Sold my collection (sans pedigrees) to Flaming Telepath’s Comicana Direct

[Legion HQ]

Pictures please? Before the collection is broken apart!

[PedigreeMan]

Thanks for all of the kind words, everyone! You work on a post this large and throw it out there hoping that someone reads and enjoys it in its entirety, but realize at the same time that it may just fall flat. All of your comments have shown me otherwise, and for that I thank you all!

 

And Gary? To a 13 year old who lived and breathed comic books at a time before the rock star creator came into fashion, who were his idols? Why, the big-name dealers, of course! And in 1988 who was the #1 dealer in the entire Chicago area, if not the Midwest? So yes, my friend, you were and still are my Michael Jordan ... don't ever think otherwise.

 

Finally, here's a picture I just took of The Albatross which is 100% representative of what John faces in the morning. Good thing I'm not a jag-bag who's going to let him pack it up alone, huh?

 

 

More to come! Stay tuned!

[Moondog]

Thanks for all of the kind words, everyone! You work on a post this large and throw it out there hoping that someone reads and enjoys it in its entirety, but realize at the same time that it may just fall flat. All of your comments have shown me otherwise, and for that I thank you all!

 

And Gary? To a 13 year old who lived and breathed comic books at a time before the rock star creator came into fashion, who were his idols? Why, the big-name dealers, of course! And in 1988 who was the #1 dealer in the entire Chicago area, if not the Midwest? So yes, my friend, you were and still are my Michael Jordan ... don't ever think otherwise.

 

Finally, here's a picture I just took of The Albatross which is 100% representative of what John faces in the morning. Good thing I'm not a jag-bag who's going to let him pack it up alone, huh?

 

 

More to come! Stay tuned!

 

Good luck tomorrow, Alan!

 

[Legion HQ]

Hope you guys brought your weight lifting belts! You should surprise John with a loading fee.

 

Great story. Although it leaves me a bit sad, yet inspired. Thanks for sharing! I look forward to reading about tomorrow's

[tth2]

I'd hate to know how much shipping to the UK is going to be for all those books

 

Yeah how many are we talking about? 8,000 books in one year!

 

Substantially more than that by now, I can tell you.

Glad you were able to do the deal with Alan.

 

I`m amazed that the deal ended up working with an overseas dealer and that it was still economical when factoring in the shipping costs, but I`m glad you guys were able to work things out. In one sense, shipping a huge bunch of books overseas ends up being a lot cheaper per book than shipping a medium or small-sized bunch of books overseas.

[tth2]

Exactly two weeks later I got a phone call from Nick’s business partner, John. We chatted for less than 20 minutes about the collection -- how long I had been collecting for, what percentage had been bought new versus second-hand, general grades, why I was getting out, etc. -- and then came the time to talk price. “And so you’re looking to get what for all of this …?” he asked, and I told him the number, bracing for the reaction. It’s not that the number was unfair -- I had a complete understanding of the value of my collection, and while my price had never been met outright by anyone, I still knew it was a decent wholesale number. I just had to find the right buyer … and it turned out to be Comicana Direct.

 

John didn’t even try to haggle. All he said after I told him what I was hoping to get was, “How do I send you the money?” It was really that easy, and I about fell out of my chair in shock. Almost 2 years of trying to liquidate this sucker and the only response to my price was, “How do I send you the money?” Awesome. Totally awesome.

Alan, I hope this isn`t the first time you`ve told this to Nick and John, because if it is, it`s not something that will leave them with a warm fuzzy.

[HouseofComics.Com]

Thanks for all of the kind words, everyone! You work on a post this large and throw it out there hoping that someone reads and enjoys it in its entirety, but realize at the same time that it may just fall flat. All of your comments have shown me otherwise, and for that I thank you all!

 

I think people will remember this thread for a long time. I love that picture of the collection all lined up on the shelves.

 

I'd be interested to learn what the per comic or per box shipping turned out to be.

 

Marc

[Prince Namor]

Great story. Well told.

[dupont2005]

[Logan510]

Good luck with everything Alan, very interesting read (thumbs u

 

 

 

 

 

Casey

[Silver Surfer]

Good luck with everything Alan, very interesting read (thumbs u

 

 

+1.

[thehumantorch]

I'd hate to know how much shipping to the UK is going to be for all those books

 

Yeah how many are we talking about? 8,000 books in one year!

 

Substantially more than that by now, I can tell you.

Glad you were able to do the deal with Alan.

 

I`m amazed that the deal ended up working with an overseas dealer and that it was still economical when factoring in the shipping costs, but I`m glad you guys were able to work things out. In one sense, shipping a huge bunch of books overseas ends up being a lot cheaper per book than shipping a medium or small-sized bunch of books overseas.

 

Agreed, the shipping price should have made the deal unworkable for overseas

dealers. Shows that they pay better, at least for these type books, than most

dealers.

[nmtg9]

Thread of the month. Hands down

[chromium]

This is a fantastic story

I'm blown away by the logistics and the feasibility of this...having "imported" over 10.000 comics from the US myself (although spread over 5 - 6 years and shipped in bite-sized packages) I know how expensive shipping from the US to Europe can get

[Flaming_Telepath]

I'd hate to know how much shipping to the UK is going to be for all those books

 

Yeah how many are we talking about? 8,000 books in one year!

 

Substantially more than that by now, I can tell you.

Glad you were able to do the deal with Alan.

 

I`m amazed that the deal ended up working with an overseas dealer and that it was still economical when factoring in the shipping costs, but I`m glad you guys were able to work things out. In one sense, shipping a huge bunch of books overseas ends up being a lot cheaper per book than shipping a medium or small-sized bunch of books overseas.

 

Correct. The shipping costs are very reasonable and actually work out at about 10c a book because of the bulk.

 

What is also great is that John's out there now hauling boxes and I'm up at my parents, preparing for a party tonight!

[bane]

This has been a great thread to read from start to end and I'm happy you got some closure on the collection.

[Flaming_Telepath]

I'd hate to know how much shipping to the UK is going to be for all those books

 

Yeah how many are we talking about? 8,000 books in one year!

 

Substantially more than that by now, I can tell you.

Glad you were able to do the deal with Alan.

 

I`m amazed that the deal ended up working with an overseas dealer and that it was still economical when factoring in the shipping costs, but I`m glad you guys were able to work things out. In one sense, shipping a huge bunch of books overseas ends up being a lot cheaper per book than shipping a medium or small-sized bunch of books overseas.

 

Agreed, the shipping price should have made the deal unworkable for overseas

dealers. Shows that they pay better, at least for these type books, than most

dealers.

 

I think it was a timing thing. Right now we don't have the huge stockpiling of stuff that established dealers accumulate over the years. Yes, some of this stuff will be our fourth or fifth copy, but there's other stuff in there that we haven't got at all and a lot that will only be our 2nd or 3rd copy.

 

And Alan's baseline was actually realistic, given the nature of the stuff, and because of my prior relaationship with him, I thought it appropriate to deal with him as fairly as he was dealing with me.

 

Everybody's going to be a winner. (thumbs u

[GACollectibles]

I'd hate to know how much shipping to the UK is going to be for all those books

 

Yeah how many are we talking about? 8,000 books in one year!

 

Substantially more than that by now, I can tell you.

Glad you were able to do the deal with Alan.

 

I`m amazed that the deal ended up working with an overseas dealer and that it was still economical when factoring in the shipping costs, but I`m glad you guys were able to work things out. In one sense, shipping a huge bunch of books overseas ends up being a lot cheaper per book than shipping a medium or small-sized bunch of books overseas.

 

Agreed, the shipping price should have made the deal unworkable for overseas

dealers. Shows that they pay better, at least for these type books, than most

dealers.

 

I think it was a timing thing. Right now we don't have the huge stockpiling of stuff that established dealers accumulate over the years. Yes, some of this stuff will be our fourth or fifth copy, but there's other stuff in there that we haven't got at all and a lot that will only be our 2nd or 3rd copy.

 

And Alan's baseline was actually realistic, given the nature of the stuff, and because of my prior relaationship with him, I thought it appropriate to deal with him as fairly as he was dealing with me.

 

Everybody's going to be a winner. (thumbs u

 

Ah, that explains the purpose of the UK Boardie get together!

 

[dman72]

Great post I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks for taking the time to type it all up.

[gaz973]

Excellent thread, well written and interesting.