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Collection Buying advice.

Started by The Amazing Chump,

22 posts in this topic

The Amazing Chump

The Amazing Chump

Posted
Posted

So I got a sniff of a collection available near me. I haven't been able to take a look at it, although there is a spreadsheet. I wondered if I could get some feedback on my pricing scheme. The collection ranges from 60's-90's and is about half bagged, but the owner says they're all near mint (and don't they all). Sadly, no big keys that I found on the sheet.

 

I was thinking of offering 0.00 for anything post 1983 or so (as I don't really want/need any of it anyway). 0.05 for '75-'83. 0.10 for '70-'75. 0.50 for pre-1970 common books and GD Overstreet prices for keys and high dollar 60's stuff. What do you all think?

 

I figure that would make for a fair opening offer, then I can re-evaluate when I take a look at the individual books. If anything is particularly high/low grade I can raise/lower the price appropriately.

 

A few notes: Very little of this is anything I would collect, so most of this would be resold (so I'm not that invested in it) and I think the asking price was generated using an old wizard mag- so the offer might cheese off the seller.

 

Thank you for looking at my wall of text!

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Junkdrawer

Junkdrawer

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I would never make an offer, but ask what is the best price for the lot. This establishes the figure that only goes lower. You making an offer could quite well be more than the guy actually wanted, and he may give you a small counter to hook you into thinking you worked him for the deal. The first one to speak in negotiations loses.

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The Amazing Chump

The Amazing Chump

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I'm not planning on taking the books-that's just how I'm calculating the offer. I don't want the books, so I'm not assigning them a value. I can suggest a few ways for the seller to get rid of them, but I don't want to schlep them around, that's for sure.

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comics-rock

comics-rock

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Posted

make an offer for all of them...dont single any particular run/ grade/ key.....dont buy straight away, go have a look and tell him youll have to think about...if you lose it, you lose it.

 

offer fair money. i just bought a collection of 7,000 and paid $3,000 for everything. lots of low grade 10c and 12c stuff, and some really nice high grade (CGC grade) modern stuff. i paid what it was worth to me. im looking at another collection tomorrow of 3,000 comics. hes told me whats in there, all modern stuff...full run of New Mutants etc. he wants a dollar a comic...not worth it. i may well get the New Mutant keys, but Ive gota take all the rubbish as well. if i cant get him down under $800 Ill just walk away unless theres something spectacular in there.

 

2c

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Boozad

Boozad

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Posted
I'm not planning on taking the books-that's just how I'm calculating the offer. I don't want the books, so I'm not assigning them a value. I can suggest a few ways for the seller to get rid of them, but I don't want to schlep them around, that's for sure.

 

Am I missing something here? You're not planning on taking them and don't want them, so why are you even offering?

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JazzMan

JazzMan

Posted
Posted
I'm not planning on taking the books-that's just how I'm calculating the offer. I don't want the books, so I'm not assigning them a value. I can suggest a few ways for the seller to get rid of them, but I don't want to schlep them around, that's for sure.

 

Am I missing something here? You're not planning on taking them and don't want them, so why are you even offering?

 

Truth in advertisement of his board name? :shrug:

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maloney414

maloney414

Posted
Posted
I'm not planning on taking the books-that's just how I'm calculating the offer. I don't want the books, so I'm not assigning them a value. I can suggest a few ways for the seller to get rid of them, but I don't want to schlep them around, that's for sure.

 

Am I missing something here? You're not planning on taking them and don't want them, so why are you even offering?

 

Yes. He's referencing the moderns in that quote, not everything. He doesn't want them so his offer is 0.00 for that category in the entire offer. (thumbs u

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Boozad

Boozad

Posted
Posted
I'm not planning on taking the books-that's just how I'm calculating the offer. I don't want the books, so I'm not assigning them a value. I can suggest a few ways for the seller to get rid of them, but I don't want to schlep them around, that's for sure.

 

Am I missing something here? You're not planning on taking them and don't want them, so why are you even offering?

 

Yes. He's referencing the moderns in that quote, not everything. He doesn't want them so his offer is 0.00 for that category in the entire offer. (thumbs u

 

No. Offering nothing is different to not offering.

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maloney414

maloney414

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doh! Well yes, that's true. I just reread his op and see why you say that.

 

I didn't read it that way. I read it that those were his personal notes, not his actual offer to be put forth to the seller.

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the blob

the blob

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seems pretty low, but i guess i'd have to see the stuff. shops around me, to the extent they're buying, would pay more than that for the most part. the seller would do a lot better tossing the stuff on ebay than selling to you for that little.

 

"I was thinking of offering 0.00 for anything post 1983 or so (as I don't really want/need any of it anyway). 0.05 for '75-'83. 0.10 for '70-'75. 0.50 for pre-1970 common books and GD Overstreet prices for keys and high dollar 60's stuff. What do you all think?"

 

I understand you assign no value to the post 83 stuff, but if there's a lot of Spidey, X-Men, Watchmen, Batman/Detective, early Valiant and stuff for which there is some sort of market, your seller is going to want something for these books, even if 90% of them are really zero cent books.

 

.05 for 75 - 83. That's simply incredibly broad. And while some of the 80's stuff may only be worth that much (and some of the beater 70's stuff too), I'd probably have the urge to plant my fist in the face of someone who made an offer like that on those books in bulk. A comic shop, if they're buying, would offer more --- assuming there's anything good in there.

 

10 cents for '70-'75. Again, why would anyone sell these to you at that price? They're going to see you're offering less than cover price on books they think are worth $15 each according to some wacky guide. They might be reaching for their shotgun at that point.

 

50 cents for pre-70 common books...ok, some of these reader books are 50 cent books in a wholesale scenario, but most marvels are not

 

GD for good 60's stuff/keys -- unless they're lower grade books, again, why would they be interested?

 

If he's gone through all the trouble of listing the stuff I think he will be homicidal if you come in with this sort of lowball. See what he wants, explain how most of the stuff is worthless, how you have to discount at 75% off guide to be able to sell most of the better stuff and basically you're making a fair offer for the part that isn't so worthless.

 

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The Amazing Chump

The Amazing Chump

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Thanks for the assistance. At the very least, I'll be more precise when responding to posts in the future (Boozad, I'm looking at you). I did mean that I'll tell the seller I'm not interested in anything post-83, but I'll actually type that out loud next time.

 

Looks like my first step is getting a best price from the seller lower than the wild-*spoon* multiple tens of thousands listing price and finding out how they priced the darn things.

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dupont2005

dupont2005

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Posted
ALWAYS have the seller state how much they're looking to get. If their price is too far off from what you're willing to pay you can always make a counter offer (explain how you arrived at your price) or simply pass.
Someone on CL had a collection up for a couple thousand and I offered him $250 and he almost accepted lol We haggled over $50 and I walked away. Everything was too beat up to sell but he did have BA Batman and SSOC. He relisted the collection at $350 and I think he found a buyer (shrug)
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bronze_rules

bronze_rules

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seems pretty low, but i guess i'd have to see the stuff. shops around me, to the extent they're buying, would pay more than that for the most part. the seller would do a lot better tossing the stuff on ebay than selling to you for that little.

 

"I was thinking of offering 0.00 for anything post 1983 or so (as I don't really want/need any of it anyway). 0.05 for '75-'83. 0.10 for '70-'75. 0.50 for pre-1970 common books and GD Overstreet prices for keys and high dollar 60's stuff. What do you all think?"

 

I understand you assign no value to the post 83 stuff, but if there's a lot of Spidey, X-Men, Watchmen, Batman/Detective, early Valiant and stuff for which there is some sort of market, your seller is going to want something for these books, even if 90% of them are really zero cent books.

 

.05 for 75 - 83. That's simply incredibly broad. And while some of the 80's stuff may only be worth that much (and some of the beater 70's stuff too), I'd probably have the urge to plant my fist in the face of someone who made an offer like that on those books in bulk. A comic shop, if they're buying, would offer more --- assuming there's anything good in there.

 

10 cents for '70-'75. Again, why would anyone sell these to you at that price? They're going to see you're offering less than cover price on books they think are worth $15 each according to some wacky guide. They might be reaching for their shotgun at that point.

 

50 cents for pre-70 common books...ok, some of these reader books are 50 cent books in a wholesale scenario, but most marvels are not

 

GD for good 60's stuff/keys -- unless they're lower grade books, again, why would they be interested?

 

If he's gone through all the trouble of listing the stuff I think he will be homicidal if you come in with this sort of lowball. See what he wants, explain how most of the stuff is worthless, how you have to discount at 75% off guide to be able to sell most of the better stuff and basically you're making a fair offer for the part that isn't so worthless.

 

+1

 

man, I thought I was a haggler. Talk about low-balling. The only way I could see this working is if the volume was in the thousands and insect infested ... But seeing as he actually itemised, I would also doubt he'll bite. Let us know how it works out.

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