Investing potential in low grade comics?

[shrunkenhead]

I think we are onto something here. Donut has a method here to what other people may think as a madness. It even looks like there may be opportunities in low-grade key books. It will be interesting to see how that low grade CGC Fantastic Four#1 auction goes..

.

 

Low grade key books are definitely an easy flip. I'm guessing that FF #1 will do well. A low grade key and an uber-high grade key will almost always find a buyer, if the price is within the realm of sanity. It's the VFish book that's a tougher sell....it's out of the price range of the low-grade buyer, and why should a big spender ante up thousands on a VF book when he can kick in a few more grand for a NM-? That sort of person in category two can afford it.

 

Incidentally, I tend to be a VF collector myself, as I try to exploit the system and get the biggest bang for my buck.

[jkrk]

An interesting post. Investing in Low grade comics? Boy if this thread doesn't hit home for me? I've spent 20 plus years attempting to make a living by trading. Without turning this into a "spiiting contest" the goal of earning a $300/hrly fee is where I was 15 years ago. Today my sights are substantially higher.

The thread reminds me of the bull market syndrome. The more I leverage the more I can make on the way up. I simply can invest and put the portfolio on auto pilot. If I own the highest quality asset and hold it I cannot lose over time.

Clearly we have seen substantial returns in comics over time. The same for art, real estate, Bonds, and even stocks over time. Without turning this into a financial expose here is my view on the debate.

1)Ease of selling favors the low grade comics.

2)Less work favors high grade comlcs

3)In a bull mkt higher grades will vastly outperform.

4)in a bear market the discounts between trades on Hg will be horrific.

 

I agree that the amount of time and the effort one is willing to put in are major factors. I would also say that one's ability to hold the books through extended difficult economic times should be a factor. Unfortunately I have found few individuals ever factor risk into their mindset when investing.

[the blob]

If $300 an hour isn't worth the bother, then playing around with comics as "investments" shouldn't be either. (When I left private practice my rate was $500 an hour. Of course, I don't think I kept more than $125 of it. My bosses needed to pay for those homes in the Hamptons somehow!)

[jkrk]

If you view comics as an investment then......... Does it take much time to buy an Action 1/ Detective 27 from a dealer? Using the past as a proxy was the return greater than $300/hr for the hours worked in obtaining the books? This is not a forecast about the future

 

From my perspective, I turn books for a relatively small amount of money. Sometimes I wonder if I make minimum wage for my efforts. I love trading book so that is why I'm involved. Do I consider the books as an investment? No. I deem them as a vehicle to be used in pursuing my true love. That is trading.

[the blob]

actually, hunting down "the right" action 1 from a dealer can take a lot of time --- less so nowadays i suppose. finding it for the right price is the real work. anyone can pay $500K for a book with a FMV of $100K. (anyone with $500K to burn that is!)

[bullseye]

this is also something i am interested in, maybe not even to sell, but just to find a place to get them cheap for my collection, can't get all like 700 or more DD appearances if i pay high dime for em, anyone happen to know a place to buy beat up SA on the cheap?

[FlyingDonut]

this is also something i am interested in, maybe not even to sell, but just to find a place to get them cheap for my collection, can't get all like 700 or more DD appearances if i pay high dime for em, anyone happen to know a place to buy beat up SA on the cheap?

 

 

list?

[the blob]

donut -

 

can't you just put a donut up or something? looking at ron jeremy every time you post creeps me out.

[bullseye]

List:

Daredevil 6-11 13-28 30-36 38-bronze age

any cheap silver FF, cheap silver xmen, missing everything but 22 and 23 that kind of stuff, maybe even cheap beat up avengers if the price was right.

[Rob]

donut -

 

can't you just put a donut up or something? looking at ron jeremy every time you post creeps me out.

 

I begin to believe it's really Ron posting. As far as the donut name, seeing Ron's picture makes me think there's some kind of sick innuendo with the donut.

[the blob]

ron jeremy does about 1400 guest appearances a year around the country/world.

 

i don't think he has time to (1) post 100 times a day and (2) run a mail order comic empire

[FlyingDonut]

donut -

 

can't you just put a donut up or something? looking at ron jeremy every time you post creeps me out.

 

I begin to believe it's really Ron posting. As far as the donut name, seeing Ron's picture makes me think there's some kind of sick innuendo with the donut.

 

[Rob]

I was thinking it was one of Ron's signature moves.

[That Ron Dude]

My comics are largely low grade because I am chasing complete runs and I buy what I can afford. The problem with resale is that I have to sell many of them to make mch money and selling them is work. When I factor the work in to the sale, I don't make much profit. I suspect it takes no more work to sell a 9.2 copy of Amazing Spider-man #6 then it does to sell my 1.8 copy of the same issue. To make a thousand dollars I might have to sell ten times the number of low grade comics than another person would have to who deals in high grade.

[Rob]

But some of us have no choice, due to budget constraints. I'd love to resell 9.0 ASM #1's all day long, if I could afford them. In the meanwhile, I'll stick to 1.0 ASM #7's. (Which will actually be on eBay soon, with a #9!)

[Rob]

I just found this thread and enjoyed reading it again. Thought it might be worth bringing up again. I want to know how many comics were in Dan's collection he bought for 19¢ ea? 1050 for $200? I'd buy that all day long! I'm actually just starting to build up some inventory for a small eBay side business/hobby. Interested in discussing it again.

 

Just bought a Hulk #6 on eBay for $65. I'm anxious to see how it grades out. Has a chunk out of the FC, but I think even at Fair, I can make a profit. It's tempting to throw it on eBay now, but I also want to save it till I have some kind of inventory to sell, not just one at a time.

 

I think there's a market for low grade comics, if you can buy them cheap enough, like Dan. I'm interested (don't know the feasibility) in looking into comics that grade below Good. Obviously they would have to be worth my while (comics people would be interested in Fair or Poor copies...GA, keys, etc). Whereas not everyone can afford a $500 NM Bronze Age comic, and settle for a lesser grade, not everyone can afford a $500 G copy of a more expensive comic, and would accept a lesser grade. There's got to be a market there (and the opportunity to buy some bargans!). If you had the inventory and reputation as a fair grader in that range, you could really carve yourself a niche in the hobby. This is what excites me. Mainly because I can't afford to deal in HG comics, and because there's so much interest and knowledge in those grades, it's harder to buy low enough to sell for a profit (unless you can afford to buy HG collections, which I cannot).

[the blob]

If you're smart and focused and find the right dealer, $1000 in cash brought to the right show can be $2000-$3000 on ebay in a month or two (I'm talking about sales, not listing prices). I'm not saying I do that routinely, but if I avoided buying the same sort of stuff I wind up buying again and again more because I like it (ahhhg, the dreaded dollar box!) than anything else and just focused on the best "flips", I honestly think I could do it with some regularity.

 

I'm kicking myself in the rear. I paid $100 for a nice little stack of VF to NM BA books with OPG values of $15-$90 each at a recent show. Have already sold them for $300 and probably have another $75-$100 of them in my store inventory. The dealer had just bought a new collection and had not really priced things out and I had not really priced them out in my head either, I just knew that $100 sounded good for the stack. My bag was already full and I had to leave to get to work, but I could have bought 5X as much at the same sort of discount.

 

Of course, it's not always that quick and easy. I just recently broke even on $80 of SA/BA comics purchased at a flea market 6 months ago that I priced for a few multiples of that on ebay. I still have $200-$300 of it sitting in inventory, but I think I'll turn a profit eventually.

 

Ebay presents plenty of opportunities, but you can get burned also. These boards also present some nice opportunities if you're quick enough, particularly if you don't mind building some inventory. Hot books tend to price out at FMV though, more or less.

[Rob]

Ebay presents plenty of opportunities, but you can get burned also. These boards also present some nice opportunities if you're quick enough, particularly if you don't mind building some inventory. Hot books tend to price out at FMV though, more or less.

 

Exactly. I think eBay would offer fewer profit-making opportunities, just based on the number of competing bidders. But you can get the good deal here and there if you're willing to take a chance on a lot with a poor description. Or sometimes the low priced BIN. I agree, hot and HG books (on and off eBay) tend to price out near FMV. The only way I can see making a profit off those is having the capital to buy in bulk, which is my goal. But for now, I think there are profits to be had in LG books if you A) know more about them than your competition does, and B) are willing to do the work.

 

I would like to have a thread (or some other type of correspondence) for low grade flippers. I'm having fun with it, and enjoy discussing it. (And I'm sure we're boring the HG folks!)

[the blob]

Or buy books here that October as graded as Fine+ and sell them on ebay as NM-.

 

Just kidding, of course, I've never bought a book from october. Most of his stuff is more than $5, so too spensive for me!

[That Ron Dude]

I read my comments of two years ago and they still make sense.

 

To add, a comic like Fantastic Four #72 in high grade is saleable on Ebay if you are not a dealer and that is your only outlet. One in low grade, say a 2.0 may be worth only $5 and isn't saleable because of the cost of postage and the cost of the ebay ad. Should I ever decide to liquidate my collection, I will be selling comics like that in runs.

 

Did you watch the "Levine" video? It really has me thinking of local fans with huge collections and what is going to happen when they sell off. If the crash does come, at least I won't lose that much money, not having invested much in my collection. Really though, my comics give me great joy regardless of what grades or values are attached to them.