Share Your Bystander "I Have Old Comics For Sale" Stories

[sterlingcomics]

So today I was at the LCS (first time in a long time actually), and in the short timeframe of 20 minutes there were two solicitations of individuals selling comics.

 

The first solicitation was very brief. A gentleman says "I have old comics for sale, are you interested in potentially buying them"? Sure, the staff indicates. A few minutes later a box is dragged in and a few long pauses keeps the individual in suspense. "You...are....better off keeping these." The gentleman asks why. "Well, for one, we are very well stocked up on anything 1990 and up...see the wall over there? It's stacked of books just like those. Sorry!"

 

A few minutes later, while I was at the checkout, solicitation #2 was in full progress. The gentleman looked to be in his mid fifties. The staff was basically doing a car analogy where an old car isn't worth much if it's not kept in shape. "These books have lots of rust!" As I glanced over the books none of them had covers and easily had cream or tan pages, but looked like some books in the late 50s or early 60s. The staff did appear interested however, as at least he had his guide book out.

 

So, do you have any interesting "bystander" collection selling stories you overheard while doing business with a dealer or LCS? I'm sure there are way more interesting ones than these, but wanted to kick it off.

[excelsior1986]

I was in a LCS where they have all the back issues in a back room, so i was back there fliupping through them. I heard someone come in and tell the owner he had a box of comics for sale so i listened to the conversation. Note that this owner is notorious for ripping people off, not letting them know if they have something valuable and he hardly ever forks over money for anything and turns around and charges up the for it. After about 10 min of silence I heard him tell the guy his stuff wasnt worth that much but he could give him $100 for it so i knew right away there was something valuable. After the deal was made and the seller left, i went to check out what he got. Most of it was silver and bronze marvel and dc, nothing to noteworthy but in it was ASM 129, Giant size x-men #1, Conan #1, and a full run of x-men from the mid 80s to 120s (cant remember the exact numbers) including #94. Now thats a comeup if you ask me.

[brendanb438]

With how easy it is to use the Internet these days it is hard to feel bad for anyone who takes zero time to do a little research before they sell anything collectible to at least get a ballpark figure for what it may be worth. Of the 2 LCS that I go to most often, one goes above and beyond to educate the customer on what they have and sometimes gives too much for the collectible while the other will rip you off even worse than the person in the above post was taken for.

[Kenglo1]

Sterlingcomics I just had a funny thought of your avatar looking at those 90's books -aaaahhhhh.

[Drewsky]

I was at motor city comic con about 6 or 7 years ago looking through the cheap bins when a guy came up to the guy running the booth and asked if he was interested in buying his father old comics. He had two paper store bags First bag is all big little books and the dealer tells him that they are not his thing and that they are nit very colletable and then he proceeds to pull out Batman 1 and a bunch of crazy expensive books all loose with no bags and boards. It was nuts watching the dealers face change. I have no idea about a deal but that was a crazy thing to see.

[This is water]

At my LCS I overhead an employee dealing with the costumer that has a box of comics he was attempting to sale.

 

The costumer was really excited because he had all these "number ones" so he assumed they were worth a small fortune. Little did he know, all he had was 80s/90s drek. The employee handled it very nicely and politely told him they were worth much.

 

I think the best book he has was ASM 252.

 

It's kind of funny and strange to witness peoples' perceptions of the values of their collectibles.

[DailySuperpower]

At my LCS I overhead an employee dealing with the costumer that has a box of comics he was attempting to sale.

 

The costumer was really excited because he had all these "number ones" so he assumed they were worth a small fortune. Little did he know, all he had was 80s/90s drek. The employee handled it very nicely and politely told him they were worth much.

 

I think the best book he has was ASM 252.

 

It's kind of funny and strange to witness peoples' perceptions of the values of their collectibles.

 

What was he wearing?

[sterlingcomics]

Sterlingcomics I just had a funny thought of your avatar looking at those 90's books -aaaahhhhh.

 

:thumbsup: I did comment and say "Funny how people think 1990 books are old, huh?" He smirked. I've used 90s comics for my entry rug .

[This is water]

At my LCS I overhead an employee dealing with the costumer that has a box of comics he was attempting to sale.

 

The costumer was really excited because he had all these "number ones" so he assumed they were worth a small fortune. Little did he know, all he had was 80s/90s drek. The employee handled it very nicely and politely told him they were worth much.

 

I think the best book he has was ASM 252.

 

It's kind of funny and strange to witness peoples' perceptions of the values of their collectibles.

 

What was he wearing?

 

 

Maybe I was typing a little too fast?

[Ditch Fahrenheit]

At my LCS I overhead an employee dealing with the costumer that has a box of comics he was attempting to sale.

 

The costumer was really excited because he had all these "number ones" so he assumed they were worth a small fortune. Little did he know, all he had was 80s/90s drek. The employee handled it very nicely and politely told him they were(n't) worth much.

 

I think the best book he has was ASM 252.

 

It's kind of funny and strange to witness peoples' perceptions of the values of their collectibles.

 

What was he wearing?

 

 

Maybe I was typing a little too fast?

 

Yup.

 

 

[Jeffro.]

This was probably 20 years ago or more. I was at a small shop in Forestville CT. (shop is long gone. been gone for years now) I looked through some boxes, picked out a few comics and then stood in line to pay. A guy came into the shop and got in line behind me holding a shopping bag. As I'm standing there, the guy starts chatting me up. He asks me if I know anything about comics. I reply that I did and he asks me to look through what he has in the bag.

 

The shop owner sees this and blows his stack, starts yelling at me that I'm taking a sale away from him.

 

Needless to say, I never went into his shop again. The loser went out of business not long after that.

[Monster's Lair Comics]

I worked in a comic store during high school, and the owner would let me buy collections he wasn't interested in. I bought a ton of decent silver age stuff that was not "NM" (as he only wanted to buy and sell high grade books) but was still nice for my meager earnings. I bought a ton of early strange tales and daredevils that way. I got my strange tales 101, and my daredevil 7 from people walking in with books. I also saw about 10 ASM #1's and one AF #15 ( owner bought that one, about a good+). Saw every silver age key come into the store at one time or another, I wish I would have been saving my money to spend on those books instead of buying almost every new book I could get my hands on.

 

Probably the best job I ever had!

[boomtown]

Sitting talking to a buddy, the manager of my lcs in the early 90's. A guy came in with a box full of books (around 100), the manager pulled them out & started flipping through them. Included a copy of Avengers #1, 50 to 60 pre hero marvel monster books, some early 60's marvel westerns & an Amazing Spider-Man 14 among other books. Most of the stuff was VG/Fine condition & he offered him $75 for the pile, which the guy happily took.

 

The guy walked out & I was getting ready to tell him how badly he had ripped the guy off, etc., etc.

 

Before I did he separated the Spider-Man 14 from the other books & offered me the rest for the $75 he had payed. He said he knew that was the kind of stuff I collected & that I had put an Avengers #1 on my want list a few months back. One of the better deals I ever got, even if the Pre Hero Monster stuff wasn't real hot back then.

 

I decided to keep my comments to myself.

[This is water]

At my LCS I overhead an employee dealing with the costumer that has a box of comics he was attempting to sale.

 

The costumer was really excited because he had all these "number ones" so he assumed they were worth a small fortune. Little did he know, all he had was 80s/90s drek. The employee handled it very nicely and politely told him they were(n't) worth much.

 

I think the best book he has was ASM 252.

 

It's kind of funny and strange to witness peoples' perceptions of the values of their collectibles.

 

What was he wearing?

 

 

Maybe I was typing a little too fast?

 

Yup.

 

 

 

Hate me, because you want to be me.

 

 

[TijuanaDagger-migration]

Where I live people walk into the LCS everyday with boxes of 90s books. My LCS has an extremely rough time finding stuff worth buying. I think I have only ever seen a couple of keys purchased and sold at the LCS in the last 15 years.

[synch]

Sitting talking to a buddy, the manager of my lcs in the early 90's. A guy came in with a box full of books (around 100), the manager pulled them out & started flipping through them. Included a copy of Avengers #1, 50 to 60 pre hero marvel monster books, some early 60's marvel westerns & an Amazing Spider-Man 14 among other books. Most of the stuff was VG/Fine condition & he offered him $75 for the pile, which the guy happily took.

 

The guy walked out & I was getting ready to tell him how badly he had ripped the guy off, etc., etc.

 

Before I did he separated the Spider-Man 14 from the other books & offered me the rest for the $75 he had payed. He said he knew that was the kind of stuff I collected & that I had put an Avengers #1 on my want list a few months back. One of the better deals I ever got, even if the Pre Hero Monster stuff wasn't real hot back then.

 

I decided to keep my comments to myself.

 

nice bribe

[thehumantorch]

A few years ago I was looking for a few books at a local used bookstore. In

walks a guy with 5 boxes of Disneys from the 70s up. I'm sure the store didn't

give him more than a few bucks a box for them. I even heard the guy mumble

that he didn't know why he'd been collecting them for so many years.

 

I wanted to take him aside and tell him it's ok to collect comics and Disneys and

that he wasn't alone and if he really wanted to sell I would give him far more

than the store did. I often think that if he had connected with other collectors

he would still be in the hobby.

[The Kaptain]

This was probably 20 years ago or more. I was at a small shop in Forestville CT. (shop is long gone. been gone for years now) I looked through some boxes, picked out a few comics and then stood in line to pay. A guy came into the shop and got in line behind me holding a shopping bag. As I'm standing there, the guy starts chatting me up. He asks me if I know anything about comics. I reply that I did and he asks me to look through what he has in the bag.

 

The shop owner sees this and blows his stack, starts yelling at me that I'm taking a sale away from him.

 

Needless to say, I never went into his shop again. The loser went out of business not long after that.

 

Was that the tiny little comic shop with no parking that used to be on the corner of Broad St and Central St? I used to go there all the time back in the late 80s. I remember Jim Aparo did a signing there once. Maybe I saw you there.... Good times.

 

However, I do remember the owner being a bit rude (I was only 14 at the time, so he never was too rude to me, but I remember getting that vibe from him).

[Jeffro.]

This was probably 20 years ago or more. I was at a small shop in Forestville CT. (shop is long gone. been gone for years now) I looked through some boxes, picked out a few comics and then stood in line to pay. A guy came into the shop and got in line behind me holding a shopping bag. As I'm standing there, the guy starts chatting me up. He asks me if I know anything about comics. I reply that I did and he asks me to look through what he has in the bag.

 

The shop owner sees this and blows his stack, starts yelling at me that I'm taking a sale away from him.

 

Needless to say, I never went into his shop again. The loser went out of business not long after that.

 

Was that the tiny little comic shop with no parking that used to be on the corner of Broad St and Central St? I used to go there all the time back in the late 80s. I remember Jim Aparo did a signing there once. Maybe I saw you there.... Good times.

 

However, I do remember the owner being a bit rude (I was only 14 at the time, so he never was too rude to me, but I remember getting that vibe from him).

 

That was probably the same shop. I can't remember the owner's name but I'm pretty sure he used to set up at Hal's East Hartford show. Guy was a real .

 

 

[sterlingcomics]

Some interesting stories here...some interesting things that don't seem to change is the fact that folks with books REALLY don't understand some of the basic nature of condition impacts grade, knowing what is truly in demand...and generally expecting the LCS to give them a fair shake (which simply cannot happen because they must turn a profit and pay for the lights etc).