Experiment results - comic garage sales.

[1Cool]

I had a end of summer comic only garage sale this last weekend and I tried to implement some changes to my last one. This time I put signs up on the main road specifying comic books for sale and kids get a free comic book. And I only sold comic books - no old junk my wife had laying around the house. I ended up making a side bet with my 11 year old daughter for $5 since I was sure more than 1 kid would come to get a free book and buy at least $1 in comics. She on the other hand felt no kids would want a free comic since no one reads them except old guys.

 

The end result - I had one 40ish guy come by and grabbed $50 worth of books. So I ended up sitting around scanning books in my garage but ended up owing my daughter $5. There was probably 10 - 15 older couples that drove past my house slowly and then made a U-turn when they saw I did not have the general junk for sale. Not one kid wanted a free book or were unable to persuade their parents to go take a look. I had the sale from 11:00 - 4:00 PM on a perfect 60 degree Saturday afternoon. I advertised the sale in several spots on Craigslist for a few days before the sale. I left the description very vague to see if anyone would call to "steal" the books but not one call about the books.

 

To be fair - I did do a comic book sale in June and did sell about $200 worth of books including a Fantastic Four 46 that I wished I could get back. No more garage sales for me but I thought you guys would find the results interesting.

 

[Real Elijah Snow]

Thanks for posting this. interesting results. I wonder if another random weekend would generate any more visitors....

[1Cool]

Thanks for posting this. interesting results. I wonder if another random weekend would generate any more visitors....

 

Or possibly a different day with longer hours could give different results. Very limited sample size. I was mostly shocked that the free comic ads did not attract anybody. Maybe they thought I was some kind of pervert - I do look slightly strange.

[telerites]

Thanks for posting this. interesting results. I wonder if another random weekend would generate any more visitors....

 

Or possibly a different day with longer hours could give different results. Very limited sample size. I was mostly shocked that the free comic ads did not attract anybody. Maybe they thought I was some kind of pervert - I do look slightly strange.

 

Like your avatar

 

One thought is that some collectors/pickers may have thought if that was all you were selling, you know the market and there were no steals to be had. I would think that but wouldn't prevent me from going if it were nearby.

[the blob]

I did very well on comics at my last garage sale, but it was a neighborhood sale, so like 25-30 other homes within a 2 block radius were also selling, so there was a lot of traffic. probably $100-$120 in comic sales, $1 each, 13 for $10. 50 cent and earlier cover prices grabbed fast, mostly by adults. kids bought too, but usually only $2-$3 worth at a time.

 

(sold a bunch of other stuff too, so I wasn't just standing around all day for $100-120)

[1Cool]

I did very well on comics at my last garage sale, but it was a neighborhood sale, so like 25-30 other homes within a 2 block radius were also selling, so there was a lot of traffic. probably $100-$120 in comic sales, $1 each, 13 for $10. 50 cent and earlier cover prices grabbed fast, mostly by adults. kids bought too, but usually only $2-$3 worth at a time.

 

(sold a bunch of other stuff too, so I wasn't just standing around all day for $100-120)

 

I think you have to have some other stuff to draw people in and then sell to the guy typically standing around holding the purse.

[Ditch Fahrenheit]

She on the other hand felt no kids would want a free comic since no one reads them except old guys. ... The end result - I had one 40ish guy come by and grabbed $50 worth of books. ... Not one kid wanted a free book or were unable to persuade their parents to go take a look.

Doesn't surprise me one bit.

 

And your daughter is wise beyond her years.

 

Ask her how many years before the bottom drops out of the prices due to the demand curve dying out (literally).

[paperheart]

i just had another this past weekend as well. advertised on: craigslist, here, neighborhood e-blast, neighborhood signs, targeted email list. had 3 customers. a kid from the neighborhood saw my sign and 2 of the 4 targeted email list (past customers) showed up. sold 100 $1 books. pretty much a complete waste of time other than it forces me to organize my inventory.

[dupont2005]

I tried selling comics at a garage sale for 50 cents each. Some total drek but a lot of stuff people would like. ASM and Wolverine and stuff.

 

I think I might have sold one comic.

 

I lugged out a box of manga and someone bought it all though.

[1Cool]

Not good news in general especially when you consider how much advertising went into our event. I give away comics at halloween and they seemed well received but they didn't have to go out of their way to get the book.

[That Ron Dude]

I did very well with comics on the front lawn and a few signs on the main street. I got collectors, passers by and people who couldn't resist a lawn sale.

[spracknetch23]

When Tony Isabella does his garage cons in Medina he seems to do well with many people digging through his quarter boxes. Still, I didn't see any kids there, probably late teens and up though.

[ForlornOutcast]

Or you could have a "Comic Books + Junk sale!" ... still have some of the normal junk to draw people off the road, and at least intrigue normal thrift-salers to stop. You might have different results.

[1Cool]

Or you could have a "Comic Books + Junk sale!" ... still have some of the normal junk to draw people off the road, and at least intrigue normal thrift-salers to stop. You might have different results.

 

I did that last time and had much better results. I wanted to see if a comic only sale with better advertising would do ok and in my case it did terribly.

[FineCollector]

Every garage sale around here advertising cheap comic books gets wiped out by the first visitor. We still have plenty of buyers with a flea market mentality: buy a box, sell what you can, flip to someone else who will sell what he can, flip to someone else...

 

Truth is, there aren't warehouses worth of bulk floating around in Canada like there seems to be in the US. I'd love to buy long boxes of 90's books at $20 apiece to have fun with, they're just not around.

[AmazingComics413]

After cleaning out our old house, my wife and I decided to have a 2 day garage/yard sale with all of our old & unused stuff. I thought this might be an ideal opportunity to sell some of my books and collectibles. The monthly hobby show that I set up at was also happening on the same Saturday as day 1 of our yard sale. So we decided that I would help set up the yard sale on Saturday and then I would take my books to the hobby show. On Sunday we would continue the sale with my comics.

 

I advertised the yard sale on several craigslist locations (we live in Massachusetts: Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and Connecticut are all relatively close, especially for those in search of comics). The organizer of the hobby show always does a good job promoting on craigslist (almost daily posts, with multiple locations) and facebook. I got a few emails asking about the yard sale (2 people interested in comics, 1 person looking for cans/bottles from the 50s ).

 

Our last home was a 3 story Victorian house located on a very busy street in town. Needless to say, plenty of people stopped for the yard sale. My wife and I set up the all the tables and various household items, and while I was setting up somebody showed up looking for comics. I explained to him that I was taking all the books to a hobby show in less than 20 minutes, but I'd let him take a look at a box if he liked. He bought FF #51 in FN and said that he liked my books. I gave him a business card and took off. Had a decent day at the hobby show, made more than enough to cover the table/lunch and also made a couple trades. At the end of the day my wife reported that 3 people came interested in comics, and that they would go up to the show or be back Sunday (none of the customers at the show mentioned the yard sale). Nobody showed up interested in comics on Sunday. Between the two days at the yard sale all of the action figures (BTAS, Jay + Silent Bob, X-Men, Star Wars), several Beanie Babies, some Pez Dispensers and all of the comic book trading cards sold.

 

We still have yard sale items leftover and we'll be having another sale in the spring. I will try again with the comic books, maybe better luck next time?

[1Cool]

I did one two years ago and I had three guys waiting in the rain to see the books at 9:00 AM. Last time I had two obvious flippers come through and remarked that they were checking to see if I was "giving" stuff away. Maybe the word is out that I'm not clearing out books at whole sale prices so its kept the flippers away this time.

 

I think I'll try my luck at a small local comic show in the future to see how that goes. I've stayed away from the flee markets in the area since it seems like more work than its worth but maybe I'll give that a try one of these days. E-Bay sales are steady but it would be great to clear out some of the $1 books.

[the blob]

She on the other hand felt no kids would want a free comic since no one reads them except old guys. ... The end result - I had one 40ish guy come by and grabbed $50 worth of books. ... Not one kid wanted a free book or were unable to persuade their parents to go take a look.

Doesn't surprise me one bit.

 

And your daughter is wise beyond her years.

 

Ask her how many years before the bottom drops out of the prices due to the demand curve dying out (literally).

 

i hand out those free marvel type comics at halloween that my lcs always gets a ton of and the kids like them. go figure. i also live in an inner city neighborhood (albeit in a semi-suburban enclave) so i have a really broad demographic mix of kids coming to my door. let's just say richer kids with lots of other options are the distinct minority. if a comic shop opened up in my neighborhood that JUST sold 50 cent back issues i think they would do a ton of volume. not enough the pay the absurd rents, but a ton of volume.

[the blob]

Every garage sale around here advertising cheap comic books gets wiped out by the first visitor. We still have plenty of buyers with a flea market mentality: buy a box, sell what you can, flip to someone else who will sell what he can, flip to someone else...

 

Truth is, there aren't warehouses worth of bulk floating around in Canada like there seems to be in the US. I'd love to buy long boxes of 90's books at $20 apiece to have fun with, they're just not around.

 

drive your minivan down to the usa for some conventions. wait until the last hour of the last day. figure out a way to get 100 long boxes over the boarder without paying customs...

 

i had a guy at NYCC who probably would have let me have what he had left at $15 a box (about 7 boxes), but after picking the 30 issues i wanted, i had no interest. bunch of image junk and other 90s . the value would have been in the bags and boards, but i had no way of schlepping them.

[freshcollect]

Someone locally had the creative idea of starting a Facebook group for "Geek Garage Sales". A number of different individuals hosted at their house over the summer, and all were welcome to bring by their own comics, toys etc and a portable table and setup - sort of like a free mini show. I only made it out once with an assortment of toys and comics, sold about $150 worth including blowing out a box of drek for $20. It wasn't a great return, but happy to clear out some stuff, and spent the day hanging out/talking with like minded collectors - so not a bad day.

 

The traffic was decent as the advertising and local signs worked well, and I see it improving over time as there really is a good variety of stock, and it changes time to time depending on who goes. Most surprising to me was that due to who attended some decent value books actually sold (from other sellers), I only brought the typically dollar bin books and other cheaper "garage sale esque" type items. Some folks sold $20-$30 books and toys, so there were certainly some collectors that came out. I'll make sure to bring that type of stuff when I try again next year.