Turnando

Digital scales are cheap and accurate.  If you are going to sell through the mail you will need one. 

One that will work for comic packages is about $20.  I think it's just as important as packing tape.  

On 3/20/2023 at 6:31 PM, Raze said:

 

Cool t-shirt

I think it is natural to second-guess a big purchase.

I went back and forth on how I felt about my biggest one and after a while I settled down and felt great about it. 

Trust your instincts. You have a cool book.

On 3/13/2023 at 8:23 PM, the blob said:

Those numbers say I shouldn't stack the boxes three high at a max load of 40 pounds per square foot. That is silly. 

I suspect that a single stack of long boxes would be more of a point load than a distributed load.

I think the 40 lbs per square foot design requirement is for a distributed (average) load.

Stack long boxes 3 high across a significant portion of your floor.  That is probably  when you are safe but at the limit. 

The safety factor is probably 3 or 4 so you can go much higher before you snap your floor but why?

(Long box is about 1.6 square ft)

On 3/11/2023 at 12:47 PM, Dr. Balls said:

That's some serious faith in your mezzanine with all those boxes on it.

Good catch.  That floor is probably  overloaded.  Be careful!

If you want a fright google something like 'residential floor max design load'.  I'll bet plenty of collectors are pushing it.

Maybe you could use your LCS for some of these books.  That way you know what you are getting.  Then use mycomicshop for the books you can't find.

Mycomicshop isn't making any money on your orders if there is that much back and forth... And you aren't happy... So if you start ordering 3 or 4 books at a time from them instead of 80 books I bet you and mycomicahop will be happier... And so will your LCS.

Sorry if this is old news but instocktrades has the "Aliens: The Original Years" Vol 3 for $77.50.

Vol 1 and 2 are easy to find at that discounted price but the best I had seen for Vol 3 was about $95 until I noticed this. 

Vol 4 is coming out this month, btw.

Also I noticed that they have the Darkhorse "Alien: The Original Screenplay" TPB for $5.99.  I hadn't seen that before so I picked it up.  With some quick searching it looks to me like $5.99 can't be beat.

I'd cull all the books that are worth less than X dollars/pesos/etc. Then work on selling what is left.

X is determined by how much your time is worth.

I have a pile of unwanted TPBs that I just sorted.  $10 books went to the Goodwill donation bin. No regrets.

Draw the line and dump the cheap stuff. Sell the rest for 50% of FMV. Freedom!

If it were me, assuming I'm wanting a high grade Psi Force #1, I'd keep the 9.0 as it is and begin a quest to find a better one in the wild.

It is an inexpensive book so you can afford take chances.  Buy the super clean copies when you find them and then you can hone your grading skills... on your search for a 9.8.

On 1/27/2023 at 8:27 PM, Raze said:

Also has anyone ordered a "damaged" trade from IST? Are they really bad?

This inspired me to go dumpster diving through IST's list of damaged books.  I found some good books but the prices were a bit higher than the "used" listings on Amazon.  I have had good luck with used TPBs on Amazon.  I stick to "good" or "very good" and I've only had a few disappointments out of several dozen.

Visualize pain and misery for the thief.

Theft is SUCH a frustrating crime.  I don't think it gets treated with the seriousness it deserves.  It is so traumatic for the victims.

In Costa Rica, where I live half the year, the same problem exists but to an extreme way beyond what I see in the US:  rampant property crime and little police action.  As a result, in Costa Rica vigilante action thrives.  I'm convinced the only reason the murder rate is so high in CR compared to the US is because of vigilante action.

One of my friends just sent me a pic he took of a known local thief slumped against a wall in town.  Stabbed in the ribs, bleeding on the sidewalk and beaten to a pulp, jaw hanging like a jaw hangs when someone got punched so hard it snapped into pieces.  His last mistake was to assault the cashier when he took the cash box.  Folks got together on WhatsApp and tore that dude a new one.

A glorious day for everyone in town except for the thief.

Imagine that kind of result for the X-men #1 thief.  It's only a dream but we can dream.

On 12/12/2022 at 7:35 AM, followtheleader said:

I'm always curious how people see trending of sales in their local area.   I tend to focus on 80s, but any info is welcome. 

Cool analysis.  I like your toy posts.  I think I sold you a vintage Dagobah playset years ago in person in Golden... maybe through a rebelscum posting?  Can't remember.

Anyways, keep it up.  You find a lot of cool stuff.

On 12/11/2022 at 5:36 PM, followtheleader said:

It's a lot of He-man/MOTU kid's costume pieces from the 1980s

AWESOME 

On 11/30/2022 at 1:32 PM, ThothAmon said:

very sharp copy. I’ve seen 3.0s with hole punches that look way worse calling in question CGCs consistency when grading. 

If I were more of a collector than I am I'd snap up under-graded hole punched books.  

I am not surprised there is so much inconsistency in grading.  It is a huge defect to some and minor to others... it might take a while for standards to appear.

Personally, I think they are cool in an old book that is otherwise in awesome shape.  In that case, the punches are WHY it is in awesome shape.  It lived in a binder for 70 or 80 years.  How cool is that?

I think hole-punched books are a great opportunity... But I mostly buy books to read and to stare at art up close so I'll watch from here instead of loading up.

On 11/26/2022 at 6:26 PM, KEVIN WRIGHT said:

I emailed them and they said that they caught the mistake and would be refunding me, no explanation as to why this had happened or an apology,

They probably should have apologized but I don't think an explanation is necessary. 

An explanation would be an excuse.  Maybe a cultural difference, but in the US offering excuses is almost always frowned upon. Nobody in America really wants to hear an excuse.

We just want it to get done and if it doesn't get done we don't want to hear about it, we just want our money back ASAP.

On 11/14/2022 at 10:12 AM, Robot Man said:

it’s getting to the point now that I have to wear shoes, socks

Bummer! 

On 11/12/2022 at 4:37 PM, thehumantorch said:

Spider-man 1973.  Recently purchased and I was told this was probably only released in the UK

 

Don't grade the drek.  Put it in a recycle pile for the client.

They can take it to the curb with their recycle bin full of junk mail, plastic bottles, and cans.

I love comic shop t-shirts.  Looks like a good one hanging on the wall behind Tony.

On 11/5/2022 at 11:20 AM, shadroch said:

Again, the job is to catalog the collection. Not to cherry pick the best books.

I think a client would want an expert to let them know about the 10,000 books that can be dismissed as too cheap to look at for more than 5 seconds.  That is cherry picking, in a way.

If I had the job I'd spend a day culling the drek and ask the client to dig through that on their own to put aside anything they think is cool... and get rid of the rest.

Then I'd do the job they are asking for but only on the remaining minority of the1 books.

I think cherry picking is in the client's best interest, even if they don't ask for that.  They might be a hoarder who needs an intervention

I collect readers so I don't know GCG cases but I've been on the boards long enough to see several people ask about fake cases and never have I seen one be deemed fake.

I suspect they do not exist. 

I imagine it would not be cost effective for a criminal to produce them.  Other comic book scams are simpler.  FleaBay is full of them. 

On 10/25/2022 at 5:50 PM, Robot Man said:

I went in on a boat once. Anchor and paddle to the break. What a rush it was!

Surfer!  Right on.

rodimus316

Seller with only 223 feedback.

Shill.

I am the only bidder on a book that is pretty much overpriced at min bid but I bid at the minimum.

It sat for a week.

One day to go in the auction, someone put in one bid, which would put them in the lead, and immediately retracted the bid.

The dude is a shill.