Proteus126

Short answer: $8,000 for my collection of approximately 500 comic books. Collection core was/is mid-high grade X-Men 94-350 + GS #1. Also Wolverine related books, all Frank Miller Daredevil, early (and worthless) Alpha Flight, and smatterings of Copper Age Spider Man, Thor, Hulk and FF. I did have a few random keys in Hulk 181, ASM 121, Secret Wars 8.

If you want to read about the process, see below:

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I'm selling my entire collection, and started actually selling on eBay two months ago. Most of the valuable stuff is gone and the total sales price on eBay so far is $6,500 with another $1,500 to go.

Final accounting estimate: $8,000 gross - (eBay and PayPal 13%) - $1,700 CGC grading fees and misc expenses means I'm netting about $5,200, or about 2/3 of sale price. It is a very modest collection in terms of both size and value compared to some of you here. It has been a fun experience. I am glad I took my time to prepare.

My process in general was:

1. Find websites that seemed useful to get educated. Found this forum, GPAforCGC, and learned about the CGC process this way.

2. Re-educated myself on grading. I hadn't even looked at my collection since finishing it in 1999 or so.

3. Catalogued and graded my books.

4. Selected a subset for CGC submission based on grade and GPA value. Anything $50 or over went to CGC, about 60 books out of a total of 500 books.

5. Set myself up as a seller on eBay, linked my Paypal account, etc.

6. LEARNED TO PROPERLY PACK COMICS FOR SHIPPING. Bought mailers for raw lots. Bought bubble wrap, popcorn.

7. Learned about the USPS shipping options, and which were best for slabs or raw books. Ordered medium flat rate boxes and legal flat rate envelopes from USPS (free).

This all took me seemingly forever, from December 2015 through February 2016, when I sent off my 60 books to CGC for grading. Used this to fine tune my grading eye. Frankly, it stunk.

Selling:

1. Slabs first, to establish a good seller rep. Got basically what the GPA guide suggested. Hulk 181 (7.5) $1,630, GS X-Men #1 (9.0) $1,200, X-Men 101 (9.6) $580, GS X-Men #1 (4.0) $390, X-Men 98 (9.6) $350, X-Men 102 (9.6) $230, and quite a few $100+ books.

2. Low value but still desirable raw lots (usually of 10 books) for X-Men 142-353. $350 for the bunch, average grade 8.0 before X-Men 200, 9.2 for 200-350. Gained faith in my grading, ready to move onto the more interesting raw books.

3. Raw lots for X-Men 115-140. Did fine. The shocker was $100 for X-Men 115-121 in average 7.0 condition. Way more than I expected.

(all X-Men before 115 went to CGC - some shouldn't have)

4. Now moving on to the last batch submitted to CGC. Some nice ones, include X-Men 110-112 in 9.4, Secret Wars #8 in 9.8 and 9.6. Should move fairly well.

5. Figuring out what to do with the really worthless stuff. Who wants two sets of Alpha Flight 1-34? Anyone? Bueller? Elektra Saga? Ronin? Contest of Champions? I'll whittle those down in lots, and probably give some of the stuff I liked best to my nephew.

Almost exclusively putting them out there for Auction, with no buy-it-now, with an initial price of 75% of what I hope to get. I want to move these books, not get every last dollar possible for them. Seems to work. A few disappointments and a few awesome surprises. In the end a wash and I got fair value IMO.

Lessons learned (or affirmed): Be a good seller - pack very well - communicate - don't bite off more than you can chew and don't list more books than you can reasonably pack and ship in a prompt and careful manner. I listed about 10 slabs and/or lots per week and that was manageable. About 6 of the books I shouldn't have bothered having graded - I wish I had used the pre-screen service but somehow missed learning about it. Well, at least I didn't sell overgraded raw books.

Guess what? I'm now starting to go to yard sales and flea markets, and my enthusiasm for collecting has been rekindled. But more from a standpoint of treasure hunting, not from holding onto books.

Thanks - I'll look into the automated process. I'm a new seller and this is my first encounter with this issue. Thus my seeking guidance.

My suggestion is send another very brief and polite invoice or reminder message. Then give him a couple extra days to pay. The reason being that there are simply some buyers out there who work day jobs and forget to follow up on their weekend eBay activities. It's better to wait a few extra days and complete the sale than to worry about payment timeliness and have to relist the item. I know it sucks to wait, though, and buyers should pay as soon as they can, but for practical purposes it's worth it to give them a little slack.

Slack given. I just sent another invoice. Have been nothing but polite and professional. Today is day #4. If no response then tomorrow I'll start the process.

Thanks. I sent him one after the auction ended. Maybe sending another will help?

Seems like a lot of send without any receive at this point. What motivates folks to do this? Seems a bit sociopathic.

I'll probably have one to add soon. eBay ID withheld until things are official. Smallish sale at $61, closed on Sunday. He jumped in an hour from the end to top the $60 bid, so he has a pulse one would assume.

3 days now with no payment, no contact. After 54 hours I contacted the buyer with a friendly reminder note. No response. Surprising - the buyer has a 94 feedback score and it is good, recent feedback. However, it just doesn't feel like it is going the right direction.

I'm planning on opening a non-payment case tomorrow (once 4 days have passed). I'm not planning on sending another reminder. Just figure I'll have to wait out the "open case" 4 day period and then give a 2nd chance offer to the $60 guy early next week.

Any suggestions on handling it differently? First time dealing with this kind of issue. Not a big deal because of the small amount of money involved, but want to do things correctly.

If someone messaged me that many times over a purchase I would think they were a little weird. You might think you are doing some great customer service attention thing-- but other folks might find it annoying and over the top. He bought something-- paid for it eventually -- he doesn't need to have a conversation about the sale or even provide you feedback. Just my take-- not everyone has the time to carry on a communication or be sitting at the door waiting to receive a signature required delivery.

Yep, he paid in my case and I was good with it, as I told the poster who first brought up this guy is basically silent.

Even for a $1175 comic.

As for being weird that a seller would send two messages, (1) "hello, I'll ship on X" and (2) "hello, it arrives today, please let me know if there are any problems", for a relatively expensive comic book from a novice seller, I think I'll just keep on providing that level of communication with buyers. I'm guessing that volume sellers and buyers don't have time for it - I get that. I'm more like "50 sales and done", so it matters.

Disney_fun123

 

Bid on a four figure book on 2/13 and I accepted within about an hour of bid.

 

Gentle reminder sent on 2/17 and got no response.

 

My listings clearly state that payment should be made within 3 days. I'm fine if they contact me first with a reasonable delay but he didn't.

 

Waste of time.

My experience with disney_fun123.

He bought a $1000 comic from me around noon last Saturday (6 days ago now). Was one of three expensive sales that day. I invoiced all immediately. He was the only one who waited until Sunday to pay.

I messaged all 3 (once they paid) to establish pleasant contact and to let them know I would be shipping Monday AM. He was the only one who did not respond.

I also messaged all 3 on Wednesday, checking back in, letting them know the comics would arrive that day, or possibly the next, and asking them to let me know if anything was amiss. He was the only one who did not respond.

All 3 books required signature confirmation. He was the only one who was not home. He has still not picked up the book. The post office has had it for over 24 hours.

You know what? He paid. He'll pick up his comic sooner or later. He might or might not ever leave eBay feedback. He probably won't send a personal message of thanks. Was it the warmest of interactions? No. But he did pay.

Given his large amount of feedback, I'm guessing he does pay most of the time but I wouldn't be surprised if some of his purchases get neglected. He does seem busy or otherwise unresponsive.

I'm out. I feel lucky this one got a 7.5 honestly. Happy with the price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231909119267?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1561.l2649

eBay: proteuspartisan

Auction format. About 1 day left in all four auctions. Some have bids.

Hulk 181 (7.5)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231909119267?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

GS X-Men 1 (9.0)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231909096344?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

X-Men 101 (9.6)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231909095953?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

X-Men 94 (5.5)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231914999838?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649