Investing potential in low grade comics?

[jeff2004]

I was wondering if anybody thinks there might be some investment potential in low grade silver age comics? Any thought on specific price ranges (i.e. 10 cent comics) or certain publishers or titles?

[Aman619]

nope.

none

nada

zilch

 

 

 

next question!

[ComicBookGuy]

There's not a whole lot to be made in low grade, but there is some money to be made in selling comics in complete sets. A complete run of FF for example or Spidey will sell well in any grade.

Joe

[FlyingDonut]

nope.

none

nada

zilch

 

 

 

next question!

 

WRONG, absolutely, completely, utterly WRONG. There's an incredible investment potential in low-grade early Silver, because you can get it for very cheap. Anything post-1965 is not worth getting, but there's a great deal of low-grade early Silver floating around that you can get for next to nothing. You'll sell it for next to nothing as well, but the Donut Empire was founded on buying at $1 and selling for $5. Something like this:

 

 

bought for 20-30 cents, will sell for anywhere between $3-5. Yes, its a lot of work, but the returns are outstanding. Slow and steady.

[jeff2004]

Ouch! Looking at that comic made me think "What the heck happened to that!"

 

I would consider that very low grade in my opinion.

 

However, I think you may be onto something. This will need further research.

[Aman619]

Donut, you ignorant slut!!!

 

I just wanted to say that whislt I disagree with you. You stated that you can buy them for $1 and sell for $5. Well, if you can buy ANYTHING cheaper than its market value, you can sell it at a profit. The question was about investing in low grade SA, which to me meant buying at current retail and holding onto them for a future sale at a retail price that will be GREATER than it is now...

 

 

I dont see that happening. I do agree with you that YOU are expert in buying for cheap and finding buyers of the books at a profit to you today. But that is skillful flipping, not the kind of investment he was asking about... IMO....

[FlyingDonut]

 

bought for 19 cents (as part of a big collection)

 

Sold for $10.50

 

 

bought for 19 cents (as part of the same collection)

 

Sold for $5

 

So that's 38 cents to make back $13 ($15.50 less eBay fees). I'll take those returns all day long.

[FlyingDonut]

Donut, you ignorant slut!!!

 

I just wanted to say that whislt I disagree with you. You stated that you can buy them for $1 and sell for $5. Well, if you can buy ANYTHING cheaper than its market value, you can sell it at a profit. The question was about investing in low grade SA, which to me meant buying at current retail and holding onto them for a future sale at a retail price that will be GREATER than it is now...

 

 

I dont see that happening. I do agree with you that YOU are expert in buying for cheap and finding buyers of the books at a profit to you today. But that is skillful flipping, not the kind of investment he was asking about... IMO....

 

Don't buy at retail. That's the bottom line. Buy in bulk.

 

"Nobody pays retail, why should you?"

[the blob]

donut -

 

if everyone followed your advice, how will you sell your stuff at a big profit?

 

don't kill the goose that laid the golden egg

 

I don't know about low grade SA (although I think certain keys of certain titles may have done well over the last 10 years), but quality low grade GA, even if you paid retail, could have done decently.

 

Anyway, buy what you enjoy. Buy lots and lots of low grade SA, particularly if I have it up on ebay.

[esquirecomics]

You can definitely make money doing what Donut is doing and I applaud him for doing it, but I'll still take my $300 hourly rate for legal fees. Takes less time to make money. (and, yes, I know I am opening myself up for nasty lawyer jokes!).

 

In any event, I, too, interpret the question to be one of long term holding rather than flipping. I would also then respond in the negative. Just let the facts do the talking. We'll use Donut's example of Superboy #67 which he certainly made a nice short term profit on. Let's examine how the value of this book changed over the last 23 years.

 

1982 (OS #11)

Good = $5; Mint = $15

 

1984 (OS #13)

Good = $3.50; Mint = $20

 

1987 (OS #16)

Good = $3.70; Mint = $26

 

1996 (OS #26)

GD25 = $13.50; NM94 = $95

 

2000 (OS #30)

GD2.0 = $13; NM9.4 = $110

 

2004 (OS #34)

GD2.0 = $17; NM9.2 = $170

 

Someone else can apply the statistical percentages, but I rest my case.

[Forbush-Man]

"It was my understanding that there would be no math!" -Chevy Chase doing Gerald Ford.

[Forbush-Man]

I was wondering if anybody thinks there might be some investment potential in low grade silver age comics? Any thought on specific price ranges (i.e. 10 cent comics) or certain publishers or titles?

 

If you have a "Buy & Hold" mentality, lower grade will increase. Overstreet shows (per esquire's example) three fold, but high grade will increase ten fold.

 

I did the math afterall !

[esquirecomics]

I was wondering if anybody thinks there might be some investment potential in low grade silver age comics? Any thought on specific price ranges (i.e. 10 cent comics) or certain publishers or titles?

 

If you have a "Buy & Hold" mentality, lower grade will increase. Overstreet shows (per esquire's example) three fold, but high grade will increase ten fold.

 

I did the math afterall !

 

HOWEVER, those increases are on paper only. As FlyingDonut aptly proved, while the book value is approximately $17, he sold it (albeit it for a sizable profit) for almost half that at $10.50.

 

Lower grade books will often be sold for less than what guide says, while higher grade books will typically command guide or better.

 

Money makes money, and comic investing is no different than many other investments.

 

One more example, this time more extreme. Let's look at ASM #1.

 

1982

Good = $150; Mint = $600

 

2004

GD2.0 = $850; NM9.2 = $32,000 (and let's not forget that a CGC 9.4 went for $55,000 and a 9.6 for $110,000).

 

So, if in 1982 you had decided to spend just a factor of 4x to get that mint copy instead of the low grade good at $150, in 2004, the NM copy would guide at 53x (or 183x if you got lucky) what you paid for it versus just over 5x.

[Rob]

I like Donut's philosophy. I've been doing that myself. However, I'm trying to build up a little inventory, and have a huge low grade budget sale on eBay. I agree, the idea of investing doesn't work as well with low grade, but there's good "buy low sell high" potential.

 

I feel like I'm giving away my secret, but I'm sure no one but me, Donut, and Tilleycs will have the patience. The opportunity is in sellers' ignorance of the low grade market, so they sell too low. When in fact, people are willing to pay for low grade comics. Personally, I don't waste my time with $5 sales. Too much work for small potatoes. But when you get into early issues, or keys, some people don't have $1000 or more to pay for high grade. But they might pay $50 or $100 just to own a copy.

 

The market I like is the less than Good. There's no guide for less than Good, so sellers don't know how to price it. Just like a comic that sells for $1000 in 9.4, and can be bought for fractions of that in VF, F, VG, G; a comic that guides for $1000 in G also has degrees of condition up to G. I made money selling a few coverless ASM #1's. Bought an ASM #7 last month, with the title cut off the cover, for $26. Somewhere, there's a collector who needs that issue, doesn't have $100 for G, but doesn't want coverless either. I hope.

[Red Hook]

 

WRONG, absolutely, completely, utterly WRONG. There's an incredible investment potential in low-grade early Silver, because you can get it for very cheap. Anything post-1965 is not worth getting, but there's a great deal of low-grade early Silver floating around that you can get for next to nothing. You'll sell it for next to nothing as well, but the Donut Empire was founded on buying at $1 and selling for $5. Something like this:

 

 

bought for 20-30 cents, will sell for anywhere between $3-5. Yes, its a lot of work, but the returns are outstanding. Slow and steady.

 

I love that business model!

 

BTW.....that's a possible candidate for the Robin Shock Corner Variant category.

[tilleycs]

My name was mentioned! I'm famous! I was actually going to comment, anyway.

 

I don't think Donut's "secret" is any big secret. A lot of us know his philosophy and habit, it's that (just like with most things in life) the people who know "the secret" don't want to do the work it takes to get the same returns. Donut IS willing to do the work, so he gets the reward. Like Thomas Edison said (and I'm paraphrasing), a lot of opportunities are missed by a lot of people because they (the opportunities) are dressed in overalls and look like work.

 

I LOVE low-grade books, and there are plenty of other people out there who do, in spite of all the high-grade posturing that goes on in these boards. It's easy to get the impression from these boards that high-grade collectors make up the majority of comic buyers, but I don't think that's necessarily the case.

 

I personally have had better luck buying & selling low-grade GA books than low-grade SA books, but that's just my (very) limited experience. I've only been back into comics for a little over a year now.

 

So my answer to the question of whether there's SOME investment potential in low-grade SA book is yes. Some? Yes. A lot? No. We ALL wish we could pay $1 for a book and resell it for $500. But chances are, it ain't happenin'. So you either wait for "the big one", which may never happen, or you use the Donut method.

 

My 2 cents on "investing" as far as comics is this: invest in yourself and your own happiness. Buy what you like. I like low-grade books for my personal collection because I only want to read them, and if I can get the same book for 1/20th of the high-grade price, I'll laugh all the way to my reading chair.

[rjpb]

While the 20 year trend has been that high grade copies have shown better returns than low grade copies, I can't help but look at the dramatic acceleration of high grade Silver & Bronze prices in the last few years and wonder if they have become potentially a riskier investment over the long term. It is impressive to see non-key SA books that would have sold for $30 ten years ago sell for $300 today, but does anyone really think the same books will be selling for $3000 in another ten years? This is not to say that low grade( particularly post-65 and non-key low grade) is a good investment, but as many keys have become unaffordable to most collectors in even mid-grade, they may be more liquid at a fair return than higher grade/higher priced books that wait for a buyer.

 

Already a fair amount of GA sells more readily at guide and above in G to VG than it does in VF.

[Norrin_Radd]

While the 20 year trend has been that high grade copies have shown better returns than low grade copies, I can't help but look at the dramatic acceleration of high grade Silver & Bronze prices in the last few years and wonder if they have become potentially a riskier investment over the long term. It is impressive to see non-key SA books that would have sold for $30 ten years ago sell for $300 today, but does anyone really think the same books will be selling for $3000 in another ten years?

 

The market seems to move in cycles. We are probably due for a slowdown in the appreciation of comic prices. But a $300 SA book may be $600-$900 in 10 years, depending on the book.

 

 

Time will tell.

[Foolkiller]

I like Donut's model and agree that there is investment potential in early low grade silver (pre 65), core titles like Avengers, FF, some Bats, and Spideys just to name a few, also low grade GA will still sell decently.

 

My thought has always been that HG will always sell because there's always going to be that limited number of collectors who really pursue high grade. However, while the supply is greater (much greater in terms of SA) on low grade, there are many collectors who need early titles and just want to fill the holes. If you are smart, there are plenty of low grade collections you can buy out there very cheaply. Low grade, because of its affordability and accessability will always seem like an appealing option to the collector who just wants to read a copy, and thus I feel that the books are always able to be sold. It takes a little longer, but ultimately, I think there's more buyers.

 

I don't think I'd buy up a huge inventory or sink a large amount of money into it until I had some sort of customer base and recognition. For me, it's not worth the effort to expend extra effort, but I definitely think there's money to be made there.

[the blob]

"HOWEVER, those increases are on paper only. As FlyingDonut aptly proved, while the book value is approximately $17, he sold it (albeit it for a sizable profit) for almost half that at $10.50."

 

That Superboy 67 is not in "Good". More like "Fair", MAYBE Fair/Good, so Donut actually got a pretty terrific price on it considering the buyer also paid $5 s/h (perhaps spread out over multiple books though)

 

$5 shipping on a $150 book is barely going to get factored into the price

 

PLUS, a book bought in"GOOD" is likely to be in that grade 15 years later. A 50 y.o. book in NM, on the other hand, can deteriorate.