Born again noob looking for some advice 0

[Mattmccabebrown]

Hi, I stopped collecting comics back in around 1997 and think its time to move my collection on to people who will appreciate it more than me.

My collection is 16 odd boxes (it was 18 - but two have gone missing - which is really upsetting as I know what I had in there) and I wont lie, I'm looking at maximising any revenue from the sale of issues/runs etc.

My question really is what to grade from not only a value perspective, but also from merit as was well. I've been out of the game for decades now and I knew what was popular then, but not so much now.  I'm UK based and will shortly be purchasing the premium account and selecting issues to send off.

Like many my collection is primarily X titles, with some titles that highlight who I was when I was 20 odd - Punishers, Ghost Riders, Hulks, but my growing maturity lead to Vertigo series like Preacher and Sandman as well as some funny titles from Image (like Fathom) and Top Cow (The Darkness)

Searching the web I know the following are well worth a punt

• Uncanny X-Men 101 (pence copy)
• Uncanny X-Men #141 (pence copy)
• Uncanny X-Men #142
• Uncanny X Men #266
• Sandman #1 and #8 ( I have a run from 1-20)
• Preacher #1 (have a run from 1-50)
• New Mutants #87 and #98 – I have a run from 1-10 as well as 41-100 plus a range of issues inc #1

I know there are too many to list and its tricky to really know what is worth the grading process. All my comic were and still after looked after well, 98% bagged and boarded, read carefully and stored in a cool dry place. I would have assuming titles like X Factor #6 and #24 would be popular, but it doesn't seem the case and I see little point going through the process if there is no market for the title, both commercially and I as mentioned earlier artistically. I have the complete run of Marvels and Kingdom Come but question if I should just plop them on ebay and roll the dice.

The Overstreet guide is of some help and so is ebay, but as with many things, prices and available vary wildly.

Sorry I've ranted on for so long and thank you for your patience. Any advice really is greatly received.

Thanks from a born again noob 

Matt

[theCapraAegagrus]

What are your intentions?

[revat]

3 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

What are your intentions?

I'm not sure if he edited or not, but I think he posted his intention as maximizing revenue.

Before you even consider grading, there's a few big questions you need to address.

1.  What are the expected grades for your comics?  Especially for more recent comics (which yours are, despite being 30-40 years old), there can be a massive price difference between CGC 9.6 and CGC 9.8, to the point where a CGC 9.6 might lose you money.  So even if you have quite stellar comics, one small defect might ruin the profit margin.  So I wouldn't submit ANY comics until you've properly learned how to grade (or unless you have some MEGA KEYS, which I don't really see in your list so far).  There are plenty of comics that look very very nice end up grading at 9.4 or 9.2 or 9.6.

2.  What profit margins ARE YOU PERSONALLY looking for? Everyone is different, and sending comics in for grading will mostly cost somewhere from $25 to $40 each for moderns (depending on your shipping, tier, insurance, amount submitted, etc).  Make sure you account for that (check the CGC UK website for your math). 

The other half of the equation is how much you hope to sell for.  And for you, take into account the translation fees, the more (potentially) limited UK market (I don't know if Brexit makes it more or less hard to sell/ship to the rest of Europe), and/or selling to the larger American market.  What is the minimum you hope to make each sale?  How risk averse are you?  Do you care about Return on Investment or absolute dollars?  Does it matter if your submission money is tied up for months?  Also of course you should consider customs fees, venue fees (like ebay or auction houses fees), paypal or other processing fees, shipping, returns, taxes, etc. 

3.  How much is your own personal time worth?  How much time would it take for you to consider the items above?  Maybe it makes more sense for you to consign your collection to someone, or just sell it outright at a discount to a dealer?  Although you've already stated maximizing revenues is your goal, it still might be nice to keep this in mind.  Or it might make more sense to just take some good pictures of your better comics and just have ebay auctions and not bother with grading (either on your own or professionally). 

 

Other considerations

- Space in your home-100 slabs could take up a lot of space. 

Pressing-This is like having a professional "iron" you comic to make it flatter and grade higher.  Might be worth it, might not.  There's a cost in $$ and time.

Your own ability to sell stuff online. 

Other changes in Brexit or the larger world economy as health scares influence things.

 

But honestly the GRADES of those books will probably the biggest indicator of what the other steps toward maximizing revenues.  There's a 'please grade my comic' subforum on the boards, you should check it out and see if you can learn anything, or get some advice on grades of your own comics.

 

good luck.

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

1 minute ago, revat said:

I'm not sure if he edited or not, but I think he posted his intention as maximizing revenue.

Before you even consider grading, there's a few big questions you need to address.

1.  What are the expected grades for your comics?  Especially for more recent comics (which yours are, despite being 30-40 years old), there can be a massive price difference between CGC 9.6 and CGC 9.8, to the point where a CGC 9.6 might lose you money.  So even if you have quite stellar comics, one small defect might ruin the profit margin.  So I wouldn't submit ANY comics until you've properly learned how to grade (or unless you have some MEGA KEYS, which I don't really see in your list so far).  There are plenty of comics that look very very nice end up grading at 9.4 or 9.2 or 9.6.

2.  What profit margins ARE YOU PERSONALLY looking for? Everyone is different, and sending comics in for grading will mostly cost somewhere from $25 to $40 each for moderns (depending on your shipping, tier, insurance, amount submitted, etc).  Make sure you account for that (check the CGC UK website for your math). 

The other half of the equation is how much you hope to sell for.  And for you, take into account the translation fees, the more (potentially) limited UK market (I don't know if Brexit makes it more or less hard to sell/ship to the rest of Europe), and/or selling to the larger American market.  What is the minimum you hope to make each sale?  How risk averse are you?  Do you care about Return on Investment or absolute dollars?  Does it matter if your submission money is tied up for months?  Also of course you should consider customs fees, venue fees (like ebay or auction houses fees), paypal or other processing fees, shipping, returns, taxes, etc. 

3.  How much is your own personal time worth?  How much time would it take for you to consider the items above?  Maybe it makes more sense for you to consign your collection to someone, or just sell it outright at a discount to a dealer?  Although you've already stated maximizing revenues is your goal, it still might be nice to keep this in mind.  Or it might make more sense to just take some good pictures of your better comics and just have ebay auctions and not bother with grading (either on your own or professionally). 

 

Other considerations

- Space in your home-100 slabs could take up a lot of space. 

Pressing-This is like having a professional "iron" you comic to make it flatter and grade higher.  Might be worth it, might not.  There's a cost in $$ and time.

Your own ability to sell stuff online. 

Other changes in Brexit or the larger world economy as health scares influence things.

 

But honestly the GRADES of those books will probably the biggest indicator of what the other steps toward maximizing revenues.  There's a 'please grade my comic' subforum on the boards, you should check it out and see if you can learn anything, or get some advice on grades of your own comics.

 

good luck.

My bad. I didn't re-read that part. Only the "maximize value" part (which doesn't necessarily mean for sale). Thanks for the correction.

[revat]

5 minutes ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

My bad. I didn't re-read that part. Only the "maximize value" part (which doesn't necessarily mean for sale). Thanks for the correction.

easy to miss, he spelled (spelt?) it the British way.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 3/6/2020 at 6:45 PM, Mattmccabebrown said:

The Overstreet guide is of some help and so is ebay, but as with many things, prices and available vary wildly.

Hello Matt.

Here's what I would do.

Make a list of each title for which you have books. Then, pop on eBay and do the following:

1. Type in each title in inverted commas, e.g. "X-Factor"
2. Select 'Comic Books & Memorabilia' as the category
3. Select 'Highest Price'
4. Select 'Sold Items'

Then you will see the most expensive books within those titles and lots which have actually sold. If you see a book that you have that is worth more than, say, £100, and your grade is in line with the sale prices, then you can add that book to the potential grading pile. X-Factor #6 is a regular appearance in the list, selling at £40 to £60 so straight away you know that's a comparatively expensive book although probably not worth grading unless it is a 9.6 or something.

It costs quite a bit to get books slabbed and, being in the UK, you have to have them shipped overseas. The wait will be long.

At 16 boxes, if they're short, you may have around 2,500 comics. You'll likely find that most titles offer up few keys / expensive books if the collection is late bronze up. You mentioned Ghost Rider. I just typed that in to eBay as above and only issues #1 and 2 get much action. 

I would take the time to do as I indicated above, then work out how many decent books you have. If 95% of them are in the 50p to one pound each range, as most X-Titles often are, then you know that you're not going to make a million. Strip out the good, sell those on ebay with loads of pictures and a decent description and then sell the rest as sets maybe. No dealer will give you tuppence for books which have no value and which, in all probability, they already have multiples of.

Hope that helps and good luck.

P.S. You get a million board bonus points for mentioning the words 'pence copy' in your opening post 

[William-James88]

On 3/6/2020 at 1:45 PM, Mattmccabebrown said:

Hi, I stopped collecting comics back in around 1997 and think its time to move my collection on to people who will appreciate it more than me.

My collection is 16 odd boxes (it was 18 - but two have gone missing - which is really upsetting as I know what I had in there) and I wont lie, I'm looking at maximising any revenue from the sale of issues/runs etc.

My question really is what to grade from not only a value perspective, but also from merit as was well. I've been out of the game for decades now and I knew what was popular then, but not so much now.  I'm UK based and will shortly be purchasing the premium account and selecting issues to send off.

Like many my collection is primarily X titles, with some titles that highlight who I was when I was 20 odd - Punishers, Ghost Riders, Hulks, but my growing maturity lead to Vertigo series like Preacher and Sandman as well as some funny titles from Image (like Fathom) and Top Cow (The Darkness)

Searching the web I know the following are well worth a punt

• Uncanny X-Men 101 (pence copy)
• Uncanny X-Men #141 (pence copy)
• Uncanny X-Men #142
• Uncanny X Men #266
• Sandman #1 and #8 ( I have a run from 1-20)
• Preacher #1 (have a run from 1-50)
• New Mutants #87 and #98 – I have a run from 1-10 as well as 41-100 plus a range of issues inc #1

I know there are too many to list and its tricky to really know what is worth the grading process. All my comic were and still after looked after well, 98% bagged and boarded, read carefully and stored in a cool dry place. I would have assuming titles like X Factor #6 and #24 would be popular, but it doesn't seem the case and I see little point going through the process if there is no market for the title, both commercially and I as mentioned earlier artistically. I have the complete run of Marvels and Kingdom Come but question if I should just plop them on ebay and roll the dice.

The Overstreet guide is of some help and so is ebay, but as with many things, prices and available vary wildly.

Sorry I've ranted on for so long and thank you for your patience. Any advice really is greatly received.

Thanks from a born again noob 

Matt

Only send them in if they are of super high grade. And by that I mean no blunted corners, no creases. They have to look perfect. Or else it's not worth it, especially since the shipping to and from the UK would be nuts. You maximise your revenue most by spending as little as possible, unsold slabs will just eat away at any profit. So what you should do first is look at those books and check if they are immaculate. If not, compare them to the same books on e-bay when you filter for only "sold listings". Then put them on e-bay for a similar price to the books you found that sold. And you can reap in your money.

Extra note: for Sandman, issue 4 is hot too (first lucifer) and keep issue 10 till next year. That has the first appearance of a character that is gonna get more screen time than he did in the books.

[Mattmccabebrown]

Hi all

Thanks for the advice - I can assure you its been taken to heart. 

Many of the comments mirror the majority of the sentiments in my mind - esp Get Marwood's regarding stripping out the gold and selling the rest en masse as well potentially getting it, but it not being right at the top level counting against it.

The sale is driven by a house move so moving them on within a reasonable amount of time is certainly preferred, but I shall certainly look into the forum grading option.

Again, thank you all.