adampasz

Hey. I'll take it at 50 if you've still got it.

I was digging through my TT box, and I noticed my much-loved original-owner copy is overdue for an upgrade.  

I have one somewhere, but now we've mostly been using it to check our kids for lice.

I love this. Post more! It's inspiring me to post all my fails too...

1 hour ago, SteppinRazor said:

I'm trying to find the balance point, so if I look up a book and it's available graded, I have a price that 's or s a submittal. 

In my example above, I wouldn't set the balance point any lower than $100, and probably closer to $200. But a lot depends on how much you value your time.

Also, your mercenary analysis assumes you can always pick the 9.8s, which is probably not the case. Let's say you can only pick the 9.8's 50% of the time...
Now you submit 10 books worth $100 each if 9.8, and let's say grading & shipping comes out to $20 per book. Then you get back 5 slabs worth $500 total, but you've spent $200 on the grading. Now, you sell everything and net $30*5 for raws plus $100*5 for slabs minus $200 = $450. If you'd just sold the 10 raws at $30 each, you'd make $300. So the effort you put in to get the books slabbed earned you $150. Maybe worth it; maybe not. But you can see, once you start messing with $50 and $75 slabs, you're lucky if you break even.

You can look into pre-screen to reduce risk. See this thread:

You also need to consider demand for what your trying to sell. Spider-Mans, Batmans, X-Men will move quick. But if you have a bunch of B-List books it could take you much longer to sell through them, even if you lest them significantly below guide.

The premise of your original question is somewhat confusing. I don't think there is a raw/graded price ratio per se.  But Ultra-high-grade (i.e. 9.8s) books usually end up in tiers like this:

raw-NM    9.8
10$           50$
20$           75$
30$          100$

I just pulled those out of my butt, by the way. And I'm not sure anyone's done any kind of deep analysis.

And, as others have pointed out, you have to factor in a lot of other costs.

All this begs the question: Why not post pics and sell your books raw?

I know the cool kids only buy Keys these days, but I find collecting runs helps me focus. I also try to set realistic expectations of when or if I'll ever complete them.

This is stupidly obvious, but the best way to complete a run is to keep it short. I was able to build up high grade Conan 1-30 run in a about 4 months this year, I found most of the books at reasonable prices, and it was really satisfying. It made it a lot easier to stay focused by ignoring any issues above #30... even when there seemed to be good deals.

Similarly, there whole swaths of characters and titles I've decided to ignore (starting with the big guns: Batman, Superman, FF, Avengers...). This makes it much faster for me to scan listings and zero-in on what I want, without getting distracted by other shiny stuff.

Like everyone's already said, you have to be patient and wait for the good deals to turn up.

p.s.: With some help from Lizards, I'm about 75% there on my silver Titans run, but the few gaps are proving tough to fill!

+1 to removing the Value tier 15-book restriction.

I like the new submission form for the most part, though software can always be better. I agree the implementation of the pre-screen feature was confusing, and I commented about it here:

I'll take lot 4 (Superman/Flash race).

PGM JLA #179, Ink Bleed through front cover

Please grade me. Seems like it would be in the 9 range, but pink ink from the interior front cover Acme Boots ad has bled through.

Also, light foxing.

I assume they crunched the numbers, and it made sense for them to launch their own service. Also, they may have decided that if they don't move to streaming now, they'll miss the boat. They may even be willing to run the service at a loss for several years to build up a subscriber base.

It remains to be seen how this will play out for consumers, but I for one am happy to be able to move away from monopolistic cable packages to the "a la carte" model.

For me, a compelling streaming service should include

• Convenience - access content on any device (Smart TV, Roku, Phone, PC) and jump between devices.
• Usability - App(s). are performant and easy to navigate
• Content - Minimum 2 brand new episodes every week, plus a solid collection of *exclusive* content from their back catalog
• Flexibility - Let me share the subscription with my family, choose from multiple plans where appropriate, and let me easily pause/resume my subscription when I need to take a break

It should be noted that Warners already has a streaming service. I'm curious to see if they will consolidate, or just run several different services with overlapping content.

Got my pre-screen books back today. It's fun getting a box full of 9.8s. Still not sure why they're not 9.9s though.  

On 4/22/2017 at 1:15 PM, ft88 said:

New Mutants 1-86 88-97 99 100 Annual 1 3-7 Special 1 Summer Special 1

Condition is NM+ to NM/MT all the way through.  Maybe a NM- to NM here and there but all of these are as sharp as can be. 

Missing from the run are 87 98 and Annual 2 which I do have but would like to sell separately.

Included are the key/minor keys 1 14 16 18 25 26 86 and the Liefeld Cable run. 
Price is $280

 

if still available.

I like minor keys, especially B-minor.

35 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

How much $$ are we talking would result in you having to report income from internet sales? Do you have to have say an Ebay Store? A business or such? Does someone who has none of that or joeblow have to pay taxes on internet sales??

FYI this may be common knowledge but as I haven't ever sold via the internet, I'm at a loss... 

Yes, you have to report all your income, regardless of whether you have an eBay store, business registration, etc.

Note, you only have to report income, so it's good to know the original purchase price of each item in addition to the sale price. Therefore, it helps to keep good records of your transactions both as a buyer and a seller!

You can search these boards for more free tax advice -- there's plenty -- but your best bet is to discuss your situation with a tax professional.

Wow. I would be hesitant to put more than 15 books in the Medium Flat Rate Box, unless they were dollar bin fodder.

On eBay I sometimes use the Fedex SmartPost option; it has proven most affordable for boxes of 50-60 books, if not more. (I've never bought it outside of eBay, and I'm not sure if/how it can be purchased directly through Fedex.)

Media Mail just scares me... 

I don't do war books (yet?), but that GIC 84 is a sick cover! Go TNT Trio!

I had these as a kid. They totally freaked me out!
Detective 477 478 479 Fine to F/VF lot $12

If you insist.

ASM 128
GL74
GL/GA 82
Adventure 371
Aquaman 60
JLA 68, 126, 129

That'll do it.

one more time. (Finally dug out my Micronauts box.)

Micronauts 7 8.5 slightly ow pages $3.
Micronauts 9 8.5 white pages $3.  Small crease at LRFC.
Micronauts 10 9.0 white pages $3.
Micronauts 12 9.0 white pages $3.
Micronauts 13 9.0 white pages $3.  Chip at lower right edge front cover.
Micronauts 14 9.0 white pages $3.  Teensy crease at URFC.
Micronauts 15 9.0 white pages $3.  Front cover looks NM-, but crease at ULBC.
Micronauts 19 copy b 9.2 white pages $4.

Adventure 351 9.0 slightly ow pages $50.  Nice white covers – spine tics for grade.

Please add these to my shopping cart:
Justice League of America 18 6.0 OW pages $25
Justice League of America 50 7.0 white pages $18.  Spine cracks, dirt/rubbing on BC.
Sandman 6 copy a 9.4/9.6 white pages, $12

It looks like a badly mis-cut cover. Maybe someone tried to trim it to make it look better? Not sure how that impacts the grade...

That aside, I'd say 5.5. Fine-.

Major defects I can make out:

• medium creases and tears at the bottom of the book, front & back
• spine marks
• light bends and stains

Date stamp should not impact grade.

Awesome selection!

Conan 44 8.5/9.0 W $6 – miscut, MVS intact, Adams Art.
Conan 98 9.0+ slightly OW pages $3.
Green Lantern 32 6.5 white pages $25.  
Justice League of America 53 8.0 slightly OW pages $35.  Dint @ LLFC/LRBC.
Justice League of America 82 8.5/9.0 slightly OW pages $25.
...
and maybe more later

At 75%:

DC Comics Presents #79 8.0 VF
DC Comics Presents #82 9.2 NM- 
DC Comics Presents #92 9.2 NM- 
DC Comics Presents #93 9.2 NM-
Justice League Adventures #1 9.6 NM+
Wonder Woman #329 Last issue 8.0 VF
Incredible Hulk #400 9.8 NM/MT