Consignment Advice-- Who's Got Some?

[Polyphemus]

I just purchased a large late Silver/Bronze Marvel collection which I will receive on Monday, about 1000 books give or take.

 

Lots of runs, mostly Spotlight, horror title, Captain Marvel. Not too many superhero titles but there is a JIM 83 and a slew of TTA, Hulk, and Thor.

 

The large majority of these books are VG/FN although there are many better and some worse (unfortunately some early FF). I won't say what the JIM 83 is .

 

I had been planning on selling these off myself after cherry picking but now I'm not so sure I have the energy.

 

Anyone have any experience with consigning midgrade non-keys? I looked at Heritage and 15% commission doesn't seem to bad. I didn't pay much for the books; it was one of those "little old lady" collections.

 

Thoughts?

[aardvark88]

If u have a local comicshop that u trust, put the comics on consignment there. Let them take a consignment fee of 20-25% of the retail price. Maintain a detailed inventory list of your consignments at all times. Retailers get distracted by sportscards, Beyblades & Yu -gi-oh all the time.

Heritage may not want to take g-vg-mid-grade common books as it may sully their reputation. U would net 70% of Heritage's hammer price as their is a 15% buyer's premium.

[Polyphemus]

I live in LA and all the stores around here don't seem to know that they made comics before 1990 if you know what I mean.

[ninanina]

How did you come across the collection? Any history on it as far as you know?

 

 

[Polyphemus]

Here's my technique -- trade secret of course -- it has worked twice and has not worked once.

 

When I'm browsing on Ebay, every so often I'll find someone who is new to ebay or has very low feedback (but only because they recently joined). So, if their books look interesting, I'll email them and see if they have a bunch for sale. For instance, about a year ago I was looking at Iron Fist and a woman who was new to Ebay had been unable to sell a full run twice at $80.00. They were high grade (about 8.5) but she had no feedback yet so I figured people didn't want to bid on them and wind up with junk. Long story short, she was selling her husband's comics and had about 1300 books incl. X-Men 94, GS X-Men 1, Hulk 181 etc. I bought them from her for about $.35 ea. and sold them off for a nice profit. Similar thing here. The one time it didn't work, the guy said "a few" had some water damage. Turned out they all did but I still made good.

 

This guy is in his 70's, lives in Dallas. His son is an inspector and about 10 years ago was cleaning out an older woman's house and found 4 boxes (not comic boxes) of comics. They stored them until recently and he persuaded his son to get rid of them. I asked him for the full list, he sent it to me, sent a couple scans, and I made him an offer which he accepted. He didn't seem to know anything about comics and was only interested in getting rid of them. His 2 experiences selling on Ebay were good but too much of a pain the [!@#%^&^] for him.

 

So, I get them on Monday. I expect to find the JIM 83 a Golden Record Reprint or something, but I am hopeful. They were dirt cheap and there are full runs of every Marvel Bronze Horror title, Spotlight, Ghost Rider, a lot more. As I said, about 1000 books.

 

I contacted the person who he sold Tomb Of Dracula 1-10 to and he responed that they were in VG/F condition except for #10 which was VF+. I'm a gambler by nature so for less than $500.00 how bad can it be? Lately work has been really busy so it could take months for me to list them all. I thought maybe it'd be worth consigning since my initial investment was very little.

 

Mitch

[ninanina]

Thanks for the story. Never thought of doing that, and the biggest problem I have is time - just like you. My business keeps me hopping.

 

If you're stuck, perhaps you could sell them in runs?

[FlyingDonut]

Anyone have any experience with consigning midgrade non-keys? I looked at Heritage and 15% commission doesn't seem to bad. I didn't pay much for the books; it was one of those "little old lady" collections.

 

I sell books on consignment for 7-8 people, including several comic shops that you might have heard of. I charge 25%, but you do no work. You send me the books, and a while later, you get a check, which keeps coming weekly until your books are all gone.

 

PM me if you want to talk further, might be better to do it over the phone. There's a method to moving mid-grade books, and as long as you don't mind the time delay everything sells.

 

For some more info, go to Flyingdonut.com and read the "sales representative program" blurb.

[Darthdiesel]

Heritage may not want to take g-vg-mid-grade common books as it may sully their reputation.

 

They take books in these condition and have fun listing bargain lots on eBay en masse...

[aardvark88]

I recall Heritage selling individual comic fanzines at $1 no reserve on eBay. They were only worth $1 or $2 though.

[lighthouse]

You could do far worse than to have FlyingDonut sell the books for you... his commission percentage is very fair, and you get the benefit of just about the best feedback of any comic seller out there...

 

If you don't have a local shop that understands back issues and you don't have the time/energy to list them yourself, I would suggest moving the common stuff through Donut and offering the more interesting stuff directly here on the forums...