Selling A Comic Collection?

[JohnFranklin]

There are certainly many on these boards who have sold and purchased comic collections and I did some (very limited searching) research with little luck so my question is, realistically if one sells a collection, all pre 1980, and they sell in bulk, what percentage range of FMV can one expect, not withstanding everyone would like to pay the least to make the most, so can one expect 50 to 65%, 50 to 70%, etc.?

 

If anyone is wondering, I AIN'T FISHING, AIN'T EXPECTING PMs, etc. its a simple academic question.

 

 

[shadroch]

If selling seventies books in bulk, I wouldn't expect to get more then 30% of FMV. Someone cherrypicking them might give you 50% for the books they wanted.

Selling in bulk is a losing proposition, unless you have pennies on the dollar invested.

[jhutton2]

If selling seventies books in bulk, I wouldn't expect to get more then 30% of FMV. Someone cherrypicking them might give you 50% for the books they wanted.

Selling in bulk is a losing proposition, unless you have pennies on the dollar invested.

 

I agree with Shadroch's assessment above. The outlier to that is if the collection was made up entirely or mostly of very high grade examples. Unlikely but there are some out there. If this were the case, you would fare better in my opinion as a % of FMV etc. Your net amount would still be less than selling than individually though if you had the time and resources to do so.

 

my $0.02

 

Jason

[Foolkiller]

There are a variety of factors that are included. While I generally agree with Shadroch's assessment, I would say that if they were very high grade and included a number of the keys, then you could expect over 50% of FMV.

 

However, for mid grade stuff, I frankly think you'd be lucky to get 30% of FMV. Finding someone to take that kind of stuff (keys aside) is really a tough proposition. In bulk, you're looking at a few bucks a book, if that.

 

For SA, it's different of course. But many dealers don't even want this anymore as commons aren't selling as well, and you can put the stuff on ebay, so long as you're paying really cheap.

[fmaz]

Agreed with the above. Only other exception would be if the "collection" were atypical in that instead of individual issues, random small runs, etc... it consisted of nothing but long runs of a few titles. In that case you might expect a higher return. But again, there you'd have to sell each run individually to maximize return.

 

Selling a collection as a whole is nothing but a time saver. If that's what someone is looking for, then that's the way to go. If they're looking to maximize return it never will be remotely effective.

[Bird]

I'll add a wrinkle I have been wondering about...what if there are slabs in the collection? If someone has 10 good slabs, say $750 average value...what % of GPA is fair in this type of transaction? Does it matter, or is % of FMV the rule regardless of whether it is a raw or mixed raw/slab collection?

 

I am just wondering about the slab portion...how to factor that into a larger collection that is mainly raw.

[kav]

I just figure what I can sell it for on ebay and offer half. Unless its a high dollar item.