Collection just in - Pictures and a story

[Cyclops]

Yeah - bought my former copy of Showcase # 4 at a Starbucks, using a credit card the dude ran on Square w/ his Smartphone.

 

I quickly verified the transaction via my laptop, he handed me a book & a copy of the receipt, and we went our separate ways.

 

Brave new world.

[ft88]

Paypal

 

I think he wants cash for a reason.

 

Ed

[KPR Comics]

Understandable.

[ft88]

Following up on this deal. It's not going well. All of a sudden the Xmen 100 is worth $1000.

Let's see if I can educate.

[uchiha101]

Following up on this deal. It's not going well. All of a sudden the Xmen 100 is worth $1000.

Let's see if I can educate.

 

what grade is it even in 9.8?

[uchiha101]

Yeah - bought my former copy of Showcase # 4 at a Starbucks, using a credit card the dude ran on Square w/ his Smartphone.

 

I quickly verified the transaction via my laptop, he handed me a book & a copy of the receipt, and we went our separate ways.

 

the joys of technology

[ft88]

Two hours of negotiation after going through 20 boxes of comics. Needless to say I paid a little more than I wanted to but I think it is a good deal. Spiderman 9 on up to 350 was a good start.

[uchiha101]

Two hours of negotiation after going through 20 boxes of comics. Needless to say I paid a little more than I wanted to but I think it is a good deal. Spiderman 9 on up to 350 was a good start.

 

congrats

[ft88]

So I forgot to follow up on the details of this little purchase. Started out 2 months ago and noted on the previous page. Guy wanted cash, only had part of his colletion and I was tapped out and it was a Sunday so no banks open.

 

He won't return my calls and the few he does, never able to set up a meeting. He lives 2 hours away so a wasted trip would be painful. I really had a hard time getting it so we could get together. You'd think I could use that in my favor when it came time to negotiate. More on that later.

 

When I get there finally he has the original 6 boxes or so (which was good stuff mind you) plus another 6 small boxes of mostly common stuff. I ask, "so where are the old Spdiermans?" Oh well, he just didn't have time to get to that etc etc. "OK, well my offer still stands, and maybe a bit more the the rest of the boxes."

 

Now the wife comes in. She know nothing about comics. They start to point at the Xmen 100 (3 copies) and say " these 3 alone are worth $1000 each" Great. I spend the next 45 minutes showing them the difference between a CGC 9.8 that sells for $1000 and a CGC 9.2 and a raw 9.2. Mind you these are very nice copies, but if I have to buy at CGC 9.8 prices this deal is long dead.

 

OK, I walk them back a little but you can tell they have their radar up like I'm trying to rip them off. The wife more than the husband collector. She then asks what about all that money I was going to pay for everything. I say that everything isn't here. Husband agrees. She gets pissed and tells husband to go home and get the rest of them. He does and brings two car loads of boxes an hour later. At least there was some good college football games on. BTW we are at his restaurant/pizza place, Saturday at 4 pm, to give you the setting.

 

I'm going through box after box of just common stuff. Random titles too but at least all DC and Marvel. Here and there a 70's book thrown in. Then a long box of the Hologram spideys and Kraven storylines, XForce 1, New Mutants 100 (I listed them for sale and so far they have done better than I thought). Nice that they are all in high grade. As is most of the 1980s stuff. The 1970s and early 80s not as good but it varied. Still, we're talking 3-4000 comics. Then I get to the spiderman boxes. First handfull is Spiderman 9 11 12 13 15-20 all low grade but decent. Very few missing issues and quite a few doubles in the later Romita era. Key 70s issues are mid grade so nothing great but a full run of ASM.

 

He starts talking about how much their worth and this is great stuff on and on. I have to agree. Then we start to negotiate. He has mid grade ASM 9-350 (later issues are NM, pretty typical) a long box of decent 1970s and a long box of decent 1960s with mid grade keys. Then 20+ short boxes of generic, some good some bad. He wants $20,000. I really just almost walked right then. But he says he won't take less than $15,000. Well OK but we're still not even close. Wife starts basically arguing with me that "why won't I pay what they are worth." and "Why are you going back on what you said you'd pay over the phone." (I didn't but I wanted to get to a number that they wanted and how much I needed to bring)

Anyway, it wasn't going well. In the end I gave them a number well below that but not to where I knew I'd make out. Anyone who's done this knows that this is a lot of work, unless you just blow them out yourself. I figure the Spidey's are worth 5-6k, 1970s and 1960s another 2-3 and the rest, not a lot. Again, the multi issues did better than I thought and I basically counted them in my head as $1 each.

 

So they wore me down and I'm usually much more willing to walk on a deal where I have to store so many books and then work weeks and months to sell them, especially books I have no real interest in collecting or reading myself.

 

I came up a bit more than I wanted. I wanted the books and wanted to get the hell out of there. So up the offer again and made a deal. I loaded every inch of my Volvo S60 and since i had the door open a lot, the battery barely started the car on a very cold night. Unloading and looking at them initially was a bit daunting. As I went through the common books I instantly regretted buying them. But going through the Spidey's and keys was fund and made me feel a bit better.

 

Report over.

[goldust40]

Now the wife comes in. She know nothing about comics.

 

Congrats on walking out of there with the books. It's not unusual for the partner or spouse to wander in and throw a spanner in the works - I've had similar when buying collections.

[thunsicker]

Now the wife comes in. She know nothing about comics.

 

Congrats on walking out of there with the books. It's not unusual for the partner or spouse to wander in and throw a spanner in the works - I've had similar when buying collections.

 

I wonder how much of this is due to the lies people tell their spouses when they are buying books. "Honey, I'm sorry I spent $120 on this X-Men #100 on EBay. But, look, this one in 9.8 just sold for $1000!"