My road to success (Moving Update 2) 8 8

[Junkdrawer]

This thread is almost 1 year old. Are you saying you made hundreds of dollars?

[uchiha101]

This thread is almost 1 year old. Are you saying you made hundreds of dollars?

 

I made 1300 something and the hundreds of dollars are after I sell the rest of my comics which I'm being conservative about in how much I make on it.

[Junkdrawer]

This thread is almost 1 year old. Are you saying you made hundreds of dollars?

 

I made 1300 something and the hundreds of dollars are after I sell the rest of my comics which I'm being conservative about in how much I make on it.

I would suggest you look towards buying collections rather than a per book situation. Collections can include a wide range of books. From bulk loads of junk, runs, mild keys, $3-15 books and with luck there is always cream of the crop. Having outlets for your junk stuff is important. Sales threads, ebay and facebook to move the mid range and hopefully you got a presser to work with and a way to get better books graded. There is certainly more work involved but more profit if you buy it right and move it effectively.

[uchiha101]

This thread is almost 1 year old. Are you saying you made hundreds of dollars?

 

I made 1300 something and the hundreds of dollars are after I sell the rest of my comics which I'm being conservative about in how much I make on it.

I would suggest you look towards buying collections rather than a per book situation. Collections can include a wide range of books. From bulk loads of junk, runs, mild keys, $3-15 books and with luck there is always cream of the crop. Having outlets for your junk stuff is important. Sales threads, ebay and facebook to move the mid range and hopefully you got a presser to work with and a way to get better books graded. There is certainly more work involved but more profit if you buy it right and move it effectively.

 

you're right and after I sell the comics I have I'll start looking into doing that more often.

[Tempus Fugit]

This thread is almost 1 year old. Are you saying you made hundreds of dollars?

 

I made 1300 something and the hundreds of dollars are after I sell the rest of my comics which I'm being conservative about in how much I make on it.

I would suggest you look towards buying collections rather than a per book situation. Collections can include a wide range of books. From bulk loads of junk, runs, mild keys, $3-15 books and with luck there is always cream of the crop. Having outlets for your junk stuff is important. Sales threads, ebay and facebook to move the mid range and hopefully you got a presser to work with and a way to get better books graded. There is certainly more work involved but more profit if you buy it right and move it effectively.

 

+1 Chris

 

The "bread and butter" of this hobby/business (at least for me) has been buying 3-10 long box collections for a few hundred bucks and:

 

1) Putting a few nice keys into my collection/long term hold box

2) Selling remaining keys/semi-keys here and at shows

3) Dispersing the rest into my $1/$2/$3 show/antique mall boxes.

4) When the dollar boxes are burned out of decent books, sell them for $25 each.

 

Generally you can pay off the buy pretty quick with step 2, step 3 gets you longer term steady money. You can always sell a few step 1 books when you need to. There is really no way to lose on this formula. Your per book price is well under $1.

 

It's not as glamorous (or risky) as trying to flip a big (especially raw) book, but has worked for me for 40 years or so. I had been doing this for 35+ years before I dared to spend over $50 for a single book.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Tempus Fugit

[uchiha101]

This thread is almost 1 year old. Are you saying you made hundreds of dollars?

 

I made 1300 something and the hundreds of dollars are after I sell the rest of my comics which I'm being conservative about in how much I make on it.

I would suggest you look towards buying collections rather than a per book situation. Collections can include a wide range of books. From bulk loads of junk, runs, mild keys, $3-15 books and with luck there is always cream of the crop. Having outlets for your junk stuff is important. Sales threads, ebay and facebook to move the mid range and hopefully you got a presser to work with and a way to get better books graded. There is certainly more work involved but more profit if you buy it right and move it effectively.

 

+1 Chris

 

The "bread and butter" of this hobby/business (at least for me) has been buying 3-10 long box collections for a few hundred bucks and:

 

1) Putting a few nice keys into my collection/long term hold box

2) Selling remaining keys/semi-keys here and at shows

3) Dispersing the rest into my $1/$2/$3 show/antique mall boxes.

4) When the dollar boxes are burned out of decent books, sell them for $25 each.

 

Generally you can pay off the buy pretty quick with step 2, step 3 gets you longer term steady money. You can always sell a few step 1 books when you need to. There is really no way to lose on this formula. Your per book price is well under $1.

 

It's not as glamorous (or risky) as trying to flip a big (especially raw) book, but has worked for me for 40 years or so. I had been doing this for 35+ years before I dared to spend over $50 for a single book.

 

seeing the sig line you have maybe I should give this a try.

[uchiha101]

My losses

 

$1257.52

 

I was curious to calculate my losses after someone mentioned to calculate my losses as well as profits.

Edited October 25, 2015 by uchiha101

[chrisco37]

My losses

 

$1257.52

 

I was curious to calculate my losses after someone mentioned to calculate my losses as well as profits.

 

So, next step is take your profits and subtract your losses. That should give you your Net (profit or loss).

 

You said a few posts back you made about $1300. So, let's give you $1400.

 

1400 - 1257 = $143

 

$143.00 profit.

[uchiha101]

My losses

 

$1257.52

 

I was curious to calculate my losses after someone mentioned to calculate my losses as well as profits.

 

So, next step is take your profits and subtract your losses. That should give you your Net (profit or loss).

 

You said a few posts back you made about $1300. So, let's give you $1400.

 

1400 - 1257 = $143

 

$143.00 profit.

 

The 1400 something profit is after everything is calculated including losses someone just asked me to calculate and I was curious to see it myself.

[jaybuck43]

Wait. I am super confused. How can you have profit and loses at the same time? That's not a thing. Were talking about EBITDA (Well really EBIT since I'm sure there is no amortization going on here). Here's how it should be calculated. In one column add up every price you have paid to acquire your entire inventory, in the second column add up the sale prices for each book you have sold for yourself (do NOT include trades, unless cash came in with the trade, and then just include the cash) as well as any income you received for brokering a deal (i.e. a finders fee, a sales commission for a consignment etc.), in a third column add up all your mailing/box/ebay fee etc. fees. In the fourth column add up the value of your remaining inventory. Those are the four most important numbers. Add columns 1 and 3 together and write that down as "EXPENSES" Add columns 2 and 4 together and write that number down as "INCOME". Now subtract "Expenses" from "Income". If that number is positive you are "in the black" and you're making a profit. If that number is negative then you are "in the red" and you're losing money.

[steveinthecity]

Today's Thoughts

 

Yes I might be able to sell the bat 148 I have on consignment

 

and I might be able to sell my NYX #3 today.

 

 

Plans

 

I'm going to sell my top 6 comics that are worth the most chunk of money.

 

BA 12

Archie #320

ASM 300 CGC 9.2 Triple signed

Avengers lot

Action comics 15

JLA #1 NG

 

Since I still don't have the top 3 comics yet my goal is to sell

 

NYX #3

IM 305

TT 44

IM 282

 

I'm considering after I sell those top 6 comics that I want to trade my comics for key issues comics or gold and silver coins.

Is that a Betty & Veronica #320?

[Wall-Crawler]

I am assuming that yes, that is what he means. He tried to procure mine.

[Point Five]

This thread is almost 1 year old. Are you saying you made hundreds of dollars?

 

I made 1300 something and the hundreds of dollars are after I sell the rest of my comics which I'm being conservative about in how much I make on it.

I would suggest you look towards buying collections rather than a per book situation. Collections can include a wide range of books. From bulk loads of junk, runs, mild keys, $3-15 books and with luck there is always cream of the crop. Having outlets for your junk stuff is important. Sales threads, ebay and facebook to move the mid range and hopefully you got a presser to work with and a way to get better books graded. There is certainly more work involved but more profit if you buy it right and move it effectively.

 

+1 Chris

 

The "bread and butter" of this hobby/business (at least for me) has been buying 3-10 long box collections for a few hundred bucks and:

 

1) Putting a few nice keys into my collection/long term hold box

2) Selling remaining keys/semi-keys here and at shows

3) Dispersing the rest into my $1/$2/$3 show/antique mall boxes.

4) When the dollar boxes are burned out of decent books, sell them for $25 each.

 

Generally you can pay off the buy pretty quick with step 2, step 3 gets you longer term steady money. You can always sell a few step 1 books when you need to. There is really no way to lose on this formula. Your per book price is well under $1.

 

It's not as glamorous (or risky) as trying to flip a big (especially raw) book, but has worked for me for 40 years or so. I had been doing this for 35+ years before I dared to spend over $50 for a single book.

To play devil's advocate though, it sounds like you set up regularly at conventions, you have a retail outlet to move cheaper books, and by now you're probably an expert at analyzing the estimated value of large collections you're looking at. All areas where he is starting off from scratch.

 

I agree with not starting off trying to flip four-figure books, but what you're describing is a great deal of work for a non-professional starting out and has just as much potential for losses.

 

 

[revat]

This thread is almost 1 year old. Are you saying you made hundreds of dollars?

 

I made 1300 something and the hundreds of dollars are after I sell the rest of my comics which I'm being conservative about in how much I make on it.

I would suggest you look towards buying collections rather than a per book situation. Collections can include a wide range of books. From bulk loads of junk, runs, mild keys, $3-15 books and with luck there is always cream of the crop. Having outlets for your junk stuff is important. Sales threads, ebay and facebook to move the mid range and hopefully you got a presser to work with and a way to get better books graded. There is certainly more work involved but more profit if you buy it right and move it effectively.

 

+1 Chris

 

The "bread and butter" of this hobby/business (at least for me) has been buying 3-10 long box collections for a few hundred bucks and:

 

1) Putting a few nice keys into my collection/long term hold box

2) Selling remaining keys/semi-keys here and at shows

3) Dispersing the rest into my $1/$2/$3 show/antique mall boxes.

4) When the dollar boxes are burned out of decent books, sell them for $25 each.

 

Generally you can pay off the buy pretty quick with step 2, step 3 gets you longer term steady money. You can always sell a few step 1 books when you need to. There is really no way to lose on this formula. Your per book price is well under $1.

 

It's not as glamorous (or risky) as trying to flip a big (especially raw) book, but has worked for me for 40 years or so. I had been doing this for 35+ years before I dared to spend over $50 for a single book.

To play devil's advocate though, it sounds like you set up regularly at conventions, you have a retail outlet to move cheaper books, and by now you're probably an expert at analyzing the estimated value of large collections you're looking at. All areas where he is starting off from scratch.

 

I agree with not starting off trying to flip four-figure books, but what you're describing is a great deal of work for a non-professional starting out and has just as much potential for losses.

 

 

agree.

 

Step 1 - Understand basic accounting concepts like profit, loss, margin, return on investment and basic financial statement or inventory terms.

 

Step 2 - Read everything you can from people here on the boards about how they go about selling and finding comics to sell.

 

Step 3 - Figure out what your 'actual' costs are, in terms of shipping, taxes, submissions, pressing, customs fees, packing materials, etc.

 

** while you're doing the above steps, you can do some 'fantasy tracking' of books you thought would go up over time and track their gpa and/or ebay sales.

 

*** while you're doing the above you should be figuring out a way to get a steady income, otherwise this is all moot.

 

Step 4 - You should probably move to America, otherwise you simply won't be able to compete if you're starting from scratch (which you are) and want to deal comics regularly support yourself (at any point). You don't have to, its just a matter of how badly you want it. How many people living in Canada do you think have bought and sold a $1M comic (not in aggregate, single comic)? Do you think any or all of those people started in their 20's with no money, no job, and no comic collection, no business experience, very little business education/acumen, plus a disability? Is that harsh? absolutely. Are you capable of working THAT MUCH harder to achieve your dreams? Maybe. But the question is....is it worth it?

 

 

Notice none of these steps involve buying or selling a comic. Got extra money? spend it on job training - vocational school, head shots, beauty school, calf implants, whatever. No money for hobbies until everything else is taken care of. And make no mistake, this should start out as a hobby and grow slowly UNLESS you have a lot of money or an already huge and awesome collection.

[James J]

I'm glad I only buy comics........

[uchiha101]

Wait. I am super confused. How can you have profit and loses at the same time? That's not a thing. Were talking about EBITDA (Well really EBIT since I'm sure there is no amortization going on here). Here's how it should be calculated. In one column add up every price you have paid to acquire your entire inventory, in the second column add up the sale prices for each book you have sold for yourself (do NOT include trades, unless cash came in with the trade, and then just include the cash) as well as any income you received for brokering a deal (i.e. a finders fee, a sales commission for a consignment etc.), in a third column add up all your mailing/box/ebay fee etc. fees. In the fourth column add up the value of your remaining inventory. Those are the four most important numbers. Add columns 1 and 3 together and write that down as "EXPENSES" Add columns 2 and 4 together and write that number down as "INCOME". Now subtract "Expenses" from "Income". If that number is positive you are "in the black" and you're making a profit. If that number is negative then you are "in the red" and you're losing money.

 

ok fair enough then with that being said I made 1300 something in profit and like someone said I wanted to see it in front of my eyes how many mistakes I made thus far with money but 1300 something is the profit that I made with everything calculated.

[uchiha101]

Today's Thoughts

 

Yes I might be able to sell the bat 148 I have on consignment

 

and I might be able to sell my NYX #3 today.

 

 

Plans

 

I'm going to sell my top 6 comics that are worth the most chunk of money.

 

BA 12

Archie #320

ASM 300 CGC 9.2 Triple signed

Avengers lot

Action comics 15

JLA #1 NG

 

Since I still don't have the top 3 comics yet my goal is to sell

 

NYX #3

IM 305

TT 44

IM 282

 

I'm considering after I sell those top 6 comics that I want to trade my comics for key issues comics or gold and silver coins.

Is that a Betty & Veronica #320?

 

Yes it's Archie's Girls Betty and Beronica #320 if you want it written that way .

[Chip Cataldo]

Calf implants?

[uchiha101]

This thread is almost 1 year old. Are you saying you made hundreds of dollars?

 

I made 1300 something and the hundreds of dollars are after I sell the rest of my comics which I'm being conservative about in how much I make on it.

I would suggest you look towards buying collections rather than a per book situation. Collections can include a wide range of books. From bulk loads of junk, runs, mild keys, $3-15 books and with luck there is always cream of the crop. Having outlets for your junk stuff is important. Sales threads, ebay and facebook to move the mid range and hopefully you got a presser to work with and a way to get better books graded. There is certainly more work involved but more profit if you buy it right and move it effectively.

 

+1 Chris

 

The "bread and butter" of this hobby/business (at least for me) has been buying 3-10 long box collections for a few hundred bucks and:

 

1) Putting a few nice keys into my collection/long term hold box

2) Selling remaining keys/semi-keys here and at shows

3) Dispersing the rest into my $1/$2/$3 show/antique mall boxes.

4) When the dollar boxes are burned out of decent books, sell them for $25 each.

 

Generally you can pay off the buy pretty quick with step 2, step 3 gets you longer term steady money. You can always sell a few step 1 books when you need to. There is really no way to lose on this formula. Your per book price is well under $1.

 

It's not as glamorous (or risky) as trying to flip a big (especially raw) book, but has worked for me for 40 years or so. I had been doing this for 35+ years before I dared to spend over $50 for a single book.

To play devil's advocate though, it sounds like you set up regularly at conventions, you have a retail outlet to move cheaper books, and by now you're probably an expert at analyzing the estimated value of large collections you're looking at. All areas where he is starting off from scratch.

 

I agree with not starting off trying to flip four-figure books, but what you're describing is a great deal of work for a non-professional starting out and has just as much potential for losses.

 

 

agree.

 

Step 1 - Understand basic accounting concepts like profit, loss, margin, return on investment and basic financial statement or inventory terms.

 

Step 2 - Read everything you can from people here on the boards about how they go about selling and finding comics to sell.

 

Step 3 - Figure out what your 'actual' costs are, in terms of shipping, taxes, submissions, pressing, customs fees, packing materials, etc.

 

** while you're doing the above steps, you can do some 'fantasy tracking' of books you thought would go up over time and track their gpa and/or ebay sales.

 

*** while you're doing the above you should be figuring out a way to get a steady income, otherwise this is all moot.

 

Step 4 - You should probably move to America, otherwise you simply won't be able to compete if you're starting from scratch (which you are) and want to deal comics regularly support yourself (at any point). You don't have to, its just a matter of how badly you want it. How many people living in Canada do you think have bought and sold a $1M comic (not in aggregate, single comic)? Do you think any or all of those people started in their 20's with no money, no job, and no comic collection, no business experience, very little business education/acumen, plus a disability? Is that harsh? absolutely. Are you capable of working THAT MUCH harder to achieve your dreams? Maybe. But the question is....is it worth it?

 

 

Notice none of these steps involve buying or selling a comic. Got extra money? spend it on job training - vocational school, head shots, beauty school, calf implants, whatever. No money for hobbies until everything else is taken care of. And make no mistake, this should start out as a hobby and grow slowly UNLESS you have a lot of money or an already huge and awesome collection.

 

Step 1. Ok I do need with that.

 

Step 2. I check out the for sale and buy threads if that's what you mean.

 

Step 3. I already make the calculations and subtract them from what I paid for it.

 

Extra step (I'm going to give this a shot with 10 comics I believe will go up and I'll keep track of them)

 

Extra Step 2 (I'm working on finding a job and a stable income because I know that you guys are right but it doesn't do anything till I find something to money coming in)

 

Step 4. I have thought about moving to the States before because I know it will help with comics and I honestly don't know what I'm good at I'm not smart, strong, don't have any knack for business, suck with numbers. What I do know is I'm going to sell my comics and take a break for a while till I recover because my bank account is almost empty.

[uchiha101]

Calf implants?

 

don't stop him he's on a roll.