Our Recent Experience Selling Comics Through Mycomicshop 23 23

[Bird]

On 1/14/2022 at 9:39 PM, shadroch said:

I had 11 books in the auction and hoped they would do about $2000. Two sold for a good bit more than I hoped for and three sold for substantially less.  In the end, they came to $1945. 

It always goes this way doesn't it? some stinkers and then one or two pick up the slack but the end result is about what you expect. I've only done about 10 consignments, maybe a few more, but this is par for me. I also give myself a pat on the back for being almost dead on more often than not (as you were) but if you go item by item maybe the pats are undeserved.

[Kramerica]

On 1/14/2022 at 6:15 PM, jimjum12 said:

I bought a LOT of raws from them, usually 50's Atlas, and I'd say they were a full grade tighter than most everyone else. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

They have always been very tight, sometimes more than a full grade. Last year I purchased a Sub-Mariner #59 in VF+ from MCS and I looked really hard to find something wrong but I kept coming up with NM 9.4. I submitted it right after and it came back CGC graded 9.4. Same with a X-Men #111 that they graded at VF. I simply couldn't find anything really wrong and it came back CGC 9.4 in the same submission. So, to say that I am very pleased is an understatement. I also have a suspicion that MCS might be downgrading for manufacturing defects, wrap jobs and distributor overspray. If so, please keep it up MCS!

I just sent 12 CGC graded slabs to MCS last week for my first consignment so I am looking forward to the results. I have a feeling that things will run pretty smooth. I'll let the Boards know how it goes!

[Flanders82]

On 1/14/2022 at 6:58 PM, Kramerica said:

I also have a suspicion that MCS might be downgrading for manufacturing defects, wrap jobs and distributor overspray

I believe they downgrade to avoid returns, especially on cosignments since they take on not only the cost of the return, but ownership of the book as well since the consigner has already been paid. 

[Hamlet]

On 1/14/2022 at 5:27 PM, Ryan. said:

MCS buyers know that they grade ultra conservative so they will often buy at prices more reflective of higher grades than what is listed. Usually. Some books just get lost in the crowd though. 

The buyers usually do a pretty good job of figuring out the actual condition of the books from the scans and bidding accordingly.

One thing I’ve found as a buyer is that you have to look carefully at every book, because while their grading is pretty much always tighter than CGC, it isn’t consistently tighter by the same amount for all the various defects.  So a MCS 4.5 will be at least a CGC 4.5, but sometimes it might be as high as a CGC 6.0 or so.  Likewise a MCS 6.0 could be anything from a CGC 6.0 to pushing a 7.5-8.0. I haven’t quite found the exact method to their madness.  You just have to look at every book closely and translate it to CGC-style grading.

The nice thing about that is when you are buying books from their own inventory, you can occasionally find books that they hammer on grade ( and price ) that would get substantially higher grades from CGC.  Those books usually don’t last long though. 😀

[Ryan.]

On 1/14/2022 at 11:15 PM, Hamlet said:

The nice thing about that is when you are buying books from their own inventory, you can occasionally find books that they hammer on grade ( and price ) that would get substantially higher grades from CGC.  Those books usually don’t last long though. 😀

Without giving away too much of the secret sauce I've learned over the years of buying from MCS I will echo this sentiment and say that there's gold in them low grade hills. 

[rsouxlja7]

For the people who posted that they sold items in the recent auction: will you keep submitting items for the auctions or do you think you get better results through listing as a buy it now format? Just curious for when I start submitting books to sell. 

[Bird]

On 1/15/2022 at 1:55 PM, rsouxlja7 said:

For the people who posted that they sold items in the recent auction: will you keep submitting items for the auctions or do you think you get better results through listing as a buy it now format? Just curious for when I start submitting books to sell. 

I am just trying mcs, so I wanted to see how auctions went. Like I said earlier, about as expected. I bought a lot of stuff last two weeks so I moved them to auction to maximize time over money. I will continue to go both ways, but mcs stock, my needs, the market on each book, it all figures in and then I just make an impulsive decision!

you can move items in and out of auctions pretty easily, but they decide which auctions you can choose from on each item.

[shadroch]

On 1/15/2022 at 11:55 AM, rsouxlja7 said:

For the people who posted that they sold items in the recent auction: will you keep submitting items for the auctions or do you think you get better results through listing as a buy it now format? Just curious for when I start submitting books to sell. 

I usually try to sell the books for a few weeks before I put it in an auction.  As a rule, BIN gets better results than the auctions, imo.

[shadroch]

I was very impressed by some of the prices achieved. Perhaps Conan can post some of the highlights.

[thehumantorch]

On 1/14/2022 at 7:39 PM, shadroch said:

I had 11 books in the auction and hoped they would do about $2000. Two sold for a good bit more than I hoped for and three sold for substantially less.  In the end, they came to $1945. 

On the buying side, things were tight. I got blown away on most books and ended up overpaying for two. I did get five books at less than I was willing to go so not  bad week. Some crazy prices. 

Within less than 5% of your hoped prices is pretty good.

[letsgrumble]

I reached out to Este about 4 years ago and bombarded her with questions regarding consignments. She took the time to answer everything and her responses led me to believe MyComicShop had the right people to work with. Fast forward to this past November and December, I shipped out four boxes of slabs (not all at once) that I had purged from my collection years ago. I've set fixed prices, sent some to their Prime Auction, and more to weekly auctions. You're given a lot of control using their platform. I've sold 34 books so far! I love it!

[workingdog]

I stopped using eBay years ago and have been consigning slabbed books to MCS since 2016 and have done very well.  I always go the auction route. 

I read through every posting in this thread and didn't come across any post with the only thing that I find super frustrating: Deadbeat winning bidders.

To illustrate, I sold 6 graded slabs, auction end date 1/3/22, for a total of $522.  As of this writing, only one winning bidder has paid.  There's still $452 just sitting there waiting for the other winning bidder(s) to pay.  MCS can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe winning bidders are given three weeks to pay?  Are winning bidders sent reminders to pay up?

I've also had unpaid auction books sold which sat so long that either MCS initiated a return of the book to my selling/auction queue and banned the winning bidder or I've requested Este to initiate the book be returned to to my selling/auction queue. I also question the banning process of the winning bidder.  What's to stop them from rejoining under another name and be allowed to bid again?

In the end, I'm still not deterred by sending in slabs to auction off with MCS.  I have 7 slabs in the process of being setup right now 

@mycomicshop

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by workingdog
Added a question

[ttfitz]

On 1/16/2022 at 2:57 PM, workingdog said:

To illustrate, I sold 6 graded slabs, auction end date 1/3/22, for a total of $522.  As of this writing, only one winning bidder has paid.  There's still $452 just sitting there waiting for the other winning bidder(s) to pay.  MCS can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe winning bidders are given three weeks to pay?  Are winning bidders sent reminders to pay up?

I believe it is 3 weeks, with the idea that a buyer might want to combine shipping on more than one of the weekly auctions. And I believe I have received reminders along the way that I have items in my cart that need payment.

I am a buyer who wants to have that ability, and I would be willing to pay earlier if they would hold to combine, but this is how they have chosen to structure things.

[Artboy99]

On 1/16/2022 at 1:08 PM, ttfitz said:

I believe it is 3 weeks, with the idea that a buyer might want to combine shipping on more than one of the weekly auctions. And I believe I have received reminders along the way that I have items in my cart that need payment.

I am a buyer who wants to have that ability, and I would be willing to pay earlier if they would hold to combine, but this is how they have chosen to structure things.

while this is a great idea, I don't see why the item couldn't be paid for and then simply held for the opportunity to combine shipping.

[Ryan.]

On 1/16/2022 at 3:36 PM, Artboy99 said:

while this is a great idea, I don't see why the item couldn't be paid for and then simply held for the opportunity to combine shipping.

I too have emailed to request that items I've won in auctions, or consignments bought as BINs, be rolled into my monthy shipment but MCS does not allow for this, stating that consignors shouldn't have to wait for payment. No argument there except that my request isn't to wait to pay; its simply to combine the shipment into my regularly scheduled monthly shipment. Not sure why I can do that with MCS stock but not with consigned books. 

[shadroch]

I had my second highest priced book in limbo for over a month when someone hit the BIN but didn't pay. Several weeks later I got an email they were relisting it as it was unpaid. Bought again the same day but again no follow thru.  It seemed like someone was reserving the book in case it popped, or was shopping the book around and would only pay if he could flip it. It was annoying and I thought about mentioning it but then the book sold and got paid for.

I'm not sure what the answer is. I like being able to combine several auctions for shipping and wouldn't mind paying weekly and shipping every few auctions but I imagine it would be a logistical nightmare. The system has paid books going directly to shipping.  Having paid books sitting around changes the entire process.

[ttfitz]

On 1/16/2022 at 6:35 PM, shadroch said:

I'm not sure what the answer is. I like being able to combine several auctions for shipping and wouldn't mind paying weekly and shipping every few auctions but I imagine it would be a logistical nightmare. The system has paid books going directly to shipping.  Having paid books sitting around changes the entire process.

That would be my guess as to why it works that way. Heritage lets me pay and hold until I have a mass of books to ship; ComicConnect doesn't do any combined shipping. To each their own, I guess.

[Ryan.]

There have been times when I have passed on a consignment or auction item for the simple fact that I can't add it to my piggyback shipment. 

[shadroch]

On 1/16/2022 at 6:38 PM, Ryan. said:

There have been times when I have passed on a consignment or auction item for the simple fact that I can't add it to my piggyback shipment. 

True, but there have been times I bought another book or two just because I didn't want to pay to ship a single book. 

[Ryan.]

On 1/16/2022 at 9:57 PM, shadroch said:

True, but there have been times I bought another book or two just because I didn't want to pay to ship a single book. 

Admittedly the same for me.