scans alone - (and assuming that the black cover is augmenting the flaws in a scan) - a 6.0 might be possible but you will be paying $20 to see (and that 20 may only result in a total of a $40 benefit in price). So - this example is a borderline one (and lest assume that it really is a solid 4.5 grade for this with upside on a clean and press) . For someone not reliant as this for income, might not have been a bad pickup. Good value and minimal loss for resale (both raw and if the buyer decides to slab). For someone trying to run a business - not a lot of meat on the bone and a risk. Better to keep that cash in hand and look for a $500 "lot" of books (or more) that have more of a bulk discount built in.

Was this a personal collection pick up - or part of the business? If for the business - do you mind posting the grade and the cost (all costs including shipping) ? - if so I will give you an example of the math/estimating I do when evaluating an individual purchase.

Most of the time with a large diverse offering like that - will be the price. If you were in the states - I might have made an offer as there was some of interest - but it would have been probably about 50% of what you were asking (I never ran the numbers though, that is just an arms length estimate - the actual offer may have been less). Why? 1 - buying in large volume usually gets a discount vs FMV as you are moving a lot at once. 2. While there are some noce books there -many are a hard sell. JLA .5 will sit on any dealers shelf for a long time to get a good price - and coverless books are even harder to get any real value. I understand the allure of having JLA 1 (and especially 2 that you can sell) -- but the low grades makes them long term sells. Books like this you have to treat as long term/secondary sells where the $$$ you receive for them will be a nice adder to the money stream - but a sporadic adder. 3. you were desperate. You stated you wanted to sell before you move. Nothing says discount like desperation. Now - 1 and 3 manageable - 2 is the tricky one. All along a lot of the boardies have been giving you advice on inventory management. Buying higher priced books and hoping that they can be flipped on movie or TV show hype - is a great way to lose a lot of $$$. Especially if you are buying single books from ebay or a store - then you are counting on the upward mobility to generate the profit. This can be part of the business plan - but should not be what you are counting on. You need to look at ft88's journal again - and read form the beginning. He (and many others) make the profit on volume. Buying in volume and splitting up into manageable blocks. We all go for individual books from time to time from ebay, the boards, or even a local comic shop- but in my experience, this is MUCH more hit or miss than collection buys. You need to focus on books that you can sell for 40-50% more than you bought them for - then the ebay/paypal fees will not crush any profit. Another thing to work on is timing - example is the infinity gauntlet #1s you have. Last time this was brought up - you were insisting that you were going to hang on to them for the movie bump. You should at least have 1-2 of these listed for sale somewhere NOW. Hold a couple back - but get the cash while you can. This is a VERY COMMON BOOK that A LOT OF DEALERS HAVE - and the volume of them in circulation/for sale is only going to go up. CGC alone - there are 38 for sale now in 9.6 or higher (per GPA - tons more raw and other grading companies). Get some profit NOW as a buffer in case the book levels off or starts pulling back based on volume. Then - you have more of that cash flow to put back into more books.

Are you sure this is a good idea? You've already had difficulty selling your incomplete Action 15, now you are buying a second one and you still won't have a complete copy, let alone a cover, between the two books. Consider this about the Batman 1; the value of that book is primarily the cover; its iconic. Why do you think you will be able to sell the coverless batman 1 for more than you're paying now. From what you've been relaying to us, you don't have the capital that a dealer has and now you are tying up most of your money in books that have limited resale potential. I think you really need to decide whether you want to be a dealer or a collector. for the action comics 15 I'd marry the better copy and sell off the other worse one and the bat #1 I'd buy the covers as well to make a complete married copy. Who says I can't do both and as for the limited capital I'm working on that but I know for sure I don't want a physical store front as it costs too much. Why I think it'll be worth more than it is today? simple the value of the comic will go up as it will take me a while to be able to complete this task. I think you missed the point - Red is referring to the fact that most dealers have more capital to invest than you - and can afford to pick up some of the items you are discussing as they will not be putting a large % of t heir cash into the deal. They are also diversified (well, a lot of them) - in that they have different segments for sale. Some of the big hitters are back from Heroes - and they describe selling $1 books and lower end items - alongside the big books. The items you are talking about - while incomplete are still a significant investment. They also may sit for a while to get the price you want. Lets say that you put in $3000 (and that batman 1 cover will probably be more than that on its own) - and you have to wait a year for you to put together something - and sell for $4000. Or - you can invest $1000 in 200 smaller books and flip for $2000 in that same time frame. It will me more overall work - but you will learn more - and build a better rep and a better business because of it. You may also find quicker buy/sell opportunities with that other $2000 you did not spend and keep that cash working for you.

Ebay - until you have a strong rep - might be better to use BIN with best offer - that way Most if the time - you will do better this way with non keys (keys may result in bidding wars) - and you can leave them up for 30 days at a time. Might also want to get an ebay store set up too - then you get a lot of free listings. Start with basic to keep the costs down. If you are losing $$$ after fees - you need to get your buying costs under control. Most everyone has some sales under water - but this has to be controlled. Get that jla 1.8 and the IM 55 up,for sale - those would get you decent returns and working $$$ for better buys.

Ah - thanks Ed - was not even considering media mail. One of those grey areas...... Dave

For your ebay sales - what was the most cost effective manner for shipping the bulk issues? My experience has been that the medium flat rate box works best for moderns (due to weight) - but you may have shipped more in bulk - and the medium boxes (for me) - only fit ~ 50 books..... TIA

I've tried doing that and I always would run into the problem of no one buying my comics even though they were .99 and I'd end up with a load of listing and re-listing fees I cut a lot to make this more readable - keep in mind that people are trying to help you here and not trying to say " I told you so" - I also misread about GPA - good that you have an account. KPR has it right (and he knows this business WAY better than I do) - you have not lost money if you still have stock. Selling 30 books - 30 individual sales sold packed and shipped in one day - or 1-3 bulk sales? . Which is better? Holding books so prices will rise because you bought high - that is one of the worst things you can do. That money invested is now stagnant. 90% of those who buy/sell seriously have overpaid for something at some point. The other 10% are liars. That cash tied up in those books can be working for you by turning more books - instead you are hoping the prices rise faster than bank interest or inflation. Stagnant stock is bad for any business. If they will move - get the most you can and get the money back working for you. As far as auction sales - if you have many realists of the .99 books - chances are they are not worth the cost to ship. Bundle them together for a bulk auction. Still no sale? - find some way to give them away with business cards to a diverse audience. You may get more sales - best case you get someone looking to sell. The idea is to keep as much up for sale as you can process. Waiting on books that can move now - is what you do when you have a lot of stock. And you do not choose based on what you paid - you choose what to sell/ hold based on the mix of books you have left. Making a living as a seller (of anything) - you have to focus on more than just maximizing each individual sale - you have to keep selling. Better to make less on each sale - but have many more sales.

this...... and to echo Revat again - you do not seem to have thought this out too well. This plan has MANY issues. I'll add one - what happens when you list a book under FMV without realizing it. Your presser sees the mistake and wants his cut of the $200 you left on the table. What then? There is no quick path to a sustainable business model - especially if you intend to buy and sell comics for a living. You will probably not listen - but the smart path would be this - 1. Pay as you go for grading and pressing services. This is how you MAXIMIZE your profit. Your plan will require an insane amount of record-keeping (and since you are sharing profits - probably even more as you need to file taxes properly) 2. Get a GPA account. If you are dealing in graded comics - you need this tool It not only is used for current pricing - but you can see trends. You listed a couple of your RAW JLA #1s recently - for more than GPA had referenced for graded ones. Your buyers (especially ones on this site) have GPA (or know someone who does) and can see this pricing. 3. Movie hype helps - but you should never rely on it. That deal you made for the Infinity Gauntlet books - you stared that you were waiting for the movie hype to sell. Ok - but the books are not all that rare - and you have a glut of #1s. Bringing them all to market at once - and you do not maximize profit. Much better to list individually starting now - on ebay there are already more than 20 graded 9.8s available. Imagine the glut if you wait..... 4. SELL BOOKS. Seriously - some may be held on to - but you do yourself a big favor when you move books constantly and do not try and "time" the market. Cash flow (in this case - buying and selling constantly) is a LOT more valuable than buy and hold. you gain experience this way - and build your reputation reputation. Start with a goal - list 20 books a week on ebay. Increase the number if you want - but make sure it is manageable to start. Keep listing more (and relisting what does not sell).Look at the quantity of books on hand - think of how long it will take to sell them with your listing goals. It is not a negative to sell out of your stock - for you and how you have been progressing - might be a good thing and help you see how the plan is progressing. The fewer books you have - the better you can see how close or far away you are from any profit (easier to work up a FMV of 10 books vs 100 and be accurate). If you have stock - then you can at least see what your buying needs may be - and could also increase you listing numbers. At some point - you will see how much "free time" you have - and then you can get a decent idea of the maximum amount of books you are capable of listing. Pace out the high value books with lower value ones- then you have a balanced selling strategy.

50% of the profit of the NEW value??? 1. You'd have to agree on the starting condition. 2. You'd have to agree on the starting value based on the starting condition. 3. You'd have to let them know how much you sold it for (after fees, taxes, shipping etc), and that's assuming you didn't sell it bundled with other non-pressed comics (or those pressed by others). 4. What if you don't sell the books timely? Do you use the market value (which you can't seem to realize?) and pay him in advance of your sale? What if you argue about that value? What if he holds your other comics hostage because you can't sell the other comics he pressed and you disagree on the new grade and price of old comics he already pressed that you're now trying to sell. this is begging for an argument isn't it? unless you're only pressing slabbed books and then reslabbing or doing cheapies (and moving them quickly). This would take a remarkable amount of trust which can easily be damaged. Please please write out all the terms explicitly ahead of time, as this can go south in a million different ways extremely quickly. Or just don't do it. Pay for pressing per unit up at a set fee like any normal person in the comic business. These are good point to take into consideration and as for the trust factor I already shipped him 1500 worth of comics before. Not you trusting them - it is them trusting you. A pressed would basically be fronting you money for their services with the hope that you sell the books for a profit and pay them back quickly. This plan is full of issues- and you realize that there are times that pressing does not work or causes damage, right? - especially with amateurs. If the analysis of the book justifies pressing - pay by unit as Revat suggested.

You talking about the $600 worth? That deal - should have warning bells going off - someone was going to send you $2500 worth of books to sell - now it is $600. If the story from the other person is true - probably means that they sold off the most desirable books and are sending you the drek (or the collection was cheery picked). Be careful with whatever consignment agreement you have with them - so that you do not get burned and just store longboxes for someone until you have to pay for them to be shipped back. Make sure to have a list of what they are sending you - and check this immediately against what you receive,

agreed - no reason to even look for anything in Chicago,,,,,,,,,

haha I'm glad your enjoying this and are we allowed to show cbcs slabs here or no? NO!!!!! --- frowned upon

How does getting up at 3am help find good books? - you going for the estate sale lines? - just curious

Latest pickup - from a NSLCS

Nice Score! And an amazing price too. They are still out there! Question on these - some obvious rust spots up top - I would assume cleaning and repair work (resoldering loose wires, black paint) - Or restoration work is not frowned upon? - If I ever find one I doubt that I would resell it - but I would not want to ruin it by restoring ......

I thought ASM 122 were Mark Jewlers, is there also an NDS ASM122?? --- probably mixed things up (I have a lot from the early insert era so I just group thgem all together in my mind) - it is MJ -- and also has the mennen insert if memory serves.....

I have to laugh at Lonzillas link..... at least a half dozen of those are my sales - I am keeping the IM55 and probably the ASM 122 (after I get it slabbed) - even found some archies in the mix - and those are even more rare --- i can see that ---- tough army guy - buying archies??

nowhere near as nice as J.... This is from a large collection of them I found. Only other near "key" issue in there was an ASM122 Though a TON of other books. This guy was obviously a serious collector - and I doubt that he moved much (the collection had ~ 1000 books) dave

Thanks for the awesome information

? - are you trying to buy on ebay - then flip??

Thanks just wait till all my comics arrive and movies come out then my negative money spent will turn green not a sustainable plan - right now you are buying on the upswing - think hulk 271 - still popular but only had a limited time until the price hit the highs you need to get a better game plan for long term success - otherwise you will have a lot more of the hulk 180-182 stories that lose $$