Jesse-Lee

via PM - thanks!

Had a buyer make an offer on a book - the offer was fair and I intended to accept but something came up and I missed the deadline - bad on me, but it happens. They made a second offer for a few dollars more and added a message that they really wanted the book but that was their ceiling. I thought, hey, why not be a nice guy and maybe gain a repeat customer - I messaged them and told them I was countering at their original (lower) offer price to be fair to them because I neglected to accept it when I intended to - which is what I did. Guess what? Crickets. So no sale. Not a huge deal, but I guess I learned to just accept the offers and not try to be nice!

Been trying to grab inexpensive copies of first appearances when I run across them. Bought some Hulk stuff (1st Skaar, 1st Maestro, stuff like that). I grab cheap first-run TMNT when I see them; even early issues - except the first 4-5 - can be found for fairly cheap. Grabbed some Angela MCU stuff just in case, along with Spawn 9. Green Lantern too - modern ones like Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Kyle Rayner.

Green Lantern 48-51 - (First appearance of Kyle Rayner [48]; first Kyle as a Green Lantern [50]; first appearance of Parallax [50]) Final Crisis 1-7 and Director's Cut - ("Death" of a bunch of characters including Batman [6] and Darkseid [7]; first appearance of Calvin Ellis - Black Superman of Earth-23 [7]; first appearance of Nubia - Black Wonder Woman of Earth-23 [7]) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 49-50, 56; Usagi Yojimbo Color Special 3 (TMNT 1 cover homage [TMNT 50]; City at War starts [TMNT 50]) Stray Dogs 1-5 "Final Print" set (#1 - 5th; #2 - 4th; #3 - 4th; #4 - 4th; #5 - 2nd) And some recent release pick-ups:

Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children #1 & 2 $6 set

This kind of fits as dollar box (I posted in the eBay wins thread too), a weird lot buy on eBay that yielded some fun, odd stuff. I was the second bidder and won with a last-second, $16.27 bid. Shipping was $16.25, so total cost with tax was $34.31. 73 total books spread between a few complete and incomplete runs - average cost was 47 cents per book. Most of these runs aren't high-value, but there's enough there to cover my cost and let me keep what I want if I choose (which is mostly the last image at the bottom). Here are the books: Batman Streets of Gotham 3-10 Gotham Academy 1-4; 7; 9-14; Gotham Academy Endgame 1 Salvation Run 1-7 Dark Tower Long Road Home 1-3 (of 5) Dark Tower Treachery 2-6 (of 6) Dark Tower Gunslinger Battle of Tull 1-5 (of 5) Dark Tower Gunslinger The Way Station 1-5 (of 5) Dark Tower Gunslinger Little Sisters of Eluria 1-5 (of 5) Dark Tower Gunslinger So Fell Lord Perth and Dark Tower The Sorcerer One-shots The Stand Sketchbook Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds 1 (1st and 2nd prints) - 4 (of 5) Final Crisis Rogues Revenge 2-3 (of 3) Final Crisis Revelations 1-2; 5 (of 5) Final Crisis Secret Files One-shot and Final Crisis Superman Beyond 3D 1 (of 2) Final Crisis Director's Cut 1; Final Crisis 1-7

This is one of the stranger lot buys I've had in a while - I was the second bidder and won with a last-second, $16.27 bid. Shipping was $16.25, so total cost with tax was $34.31. 73 total books spread between a few complete and incomplete runs - average cost was 47 cents per book. Most of these runs aren't high-value, but there's enough there to cover my cost and let me keep what I want if I choose (which is mostly the last image at the bottom). Here are the books: Batman Streets of Gotham 3-10 Gotham Academy 1-4; 7; 9-14; Gotham Academy Endgame 1 Salvation Run 1-7 Dark Tower Long Road Home 1-3 (of 5) Dark Tower Treachery 2-6 (of 6) Dark Tower Gunslinger Battle of Tull 1-5 (of 5) Dark Tower Gunslinger The Way Station 1-5 (of 5) Dark Tower Gunslinger Little Sisters of Eluria 1-5 (of 5) Dark Tower Gunslinger So Fell Lord Perth and Dark Tower The Sorcerer One-shots The Stand Sketchbook Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds 1 (1st and 2nd prints) - 4 (of 5) Final Crisis Rogues Revenge 2-3 (of 3) Final Crisis Revelations 1-2; 5 (of 5) Final Crisis Secret Files One-shot and Final Crisis Superman Beyond 3D 1 (of 2) Final Crisis Director's Cut 1; Final Crisis 1-7

Green Arrow #1 Love & Rockets #1 Vol 2

Ultimate Fantastic Four #30-32 $9 set

Then again, a 9.0 signed (but by Michelinie only) sold for $761: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274994645339?hash=item4006f5495b:g:Ye0AAOSwKmphSj8M and then an 8.0 signed by the Toddfather went for $811: https://www.ebay.com/itm/124979443268?hash=item1d195af644:g:JLcAAOSwjZVhYyPv So who knows?

8.5 double-signed newsstand is at $1,186 on 24 bids with 5 days left: https://www.ebay.com/itm/115082101639?hash=item1acb6d8387:g:Ka4AAOSw8Bxhhagb Seller has 530 feedback with 100% positive. So maybe there's something to the theory of the newbie seller...

I traded a Joker #1 to a guy in high school in 1995 for a Nike windbreaker and $10. Kinda wish I still had the book, although I bet it wasn't really high grade. The jacket and the $10 are both long gone.

I'd also add to be patient if you're able and you know you have something good. I had a book listed for $160 that was up there for a couple months before it just sold out of the blue one day. I knew its value based on other sales, so I just let it sit. I didn't need fast money and I wasn't willing to fire sale it. Just go in knowing that it might be a long game for some stuff. Conversely, I've had books sell within hours of listing, and I initially thought I didn't price it high enough, but I put that out of my head quickly, because I knew I did my homework and I made 8x my investment. Be confident in the up front work and be happy with the outcomes. If someone makes a bit of a deal on you, be happy for them - it will keep them coming back.

I am bummed I missed this, I love that cover and currently only have a mid-grade raw.

Buy what makes you happy and what you can afford in your situation. I'd love a Batman 1, but I just can't swing it. But I've bought Detective 359, Batman 251, Batman 244, etc. - stuff that I love and that I can afford in a reasonable grade that didn't break the bank. I see people all the time here and other places who can afford the big books, and I'm happy for them, but I treat myself to what I want within my means, same as anything else in life. I still try to find deals enough on all of them that I won't get hurt (i.e., lose money) if I need to sell them for some reason. The ones I listed above are for the personal collection with no plans on selling, but it's still smart to buy low (from a cost perspective) if possible so you can sell higher if the need ever arises to sell.

My experience selling on eBay is that I get better feedback by shipping fast and packing well. I paid for Gemini mailers - I used to reuse the ones I got when I bought books (and I still do that of course), but I was running out so I paid $50 for 50 of them. I charge $6 to ship a book and I always ship first class - I hate receiving books Media Mail, and I won't ship that way - so it costs me about $4.50 for the label depending on where it's going, $1 for the mailer and a few cents on average per order for tape, paper, ink for printing labels, etc. I aim to ship same day if possible, or next day if it's later in the day or on a weekend. Take good pictures and disclose every defect in writing on the listing - it saves you from people claiming that the book wasn't what they were expecting. I look at both recent sold items as well as current listings and I price accordingly based on the condition of what I'm selling and if I can be one of the lower-priced sellers within reason. A lot of the books I sell are ones I'm getting from various sources (shows, lot buys, etc.) for between $1-5, and selling for between $15-40 typically. So if someone else is selling an exact book as mine in condition for $30 shipped, I don't mind listing for $25-27 shipped or something like that in order to actually realize profits vs worrying about the couple of bucks I might be leaving on the table, since the book might end up sitting for a while. Edited to add - I also am aggressive with sending offers to watchers and I also will use the promoted listings sometimes, rather than discounting the price. It costs less than a buck usually to promote a book at the costs I'm selling at, and I'd rather do that than drop the price too low. I've had some decent conversions from promoted listings and from being quick to send offers to watchers.

Also, it's crazy to me that this book in a mid-grade can be had for around $200... If this were a Marvel equivalent, you'd have to add at least a 0 to that number.

I just love this cover:

The best suit in the game is the cartoon suit though. It's kinda weird to play as it, it really looks like watching a cartoon...

I bought the PS5 Miles game and it came with the other Spidey game too - so fun, and Bombastic Bag-Man was in there too.

And it has the Baghead suit!

I'm hoping we see Rintrah in the new Doctor Strange movie - I picked up that 81 for super cheap too!

I guess on 251 his legs are spread so wide he's going to hurt himself... @kav - That's what she said?

Congrats! As a Batman/Joker fan, that would be an insanely tough trade for me - but I'm glad it worked out for you; Hulk 1 is such an iconic, outstanding book!

Ah, don't let it ruin it - it's still a great cover. 244 has always been my favorite, and I also loved 251. Then people pointed out the Bat-onsie on 244 and Joker's weird leg on 251. Whatever, they're still amazing-looking books. Look past the flaws and love it for what it is. That's what I tell my wife to do with me and it's worked for 21 years...