Books you just cant find in the Wild 21 21

[BishopT]

Speaking of Darkhawk... I found a just about complete run today, for a buck a piece, only missing two issues. Those two issues? 1 and 50, go figure... I have a mid grade 50, but damn if that isn't a tough son of a person_without_enough_empathy to find.

Pretty decent scores today on books mentioned in this thread: WildCATS 1 & 3 newsstand editions, Savage Dragon #1 newsstand, Maxx #24 newsstand, The Amazing Spiderman Battles Ignorance, Robotech: The Macross Saga #34, Godzilla #23 (again! I guess it ain't so tough to find, after all...) , Vampirella #3 Adam Hughes cover, Vengeance of Vampirella #10 Adam Hughes (don't know how hard to find those two are in general, I just know it's the first time I recall seeing them since I've been looking).

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

23 hours ago, fastballspecial said:

23 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

On 7/2/2017 at 8:09 AM, ygogolak said:

I agree with most of this.

The tide has changed on the "premium" however. 90s drek Image IS selling with a UPC.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=image newsstand&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

Well...the definition of "premium" aside, if you take out Spawn, you end up with about 40 listings. For a book to be "worth it" to list, it needs to sell for about $10 BEFORE S&H...maybe $9, but now you're working for less than minimum wage. That's not a "premium", when you're dealing with individual books.

When you consider that, you're now down to, as of this moment, precisely six (6) listings for raw books, and two slabs.

Working for minimum wage or less...while fun...doesn't really inspire the effort to search. The Spawn #1 sales, however, will. We should see more show up shortly. 

Oh please. If I buy a book for a $1 and it sells for $10 its profit. Easy and quick profit.  Rinse and repeat. 

Its less risky and less headaches.

 

Let's do the math:

Cost of book - $1

Book sells for $10. Assuming free listing (which isn't necessarily the case), the eBay fee is a standard 10%. Paypal is 3% or 4%. 

Cost of materials to protect item - 50c to $2

Cost of fuel to ship item - indeterminate; depends on factors

So, you're looking at a gross sale of $10, and a net sale of about $5.70 - $7.20

 

Now let's consider the time:

Time to find the book - indeterminate

Time to scan/pic + upload item - 2-5 minutes.

Time to create listing, including all relevant details - 5-15 minutes.

Time to entertain offers (not necessarily applicable.) - indeterminate

Time to process payment - 1-2 minutes

Time to pack the book - 5-20 minutes, depending on your setup

Time to take item to post office and/or hand item to postman - indeterminate, but not nothing.

So, for roughly...and this is if you've streamlined the process...30 minutes to an hour of time, you're making a "profit" of about $5.70-$7.20...for an hour's worth of work, less than minimum wage, and if you're super fast and do it in 30 minutes, $10-$14/hour...

 

...assuming the item sells for $10, which isn't guaranteed.

My time is worth more than $5-$14/hour, but it would be fun for some. 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

38 minutes ago, BishopT said:

Vengeance of Vampirella #10 Adam Hughes

Pic?

[revat]

6 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

 

 

Let's do the math:

Cost of book - $1

Book sells for $10. Assuming free listing (which isn't necessarily the case), the eBay fee is a standard 10%. Paypal is 3% or 4%. 

Cost of materials to protect item - 50c to $2

Cost of fuel to ship item - indeterminate; depends on factors

So, you're looking at a gross sale of $10, and a net sale of about $5.70 - $7.20

 

Now let's consider the time:

Time to find the book - indeterminate

Time to scan/pic + upload item - 2-5 minutes.

Time to create listing, including all relevant details - 5-15 minutes.

Time to entertain offers (not necessarily applicable.) - indeterminate

Time to process payment - 1-2 minutes

Time to pack the book - 5-20 minutes, depending on your setup

Time to take item to post office and/or hand item to postman - indeterminate, but not nothing.

So, for roughly...and this is if you've streamlined the process...30 minutes to an hour of time, you're making a "profit" of about $5.70-$7.20...for an hour's worth of work, less than minimum wage, and if you're super fast and do it in 30 minutes, $10-$14/hour...

 

...assuming the item sells for $10, which isn't guaranteed.

My time is worth more than $5-$14/hour, but it would be fun for some. 

 

If one was just making a living out of it, its not so easy, but if you were already doing everything else for more expensive comics anyway (shopping, selling), getting some economies of scale make it somewhat reasonable and efficient, ESPECIALLY if you otherwise enjoy it and were just doing it in your free time, or rotating books in and out of your collection. 

 

[fastballspecial]

1 hour ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

 

 

Let's do the math:

Cost of book - $1

Book sells for $10. Assuming free listing (which isn't necessarily the case), the eBay fee is a standard 10%. Paypal is 3% or 4%. 

Cost of materials to protect item - 50c to $2

Cost of fuel to ship item - indeterminate; depends on factors

So, you're looking at a gross sale of $10, and a net sale of about $5.70 - $7.20

 

Now let's consider the time:

Time to find the book - indeterminate

Time to scan/pic + upload item - 2-5 minutes.

Time to create listing, including all relevant details - 5-15 minutes.

Time to entertain offers (not necessarily applicable.) - indeterminate

Time to process payment - 1-2 minutes

Time to pack the book - 5-20 minutes, depending on your setup

Time to take item to post office and/or hand item to postman - indeterminate, but not nothing.

So, for roughly...and this is if you've streamlined the process...30 minutes to an hour of time, you're making a "profit" of about $5.70-$7.20...for an hour's worth of work, less than minimum wage, and if you're super fast and do it in 30 minutes, $10-$14/hour...

 

...assuming the item sells for $10, which isn't guaranteed.

My time is worth more than $5-$14/hour, but it would be fun for some. 

 

Do you really think anyone hasn't done the math?  

Those that have been doing this along time know plenty or shortcuts to cut down your 
procedure by quite a bit. Its called preparation. I can do 4 or 5 books in a hour if I have too.

I did 3 orders last night in 30 minutes. Here is another secret. I like doing it, its a fun hobby. 

 

 

[Mapleleafvann]

4 minutes ago, fastballspecial said:

Do you really think anyone hasn't done the math?  

Those that have been doing this along time know plenty or shortcuts to cut down your 
procedure by quite a bit. Its called preparation. I can do 4 or 5 books in a hour if I have too.

I did 3 orders last night in 30 minutes. Here is another secret. I like doing it, its a fun hobby. 

 

 

Best answer yet.  I like it too---it is a fun hobby.  It's really about small gains over a long period of time.  If anyone thinks they are going to make car payments or house payments flipping books, they will have a very rude awakening.  I'll take the buy it for $1 and sell it for $10 every single day.  

[fastballspecial]

Well I about fell over when I found this one today. Been looking for one of these for years. I did find an X-Men several years ago so now its 2.

[fastballspecial]

Here is a cool one I had never seen as well. I couldn't pass it up.

[Plantman]

So Valiant hype men pay RMA $1.70/hour but it's minimum $15/hour for anyone else? Very unfair! 

Quote

 

 On Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 9:30 PM, RockMyAmadeus said:

 

 

I was once paid $51 for a 30 hour stretch of work...with an hour of sleep in between....for helping Greg Buls sort through an entire comic store's inventory...

 

True story.

 

 

 

Oh, I also found two copies Action Comics #583 in the wild over the past three months after two-plus years of looking for a copy. Are there any hard-to-find issues of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run now that I've moved on to it?

[Hickok8AA8]

I agree that it's more of a residual income hobby for most. If you're full-time I hope that's not your process .

I honestly kind of  enjoy the handling and packaging, it's some what therapeutic. Plus when you do make a big sale, I no longer care as much about the $1 profit books or the "changed my mind" returns that are inevitable.

[Mapleleafvann]

1 minute ago, Hickok8AA8 said:

I agree that it's more of a residual income hobby for most. If you're full-time I hope that's not your process .

I honestly kind of  enjoy the handling and packaging, it's some what therapeutic. Plus when you do make a big sale, I no longer care as much about the $1 profit books or the "changed my mind" returns that are inevitable.

Another good answer....I completely agree.

[Aweandlorder]

It's not full time for me but it may very well be. That's the charm of selling comics today. I can comfortably retire doing nothing but comics and real estate. Both provide tremendous cash flow and ROI. Each with its proportionate capital investment amount. 

Does it make sense for me to sell a 1$ book at 10$? Of course it does!! I have hundreds of boxes, 5 selling outlets, and nothing but time on my hands. 

Can I be more productive doing other things? Sure I can but I won't enjoy it as much.. actually I won't enjoy it at all. 

I gave up djing 2 years ago because of comics. Think about that for a second. I gave up a profession that I pursued for years that brought me nothing but joy for Decades. Because it no longer made sense to me to carry speakers to a gig and make 500$ when I can do that shipping sometimes 1 book in a package. 

20 years ago I used to whore my DJ services just to get my foot in the door at a residency. Now doing an easy laid back gig at a downtown bar for 5 hours at 60$ an hour, getting drunk and flirting with chicks half my age doesn't interest me anymore 

Yes I admit. I got lazy. 

I got lazy and I got smarter. 

 

 

 

Ok ok.. I may have gotten a bit older as well

[Mapleleafvann]

Lazy sounds right----that's a good lazy too.  Solid plan!

[Lazyboy]

1 hour ago, Plantman said:

Oh, I also found two copies Action Comics #583 in the wild over the past three months after two-plus years of looking for a copy.

Yeah, that's often how it goes. I can think of a few issues that really aren't rare but took me years to see in person, then after I got one more copies started appearing.

1 hour ago, Plantman said:

Are there any hard-to-find issues of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run now that I've moved on to it?

Not really. The earlier issues may be slightly harder to find, but the only real difficulty I've ever had was finding them cheap.

[fastballspecial]

Found this today. It proves these issues exist because even though I see some on ebay now I have never seen a copy never. I always thought the series ended at issue 9 now I have proof in hand.  Most wont care about this issue, but there are a few of us that were reading that series at the time. Now I will have to keep looking for the last issue since I found this one.

 

 

Edited July 4, 2017 by fastballspecial

[bababooey]

10 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

On 7/2/2017 at 9:34 PM, jsilverjanet said:

Do you still have these?

From a recent eBay listing.

Well that needs a pic.  Private buyer 
 

[BishopT]

6 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Pic?

Sorry for the glare;

 

[divad]

3 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

It's not full time for me but it may very well be. That's the charm of selling comics today. I can comfortably retire doing nothing but comics and real estate. Both provide tremendous cash flow and ROI. Each with its proportionate capital investment amount. 

Does it make sense for me to sell a 1$ book at 10$? Of course it does!! I have hundreds of boxes, 5 selling outlets, and nothing but time on my hands. 

Can I be more productive doing other things? Sure I can but I won't enjoy it as much.. actually I won't enjoy it at all. 

I gave up djing 2 years ago because of comics. Think about that for a second. I gave up a profession that I pursued for years that brought me nothing but joy for Decades. Because it no longer made sense to me to carry speakers to a gig and make 500$ when I can do that shipping sometimes 1 book in a package. 

20 years ago I used to whore my DJ services just to get my foot in the door at a residency. Now doing an easy laid back gig at a downtown bar for 5 hours at 60$ an hour, getting drunk and flirting with chicks half my age doesn't interest me anymore 

Yes I admit. I got lazy. 

I got lazy and I got smarter. 

 

 

 

Ok ok.. I may have gotten a bit older as well

 

[divad]

12 minutes ago, BishopT said:

Sorry for the glare;

 

The glare is NOT excused!

[divad]

6 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

 

 

Let's do the math:

Cost of book - $1

Book sells for $10. Assuming free listing (which isn't necessarily the case), the eBay fee is a standard 10%. Paypal is 3% or 4%. 

Cost of materials to protect item - 50c to $2

Cost of fuel to ship item - indeterminate; depends on factors

So, you're looking at a gross sale of $10, and a net sale of about $5.70 - $7.20

 

Now let's consider the time:

Time to find the book - indeterminate

Time to scan/pic + upload item - 2-5 minutes.

Time to create listing, including all relevant details - 5-15 minutes.

Time to entertain offers (not necessarily applicable.) - indeterminate

Time to process payment - 1-2 minutes

Time to pack the book - 5-20 minutes, depending on your setup

Time to take item to post office and/or hand item to postman - indeterminate, but not nothing.

So, for roughly...and this is if you've streamlined the process...30 minutes to an hour of time, you're making a "profit" of about $5.70-$7.20...for an hour's worth of work, less than minimum wage, and if you're super fast and do it in 30 minutes, $10-$14/hour...

 

...assuming the item sells for $10, which isn't guaranteed.

My time is worth more than $5-$14/hour, but it would be fun for some. 

 

We all do it because we love it . . . no more, no less.