Have You Ever Considered Becoming a Part-Time Dealer?

[collectivetoys-migration]

I can totally see myself getting back into dealing comics at some point. I used to do it part time back in the Valiant days and it was alot of fun. I got out of it totally and now my friend and I do toys as a part time thing. I can see myself getting some long boxes going in a year or so since I am buying alot of books lately to read and some I am sure not to keep. It wont be hard to just add a box or two to my booth at Wizard and C2E2 etc

[moonlite]

I simply don't see the allure of doing shows as a small player. Small shows are slow and big shows are expensive and entail a ton of work. So why insist on doing shows. Raise about $2000 in cash and have another $3-5000 available if needed. Find a collection, buy it for half it's value. Sell it here or on ebay or keep what you want out of it.

 

Wash rinse repeat.

 

There will be $1 books all the way to $1000 books.

 

Are there lots of variables, risks and extra costs associated? Yes.

Is it difficult to find collections and a pain to sell them and all that goes into it? Yes.

 

But its worth it to find a mini collection like this one. I find it quite a rush I have to admit.

 

 

Nice find - and the Showcase #4 doesn't look as toasted as most of the books - excellent!

 

Did you miss the whole fact that the flash has been cut out of the books cover?

 

As far as dealing, I have a storeful of books. Times are tough, would really like to hit a few local shows to dump some extra stuff and raise a little capital. I don't generally have the high dollar stuff so its going to be stuff up to $10. Can't find a show that has tables in the vicinity I need to travel. Someone want to buy a LCS, let me know, my wife would be ecstatic.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

Ok, check this out.

 

I did shows for about 2 years, very consistent (1-3 shows per month). I sold books between $1-50 mostly. I tried to constantly build better stock, and did "ok". I amassed around 15 long boxes of stock, and 2 short boxes of keys/wall books. I had actually planned to get back to it this year, but the baby and job put the breaks on that.

 

Long story short you CAN make decent money. You will have to invest far more then you will get back in your first year, and that is the struggle. I would not tell anyone NOT to try, just realise it is ALOT of work and requires ALOT of knowledge. But you can (like anything else) get out of it what you put in it.

 

Anyone wanna buy 12 long boxes of books?

[Foolkiller]

The problem with buying books that you can make at least $100 on is that it ties up a lot of capital. I'm shying more and more away from the top keys these days.

It becomes a matter of time versus money.

Do you want to spend a couple of hours dealing 10 books that you paid $1000 each to make $100 each? It's still 10% profit.

Or do you want to spend 100 hours dealing 1000 books you paid $1 each to make $1 each? Where the profit is 100%?

Either way it's $1000 profit. But do you have the capital to tie-up? Or do you have the time to tie-up?

 

Things to consider grasshoppers!!! Why do you think so many dealers have $1 to $5 bins!

 

Of course taking the second method typically leads to divorce if this isn't your full time business!!!

 

For me the old way gave way to the 2nd choice by fate. I am no longer married and thus have lots of time on my hands. Due to same divorce I no longer have as much capital to tie up which now leads me down the 2nd path.

 

What can I say at this point...? Well I'm really tired of sorting comics after work!

But it's a labor of love...or as my family puts it I'm a little kooky in the head!!!

 

No offense dude, there's a problem with the formula there. If you are spending $1k each and only making $100 each book, you need to reevaluate. My margin, with very few exceptions, is at least doubling up. So if I'm spending $1k on a book, I'm generally making, let's be conservative, and say, $750-$1k.

 

Plus I have a far easier time -- not necessarily at shows -- moving more expensive books. Plus, you have to sell a heckuva lot more $1 to get to your margin. Granted, there are more customers for them, but it's a much harder way to get to the same profit you can achieve selling high end books. If you have the capital, it's a much better money maker and frankly less time in, though hard work either way.

 

If I had the investment acumen to routinely double up on $1K purchases, I'd be buying right and left, but the point is valid.

 

I think alot of the $1-$5 inventory out there has a far bigger markup than 100% priced in though - the only way the effort of routinely storing, hauling and selling that stuff is worth it, is with a very high profit margin. When I've sold cheap books to thin out my collection for $1-$5 here and on ebay (in lots), it's barely been worth the effort, even if I had gotten the stuff for free. I only do it inbetween jobs when I have the time to spare, and because I'm too cheap just to give the stuff away.

 

I have to completely agree, I hardly ever see $1000 books that I can mark up 100%, in hockeyland everyone tries selling their Spawn and Micronaughts for $100 so it's really hard to get many good things here. That's why on my last trip I went to the US to by.

 

Yes the $1 to $5 inventory has a lot more than 100% markup becuase of buying in bulk. I only used the $1 per book example as an easy to follow example

 

I'm using $1k as an exaggeration as well. But the margin on my last collection I bought was $2k to purchase, sales of over $12k, by selling about 1/5 of the books I bought. I don't expect the same yield on the remainder. I think $1 do fine, but it's far more labor intensive, and frankly, I'd rather buy fewer collections and get far more overall profit. The work I'd rather put in is in finding and tracking down collections, instead of hauling long boxes around. I've spent a year doing it, and not one month has gone by where it hasn't been profitable for me in the thousands of dollars. When I hear guys talk about how it isn't "worth" it to tie up capital, it means that the formula they are employing is wrong, or the buying decisions are unwise to begin with.

[slym2none]

I considered becoming the eBay "dealer" for the LCS I worked at - they had boxes upon boxes stacked in the downstairs portion of the store (Capitol Comics on Hillsborough St. in Raleigh, NC - my condolences to anyone who has been there ) that were collections they bought and cherry-picked.

 

Surprisingly, Russ (& Ken) didn't want to do that. I even halfheartedly argued that since the "good" books were gone, they were taking up space in an already small store, it could only help them. It wouldn't even have been during my working hours!

 

 

 

 

-slym (the people are nice, but the store is seemingly about to collapse any minute)

[Darth Corgi]

I simply don't see the allure of doing shows as a small player. Small shows are slow and big shows are expensive and entail a ton of work. So why insist on doing shows. Raise about $2000 in cash and have another $3-5000 available if needed. Find a collection, buy it for half it's value. Sell it here or on ebay or keep what you want out of it.

 

Wash rinse repeat.

 

There will be $1 books all the way to $1000 books.

 

Are there lots of variables, risks and extra costs associated? Yes.

Is it difficult to find collections and a pain to sell them and all that goes into it? Yes.

 

But its worth it to find a mini collection like this one. I find it quite a rush I have to admit.

 

 

[Mac Man]

Maybe I'm making some assumptions here, but it seems that it's probably cheaper to start up a small profit margin model (i.e. moving dollar comics) than it is to get a high profit model moving. Here me out and let me know if I'm grossly over-generalizing:

 

The high profit model, as Brian describes, necessitates a large amount of start up capital to build a small amount of stock. Obvious pros to this are that when the profit is made, it's a lot more substantial; there is less physical work required because there is more $$$ tied up in less tangible product; and the ability to sell the books in more venues (online or at shows). Cons, however, seem to be the start up costs (and therefore more money tied up in the books until they're sold); a much greater knowledge of specific markets; and greater risk for loss in the event of shifts in the market.

 

The lower profit model doesn't seem to require as much start up capital as it seems like large collections are often being liquidated for less (of course, this also means most of the key books will have been sold separately--hence, lower profits). Pros are less money being tied up in the stock, and even if there are shifts in the market, $1 comics are still $1 comics. Cons, however, seem to be the need for storage space; online sales will be extremely time intensive (and possible loss of profit in fees w/o sales); physically intensive by lugging boxes around to shows; and smaller amounts of profit realized.

 

Did I get that about right?

[Rob]

I'd like to see a discussion on what part-time dealers pay for comics. Do you pay a % of guide, for $1-$5 commons, or more like 25¢ ea? Do you price out each of the keys in a collection, and offer a lump sum for the rest? For $1k books, what % of guide to you offer? Would love to hear all the different techniques. I'm from the school of thought that you make your profit when you buy, not when you sell.

[moonlite]

Rob, for what its worth....when a collection comes into my store and unless there are a bunch of old or stellar things in it, the offer is $25 a long box.

 

Many times it will have some beat up books, some image and valiant books, some 90's drek, or what have you. Rare is the occasion when I get boxes of 80's or older stuff (but it happened twice two weeks ago) and the stuff is usually Fine or less most times on that stuff.

[jools&jim]

 

I kinda/sorta did the part-time dealer thing back in the late '80s and early '90s, and then worked for (and with) a full-time dealer off and on through much of the '90s and early '00s. It was fun (sometimes), but it also damn near killed my love for the hobby completely (which was waning anyway due to actually working in the comic book business for several years), and burned me out on shows so much that I haven't attended one (small or large) in nearly 7 years...and it's doubtful that I ever will again.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that you can sometimes get too close to the things you enjoy, and seeing the way things work from the inside isn't always a completely positive experience.

 

And besides, thanks to eBay and other selling venues (including these Boards), aren't we all more-or-less "part time dealers" these days anyway?

[capt_comics]

Prices to pay for books.........generally speaking

 

Bulk (all newer stuff last 10 years or so) $30-$100 a long box

 

Bulk (general $1 books - low grade 80s, 90s, newer stuff mixed in, etc.) $15-$50 a long box

 

SA/BA - $75-$400 a long box.....kind of depends what's there....obviously

 

Bought 2000 nicer SA/BA books this March for $2000

Bought 1200 BA and late SA books last year for $500

Bought 1500 nicer SA books last year for $3000

 

Wall books for 25%-65% of value.......by condition

You should aim to pretty much double your money on these

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rodey]

I used to be a part-time dealer. The hardest part was making sure the balloons didn't break. Those crazy Columbians......

 

(I'm kidding)

[capt_comics]

The problem with buying books that you can make at least $100 on is that it ties up a lot of capital. I'm shying more and more away from the top keys these days.

It becomes a matter of time versus money.

Do you want to spend a couple of hours dealing 10 books that you paid $1000 each to make $100 each? It's still 10% profit.

Or do you want to spend 100 hours dealing 1000 books you paid $1 each to make $1 each? Where the profit is 100%?

Either way it's $1000 profit. But do you have the capital to tie-up? Or do you have the time to tie-up?

 

Things to consider grasshoppers!!! Why do you think so many dealers have $1 to $5 bins!

 

Of course taking the second method typically leads to divorce if this isn't your full time business!!!

 

For me the old way gave way to the 2nd choice by fate. I am no longer married and thus have lots of time on my hands. Due to same divorce I no longer have as much capital to tie up which now leads me down the 2nd path.

 

What can I say at this point...? Well I'm really tired of sorting comics after work!

But it's a labor of love...or as my family puts it I'm a little kooky in the head!!!

 

No offense dude, there's a problem with the formula there. If you are spending $1k each and only making $100 each book, you need to reevaluate. My margin, with very few exceptions, is at least doubling up. So if I'm spending $1k on a book, I'm generally making, let's be conservative, and say, $750-$1k.

 

Plus I have a far easier time -- not necessarily at shows -- moving more expensive books. Plus, you have to sell a heckuva lot more $1 to get to your margin. Granted, there are more customers for them, but it's a much harder way to get to the same profit you can achieve selling high end books. If you have the capital, it's a much better money maker and frankly less time in, though hard work either way.

 

If I had the investment acumen to routinely double up on $1K purchases, I'd be buying right and left, but the point is valid.

 

I think alot of the $1-$5 inventory out there has a far bigger markup than 100% priced in though - the only way the effort of routinely storing, hauling and selling that stuff is worth it, is with a very high profit margin. When I've sold cheap books to thin out my collection for $1-$5 here and on ebay (in lots), it's barely been worth the effort, even if I had gotten the stuff for free. I only do it inbetween jobs when I have the time to spare, and because I'm too cheap just to give the stuff away.

 

I have to completely agree, I hardly ever see $1000 books that I can mark up 100%, in hockeyland everyone tries selling their Spawn and Micronaughts for $100 so it's really hard to get many good things here. That's why on my last trip I went to the US to by.

 

Yes the $1 to $5 inventory has a lot more than 100% markup becuase of buying in bulk. I only used the $1 per book example as an easy to follow example

 

I'm using $1k as an exaggeration as well. But the margin on my last collection I bought was $2k to purchase, sales of over $12k, by selling about 1/5 of the books I bought. I don't expect the same yield on the remainder. I think $1 do fine, but it's far more labor intensive, and frankly, I'd rather buy fewer collections and get far more overall profit. The work I'd rather put in is in finding and tracking down collections, instead of hauling long boxes around. I've spent a year doing it, and not one month has gone by where it hasn't been profitable for me in the thousands of dollars. When I hear guys talk about how it isn't "worth" it to tie up capital, it means that the formula they are employing is wrong, or the buying decisions are unwise to begin with.

 

(thumbs u

Don't expect to do it right unless you're willing to tie up capital and keep inventory

 

[the blob]

Prices to pay for books.........generally speaking

 

Bulk (all newer stuff last 10 years or so) $30-$100 a long box

 

Bulk (general $1 books - low grade 80s, 90s, newer stuff mixed in, etc.) $15-$50 a long box

 

SA/BA - $75-$400 a long box.....kind of depends what's there....obviously

 

Bought 2000 nicer SA/BA books this March for $2000

Bought 1200 BA and late SA books last year for $500

Bought 1500 nicer SA books last year for $3000

 

Wall books for 25%-65% of value.......by condition

You should aim to pretty much double your money on these

 

 

 

of course, it depends on contents and condition, aside from the bulk #s, i think these numbers give people an unrealistic view on what's out there and how much they can expect to pay. oh sure, i know it happens, but i wouldn't go out there expecting to pay less than 50 cents a book for BA and late SA books too often unless they're beaters or heavy on the BA. no wonder people in the forum expect sellers to eventually get down the 50 cents a book for almost everything!

 

honestly, i like to have a little more control over what i'm getting though, even if it means paying a little more per book.

[the blob]

I've wondered if perhaps there are better margins focusing on selling high grade books versus looking to buy 10 long boxes here and there and blowing them out? I'm not necessarily talking about 9.6 copies of Spidey 12 or whatever, but taking a table and selling only 9.2 or better raw early BA -- maybe 9.4 or better for later BA (maybe 8.5 or better SA), not necessarily selling $200 books, but holding out for a good price (some respectable % of guide) on your sharp books?

 

I say that because I see people here who come back from a show and post their haul and it's often a few nice copies of various BA books, not necessarily keys, but likely not stuff out of a dollar box either, but a copy in a little less nice shape might be in a $1 - $3 box. I'm assuming that if they went to a show and only came back with 5 - 10 non-key BA books and they bought them from a known dealer that they paid semi real money for them? not to mention people here pay decent money for sharp copies (though not necessarily ones that will be 9.6ses or 9.8s in a slab) when they feel comfortable with the seller.

 

of course, even if you triple board them, how long are those 9.2 - 9.6 raws going to stay that way doing the show circuit? people are absolutely brutal with other people's books.

[the blob]

my prior post is sort of inspired by harley yee. i remember a big apple show in the mid-90s and he was going to the boxes next to me and was basically cherry picking some dealers' dollar (or maybe they were $2) books and filled up a box-- and the dealer had some good stuff in there. we all know what likely happened to those books... they went to Harley's table and that day or the next those books bought for $1 got priced up to $10-$50, depending.

 

seriously, at the last show...I don't normally even look at his boxes anymore, but I saw one booked pulled out and it was one of the DC 1st Issue Specials that guides for like $10 in NM- and he had the darn thing priced at $25 or something. I assume he was claiming it was a raw 9.6, but seriously....

 

with that said, does he sell enough of this sort of stuff to result in any real money or does he make his real money on the copy of captain america #2 he pays $2K for and sells for $8k? i mean, is he simply growing his inventory of overpriced high grade BA books every time he buys another collection because he prices most of them so sky high they can't possibly sell fast enough?

 

 

[FlyingDonut]

I did my first "dealer" show this past week at heroes in NC...

on the $1-$5 stuff, sold about $2500... on the "big $" stuff, did 10x that with 1/100th of the effort...

so, in SDCC this year, you will only see the "big $" stuff at our booth, and I will save the $1 stuff for Megacon next year

 

I believe the estimable Mr. Storms figured out this way of doing business quite some time ago. Now if I could only get him to sell me the $1-$5 stuff he doesn't want to carry around since I'm too stupid to see that you are both right.

 

How much do you want?

[FlyingDonut]

Maybe I'm making some assumptions here, but it seems that it's probably cheaper to start up a small profit margin model (i.e. moving dollar comics) than it is to get a high profit model moving. Here me out and let me know if I'm grossly over-generalizing:

 

The high profit model, as Brian describes, necessitates a large amount of start up capital to build a small amount of stock. Obvious pros to this are that when the profit is made, it's a lot more substantial; there is less physical work required because there is more $$$ tied up in less tangible product; and the ability to sell the books in more venues (online or at shows). Cons, however, seem to be the start up costs (and therefore more money tied up in the books until they're sold); a much greater knowledge of specific markets; and greater risk for loss in the event of shifts in the market.

 

The lower profit model doesn't seem to require as much start up capital as it seems like large collections are often being liquidated for less (of course, this also means most of the key books will have been sold separately--hence, lower profits). Pros are less money being tied up in the stock, and even if there are shifts in the market, $1 comics are still $1 comics. Cons, however, seem to be the need for storage space; online sales will be extremely time intensive (and possible loss of profit in fees w/o sales); physically intensive by lugging boxes around to shows; and smaller amounts of profit realized.

 

Did I get that about right?

 

Backwards. Your higher profit margins are made on $1 books, which you will be buying for, literally, pennies. I've said it a million times. Buy for $1. Sell for $5. Repeat 10,000 times.

[Foolkiller]

Maybe I'm making some assumptions here, but it seems that it's probably cheaper to start up a small profit margin model (i.e. moving dollar comics) than it is to get a high profit model moving. Here me out and let me know if I'm grossly over-generalizing:

 

The high profit model, as Brian describes, necessitates a large amount of start up capital to build a small amount of stock. Obvious pros to this are that when the profit is made, it's a lot more substantial; there is less physical work required because there is more $$$ tied up in less tangible product; and the ability to sell the books in more venues (online or at shows). Cons, however, seem to be the start up costs (and therefore more money tied up in the books until they're sold); a much greater knowledge of specific markets; and greater risk for loss in the event of shifts in the market.

 

The lower profit model doesn't seem to require as much start up capital as it seems like large collections are often being liquidated for less (of course, this also means most of the key books will have been sold separately--hence, lower profits). Pros are less money being tied up in the stock, and even if there are shifts in the market, $1 comics are still $1 comics. Cons, however, seem to be the need for storage space; online sales will be extremely time intensive (and possible loss of profit in fees w/o sales); physically intensive by lugging boxes around to shows; and smaller amounts of profit realized.

 

Did I get that about right?

 

Backwards. Your higher profit margins are made on $1 books, which you will be buying for, literally, pennies. I've said it a million times. Buy for $1. Sell for $5. Repeat 10,000 times.

 

Right -- that's if you want to have huge volume and sell 10k times. That model is another way to go, but to me, not necessarily a "better" model.

[Rob]

Prices to pay for books.........generally speaking

 

Wall books for 25%-65% of value.......by condition

You should aim to pretty much double your money on these

 

So without memorizing the selling price of every gold, silver, bronze age book - how do you determine what you can get? 50% of guide? More for higher grade, I'm sure, but I assume most of the collections for sale are Fine or worse.

 

I know there's probably not a right answer for every comic, but generally speaking, for VG-F common silver/bronze - would you pay 25% guide, hoping to sell for 50%?