Time vs Money - What is your threshold when it comes to selling comics?

[1Cool]

I've seen several "deals" sit around untaken on the boards because the flippable profit is not sufficient compared to what the books cost. In terms of re-selling a book what is the minimum profit you are shooting for before making a purchase?

 

For example - would you buy a set of four books for $50 if you had a 95% chance of selling them quickly for $66 on E-Bay or $60 on the boards? Assuming shipping cost is a wash. After Paypal fees you net about $8 in profit. Lets assume it takes you 10 minutes to open the package from the seller, confirm the grades are accurate, and put the books in some sort of spreadsheet. It takes 5 minutes to scan the books and post the books on E-Bay or on the boards and another 5 minutes to ship the book out. So that's 20 minutes of time spent to make $8 profit. Is that sufficient for you to pull the trigger?

 

What if the books had a 50% chance of quickly being sold for $75 - would that change your response?

[Buzzetta]

Honestly depends what else I am selling. I have listed things where the supposed profit margin is very small, but... I was already listing a few other things so why not list that as well? Perhaps someone will buy that lot as well as others.

 

I have sold things at a loss. I want "something" for it because something is still better than throwing it out.

 

Keep in mind that you are talking to someone that honestly believes that there is a buying audience for everything out there on eBay. I still say selling my old flip-flops was an eye opener to this.

 

When selling, I do not look at it from a profit margin if it is an object that I want to move and get rid of no matter what. I look at it from a perspective of what will this actually command at market? If we are talking an amount that is not worth the hassle then I throw it out. I had a DVD player that I was going to post. It was only getting a few dollars so I just tossed it.

 

AND...

Even with all that there are exceptions. When I am listing action figures, some of those are only a few dollars each. However the idea is that people are usually going to take more than one of something per order. They will take a group and select the ones that they want.

 

 

[jsilverjanet]

I think he's asking what type of profit margin are you looking for when buying books online

[Buzzetta]

I just woke up... All that writing for nothing.

[1Cool]

Honestly depends what else I am selling. I have listed things where the supposed profit margin is very small, but... I was already listing a few other things so why not list that as well? Perhaps someone will buy that lot as well as others.

 

I have sold things at a loss. I want "something" for it because something is still better than throwing it out.

 

Keep in mind that you are talking to someone that honestly believes that there is a buying audience for everything out there on eBay. I still say selling my old flip-flops was an eye opener to this.

 

When selling, I do not look at it from a profit margin if it is an object that I want to move and get rid of no matter what. I look at it from a perspective of what will this actually command at market? If we are talking an amount that is not worth the hassle then I throw it out. I had a DVD player that I was going to post. It was only getting a few dollars so I just tossed it.

 

AND...

Even with all that there are exceptions. When I am listing action figures, some of those are only a few dollars each. However the idea is that people are usually going to take more than one of something per order. They will take a group and select the ones that they want.

 

 

Yea - if its a item you have already then it comes down to if its worth the time to sell it vs just throwing it away. For me - if it takes me 15 minutes to sell it then I better make more than a buck or two since my time is worth more than that. I donate a lot of items like that.

[gaz973]

You have to allow enough profit for it to still be worthwhile if the grades are inaccurate.

[Jeffro.]

I just woke up... All that writing for nothing.

 

The boards are like that

[1Cool]

You have to allow enough profit for it to still be worthwhile if the grades are inaccurate.

 

Good point. Lets assume 50% are poorly graded and need to be spent back which takes some time with no profit. But the 10% that are undergraded will help balance it out a bit.

[maloney414]

No. I wouldn't buy a set of books for $50 to make $8.

 

Especially, since many things can go wrong. Like someone said, the books are graded inaccurate, or the new buyer is picky and wants to return to you. Not worth it to me.

 

 

[Gem_Mint]

Time is not an issue.

 

Pricing, listing, selling, shipping. That doesn't feel like "work" to me.

 

I don't break down the comics thing to hours b/c its just my hobby, my side "thing".

 

However, it has to be "worth it" for me to sell something.

 

If I have a lot of New Mutants comics, I'm not gonna sell issue 80 for $3 if someone asks me to break up the lot. Not worth it.

[maloney414]

Furthermore, I give the guys who flip new comics credit for taking that risk.

 

A new comic has to be worth at least $10 just to break even for most people.

 

$10 - $4 cost of comic - $4 shipping - $2 eBay/PayPal fees = break even

 

Sure, if you order moderns months ahead of time from a site like dcbservice.com you can lower the cost of the comic, but it's still risky. Kudos to those who make it work.

[CBT]

Assuming you have a job, figure out the time you spend listing/selling the books, and compare it to your wage. If its way less, better to work more, and keep your comics.

 

The people who sell comic books for a living, dont have that issue. I dont sell stuff very often, but if the margin isnt at least 30-50%, I probably wouldnt sell it, unless I need to get my money back out to put to something else, then I wouldnt really care, as long as I am breaking even.

[Jeffro.]

Time is not an issue.

 

Pricing, listing, selling, shipping. That doesn't feel like "work" to me.

 

I don't break down the comics thing to hours b/c its just my hobby, my side "thing".

 

However, it has to be "worth it" for me to sell something.

 

If I have a lot of New Mutants comics, I'm not gonna sell issue 80 for $3 if someone asks me to break up the lot. Not worth it.

 

Pricing, listing, and selling (as well as grading) can be fun. Scanning and packing (especially packing) is most definitely work.

[1Cool]

Time is not an issue.

 

Pricing, listing, selling, shipping. That doesn't feel like "work" to me.

 

I don't break down the comics thing to hours b/c its just my hobby, my side "thing".

 

However, it has to be "worth it" for me to sell something.

 

If I have a lot of New Mutants comics, I'm not gonna sell issue 80 for $3 if someone asks me to break up the lot. Not worth it.

 

I think that's a good point. A full time dealer may have a different response compared to a part-time "hobby" seller since the 20 minutes necessary to sell the books is "fun time" not "work time". If I can make $25 a hour during my "hobby" time it makes the smaller profit margins more worthwhile.

[THB]

When it comes to selling....Buy low sell high. It' a time tested strategy.

[1950's war comics]

I've seen several "deals" sit around untaken on the boards because the flippable profit is not sufficient compared to what the books cost. In terms of re-selling a book what is the minimum profit you are shooting for before making a purchase?

 

For example - would you buy a set of four books for $50 if you had a 95% chance of selling them quickly for $66 on E-Bay or $60 on the boards? Assuming shipping cost is a wash. After Paypal fees you net about $8 in profit. Lets assume it takes you 10 minutes to open the package from the seller, confirm the grades are accurate, and put the books in some sort of spreadsheet. It takes 5 minutes to scan the books and post the books on E-Bay or on the boards and another 5 minutes to ship the book out. So that's 20 minutes of time spent to make $8 profit. Is that sufficient for you to pull the trigger?

 

What if the books had a 50% chance of quickly being sold for $75 - would that change your response?

As a hobby or just side business ,.time is not money, it is just what you like to do in your spare time, I assume you have a full time job and the question you ask is just a side hobby, those people at craft shows sell the things they make that work out to what $3.00 an hour?, if you want to take 2 hours to flip some books for $8.00 and you have two hours to spare so what...WOW if time was money in a hobby related/spare time venture I would never be able to go golfing....

[1Cool]

So we have one vote for no. Anyone else want to voice their opinion.

[N/A]

I changed my business strategy in 2014 to 2,000 books at $30 minimum net profit each. I am considering increasing it to $50 next year.

[sd2416]

I try to make a minimum of $10 profit off of each transaction. Some are x's more than that, but the minimum after supplies, shipping, postage, price of the book is $10.00

 

Due to sales I sometimes run, a few may come in under that after the sale discount. Like Branget said above, I may up mine to $20.00 profit (which is what my avg is anyway per my sales manager report).

[1Cool]

I try to make a minimum of $10 profit off of each transaction. Some are x's more than that, but the minimum after supplies, shipping, postage, price of the book is $10.00

 

Due to sales I sometimes run, a few may come in under that after the sale discount. Like Branget said above, I may up mine to $20.00 profit (which is what my avg is anyway per my sales manager report).

 

I'm quickly getting to that point myself. I just sold a nice Black Panther book on E-Bay for $8 that I bought for $3. After fees I made about $3.50 which is just not worth the 15 - 20 minutes it took me to sell the book. Especially now that I pay taxes on my comic book profits which eats up 25% or so of the $3.50 profit.