Question about selling comics on eBay 0

[vaillant]

The most sound advice is to try to sell them in batches, IMO.
As said, the fees are too high to make any decent profits out of cheap books, and this goes also for other eBay sites (not just the USA original one).

On eBay.it I also avoid to sell items costing less than 10 Euro.

[90sChild]

The easiest way to deal with the shipping problem is to make everything free shipping, and start the listing at the minimum price you are comfortable getting after you deduct costs.  Ebay charges fees on shipping costs now because people abused the system, so it doesn't matter to make it free.  Bidders will adjust their maximum bids according to the value of the items.

[1Cool]

2 hours ago, 90sChild said:

The easiest way to deal with the shipping problem is to make everything free shipping, and start the listing at the minimum price you are comfortable getting after you deduct costs.  Ebay charges fees on shipping costs now because people abused the system, so it doesn't matter to make it free.  Bidders will adjust their maximum bids according to the value of the items.

I can't imagine that would work for cheap books.  If shipping 1 book is $3.50 via first class then you would need to list the books at $4.50 just in case someone only wants the one book.  Selling $1 books in sets of 10-15 will be your only real option if you want to clear them out on E-Bay.  1 book at a time for $1 books just is not feasible.  I tend to only list $10 (and up) books and group the lower price books together to hit the $10 barrier.

Edited March 31, 2017 by 1Cool

[kav]

I agree with stock rotation.  Personally when I buy collections I pull out all the books worth selling then put all the dollar books in a longbox and put on the street corner with free comics sign.

[90sChild]

2 hours ago, 1Cool said:

I can't imagine that would work for cheap books.  If shipping 1 book is $3.50 via first class then you would need to list the books at $4.50 just in case someone only wants the one book.  Selling $1 books in sets of 10-15 will be your only real option if you want to clear them out on E-Bay.  1 book at a time for $1 books just is not feasible.  I tend to only list $10 (and up) books and group the lower price books together to hit the $10 barrier.

That is probably the best way to go assuming he groups them with any sort of relevance.  The alternative is nobody bids on your stuff and then you realize maybe it wasnt worth selling.  Then put them in even larger groups of 100+ and sell for $25 a box or whatever the going rate on randoms are.

[1Cool]

1 hour ago, 90sChild said:

That is probably the best way to go assuming he groups them with any sort of relevance.  The alternative is nobody bids on your stuff and then you realize maybe it wasnt worth selling.  Then put them in even larger groups of 100+ and sell for $25 a box or whatever the going rate on randoms are.

Donating books is always a good option (especially if you are in a higher tax bracket).

[01TheDude]

5 hours ago, stock_rotation said:

Don't sell dollar books on ebay. You can't make any money at all. Assume you sell a book for a dollar, and charge $2.77 for shipping, for a total of $3.77.

listing fee: 30 cents (although the first 50 books you list per month are free, and if the book sells, you get the 30 cents back)

final value fee: 10% of entire transaction, including shipping = 37 cents

since ebay charges you fees on your exact shipping cost, you're losing money when you ship = 27 cents

paypal: 30 cents + 2.9% = 41 cents

total cost to sell and ship that dollar book: $1.05

Congratulations, you spent time and effort to list and pack the book and you at the end, you paid a nickel to do so. This assumes your book sells, if not, you paid 30 cents for the privilege of listing on ebay. Granted, the money works out a little better if you sell multiple books to a single buyer, but in the end, you're doing all this work for the equivalent of a McDonald's meal.

Segment the books into 10 or 12 book lots, sell the lots for $15 with free shipping. Ship Media Mail using reclaimed packing materials and you can probably upgrade to a Large size McD's meal.

While your point is certainly valid regarding costs and efforts versus profit, I believe you have counted the shipping cost ebay fee twice in this analysis.

Also-- ebay would round up that 3.77 (10% being .377) to 38 cents.

 

[F For Fake]

My preferred method of selling/getting rid of books, in order of preference:

 

1. eBay for high dollar books that are more or less guaranteed to end well, or sets that seem to be in demand. Auctions are dead (unless you have something truly valuable) so BIN with BO option is the way to go these days. But as has been noted many times, be prepared to be hit with eBay, ebay shipping, and Paypal fees. You're looking at losing at least 13% of what you "make".

2. Here for stuff that I think users will be interested in. Boardies are pretty stingy though, so although I have to pay fees through eBay, I will usually start there, then come here.

3. LCS for what is left after eBay and the boards.

4. HPB for what is left from LCS, though you should be warned, they don't pay much. For most moderns you are looking at about 10 cents a book, maybe a quarter. They do pay more for older books, and sometimes you can work that to your advantage. They aren't exactly pro graders, and tend to be more lenient in grading when looking up what a book is "worth". I've been able to dump pretty common bronze books and beat up silvers that no one else wanted for $5-$10 a book, just because they tend to thin "old = valuable." But again, beware, for the most part you are practically giving them away when you take most books to HPB. Tax write off may be a better option for you.

 

[stock_rotation]

1 hour ago, 01TheDude said:

While your point is certainly valid regarding costs and efforts versus profit, I believe you have counted the shipping cost ebay fee twice in this analysis.

Also-- ebay would round up that 3.77 (10% being .377) to 38 cents.

 

You're correct on both counts. 

I was trying to show that charging exact shipping is a terrible idea. It's a nice gesture, but because ebay claws out a portion of it, a seller ends up paying that portion out of their profits. You're essentially forced to pad your shipping so you don't lose money.

So with the corrected math, OP would net 21 or 22 cents on a dollar book.

 

[01TheDude]

 

1 hour ago, stock_rotation said:

You're correct on both counts. 

I was trying to show that charging exact shipping is a terrible idea. It's a nice gesture, but because ebay claws out a portion of it, a seller ends up paying that portion out of their profits. You're essentially forced to pad your shipping so you don't lose money.

So with the corrected math, OP would net 21 or 22 cents on a dollar book.

 

that's the number I came up with as well-- which makes the whole idea of half priced books or unloading them in bulk to whoever will take them seem much less wasteful in the long run. I can't imagine having that many books that I have no interest in. My collection is around 1850 books or so and that is more than enough to keep me entertained. Not sure how people get to these 12 long box of drek situations-- other than buying them from someone else who had them.

It is a form of drek hot potato I guess.

[ygogolak]

22 hours ago, Mr.Silvestri said:

Craigslist might be your only bet unless you do a mass lot auction

Mercari, Offer Up, etc....

[ygogolak]

11 hours ago, stock_rotation said:

Don't sell dollar books on ebay. You can't make any money at all. Assume you sell a book for a dollar, and charge $2.77 for shipping, for a total of $3.77.

listing fee: 30 cents (although the first 50 books you list per month are free, and if the book sells, you get the 30 cents back)

final value fee: 10% of entire transaction, including shipping = 37 cents

since ebay charges you fees on your exact shipping cost, you're losing money when you ship = 27 cents

paypal: 30 cents + 2.9% = 41 cents

total cost to sell and ship that dollar book: $1.05

Congratulations, you spent time and effort to list and pack the book and you at the end, you paid a nickel to do so. This assumes your book sells, if not, you paid 30 cents for the privilege of listing on ebay. Granted, the money works out a little better if you sell multiple books to a single buyer, but in the end, you're doing all this work for the equivalent of a McDonald's meal.

Segment the books into 10 or 12 book lots, sell the lots for $15 with free shipping. Ship Media Mail using reclaimed packing materials and you can probably upgrade to a Large size McD's meal.

Thanks for breaking it down. What I said originally. The real question is how much you value your time. Are you worth $0/hr not working or $100 /hr relaxing?

Edited April 1, 2017 by ygogolak

[kav]

Best idea is sell em to MCS at $30/box they pay shipping/send labels.  The way it works is they send label, you send one box-they pay$30 and see if they want the rest of the boxes.

[Readcomix]

2 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

 

that's the number I came up with as well-- which makes the whole idea of half priced books or unloading them in bulk to whoever will take them seem much less wasteful in the long run. I can't imagine having that many books that I have no interest in. My collection is around 1850 books or so and that is more than enough to keep me entertained. Not sure how people get to these 12 long box of drek situations-- other than buying them from someone else who had them.

It is a form of drek hot potato I guess.

Reading runs over the years is the answer to your question....I had been up to about 14 long boxes of run books, plus a couple short boxes. Over the past few years, I pared out all the stuff I knew I would never read again that was of low value. I found that for the mostly bronze and copper material, trading to LCS's (certain ones) was the best deal. But, it had to be one that placed a decent value on the items and did not care what you took, as long as the $$ matched. Shops that say no wall books for runs, obviously that will not work. I put a lot of time in to figuring out several LCS's and what made them tick, what moves for them. I broke down what type of material went where. When there was nothing I wanted in trade, I either banked the credit or sold outright. The time spent figuring this out was an investment, as I can now walk into any of these shops and, if I see a book I really want, I know what a win/win deal looks like for each shop owner and am able to negotiate win/win deals. I try to always have some comic $$ (from liquidated books) and books for trading sitting around, to keep my collecting self-funding.

I'm now down to about eight short boxes of keys from various eras/GA books/cool obscurities, plus a couple long boxes because I will read three full runs (Avengers, Iron Man, Defenders) from beginning to end before letting go. 

Now, when I buy collections, after pulling what I am keeping (usually the smallest slice) I immediately parse out the cheapest stuff and that goes to one of a list of flea market guys I have. Most will pay 20 cents a book and don't care what it is. They just want to put out dollar bins at flea markets. I then figure out how to break even/make $$ selling the remaining decent stuff however I can. Once I break even, any remaining books are then a trade option. But I always dump the cheapest stuff first and get the cash-back ball rolling.

Some books sit medium term as this collection-buying lets me read stuff I missed. A near-full set of Swamp Thing stuck around for a bit so I could read it and is now an ASM#7. (And I kept the 37 and 25). I got the swampy short box for less than I could have bought the Spidey, so I don't sweat every potential dollar. Let the LCS take the margin; its theoretical until it's sold, after all. And I got a book I want and read a deservedly legendary series.

Jonah Hex is next, but I will figure out how to move it as a unit, as its everything from All-Star Western #10 through that Vertigo mini, complete. I hate to break it up; it deserves a home. It came near-complete from a collection so I finished the run.

Edited April 1, 2017 by Readcomix
Typos

[01TheDude]

Cool-- that is a great way to think about it-- you certainly are doing something right for sure. I stopped collecting for a long period of time (decades)-- and was not around to witness the copper age or the apparent craziness 1990s. I never planned on getting back into collecting-- just sort of happened and mostly due to this forum a few years ago. But to hear how your collecting/trading/reading morphed over time is very interesting. Mine is sort of stuck in the time I was a kid-- mid to late 1970s. I figure there is enough material there to keep me occupied.

I might take a play out of your playbook though and think about how I can use some of my less desired bronze books to fund my current focus.