What a score - the $20 per book golden age collection

[Bronty]

Look, I would have bought the books for the $25 each too. The dealer thing may not have been an outright lie (they have to buy cheap to stay in business) but perhaps a little disingenuous in light of the fact that you were paying even less

 

I would have bought them as well but, respectfully, the negotiation over the last five bucks a book was a bit much

 

Cash talks. It's not like I threatened to walk over the $5 per books - an offer was made, I countered, they accepted. Didn't realize you were there beside me for the transaction.

 

I don't need to have been beside you. I would have bought them too. But if I am splitting hairs I thought it was bad form to negotiate on what's already a steal. If you don't like it then don't come on here crowing about it You implicitly invited comments, if you don't like all of them, well, too bad.

 

Sweet Archie 3, btw. Even if there is some resto around the stape it looks sweet.

[october]

I don't think $1000 for this run was "stealing" it or anything.

 

Come on now. The Archie 3 alone is probably worth $1000. Not going to bag on you for the price you paid, but let's be real here.

[Bookery]

You guys sure do make assumptions, like the husband is dead and the seller was destitute. Neither of those are the case. You know what they say about those that assume.

 

Geesh guys. Sorry I ever started this thread. This is a mid-low grade run and quite a few I looked at have restoration, including the Archie 3.

 

What if I told you the seller could buy me about 8 times over net worth wise? Why does "gone" always equal deceased?

 

Like I said... you got a great deal and don't need to apologize. It's the seller that should have done some more homework...but that's her issue (it's irrelevent what happened to the husband, or how rich she is, btw). In a way... she's lucky you stopped by. Through Craigslist, she might have had someone stop by just to case her home, or hit her over the head and take the stuff.

 

As for counter-offering? I wouldn't do it, but on the other hand, I can also say that if you look too eager to pay even what they are asking, folks get nervous and will sometimes call off the deal just because they figure if you do accept without a counter, then they must not be asking enough.

 

I had a dealer acquaintence come across a small group of rare books at a garage sale the homeowner was selling for $1 apiece. The dealer told the guy that he had nice stuff, would take them all, and would pay him several hundred dollars for them in the interest of fairness. The guy got up in a huff, announced if knew they were worth something he'd have never sold them, grabbed them up and took them back inside... deal off!

 

In my shop I have to offer top dollar because my reputation is at stake, and I depend on further business and word-of-mouth. But out in the "wild", it's the seller's call. Being "nice" can sometimes cost you a deal.

 

[Moondog]

I don't think $1000 for this run was "stealing" it or anything.

 

Come on now. The Archie 3 alone is probably worth $1000. Not going to bag on you for the price you paid, but let's be real here.

 

It always amuses me when someone comes on the boards to crow about finding a deal and then get huffy when they get criticized about the deal - even after they ask if it was a steal or not.

 

Enjoy the collection. You did nothing illegal. Just don't expect everyone to feel the way you do about how you acquired it.

[Shield]

I'm not huffy. I'm thrilled. Just find it humorous reading about all these assumptions. Suddenly I'm taking food out of someone's mouth while the "late" husband's corpse isn't even cold yet.

 

This place...

[Shield]

If this collection was local to the poster, my shop is only an hour away from the collection, and judging as best as is possible from the pictures, and assuming fairly heavy restoration on the Archie #3, I'm guessing we would have offered something around $4,000 just from the issues I've seen...

 

PM sent.

[eccomic]

PM Sent Shawn (thumbs u

[the blob]

I had a dealer acquaintence come across a small group of rare books at a garage sale the homeowner was selling for $1 apiece. The dealer told the guy that he had nice stuff, would take them all, and would pay him several hundred dollars for them in the interest of fairness. The guy got up in a huff, announced if knew they were worth something he'd have never sold them, grabbed them up and took them back inside... deal off!

-----------------------------------------

 

BINGO. No good deed goes unpunished. The moment you offer real money for anything is 50% of the time the moment the potential seller freaks out and thinks you're trying to rob them because they have something valuable. I've told the story here, but the same thing happened to a friend of mine who had a card/comic shop and someone walks in with a stack of Ted Williams Rookie Cards to sell. Even with a lowball of something like $50 a piece (they were worth $300-500 a piece or something like that according to my friend) the seller freaks out. He says he thought they were worth a buck or two each, when he hears $50 each, he isn't excited, he then assumes he's being ripped off.

[the blob]

Nice score, but did you really have to squeeze her down from $20 from $25 apiece.

 

 

That was pretty much my thought.

You have a lady who has "lost" her husband (for whatever reason), doesn't know anything about the books, is already asking 10% (or less) of FMV for them - so why not lie to her about what would happen if she shipped them to a reputable dealer and then squeeze another 20% off her asking price because she is clueless.

 

Lie about a shipping hassle? It would be a hassle. Large dealers don't try to get books for next to nothing? You must never have dealt with dealers...

 

He's also buying them at that price, I presume, without going through them page by page. If many of these books happened to be missing wraps (as is oh so common with books like these), suddenly they start getting closer to being "worth" $25 or $20 or whatever.

 

I picked up a batman 53 (I think) at a flea market while on vacation in new orleans for $5. I was really psyched as it looked like a solid Fine or so and I just wanted to get the hell out of there before someone commented "hey, that's worth a lot more than $5!"...as I'm getting out of there and bragging to my wife how this comic is going to pay for our fancy meal that night I flip through it and see it is missing its first wrap..uhg! Still worth more than $5, but no fancy meal....

[the blob]

getting back to my friend with the shop...he pretty much decided after that he was never going to offer a fair price to anyone he brought stuff in. he bought a big GA collection from a guy who had been going to conventions in the early 70s, so knew they were worth something, and paid something like $2 a book. sure, some of these were $15-20 Barks WDCSes, but there was also a Scrooge 1st app in NM and a ton of 40s/early 50s GA super hero books in there (nothing worth more than $500, but this was in the mid-90s)

[rjpb]

I certainly don't see the issue, I'm certainly envious. Offer / Counter-Offer accepted seems pretty clear cut.

 

IMO It's not our job ethically or otherwise to teach someone about the value they have.

 

And while a dealer has to get a nice margin, so do collectors, there really is no difference.

 

I'm sure Shield has done a couple deals that didn't work out as well and this helps offset those.

 

Ed

 

This is exactly the point - the person selling them wanted rid of them for the least hassle possible. I was fortunate to be the lucky one. I wasn't there to educate the seller on how to maximize THEIR profit just like when I go buy a used car I'm not there to maximize the dealer's sales. The seller was a great person and is happy they ended up in a collector's hands. Everyone wins. My only regret is ever mentioning the deal or a price on here.

 

I imagine if the woman listed them on craigslist, she was looking for a easier sale than she would have gotten shipping them off to a "New York" dealer, and even if you were a bit disingenuous in implying that dealers would be less interested in MLJ books than Batman and Superman, all she needed to do was make a phone call or send an email to find out, and as has been said, it is neither your obligation nor in your best interest to promote the competition. I'm reminded of the time I went to look at an antique table belonging to a woman who had advertised it for $125, and I thought it was more than a fair price, but as soon as I indicated I would take it, she let me know that she wasn't going to sell it for less than $100. I wasn't going to insist she take the extra $25.

 

My initial post was meant as a tweak not to admonish , but I'm amused that on a forum where theoretical "old school" dealers of the past are routinely villified for offering pennies on the dollar for collections, that one wouldn't expect comment on a story of convincing an uneducated seller that seeking an offer from a dealer was a waste of time, and that an already bargain price needed to be reduced further. It did cause the following imaginary dialogue to play out in my mind:

 

"We'll sure, Ma'am, you can pack them books off to one of them slick Noo York dealers, but you know how they operate, if they aren't robbin' you blind, they're just about as like to tell you to pay to ship 'em back as they are to offer you a dollar for 'em. Might even up and say they never even got 'em. They're just lookin' for them Batman and Superman books anyhow, them's the one's worth a few dollars, nobody even knows who the Black Hood or this Shield character are anymore. Now , twenty-five apiece, that's a bit more'n they're worth, but because I'm a collector not a dealer, and I'm not lookin' for a profit, I'll tell you what, I'll give you a thousand for the whole shebang. How's that sound?"

 

[Moetown]

Congrats on the find. Don't sweat the above; just enjoy your new books! Glad they found a 'collector' home.

[Bomber-Bob]

Look at the original title - 'What a score - $20 per book Golden Age collection'.

You were bragging about the score, the price of the collection, not the collection itself. Why not simply share your find with us without the financials?Totally unnecessary. Sorry.

 

[BB-Gun]

I got the Pep 33 for free after it fell on the floor.

[Flex Mentallo]

I got the Pep 33 for free after it fell on the floor.

 

Ethically speaking, I blame the floor.

[miraclemet]

I got the Pep 33 for free after it fell on the floor.

 

Ethically speaking, I blame the floor.

 

Seriously what was the floor doing down there!?! very suspicious...

[Shield]

Quick recap of today.

 

1. Tim (bookery) is a wonderful gentleman and made me a very fair offer for the entire lot. Any time anyone mentions the good dealer like Payette and Bedrock City need to keep Bookery in that same conversation. He's now got the books and as a result I have removed all pictures from this thread as it's up to him how he decides to market and sell these.

 

2. I stopped and gave the original seller a very large chunk of cash (almost 2x more than the original amount) just because it's the right thing to do. I'm not a total a-hole and will sleep soundly tonight. Everyone is happy now. Me, the new buyer, and the original seller. Do not thank me for this; it's how I was raised.

 

3. I will never, ever, ever disclose actual amounts of money paid or sold for books, unless it's something unavoidable like "look at the score I just made on ebay".

 

4. I got a good lesson on what to look for as far as books that have been cleaned. It's probably best that I stop going out and trying to find runs of books as it's just a matter of time before I REALLY overpay for restored books and get hosed.

 

5. Today has changed my opinion on dealers. Not all, but I will mentally stop equating them with used car salesmen.

 

 

If you ever are buying or selling in the Dayton Ohio area, I cannot recommend Bookery Fantasy enough. High class act from top to bottom.

[BEAUMONTS]

Good on you (thumbs u

[Randall Dowling]

Quick recap of today.

2. I stopped and gave the original seller a very large chunk of cash (almost 2x more than the original amount) just because it's the right thing to do. I'm not a total a-hole and will sleep soundly tonight. Everyone is happy now. Me, the new buyer, and the original seller. Do not thank me for this; it's how I was raised.

 

Stand up move. The idea of how much is too cheap to buy collectibles from those that are unaware of their value is a complicated issue without simple answers. For me, the test has always been how comfortable would I be if the seller found out how much I sold them for. Sounds like you made the right call. (thumbs u

[Bronty]

that's above and beyond (thumbs u