Should I CGC key books I know are restored, or should I just sell them while disclosing that they've been restored? 0

[oldrover]

Selling off my 10,000 comics over the next few years... I own restored FF1, XMen 1, and AF15 books (among others) that look tremendous.

My plan was to CGC them all and let the chips fall where they may... but now I'm wondering if what someone here called the PLOD (Purple Label of Death) would be more of an impediment to a sale than just disclosing they are restored and selling them with beaucoup photos.

Any thoughts and advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

BTW, first time poster here. Great forum.

 

 

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Welcome to the Boards!

[Get Marwood & I]

Welcome indeed Oldrover. 

Difficult to say without some pictures and a little more info on the extent of restoration. 

As a rule, most would probably agree that an unrestored graded key brings more bucks in than an unrestored raw. The grading process is the rubber stamp that the book is unrestored for many.

I think it's likely that a graded restored key would bring in more bucks than a raw key with resto disclosed. The buyer may not trust that the full extent has been disclosed on the raw.

But I'm working on instinct,  not practice. Maybe someone will look up GPA once you've provided some more details. Or you could check other online sales - ebay, Heritage etc to see how graded / raws compare. 

Post some pictures anyway. We like pictures 

[Dick Pontoon]

If I were in the market for a restored key, I’d choose a slabbed copy over a raw unless I was able to inspect it myself or knew the seller. Slabbing will add an extra layer of security. CGC may not be infallible, but I would trust their restoration assessment to be more thorough than that of an anonymous seller. And for a big book, even a purple label will have more liquidity.

[Tony S]

My experience is this...
Generally speaking, low grade restored books (say 3.5 or less) sell for about the same amount of money slabbed or unslabbed. As the grade gets higher, a premium starts to emerge for graded and slabbed.  
If I knew a (key) book was restored, I wouldn't bother paying for professional grading and encapsulation unless I expected a grade at 6.0 or better. 

[oldrover]

9 hours ago, Tony S said:

My experience is this...
Generally speaking, low grade restored books (say 3.5 or less) sell for about the same amount of money slabbed or unslabbed. As the grade gets higher, a premium starts to emerge for graded and slabbed.  
If I knew a (key) book was restored, I wouldn't bother paying for professional grading and encapsulation unless I expected a grade at 6.0 or better. 

This was basically my take... my concern is that I'm not a great grader, and that CGC is very strict. For my first CGC submission a few weeks back, I sent in three (unrestored) books I thought were VG, FN and FN (ASM5, FF48, FF52). They came back VG-, VG+, and VG/FN.

If I sent in one of these restored (or presumed to be restored) books, say JIM83, thinking it was a VF, and it came back FN, that would be a bummer. Maybe I'll have to post some photos here before submitting.

[Bomber-Bob]

54 minutes ago, oldrover said:

This was basically my take... my concern is that I'm not a great grader, and that CGC is very strict. For my first CGC submission a few weeks back, I sent in three (unrestored) books I thought were VG, FN and FN (ASM5, FF48, FF52). They came back VG-, VG+, and VG/FN.

If I sent in one of these restored (or presumed to be restored) books, say JIM83, thinking it was a VF, and it came back FN, that would be a bummer. Maybe I'll have to post some photos here before submitting.

One thing I discovered early on is that, for Purple labels, CGC does not ignore the flaw that's been restored. So the book may look much better than the grade. IE CT is covering up a crease, the crease is still deducted from the grade. Note this is different than the Green Qualified Label where the flaw is ignored. Unless you enjoy selling 10,000 books yourself, I would sell the collection, sans a few keepers, as a lot to a dealer.

[oldrover]

16 minutes ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Unless you enjoy selling 10,000 books yourself, I would sell the collection, sans a few keepers, as a lot to a dealer.

I don't mind it... I think I'll do better selling it myself. Plus it's not like I'm selling them all one at a time.

I'm on track to sell about 700 books in my first month... so I figure it'll be about a years work. That's not a bad part-time job to net another, say, $50,000. Maybe more. YMMV.

[Bomber-Bob]

18 minutes ago, oldrover said:

I don't mind it... I think I'll do better selling it myself. Plus it's not like I'm selling them all one at a time.

I'm on track to sell about 700 books in my first month... so I figure it'll be about a years work. That's not a bad part-time job to net another, say, $50,000. Maybe more. YMMV.

Some advice: Don't talk about profit on the internet. Since you are supposed to declare the Capital Gains on your Income Tax, it's just prudent to not say anything. I had a large collection and when I retired I thought the same thing as you, start selling them myself. Not as easy as it sounds. If your books are raw, be prepared for complaints, returns, damage during shipment, Paypal claims, E-Bay claims, Credit Card claims, etc. If you get them slabbed, be prepared for some giant expenses. Anyway, your call, I wish you luck.

[oldrover]

1 minute ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Some advice: Don't talk about profit on the internet. Since you are supposed to declare the Capital Gains on your Income Tax, it's just prudent to not say anything. I had a large collection and when I retired I thought the same thing as you, start selling them myself. Not as easy as it sounds. If your books are raw, be prepared for complaints, returns, damage during shipment, Paypal claims, E-Bay claims, Credit Card claims, etc. If you get them slabbed, be prepared for some giant expenses. Anyway, your call, I wish you luck.

I appreciate your advice.

I've run a business or two before... I think I'm prepared for people to be, well, people.

And I'll be declaring all this. I'm in the unenviable (enviable?) position of having a large capital loss a few years back, that when applied to these gains, will basically cancel it out. Yay.

[Mayor006]

One thing I would say about having them slabbed is it gives the buyer an idea of just how much restoration there is that may or may not come across in descriptions and pictures alone.  

[oldrover]

17 hours ago, Mayor006 said:

One thing I would say about having them slabbed is it gives the buyer an idea of just how much restoration there is that may or may not come across in descriptions and pictures alone.  

That's why I'm leaning toward slabbing them all. The buyer should know exactly what they're getting, and I can't really tell them that without getting them slabbed.

[MustEatBrains]

Depending on the extent of the restoration, if minor, it's possible it can be removed.  You'll get a knock down on the grade but IMO worth it if selling.

[oldrover]

One of mine is a CGC'd 7.5 incredible Hulk 1 from the Nicholas Cage collection, where the notes say only "Small color touch". That might be worth it.

How would I know if it's worth it? Does CGC do this work? If not, who might, and what kind of cost are we talking about?

BTW, thanks for all the insight and advice on this thread.

[James J Johnson]

On ‎8‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 12:47 PM, Pontoon said:

If I were in the market for a restored key, I’d choose a slabbed copy over a raw unless I was able to inspect it myself or knew the seller. Slabbing will add an extra layer of security. CGC may not be infallible, but I would trust their restoration assessment to be more thorough than that of an anonymous seller. And for a big book, even a purple label will have more liquidity.

This. Plus any restoration or trimming that you may have missed, even though a best effort was made to fully disclose it, will be revealed in the CGC resto check and noted in full on the label.

[James J Johnson]

On ‎8‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 6:16 AM, Bomber-Bob said:

Some advice: Don't talk about profit on the internet. Since you are supposed to declare the Capital Gains on your Income Tax, it's just prudent to not say anything. I had a large collection and when I retired I thought the same thing as you, start selling them myself. Not as easy as it sounds. If your books are raw, be prepared for complaints, returns, damage during shipment, Paypal claims, E-Bay claims, Credit Card claims, etc. If you get them slabbed, be prepared for some giant expenses. Anyway, your call, I wish you luck.

+1  Which is why going the Heritage, or Comic Link, or Comic Connect auction or exchange route is the best bet to eliminate potential hassles. They make the sale, you get your check, and if there's any fallout later on, all of which Bob covered beautifully in his post, they handle it as it's their sale. These companies earn their percentage in handling all the customer service alone!

[Bomber-Bob]

4 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

+1  Which is why going the Heritage, or Comic Link, or Comic Connect auction or exchange route is the best bet to eliminate potential hassles. They make the sale, you get your check, and if there's any fallout later on, all of which Bob covered beautifully in his post, they handle it as it's their sale. These companies earn their percentage in handling all the customer service alone!

This is a good suggestion. If you simply consign all your better books to one of these auction sites, they will take care of everything. They will help decide what books should be submitted. They can help you with your Hulk 1 in 7.5. They also give cash advances. They would handle customer payments and shipping . All this service for generally a 10% fee. You can still have fun with your less expensive books on E-Bay.

[Bomber-Bob]

26 minutes ago, oldrover said:

One of mine is a CGC'd 7.5 incredible Hulk 1 from the Nicholas Cage collection, where the notes say only "Small color touch". That might be worth it.

How would I know if it's worth it? Does CGC do this work? If not, who might, and what kind of cost are we talking about?

BTW, thanks for all the insight and advice on this thread.

See comments above. Consigning your better books, like this Hulk 1, to an auction house may be the best approach.

Edited August 29, 2018 by Bomber-Bob

[oldrover]

 

6 hours ago, Bomber-Bob said:

Consigning your better books, like this Hulk 1, to an auction house may be the best approach.

I'm not sure about that... if you go back and look at sold history, the same books at the same grade generally go for higher on eBay.

[The Lions Den]

35 minutes ago, oldrover said:

 

I'm not sure about that... if you go back and look at sold history, the same books at the same grade generally go for higher on eBay.

For me, eBay is no longer my first choice for selling books with significant value (like your Hulk #1, for example).

They tend to favor the buyer, not the seller----even when the seller has excellent feedback and the buyer doesn't.