uchiha101

So, with that remaining stock you are $5,333.41 "in the hole"? How much profit do you hope to make off of your remaining inventory? With the remaining inventory I believe I'll make 200-300 dollars on this. That is a lot of money to tie up to make just a few hundred dollars. I also buy and sell comics, but I look for the small books and make a lot on what I purchase them for. Over this last summer I have bought and sold the following - Bought for @ 3/$1.00 and sold for - Batman #428 $15 Batman The Long Halloween #3 1st Print $15 Amazing Spiderman #300 NM $230 Batman #426-429 Parts One Thru Four $50 X-Factor #5 and 6 $70 New Mutants Annual 2 VF/NM $30 Bought for $1.00 and sold for - Batman:The Killing Joke $50 Batman #426 $20 ABSOLUTE VERTIGO Winter 1995 1st appearance of Preacher $13 Batman #427 $10 Batman #404 - 407 ($1 each) $40 Batman: Year 100 1-4 ($1 for all) $15 X-Factor #6 (VG) $25 Alias #1 NM/M $40 Marvel Graphic Novel #4 1st Printing $25 Runaways #1 $20 Others bought earlier, but sold recently - The Phantom: The Complete Newspaper Dailies vol 1-5 Paid $40 and sold for $120 The Phantom: The Complete Sundays Volume 1 & 2 Hardcover bought for $16 and sold for $80 There are a lot more sales I have done, but this is just an example This isn't for bragging purposes. I just wanted to show that it is possible to purchase cheaper books and make the same profit without locking down a lot of money on one or two books. I travel all over my area looking for sales and have found some great books and great deals without putting a lot of money into it. I had earlier promised it to my son, but a couple weeks ago I picked up Nyx #3 and 4, both NM/M in a 3 for a $1 bin. Imagine the profit margin on those. I have around 22 long boxes of $1 books that I have no more than 25 cents invested in and they are all bagged and boarded. I have around another two that more expensive and they are always selling and I have only around 25 cents average invested in them. I chose not to chase after prospects because they can fail faster than an established grail. With what I have done I have created a following of customers and good standing relationships from sellers from Olympia to north of Seattle. I am passing my business to my two youngest teens and teaching them to follow this formula. They see that it works. see how I deal with customers, and my relationships with other business owners. uchiha, I hope you find your niche and everything works out for you. Thanks and your right it's a lot of money to tie up for a few hundred dollars but I'm being really conservative with how much I make. I've done that a couple times and I like doing it and I'll get better at buying cheaper comics and making a profit from them and I also have a pm I'll send you. I know I like to be conservative with how much money I make,don't want to make too much! I was told not to raise my expectations too high so that's what I did.

#1 for me is to set your goals. How do you know what you're doing if you don't know where you're going? "Make as much as I can" is never the right answer. Listen to these 2 folks Gabe - one is the king of hoarding future monster books and establishing relationships with writers, the other works his behind off and is out morning,noon and night searching for deals and collections. They aren't lucky, they just work hard and smart. It's seeing Chips results (100k) last year if memory serves, that inspires me to hit up sales, run ads, and network constantly. It works! See the "garage sales" thread for examples of my very modest scores. But each one, despite being modest, turned a respectable profit that enables me to purchase book I want to keep. So listen to them Gabe, for your own sake. I agree with this. You wouldn't believe the inventory I have built up in just around a year for very little money. You can see here the different things that I have sold - http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=wa-collectibles&ftab=FeedbackAsSeller I read ads every day and even post my own "buying" ads. Works out very well. When I post ads I do get a few hits here and there but I've made some good deals with them.

So, with that remaining stock you are $5,333.41 "in the hole"? How much profit do you hope to make off of your remaining inventory? With the remaining inventory I believe I'll make 200-300 dollars on this. That is a lot of money to tie up to make just a few hundred dollars. I also buy and sell comics, but I look for the small books and make a lot on what I purchase them for. Over this last summer I have bought and sold the following - Bought for @ 3/$1.00 and sold for - Batman #428 $15 Batman The Long Halloween #3 1st Print $15 Amazing Spiderman #300 NM $230 Batman #426-429 Parts One Thru Four $50 X-Factor #5 and 6 $70 New Mutants Annual 2 VF/NM $30 Bought for $1.00 and sold for - Batman:The Killing Joke $50 Batman #426 $20 ABSOLUTE VERTIGO Winter 1995 1st appearance of Preacher $13 Batman #427 $10 Batman #404 - 407 ($1 each) $40 Batman: Year 100 1-4 ($1 for all) $15 X-Factor #6 (VG) $25 Alias #1 NM/M $40 Marvel Graphic Novel #4 1st Printing $25 Runaways #1 $20 Others bought earlier, but sold recently - The Phantom: The Complete Newspaper Dailies vol 1-5 Paid $40 and sold for $120 The Phantom: The Complete Sundays Volume 1 & 2 Hardcover bought for $16 and sold for $80 There are a lot more sales I have done, but this is just an example This isn't for bragging purposes. I just wanted to show that it is possible to purchase cheaper books and make the same profit without locking down a lot of money on one or two books. I travel all over my area looking for sales and have found some great books and great deals without putting a lot of money into it. I had earlier promised it to my son, but a couple weeks ago I picked up Nyx #3 and 4, both NM/M in a 3 for a $1 bin. Imagine the profit margin on those. I have around 22 long boxes of $1 books that I have no more than 25 cents invested in and they are all bagged and boarded. I have around another two that more expensive and they are always selling and I have only around 25 cents average invested in them. I chose not to chase after prospects because they can fail faster than an established grail. With what I have done I have created a following of customers and good standing relationships from sellers from Olympia to north of Seattle. I am passing my business to my two youngest teens and teaching them to follow this formula. They see that it works. see how I deal with customers, and my relationships with other business owners. uchiha, I hope you find your niche and everything works out for you. Thanks and your right it's a lot of money to tie up for a few hundred dollars but I'm being really conservative with how much I make. I've done that a couple times and I like doing it and I'll get better at buying cheaper comics and making a profit from them and I also have a pm I'll send you.

This is another great tip. I know about a lot of different hobbies as I've collected a lot over the last 30 years, but when something pops up on CL that I don't know much about I'll research it to see if I can profit. Case in point, I bought a butch of baseball statues that I checked out before purchasing and made a great profit on. If you work at it hard enough you can do it. We look at every collection we hear about. No matter how small or bad it sounds. And we've made an offer on every single one. Often there's nothing really worthwhile in the collection but if we get it cheap enough we'll do ok. For example we recently bought 38 long boxes of MA from a local Magic the Gathering store. They'd reduced and discounted and had done everything they could to sell it off. It was severely picked over of anything of value and almost every run was incomplete. It was a high effort, low value mess and nobody wanted it so we got it cheap - the bags and boards we worth more than we paid for it. We made our money back on it at the next show selling some of the smaller sets and $1 books. We funnel some to a flee market vendor and a pawn shop. The rest is in my basement and it'll slowly sell as $1 books or I'll find the missing books to complete the runs. cool I should give something like that a try.

#1 for me is to set your goals. How do you know what you're doing if you don't know where you're going? "Make as much as I can" is never the right answer. Listen to these 2 folks Gabe - one is the king of hoarding future monster books and establishing relationships with writers, the other works his behind off and is out morning,noon and night searching for deals and collections. They aren't lucky, they just work hard and smart. It's seeing Chips results (100k) last year if memory serves, that inspires me to hit up sales, run ads, and network constantly. It works! See the "garage sales" thread for examples of my very modest scores. But each one, despite being modest, turned a respectable profit that enables me to purchase book I want to keep. So listen to them Gabe, for your own sake. If you're going to the LCS anyways, take a bit of time to flip through the dollar bins for overlooked 'hot' comics. If you have the time, turning $1 into $3-$5 per can be pretty nice (if you're also having some fun). Of course, be SURE you can move those comics. Same can be said for garage sales, craigslist, etc in your area. Don't be afraid to turn quarters into loonies, it adds up, ESPECIALLY if you have nothing better to do. making $5-$10 per hour is way better than making 0 to -$4 per hour. For example, you could have heard very easily here on the boards that Scooby Doo Team up 12 was likely going to sell for more than cover. Could easily have anticipated it, gone to your LCS, picked up 5 for $15 and sold them for $50 online in the same day. Takes maybe 2 hrs of your time, easy $35 profit. Not to mention if you don't have a heavy work schedule and REALLY love comics, you might have been at the LCS bright and early on that Wednesday anyways. So very little marginal time and effort to make $35. Even if it took 2hrs of your time its still $17/per hour, which is GREAT when you're unemployed. Might have made even more if you were a subscriber at the store or bought even more. I'm not saying you should keep buying out your local stock of hot comics to flip (you could even order ahead of time for greater discounts), but there are people who anticipate these things and make ok money at it with very little extra effort, to the point where they essentially get their comics (the ones they want to keep) for 'free'. This is a LOT easier with less investment and hassle than buying a low grade key for $200 and trying to flip it for $250. Since you have the time, get to know all your local LCS, and know what they stock in terms of back issues, how often they generally replenish, get on some of their lists, and get a general idea of how many new copies they order relatively, and any limits they have on buying. Pick the brains of employees and owners about trends, business tactics (don't be too specific with your questions), ordering, discounts, anything. And for heaven's sake, don't buy ANYTHING unless you're absolutely sure you can sell for at least 3x return in less than a month. And don't do ANY buying of any KIND until you get a job or are getting at LEAST a 20 to 1 return on your dollar. I came to that realization too about buying when I checked how much money I have left. I tried buying hot comics but failed to sell them so I'm going to learn a bit more about the proper timing before I try again. to this end, you can do some 'fantasy' flipping. If you see some 'hot comics' at the store/garage sale that you feel compelled to buy, DON'T BUY THEM but write down the price, and track them against ebay/gpa for 1 week, 1 month, 3-6 months later, and see how you do. Its not a perfect system, but a good starter system. cool that's like what I do with stocks because they're virtual I'll give it a try thanks.

#1 for me is to set your goals. How do you know what you're doing if you don't know where you're going? "Make as much as I can" is never the right answer. Listen to these 2 folks Gabe - one is the king of hoarding future monster books and establishing relationships with writers, the other works his behind off and is out morning,noon and night searching for deals and collections. They aren't lucky, they just work hard and smart. It's seeing Chips results (100k) last year if memory serves, that inspires me to hit up sales, run ads, and network constantly. It works! See the "garage sales" thread for examples of my very modest scores. But each one, despite being modest, turned a respectable profit that enables me to purchase book I want to keep. So listen to them Gabe, for your own sake. If you're going to the LCS anyways, take a bit of time to flip through the dollar bins for overlooked 'hot' comics. If you have the time, turning $1 into $3-$5 per can be pretty nice (if you're also having some fun). Of course, be SURE you can move those comics. Same can be said for garage sales, craigslist, etc in your area. Don't be afraid to turn quarters into loonies, it adds up, ESPECIALLY if you have nothing better to do. making $5-$10 per hour is way better than making 0 to -$4 per hour. For example, you could have heard very easily here on the boards that Scooby Doo Team up 12 was likely going to sell for more than cover. Could easily have anticipated it, gone to your LCS, picked up 5 for $15 and sold them for $50 online in the same day. Takes maybe 2 hrs of your time, easy $35 profit. Not to mention if you don't have a heavy work schedule and REALLY love comics, you might have been at the LCS bright and early on that Wednesday anyways. So very little marginal time and effort to make $35. Even if it took 2hrs of your time its still $17/per hour, which is GREAT when you're unemployed. Might have made even more if you were a subscriber at the store or bought even more. I'm not saying you should keep buying out your local stock of hot comics to flip (you could even order ahead of time for greater discounts), but there are people who anticipate these things and make ok money at it with very little extra effort, to the point where they essentially get their comics (the ones they want to keep) for 'free'. This is a LOT easier with less investment and hassle than buying a low grade key for $200 and trying to flip it for $250. Since you have the time, get to know all your local LCS, and know what they stock in terms of back issues, how often they generally replenish, get on some of their lists, and get a general idea of how many new copies they order relatively, and any limits they have on buying. Pick the brains of employees and owners about trends, business tactics (don't be too specific with your questions), ordering, discounts, anything. And for heaven's sake, don't buy ANYTHING unless you're absolutely sure you can sell for at least 3x return in less than a month. And don't do ANY buying of any KIND until you get a job or are getting at LEAST a 20 to 1 return on your dollar. I came to that realization too about buying when I checked how much money I have left. I tried buying hot comics but failed to sell them so I'm going to learn a bit more about the proper timing before I try again.

#1 for me is to set your goals. How do you know what you're doing if you don't know where you're going? "Make as much as I can" is never the right answer. Listen to these 2 folks Gabe - one is the king of hoarding future monster books and establishing relationships with writers, the other works his behind off and is out morning,noon and night searching for deals and collections. They aren't lucky, they just work hard and smart. It's seeing Chips results (100k) last year if memory serves, that inspires me to hit up sales, run ads, and network constantly. It works! See the "garage sales" thread for examples of my very modest scores. But each one, despite being modest, turned a respectable profit that enables me to purchase book I want to keep. So listen to them Gabe, for your own sake. I checked it out and it was the mostly horror collection if I believe and I too will learn to work harder and smarter.

hmmm when I was in Alberta all they wanted me to do is construction and I'm not built for that but I was able to improve my resume with them.

Hmmm right now what I want to do comic wise is sell what I have right now. Job wise I'm looking for a entry level job and I'm still not getting hired. I'm not sure what kind of jobs you're applying to but moving around as much as you have are red flags on your resume. It costs money to train employees, and employers want team members who are dependable and reliable, not ones who bounce around from place to place. How many jobs are you listing on your application and what is the length of employment you are listing for each job? If you're listing multiple jobs per year with only a few weeks to a few months at each job then you would be an applicant I would pass on. Having a ton of jobs listed on your resume, or application, doesn't make you look better but more of a liability since you'll most likely be a temp employee. I only apply for customer service or a dishwasher position and I've had three jobs which the most I worked at was a year and yes I do move around a lot.

This is another great tip. I know about a lot of different hobbies as I've collected a lot over the last 30 years, but when something pops up on CL that I don't know much about I'll research it to see if I can profit. Case in point, I bought a butch of baseball statues that I checked out before purchasing and made a great profit on. If you work at it hard enough you can do it. So far what I've done are yugioh cards, video games, coins and comic books.

Yes I make lots of mistakes but I'm learning from them and maybe if I think of this as a game it'll do better something along the lines of risk. To get ahead you should treat it like a job, not a game. It takes hard work and experience to succeed. Put ads on kijiji, go look at collections, buy collections, grade and price the books, bag and board, list them on ebay or here or wherever. My partner and I have bought dozens of collections this year. Some small and some big. Most aren't exactly key laden but we're willing to buy anything if there's a profit to be made. Same goes for finding a job. Go and ask employers why they didn't hire you. Take their feedback objectively - don't get mad and don't embrace denial - and use their feedback to turn things around. Don't just sit there,, do something. Make up a big sign that screams "I WANT A JOB' and walk down the busiest street in town. Employers want employees with skills and experience but they're always looking for motivated people who want a job and want to work hard. I'll think of it as a job and I do put ads on kijiji but so far it's been people who have came to me with drek. I'd love to have a partner but I'm not sure how to go about looking for one other than asking here on the boards. I thought it's not allowed to ask employers why they didn't hire you? Also I want to pm you about something.

Working for others, although more dependable, is not the best way to make money. Best way to make money is being a backup quarterback on a west coast football team. Barring that, if your starting from scratch you need steady money. Comic related? Great! But that not easily done to sustain ones self and start a business. Although I guess in fairness, nothing is really easily done. But seriously, I could quit my job, hire a coach and practice for 10 hrs a day for two years and still not be anywhere close to being an nba point guard, no matter how much I want it. Not everyone can be everything. I'd don't think the op has shown he's ready for any of the 'best ways' is making money, comic or otherwise. Start with 'not losing money while working hard to make it' I've made a profit with the comics I have sold so far so it's a start and a lot of mistakes have kept me from making more but I have to start somewhere.

Working for others, although more dependable, is not the best way to make money. I agree I want to be my own boss one day but I know I have a lot to learn before that happens.

I think I can say I do customer service pretty well I haven't had any complaints but when they happen I do my best to fix them and make them happy. What your saying goes for anything business related even if comics don't work out for me these can be transferable skills.

Yes I make lots of mistakes but I'm learning from them and maybe if I think of this as a game it'll do better something along the lines of risk.

Tough question since I focus on what I believe I can flip but my biggest focus with the my sales has been the silver age comics. Ok let me clarify... what area of the hobby do you know enough about to use to make a profit? The internet made information quickly and readily available, EVERYONE can see what books are selling for, sales histories, census numbers and so on to determine if a book is a good "buy low, sell high" candidate. One trick is to be faster than everyone else. But that means you have to know your numbers, like do you have a good sense of the market value for all of the silver age keys to know when there's meat on the bone and when there's not? eBay BINs that are good deals get snatched up fast, just like they do here. If you know your stuff you can take advantage of that, but you have to be the fastest. And yes, I think a healthy percentage of people here on the boards focus (in part) on what they think they can flip, so you have a LOT of competition, so here's another thought. Where is there space in the market? What area has room for profit without a lot of people existing in that space? Maybe its pulps? Maybe it's an emerging market? Silver Age books already have a TON of eyes on them and they are far more experienced than you both at knowing the books, the current market, and maybe even at predicting possible market movement, maybe look for a different area to profit from? (Yes if SA books come in the door you take them, if SA owner wants consignment you take it, but I'm talking about your proactive purchases for the purpose of flipping). The only way I see you making money via the "buy books for 50% of FMV" method is if you get enough coin together to buy full collections and use the bulk purchase to negotiate enough of a discount on FMV to make it profitable. But then that gets into a different area of hustle which is you have to network, hunt and bird dog your region to FIND those collections (so you can make the offer). just some unsolicited advice... What I want to do is sell the comics I have and find stuff that's local to me like you said because good deals do pop up and I'm always out of cash. The best area for me has been silver age comics and next time I won't overpay for comics. Consignment wise I'm going to give it a try since I have three consignments going.

Hmmm right now what I want to do comic wise is sell what I have right now. Job wise I'm looking for a entry level job and I'm still not getting hired.

What questions should I ask myself? If this is for me?

congrats

Haha I didn't know it had a acronym but now I do.

Not sure what that means

Moving update: So it turns out I'm moving again starting Nov 1st

wow that's one of my grails right there

Ah I see I think that hard parts will be learning the accounting and taxes part of comics but if this turns out to be a good side venture I'll be happy with that too. ya - being "above board" (for the US ) - is tough I am VERY small potatoes compared to others - what I wrote (minus a bunch) - is how you are supposed to account for stuff - as a SMALL guy. This does not include the fun of state taxes. Illinois has an easy all online site to take care of this - but you still have to be on top of stuff....... learning all of the steps, though, - helps a TON with weather or not you are actually making a profit (if any) - and making the whole thing worthwhile. It is also FUN - and a good way to make some extra $$ ---- to pay for the ones you want to keep...... I'm beginning to understand this and I'm also learning about myself as this goes on and I found out why I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I did. It was because I'd work so hard and get angry if I saw all my effort was basically worthless and as I learn more and do things smartly it will all help out my bottom line and I hope down the road I can have a full collection of Archie and ASM comics from 1-700 including the AF15.

I clipped some stuff - This may be one of those BIG behaviors to readjust - you NEVER know for sure. I posted earlier about one of my tactics when I am buying for myself- and this (breaking even or near that) - is how I gauge a bad deal/good deal --- but for buy/sell stock - you have to resist this. You never know what any book will hopefully sell for - until it sells. If you set up a solid strategy (or even as a gauge of results) --- you look at the average over time. For ones that I can hold in the collect me inventory- I do not mind being at that price point where I "think" i can move it for close to what I paid - as I do not really want to sell these. It looked like you did ok with the sales so far (if the numbers are true NET profit)-- if you can move everything else in a couple months - and break even - you did real well for what you have. Continue to simplify SMARTLY and you may be able to work up a side income. Look at Chips online auctions - that is what a person has to do to make a living at this. He is a beast - I do not think you are ready yet for this kind of pressure and throughput. PACE YOURSELF!!!!! I'm glad the you mentioned the part of if the deal is a bad or good one because when I first started this I would just overpay for comics and hold them for a long time I'd make a killing off them which I know now is completely wrong. You're also right about me not knowing what will happen for the market with the comics I've bought which is something I need to consider in the future as well. The amount of profit I made are accurate and this is all after expenses and definitely my lessons to take away from this will be pay less for comics, buy comics I can sell quicker and not hold them for as long as I did and also a big factor that cut into how much profit I made was being scammed by people. I never heard of Chip's online auctions but I'll check them out.