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Comic Book Collecting Blues

Started by skybolt,

48 posts in this topic

dam60

dam60

Posted
Posted
1) Pay cash and don't run up a credit card bill.

2) Learn how to grade so you aren't paying NM prices for FVF books.

3) Always try not to overpay by buying on impulse. or by getting into a bidding frenzy.

 

great advice! I think about it sometimes but at the same time you need to have some outlet for fun. All my finances are in order and an occassional (frequent?) comic purchase makes me happy smile.gifcloud9.gif

 

my problem now is that I don't have ENOUGH disposable income for the comics that I want! tongue.gif

 

DAM

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dam60

dam60

Posted
Posted
Another problem is my taste changing from month to month. Since I'm mostly collecting GA books these days, I sometimes feel like selling off my X-Men or A.S.M. collection to purchase early Superman or Batman books. However, I know that once I do this, then a year later I'm back to collecting SA books again and spending 1.5 X what I paid for the same books 2 years ago. Unfortunately, we all have limited budgets to work with.

 

I hear ya. If I could actually get something nice I would sell all my X-Men and get some nice GA Batmans. Too bad copper age / modern age X-Men books aren't worth anything! 27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif27_laughing.gif

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Ares

Ares

Posted
Posted
Like any habit comic book collecting is an addiction. It is not unusual to feel buyers remorse. If you are worrying because you don't think you will get a return on your investment then stop, if you are worrying because your family won't be eating tonight or their shoes have holes in them, then stop, if it is disposable income that allows you to enhance your collecting well being, then go for it. thumbsup2.gif

 

That sounds like a well thought out totally reasonable and non biased answer.

The kind of answer that trully helps people!

 

THAT KIND OF ANSWER HAS NO PLACE ON THESE BOARDS!

HOW DARE YE SIR!

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Smokinghawk

Smokinghawk

Posted
Posted
I was wondering, do other board members have those days where they start second guessing how much they're spending on their comic book purchases? Over the past 2 years I've woken up many times early in the morning and pondered what was I thinking spending $500 of my hard earned money on comic books the previous week. However, once I take out my collection a week later and snap out of it, then I'm back on Ebay buying some more books.

 

I wonder whether this second-guessing happens to everyone, or does it mean that maybe it's time for me to hang up my comic book collecting and move on to something else. As far as I'm concerned, my desire to collect comic books seems to fade at times, but comes back a few days or weeks later. It's a vicious cycle. 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

 

Yes, but only during my manic phases.

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nearmint

nearmint

Posted
Posted

Sometimes, when money is tight, I worry about spending $$$ on a nice book. But, months later, I've forgotten how tight money was at the time, and am THRILLED to own the book. Some of the best books I own would call somewhere else home if I'd blinked at the time.

 

It's when you no longer gain any satisfaction from owning your books that it's time to move on. I suspect that I'll reach that point sometime in the decade following my demise...but don't count on it. yay.gif

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Norrin_Radd

Norrin_Radd

Posted
Posted
I heard the swells in the Atlantic are causing cable disturbances. That's it. Yeah. That's it.

 

Actually the current US administration is just delaying all incoming communications from the UK because of that Daily Mirror cover this morning....

 

27_laughing.gif

 

Don't mention THAT again. Oh, the ignominy!!!! foreheadslap.gif

 

000ADF94-E181-1189-B6E080BFB6FA0000.jpgyeahok.gif

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goldust40

goldust40

Posted
Posted
I heard the swells in the Atlantic are causing cable disturbances. That's it. Yeah. That's it.

 

Actually the current US administration is just delaying all incoming communications from the UK because of that Daily Mirror cover this morning....

 

27_laughing.gif

 

Don't mention THAT again. Oh, the ignominy!!!! foreheadslap.gif

 

000ADF94-E181-1189-B6E080BFB6FA0000.jpgyeahok.gif

 

Well, they could've insulted the entire U.S. population. foreheadslap.gif

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Ze-man

Ze-man

Posted
Posted
Sometimes, when money is tight, I worry about spending $$$ on a nice book. But, months later, I've forgotten how tight money was at the time, and am THRILLED to own the book. Some of the best books I own would call somewhere else home if I'd blinked at the time.

 

 

Exactly... I am of this same mindset. thumbsup2.gif

 

I do spend more then I should on comics...and at times regret pulling the trigger on a book.. but I will always have bills.. and ways to spend my money..so in the end.. I go through my comics, and never think.."oh I should have not bought this "

 

dont they call this rationalization ?

Anyhow,

I still maitain a high level of enthusiasm for my collection.. and like a few others here posted.

I too change my comic buying tastes.. and what was hot one year .. is replaced by another genre.

But I now see a tend in my collecting habits now.. and think I can actually start to buy books.. I will not need to replace.. nor grow tired of..

I think. 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

 

This board has indeed opened my eyes to many areas of comics that I previously passed over..and now those are the exact areas I focus my collecting dollar on the most.

 

So this board DOES have a special purpose!

 

Ze-

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Sharkey

Sharkey

Posted
Posted

 

 

 

 

 

This board has indeed opened my eyes to many areas of comics that I previously passed over..and now those are the exact areas I focus my collecting dollar on the most.

 

So this board DOES have a special purpose!

 

Ze-

 

 

Well said, Ze-

 

I've learned more about restoration from the forum than anywhere else. And the cover appreciation threads have turned me on to all kinds of stuff I previously never thought about. Jeez, now I want scuba covers, bondage covers, cool pre-code horror stuff, etc. When I first started lurking I was strictly a Silver/Bronze super-hero guy.

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Harvey Dude

Harvey Dude

Posted
Posted
I was wondering, do other board members have those days where they start second guessing how much they're spending on their comic book purchases? Over the past 2 years I've woken up many times early in the morning and pondered what was I thinking spending $500 of my hard earned money on comic books the previous week. However, once I take out my collection a week later and snap out of it, then I'm back on Ebay buying some more books.

 

I wonder whether this second-guessing happens to everyone, or does it mean that maybe it's time for me to hang up my comic book collecting and move on to something else. As far as I'm concerned, my desire to collect comic books seems to fade at times, but comes back a few days or weeks later. It's a vicious cycle. 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

The only regret I ever had was when I sold my high grade WDC&S #1, AF #15 and Batman #1 because my mother thought I was an insufficiently_thoughtful_person for spending so much money on books. This was back in the eighties. That was the last time I ever listened to my mother when it came to comic books. Christo_pull_hair.gif

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Peter_Parker59

Peter_Parker59

Posted
Posted

Several collectors on these boards (including me) have experienced a period when they stopped collecting for some months or some years. It's when you can feel your collecting needs going back after this kind of pause that you know it's deep inside you. Then, you stop asking yourself this kind of questions.

 

You just have to set up a limit as to what's your disposable income dedicated to comics 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

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tilleycs

tilleycs

Posted
Posted

A few thoughts off the top (as opposed to the middle? the bottom? the far-left side? who knows...) of my head:

 

- Have you taken time to actually READ and ENJOY the comics you've bought, or are you in a mad dash to always accumulate, accumulate, accumulate more? When was the last time you thought about and looked forward to getting home and reading a book that you ALREADY own?

 

- Did you take time to ENJOY the books/covers before you put them in your boxes? If you have to wonder whether you're enjoying something, chances are you're not.

 

- If you need to slow down or take a break, do it (reading some books you've gotten but haven't read will help you fill the time). If you need to pay off your credit card or save up some money before you buy anything else, do it. Chances are, the comics you want will still be around when you're ready to get them. It's not always a "now or never" scenario.

 

- Have you taken time to go through and purge your collection of any books you don't want (and possibly donate them to Comics4Kids)? For me, it's usually the accumulation factor that bothers me more than the money factor (I'm generally a "reader copy" guy, though, so that may not apply to you).

 

Anyway, just a few thoughts that may or may not apply to you. Hope some of the comments in this thread help.

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Mr. Zipper

Mr. Zipper

Posted
Posted
Have you taken time to actually READ and ENJOY the comics you've bought, or are you in a mad dash to always accumulate, accumulate, accumulate more? When was the last time you thought about and looked forward to getting home and reading a book that you ALREADY own?

 

This is a constant struggle. I have about 8 short boxes of UNread back issues. 893naughty-thumb.gif I seem to have the time to buy them, but not read them. Well, I do read them, but I buy them faster, so I'm always slowly falling behind.

 

Someone once said of people that have stacks of unread books around the house, "They aren't buying books, they are trying to buy the time to read them."

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tilleycs

tilleycs

Posted
Posted
Have you taken time to actually READ and ENJOY the comics you've bought, or are you in a mad dash to always accumulate, accumulate, accumulate more? When was the last time you thought about and looked forward to getting home and reading a book that you ALREADY own?

 

This is a constant struggle. I have about 8 short boxes of UNread back issues. I seem to have the time to buy them, but not read them. Well, I do read them, but I buy them faster, so I'm always slowly falling behind.

 

I definitely agree. I wrote that because I'm guilty of it all the time - find a book, think "Yeah!" for a brief moment, and then put it in its box (in its numerical order, of course) without even taking it out of the bag/board, and just go on to the next one (and do the same thing to it).

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