Collections drying up? 4 4

[SteppinRazor]

2 hours ago, 1Cool said:

If the goal is to promote a feeding frenzy then it may be better to price them at $2 a piece and then have a 1/2 price sign.  People love 1/2 half even if the original price is 2x the price you want.

 

Technically, you can't do that.  You have to have had it at the regular price for some time frame (IIRC, 6mos, but that may depend on state/local).  You can up your price at any time, but you can't call it X% off if you never sold it at the listed price.

[fastballspecial]

[01TheDude]

6 hours ago, 1Cool said:

No wonder - terrible reading especially for an adult imo.  So there is no shortage of drek collections since no one is clammering for those books.  Key heavy collections have become very rare since everyone wants em and very few have them.  I'm up to 13 responses with my Facebook ad and still none from Craigslist.  No one is rushing over once they hear what is in the boxes though.  Should have just donated them and eliminated the hassle but cash is king.

are the boxes full of multiple copies of the same issue? (more than two of any particular issue)

I wonder if you put together small runs of drek and had full long boxes where all the books were different if that might help. You could advertise them as 1990s books-- 300 all different, maybe even name drop some of the characters if they add anything to the ad. You might get some interest from those who quit before the glut of the 1990s happened but know the character however never read those books. Selling it more as a curiosity full of unique books might entice someone to pick up a long box to investigate for themselves.

[spreads]

3 hours ago, 1Cool said:

I had the same experience.  1st garage sale was crazy but the next two were snooze fest.  Once people know you are not giving away keys they don't come back.

Ya but I sold everything, like 600 comics in under 90 minutes.  I was just clearing out space of a recent collection, and offered big runs on all the popular marvel books from the 80s (and none of these books were bagged/boarded, they were all reader copies). 

[Buzzetta]

Highs and lows depending on what you have and whether or not the people that want it have the funds to buy it. 

I had nothing but crickets for a month and a half and then in the last couple of weeks books are being picked up at full ask on eBay and CL. 

I just finished wrapping up an order now and figured I would check out what is oging on over here. 

[thehumantorch]

4 hours ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

4 hours ago, 1950's war comics said:

No kidding , us old school types with list are becoming like hens teeth , i did see a couple at the last con i was at and they were mid 60's or so in age ......

My 70ish older uncle took me to a stamp convention,and I had to be the only one in the room under 50! Everybody was like 70 plus,and they were all lamenting how the hobby was going to have a hard time surviving without new collectors. 

And that's why I keep saying that all the movies and TV shows and the large, media shows, are good for the hobby.   Media introduces comic characters to a new generation and some of them spot comics at a show and stop to have a look.   It's wonderful to see more buyers under the age of 30 than over and it's wonderful to see kids and women buying.

 I've also noticed lapsed collectors coming back into the hobby.  Mostly guys who were collecting back in the 90s who gave up their collection and now they're pulled back in.

 

[ninanina]

On ‎6‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 1:20 PM, NoMan said:

Does anyone think there will come a time when the run collectors will have their revenge? A time when filler books will be expensive and tough to find/acquire?

Absolutely...right after I get rid of my collection.

[DavidTheDavid]

I found an old school comic store today in Birmingham, Alabama. I asked them owner this same question. He said that it's not as easy as it used to be. In the past, people brought in a whole bunch of Marvel or maybe a whole bunch of DC. Now the collections tend to be focused on one title, or maybe just important books. And a lot of the people selling to him are people who bought from him over maybe the last 10 years or so. Obviously, the internet has changed a lot of things for this guy.

[TheFifthHorseman]

12 hours ago, 1Cool said:

There has to be a way to market this stuff to people who just like kitschy stuff. Better minds have to have come up with some good ideas by now but I'm still looking. 

Make wallpaper out of it. Hideous, drekky wallpaper.

[TheFifthHorseman]

10 minutes ago, TheFifthHorseman said:

Make wallpaper out of it. Hideous, drekky wallpaper.

 

[HouseofComics.Com]

2 hours ago, DavidTheDavid said:

I found an old school comic store today in Birmingham, Alabama. I asked them owner this same question. He said that it's not as easy as it used to be. In the past, people brought in a whole bunch of Marvel or maybe a whole bunch of DC. Now the collections tend to be focused on one title, or maybe just important books. And a lot of the people selling to him are people who bought from him over maybe the last 10 years or so. Obviously, the internet has changed a lot of things for this guy.

Have you been to either of the Quality Comix locations in the Montgomery area?  How are Brent's stores doing? I understood the main one was very back issue-centric.

https://www.qualitycomix.com/page/about

[kimik]

Here is another factor to consider re: collections drying up - the children are inheriting and keeping the books. I talked with a collector friends last night about one collection that this is happening to. A LCS owner showed him pictures this weekend of an OO collection that a regular customer has. The OO's son brought some into to the store to show the owner and to get new supplies for rebagging them. He will inherit the books and plans on keeping them since he is collecting now. I heard the same story from my wife's friend who is a partner at an accounting firm. One of the other partners caught the collecting bug from his dad and will inherit his GA and SA collection (mostly Timely and Marvel). In both cases the parent and children do not need the $$$ so they are going to just hold onto the books.

[DavidTheDavid]

6 hours ago, HouseofComics.Com said:

Have you been to either of the Quality Comix locations in the Montgomery area?  How are Brent's stores doing? I understood the main one was very back issue-centric.

https://www.qualitycomix.com/page/about

I bought from him online a few times, but no, haven't visited a store. If I make it that far south, I'll check it out.

[spreads]

12 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

And that's why I keep saying that all the movies and TV shows and the large, media shows, are good for the hobby.   Media introduces comic characters to a new generation and some of them spot comics at a show and stop to have a look.   It's wonderful to see more buyers under the age of 30 than over and it's wonderful to see kids and women buying.

 I've also noticed lapsed collectors coming back into the hobby.  Mostly guys who were collecting back in the 90s who gave up their collection and now they're pulled back in.

 

Agree 100%.  I think there could be shifting interest out of collectible comics, sure, but the industry isn't going away anytime soon.  What has stamps done to evolve and attract new interest?  Comics are backed by big money, and every collectible spiderman: shirt, playing card, toy, movie, show, video game, is a derivative of the comic.

[1Cool]

14 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

are the boxes full of multiple copies of the same issue? (more than two of any particular issue)

I wonder if you put together small runs of drek and had full long boxes where all the books were different if that might help. You could advertise them as 1990s books-- 300 all different, maybe even name drop some of the characters if they add anything to the ad. You might get some interest from those who quit before the glut of the 1990s happened but know the character however never read those books. Selling it more as a curiosity full of unique books might entice someone to pick up a long box to investigate for themselves.

The chances do go up using your technique but also is a lot of work for quarter bin type of books.  I did put in the description that people can pick out titles they want in order to make their own long box of books and the boxes included a ton of hot titles like Punisher, X-Men, Spawn, Spider-Man.  The problem is the people that would enjoy a long box full of readers just do not actively look for books on Craigslist or Facebook.  Those people seem to like going to Cons, hitting a LCS after work or sitting on E-Bay on a Sunday night.  The people who contact sellers about comic book collections on Facebook or Craiglist are 99% flippers (myself included) who just have no interest in a picked over set of comics so there really is nothing you can put in the description to entice this group of people to come look at a long box of filler 1990s books no matter how cheap it is. 

The guy I bought 70 long boxes from early last year ended up contacting me early this year to see if I wanted his remaining 50 long boxes of 90's books.  I know he has been picking and selling books from the boxes and based on what he has been posting on Facebook I know he has gotten better at picking out any book that is worth any money.  He dropped his price to $15 a long box and I still said no because it just was not worth the time and effort to get them and sell them.  I think he got a LCS to buy them for $10 a long box but that just shows you the difficulty selling huge batches of 90s overstock once they have been picked over.

Edited June 14, 2017 by 1Cool

[Artboy99]

8 hours ago, kimik said:

Here is another factor to consider re: collections drying up - the children are inheriting and keeping the books. I talked with a collector friends last night about one collection that this is happening to. A LCS owner showed him pictures this weekend of an OO collection that a regular customer has. The OO's son brought some into to the store to show the owner and to get new supplies for rebagging them. He will inherit the books and plans on keeping them since he is collecting now. I heard the same story from my wife's friend who is a partner at an accounting firm. One of the other partners caught the collecting bug from his dad and will inherit his GA and SA collection (mostly Timely and Marvel). In both cases the parent and children do not need the $$$ so they are going to just hold onto the books.

I honestly think that is what is going to happen with THAT collection I have talked to you about. The owner isn't selling, and likely neither will his sons.

[ComicConnoisseur]

11 hours ago, kimik said:

Here is another factor to consider re: collections drying up - the children are inheriting and keeping the books. I talked with a collector friends last night about one collection that this is happening to. A LCS owner showed him pictures this weekend of an OO collection that a regular customer has. The OO's son brought some into to the store to show the owner and to get new supplies for rebagging them. He will inherit the books and plans on keeping them since he is collecting now. I heard the same story from my wife's friend who is a partner at an accounting firm. One of the other partners caught the collecting bug from his dad and will inherit his GA and SA collection (mostly Timely and Marvel). In both cases the parent and children do not need the $$$ so they are going to just hold onto the books.

Interesting angle that I don't think anyone brought up. 

[ComicConnoisseur]

4 hours ago, spreads said:

Agree 100%.  I think there could be shifting interest out of collectible comics, sure, but the industry isn't going away anytime soon.  What has stamps done to evolve and attract new interest?  Comics are backed by big money, and every collectible spiderman: shirt, playing card, toy, movie, show, video game, is a derivative of the comic.

It hard to beat Disney and WB at promoting stuff. The other hobbies don't have this kind of marketing. 

For the future

I would go with comic keys over any other hobbies keys.

[thehumantorch]

13 hours ago, kimik said:

Here is another factor to consider re: collections drying up - the children are inheriting and keeping the books. I talked with a collector friends last night about one collection that this is happening to. A LCS owner showed him pictures this weekend of an OO collection that a regular customer has. The OO's son brought some into to the store to show the owner and to get new supplies for rebagging them. He will inherit the books and plans on keeping them since he is collecting now. I heard the same story from my wife's friend who is a partner at an accounting firm. One of the other partners caught the collecting bug from his dad and will inherit his GA and SA collection (mostly Timely and Marvel). In both cases the parent and children do not need the $$$ so they are going to just hold onto the books.

And that's a good thing.  More likely to happen now that media has made comic characters popular.

[aardvark88]

6 hours ago, spreads said:

  Comics are backed by big money, and every collectible spiderman: shirt, playing card, toy, movie, show, video game, is a derivative of the comic.

Have to look at the staying power of the character. Circa 1966, same could be said for hot heroes like Tarzan, Prince Valiant,  Lone Ranger and Tonto.