best way to move a fair number of comics, at a reasonable price

[gcstomp]

Jay that is a good solid and pretty standard method of moving bulk that I have done many times. I am fortunate to live within an hour of the Swap Shop, the largest year round open every day outdoor flea market.

 

It is a ton of work. But for example, you have nothing going on thursday you can set up for $5 or $10, drive up to your 10 by 20 foot spot and break out your tables. Bring your 20 boxes, be somewhat personable, at end of day you will make at least $100 and have a couple of leads from "someone who knows about a collection for sale" and still have most of your boxes. I have done that many times but it is seriously exhausting.

[FineCollector]

2) Arrange your inventory in runs.

 

That's the key point for me. Sorted, it looks like you care about your books. If you put out a mixed box o' , your customers will treat the books as such.

[kav]

It seems I remembered the details incorrectly of my buddy's '200 longboxes'-here's what he said to my recent query:

 

I bought 150 longboxes for 500. Spent 2000 on labor going through the boxes. Putting them a-z. Trying to sell them. And settled for 2000 cash after I sold maybe 500 worth in store. It was a terrible deal I would not do again.

 

So about a penny a book he bought em for and after sorting costs-sold em for

A penny a book was a terrible deal for him

[tmcneil82]

That seems awfully high for labor. Does he pay insanely well or did he hire a really slow employee?

[kav]

I did some sorting for him for a while at $7 an hour-it took forever to get anywhere and I quit. That seems like a reasonable figure for 45,000+ comics

[kav]

45,000 comics $7 an hour $2000 means 158 comics sorted an hour. That's lightning fast.

[FineCollector]

I'll resist the urge to say "hiring Kav was his first mistake"...

 

To me, sorting doesn't mean bagging and boarding, it's triaging books for individual sale, runs, or bulk. No way it takes over an hour a box unless there's no system. It should be much faster than that.

[kav]

if you can pull all the x men for example which are scattered throughout 150 boxes and put em in order in under an hour you are the FLASH

[drotto]

if you can pull all the x men for example which are scattered throughout 150 boxes and put em in order in under an hour you are the FLASH

 

All the stuff older than about 5 years is organized by series. It is the newer stuff that is haphazard. Maybe it is time to sell my Batman vs Superman.

[kav]

Right I was just addressing the claims re: my buddy's 150 longboxes and how much he paid to get them organized. Organizing 150 boxes with all the books randomly scattered is no easy task.

[Lazyboy]

if you can pull all the x men for example which are scattered throughout 150 boxes and put em in order in under an hour you are the FLASH

 

That's not how you sort 150 boxes.

 

It certainly takes a lot of time (and space) to complete such a task, but if it takes you almost 300 hours to sort 150 boxes you're doing it wrong.

 

 

[kav]

You open a box and begin stacking titles. Soon you have hundreds of stacks. Soon you run out of room. I know how it works. It's very time consuming I don't know what the problem is understanding this.

My buddy is not an insufficiently_thoughtful_person. He runs a very successful comic store which is run impeccably. He is not a dolt. If he paid $2000 he got his money's worth.

[kav]

Ps this all had to be done in a room that barely held all the boxes. He did not have a dance hall to operate in.

[kav]

My buddy weighs in:

 

The worst. He's wrong.

It's not just sorting. It's pricing. And re bag and boarding. Took forever. 8 bucks an hour forever.

[FlyingDonut]

It has come to that point when I have reached 20 long boxes and it may be time to thin things out a bit, and then use the proceeds to buy graded issues, keys etc. Most of the stuff is modern issues from the last 25 years, with a bit of other things. Most books are in the Batman and X-Men families.

 

I do not expect to get rich, I am willing to do some work to get rid of the issues. I know most LCS' would very much low ball me on most of these books (I am well aware most are $1 to $5 books). So what is the best way to do it?

 

Without question, MyComicShop. Easiest, fastest, and best way to get paid. For this kind of bulk? Absolutely. Cream it and then go to their bulk buying web page and follow the prompts.

[1Cool]

It has come to that point when I have reached 20 long boxes and it may be time to thin things out a bit, and then use the proceeds to buy graded issues, keys etc. Most of the stuff is modern issues from the last 25 years, with a bit of other things. Most books are in the Batman and X-Men families.

 

I do not expect to get rich, I am willing to do some work to get rid of the issues. I know most LCS' would very much low ball me on most of these books (I am well aware most are $1 to $5 books). So what is the best way to do it?

 

Without question, MyComicShop. Easiest, fastest, and best way to get paid. For this kind of bulk? Absolutely. Cream it and then go to their bulk buying web page and follow the prompts.

 

What bulk buying web page? I see where you can input each title to see if they are looking for issues but I do not see a bulk buying option.

[Lazyboy]

You open a box and begin stacking titles. Soon you have hundreds of stacks. Soon you run out of room. I know how it works.

 

Apparently not...

 

Stay tuned for the next installment of kav's Sorting For By Dummies!