I have some questions that kind of roll into each other, please bear with me for a bit. First, thanks for all the help I've gotten from reading other posts. It helped narrow down the world of questions I had down to this short story.
I've been lurking for a whole trying to get learn more about comic book collecting after a very long break from pretending to collect as a young teen. Let me get the easy questions out of the way: Where can I buy a $50k collection for $1,500-$2,000ish? Who is grading all the eBay comics so poorly?
Now onto the meat and potatoes. I made a large comic purchase a few years ago; 6 long boxes of mostly Marvel, some DC (about 1600/200) super hero titles that went from the 70's to the early 90's (lots of Cap, FF, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Spider titles, X-Men and Factor, New Mutants). I got a very good deal on them. They were all in very good condition (I'm not a pro grader, but they are all in great shape) and are all bagged and boarded. I've continued to pick up a few (too many) books here and there at some local cons, from a couple private sellers, an estate sale (long-box of ASM 130ish-330ish minus some key issues) and on eBay. I've ended up with 9 long boxes and 6 short ones, about 2,500 books in total. I am planning on giving the bulk of the collection to my friends' kids as gifts (12 kids total). They'll get a short box of the stuff from the late 80's/early 90's around 7-8. They'll get another one when they're a little more responsible with books that would (hopefully) hold a little more value.
Now for some of the questions I have. What is a good online resource for determining values of the books? I have looked at comicbookrealm, comicspriceguide, and gocollect so far but they all vary from book to book. Is there a site that lists key issues, first, second, third appearances, death etc? I'd like to save any of those books for the second wave of boxes.
I would like to sell whatever I'm not giving away from the collection; ideally to break even. Realistically, it's to get some nicer books for the second set of boxes. After what I've gotten off eBay I'd like to be more accurate with the descriptions of the books I sell. I've googled some grading tips and guidelines. Even with the help of those, I would feel uneasy giving a specific grade to a book. Would it be better to sell the books with a general grade instead of a specific one (VF vs. 8.0) or just list them without a grade? What is a good way to get accurate with grading your books? If I'm striving for accuracy, would it be better to sell on a platform that's not eBay? I'm not saying that all eBay listings are inaccurate, but I've seen (again, not a professional grader) some real reaches for high grades. I guess we're living in a world of optimistic people.
I'm about ready to get the first 12 boxes assembled but I'm not close to figuring out what to put in the next ones. I'd like to get a couple graded ones per box but I'm still a long way from figuring out if I have any that would be worth sending to be pressed and graded (I probably don't). I do have a good idea where I can find some good ones to purchase.
I wanted to get this first post out of the way because I put it off for long enough. Also, I've see a lot of really nice stuff on the sale boards and I'd rather not make my first post an "I'll take it" on a book. Thanks for reading through this!
