IS IT POSSIBLE.....

[THE_BEYONDER]

.....to sell one's entire collection as a whole, and not lose money?

 

If I ever decide to sell my books.....it would be much to painful to sell it off piece by piece. I would much rather sell

everything

all at once......

 

Any thoughts?

[drice6900]

Chuck will buy them from you all at once...

[g-man]

depending on what you are selling.....if the asking price is alot o $$, some collectors just don't have it. Some dealers do but you will not get (usually) get top price unless the collection is SUPER nice. All depends on how much you want to get for it.....break even? make a few $$.......

[THE_BEYONDER]

Chuck will buy them from you all at once...

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

depending on what you are selling.....if the asking price is alot o $$, some collectors just don't have it. Some dealers do but you will not get (usually) get top price unless the collection is SUPER nice. All depends on how much you want to get for it.....break even? make a few $$.......

 

I would probably end up breaking it down into a bunch of "sets".......

 

Just the thought of selling my books is starting to make me depressed......

[JohnBull]

Much more profitable selling individually, how many people want Spiderman 1-500 ? Put it another way, if you WERE in the market for Spiderman 1-500, wouldn't you expect a reasonable discount if you bought them all in one go ?

[THE_BEYONDER]

C'mon guys......I would really appreciate your thoughts on this one.

[OldSchoolTerry]

Well, it depends what you're basing "not losing money" on. If you paid cover price, or bought everything before this CGC hype currently going on, then I think you could get much more than you paid for the stuff, if sold to the right collector or speculator. If you're talking about getting current guide price for an entire collection, I'm sure that would be much more difficult.

 

 

[FlyingDonut]

It depends on:

 

1) What books you have

2) What your definition of "not losing money" is. If you have bought a long term collection at dealer prices, and sell everything as a lot, you're going to lose money. If you bought it cheap, or in runs, or at a significant discount, you will be able to receive more than you paid for it.

3) If you are selling a large collection, essentially everything published after 1990 (with certain exceptions), is worthless.

4) Sturgeon's Law applies. "90% of everything is [!@#%^&^]."

5) What your time frame is for selling. You will receive significantly more money if you sell your books individually than as a lot.

[THE_BEYONDER]

I wouldn't expect to get "guide" for everything.....but would I lose money by including HG slabs in the collection?

 

In other words; Do I "cherrypick" the collection.....or do I include the "gems" in hopes that the entire collection would be more appealing?

 

 

 

 

[goldust40]

That's the point, really. You have to bite the bullet and try not to be too motivated a seller. Anyone buying in bulk would expect a discount, even unit prices. Also, as Donut said, be realistic. Sentimentality gets in the way of business - what means a lot to you may mean little to another collector.

 

You're going to have to suffer to profit here - selling individually is always the best bet.

[goldust40]

Dealers always value a collection by its' strengths, so throwing some gems in with the average stuff would help to sell any dross.

 

That said, any super high grade stuff should generally be set aside. You want to turn a profit - these books will generate that.

[rob_react]

It's simple really.

 

More books in a lot = less money per book.

Individual books and SMALL sets = more money for the same books.

 

No one is going to pay "ebay retail" per book for a big lot. If they did that woud be fantastic. I'd never have to list individual books. It'd save hours of my time.

[THE_BEYONDER]

If I have to break it down.....then I guess I would sell all the [!@#%^&^] 1st.....build up my feedback....then start selling all the higher end stuff peice by peice, or in smaller "sets"?

[fantastic_four]

Just the thought of selling my books is starting to make me depressed......

 

 

I know how to solve your problem--DON'T SELL 'EM!!!

 

If I decided to live the life of a strict Buddhist monk today and get rid of all my material posessions (except money so I could eat), I'd sell everything worth less than $5 in lots, one per title--such as all the Daredevils together or all the Wolverines together. For everything worth more than $5 I'd sell it individually, or possibly in smaller lots for the lower grade material.

[sfilosa]

Why do you want to sell?

 

Regarding selling your whole collection, you might not devalue the colllection too much depending on how much high-grade / low-grade material and also the time frame (GA to Modern). The more books that fit the main catergory, the more selling all at once will work.

 

By selling all at once, you will save dollars in eBay listing fees and in shipping. Yes, the buyer pays shipping but that is factored into every transaction. I would gladly buy 20 $50 books from one buyer at one time, but probably wouldn't waste my time bidding on 20 $50 books from individual buyers.

 

Hope that helps.

[THE_BEYONDER]

I know how to solve your problem--DON'T SELL 'EM!!!

 

Ideally, I won't. But I'm in the process of doing inventory, and am trying to decide how to organize all my books....

 

Just in case I do decide to sell.....I want to be prepared.

[THE_BEYONDER]

Hope that helps.

 

It does.

 

Just want to thank everyone for their input. I know I dork around alot on here....but I do take my comic collection pretty seriously, and I hold the opinions of forum members in high regard.

 

As to the question of "why are you selling?"....I'm not. I just want to organize my collection in a way that makes selling possible.

[nearmint]

Not to hijack this thread or anything, but how do you guys feel about selling each title as a lot, rather than each issue individually? For example, if I'm selling a complete Sandman set, am I better off selling it as one lot, or in sets of ten issues each, or each issue individually?

 

Just curious...

[THE_BEYONDER]

Not to hijack this thread or anything

 

MODERATOR!!!