What keeps you from saying "the Hell with it- I am selling my entire collection"

[pennynike1]

...but Alex, nobody twists your arm to pay for books that you want to own, right?

 

There is nobody responsible for what you buy except yourself. If you are looking at resale value then maybe buying rare or obscure books may not be a good thing as the audience is very limited.

 

 

You have a fair point Roy. This a certainly a hobby for me, but there is also the hope that books that I purchase have some form of investment value. After all, I am sinking in a good portion of my income to collect these prized books. I fully acknowledge that if investment is the primary goal, then SA Spidey is probably the way to go. The fantastic stories alone make the Amazing Spidey books fully desireable books. But there are so many...and the early issues command huge $.

 

I have decided to go for a niche that places me in a position where you hardly ever see a high grade copy available. Perhaps not the best choice, but I committed myself to this over 2 years ago. The problem is that these rare/obscure books seem to come around so little often that when they do come up for sale, I get pimped for an unreasonably high asking price. In that event, I have the option of either paying the excessive price, or having a perceived "hole" in my collection that can't easily be filled.

 

This has happened to me numerous times over the course of my collecting Golden Age books, and it has happened 3 times in a manner of the last 2-3 weeks. I paid waaaaay more than I ever thought I would on 2 of them. In fact, it is being done to me again tonight on the 3rd. Must resist, MUST RESIST

 

 

[Ze-man]

If this is a thought that runs through your head all the time, then you should do it.

 

For some reason I dont think you guys would not make good 911 Operators.

 

"What's that sir?, feeling down? Well I think you should jump."

 

 

 

 

[greggy]

If this is a thought that runs through your head all the time, then you should do it.

 

For some reason I dont think you guys would not make good 911 Operators.

 

"What's that sir?, feeling down? Well I think you jump."

 

 

 

[Ogami]

Let's not buy cornflakes because some people pee on them.

 

 

 

it may be the hour and my fatigue, or it may be the antibiotics flowing thru my veins, but that is mighty funny.

 

moreso out of context.

[chromium]

After a few bad deals and extremely trying buyers/sellers, I am just about ready to say, "screw it" an put my whole collect up for sale...

 

What keeps you from doing this?

 

I am having trouble thinking of a good reason...

 

a) I haven't gotten all the books I want yet.

 

b) I haven't read all the books I own

 

c) This board would serve no purpose for me anymore and I'd be left with 20 hours per week with nothing to do

[Flaming_Telepath]

After a few bad deals and extremely trying buyers/sellers, I am just about ready to say, "screw it" an put my whole collect up for sale...

 

What keeps you from doing this?

 

I am having trouble thinking of a good reason...

 

a) I haven't gotten all the books I want yet.

 

b) I haven't read all the books I own

 

c) This board would serve no purpose for me anymore and I'd be left with 20 hours per day with nothing to do

 

(thumbs u

[chromium]

After a few bad deals and extremely trying buyers/sellers, I am just about ready to say, "screw it" an put my whole collect up for sale...

 

What keeps you from doing this?

 

I am having trouble thinking of a good reason...

 

a) I haven't gotten all the books I want yet.

 

b) I haven't read all the books I own

 

c) This board would serve no purpose for me anymore and I'd be left with 20 hours per day with nothing to do

 

(thumbs u

 

[Shark]

After a few bad deals and extremely trying buyers/sellers, I am just about ready to say, "screw it" an put my whole collect up for sale...

 

What keeps you from doing this?

 

I am having trouble thinking of a good reason...

 

Because it would probably take 2 years to sell 'em all.

 

Shark

[Shark]

You buying?

 

(On a separate note, I will never eat corn flakes again.)

 

 

I'm off of cornflakes forever also after reading that post.

 

Awwwwww.....I never eat cornflakes anyway. I'm a big fan of Raisin Bran Crunch. (thumbs u

 

Shark

 

 

 

[G.A.tor]

I like comics, so I collect them (thumbs u

[joe_collector]

Laziness?

 

If I could miraculously get full value today, it would be difficult not to say yes and blow it all out.

[whisp]

I just stay away from ebay for the most part. I would say 9 in 10 ebayers selling are tools anyways and can't grade worth of so not worth it. I only use it when I have no other avenue. There are some dillholes though but in any society/group you are going to get your share of them and trust me comic collecting has it share of them.

[arexcrooke]

After a few bad deals and extremely trying buyers/sellers, I am just about ready to say, "screw it" an put my whole collect up for sale...

 

What keeps you from doing this?

 

I am having trouble thinking of a good reason...

Because I like:

1-The books

2-The organizing, storing, and sorting

3-These boards

4-The people ive met through these boards

[mica]

The work involved with liquidating the collection and not get taken to the cleaners...

 

Jim

Which usually gets left to the wife and or kids. Then carted off to the local book store where a crisp twenty dollar bill is presented to them in exchange.

[joe_collector]

Which usually gets left to the wife and or kids. Then carted off to the local book store where a crisp twenty dollar bill is presented to them in exchange.

 

You need to be prepared - I've boxed up all the semi-valuable ones and my wife knows the CGC books are not drek, and her brother sells coins and cards online as a hobby, so I'm sure they'll do okay.

 

Not to mention I'm hardly counting on my funny books to carry my family's financial well-being.

 

I know a lot of people that hide their collectible worth from their wives, for fear they'll take 'em to the cleaners on a divorce or just don't want the "other half" to know what they're spending. But then when you kick off unexpectedly, suddenly "all that junk in the basement" gets tossed out or sold in a garage sale.

 

One of my Dad's friends had all kinds of stories like that, scoring huge hockey card collections just by driving up to a yard sale or looking through the papers. It was always "my husband passed away and I don't want any of it". Good for him, but sad for the wife and kids of Mr Dead Guy.

 

Be prepared, even if you have to (gasp!) tell your wife the truth.

[Shark]

The work involved with liquidating the collection and not get taken to the cleaners...

 

Jim

Which usually gets left to the wife and or kids. Then carted off to the local book store where a crisp twenty dollar bill is presented to them in exchange.

 

I've done my best to prevent this from happening should I predecease my wife. I am in the process (about 80% done) of labeling every comic book I own with the issue number, year of publication, grade and price (normally 65-90% of Overstreet guide value) I would sell it for. This will prevent someone from coming in later and saying "Oh, that Amazing Spider-Man #129 is only worth $5.00." My wife fully understands the value of many of my comics and shouldn't get taken to the cleaners should anything happen to me. I am even adding details to my will on how they should be sold and who gets the proceeds from the sale.

 

Shark

[jools&jim]

 

I've already sold off about 75% of my collection, and have been parting it out here on the boards every week for the past few years. What I'm planning to keep--and the very few books I'm still buying--are (in general) the ones with the least monetary but greatest sentimental/entertainment value. But at some point, those may go, too, even though they're probably not worth the trouble to list, given that they're mostly BA readers.

 

The moment came for me when I realized that:

 

(1) The extra money would come in handy for important stuff like home repairs and my kid's school tuition.

 

(2) I wasn't really enjoying what I was buying.

 

That being said, even though I don't like a lot of what I see in the hobby these days, I'm not completely soured on it or the books themselves. So it wasn't exactly a "hell with it" kinda thing for me...but close...

[Cody_Starbuck]

After a few bad deals and extremely trying buyers/sellers, I am just about ready to say, "screw it" an put my whole collect up for sale...

 

What keeps you from doing this?

 

I am having trouble thinking of a good reason...

 

Because I love comics.

[Davenport]

After a few bad deals and extremely trying buyers/sellers, I am just about ready to say, "screw it" an put my whole collect up for sale...

 

What keeps you from doing this?

 

I am having trouble thinking of a good reason...

Maybe it's time to re-examine why you 'collect'.

If it's because you're a fan of the medium remember there are two things to enjoy: inhaling and exhaling. Always inhaling (buying, buying, storing, reading, watching, buying, buying) can distract you from enjoying the flip-side of fandom. Exhaling (writing, drawing, sculpting, building, designing, creating) can be an inspired challenge, reignite your passion, but requires some disipline and focus.

 

So maybe you've just held your breath too long.

 

Here's a recent example of the 'exhaling' side of fandom: My Girlfriend made another custom! Astonishing X-Men Cyclops!

I'm betting she's having way more fun with her comic-hobby than he is with holding and admiring it.

 

(or if you're only in it for the collecting, try collecting something else for a time)

[conditionfreak]

I haven't sold my collection in entirity yet because I have regretted selling just about every book I have sold in the past. Sure, to some it is just a business and if there is a buck to be made, then they will sell. But to others, it is YOUR collection and some of the books in my collection have meaning and emotion, believe it or not.

 

1) A couple of instances. I own a My Little Margie book that I purchased when I got married to "Margie". That book has been with us since 1972.

 

2) One of the influential books of my childhood was Daredevil #7. Daredevils struggle to continue to attempt to stop the Sub Mariner from destroying the land dwellers (us), by crawling towards Subby to contiue to fight, even though Daredevil could barely raise his are he had been beaten so bad by Subby, influenced greatly my personal outlook on giving up or quitting, when the going gets tough.

 

There are other books that I will not be parting with, come hell or high water.

 

Sitting here now, I can not think of one book I have ever sold that I didn't have at least a tinge of regret about letting go. No matter what the price. It was MY BOOK and now someone else has it. But of course, I am weird anyway.......