Our Recent Experience Selling Comics Through Mycomicshop 23 23

[Ryan.]

On 3/8/2022 at 9:05 PM, Beastfeast said:

I wasn't stoked about a book that sold at auction in Oct. but those are the breaks, sometimes. 

I've had some real clunker auction results as well so I get picky about what I keep as BIN and what goes into auction. 

[vaillant]

On 3/9/2022 at 4:03 AM, Number 6 said:

Actually, now that I’ve gotten over the initial kick-in-the-nads, that’s actually probably not a bad idea. 
 

I’ve already paid to get the books there. And it’s possible in 10 months from now I’ll have to have some slabs sent back to avoid storage fees so I could just have them sent back then. 
 

I don’t have high hopes but we’ll see what happens. 

I think the question might also rely on who actually grades. MCS have always had many graders. As said, I have always been satisfied by their grading as a buyer. Books were never overgraded.
But in fact I always look at how a book presents itself. Major faults (i.e. staple detached, tape, etc.) are always underlined by MCS and as long as the books looks good from the scans, I do not care if it’s graded as VG or FN.
In fact, in one of my very earliest purchases, I bought a squarebound book they graded as a VG+. I suppose because of the "waviness", but that is a gluing problem, production related and inherent to squarebound books.
The book is actually at least a VF, maybe a VF+, the price was fair so I was super-happy. If one wants to get most from its grade, probably consignment in general is not the best option?
Or, if the book has a value justifying this, one could have it professionally graded beforehand by CGC.

[Chief1332]

I considered selling a book to MCS. 

The first time I contacted them, they offered me 78% of what the last 8.5 blue label cgc sold for at auction.

The second time, they offered me 44%.  They said that the 8.5 sale may just be an outlier.

Oh, my book is a 9.0 blue label cgc with white pages vs the 8.5 with off white to white.

I won't be sending my book to them.

[mycomicshop]

Some thoughts on our grading: we aren't trying to grade exactly like CGC. We have our own grading standards that are admittedly tighter than CGC, and we attempt to grade to those standards. That said, CGC's grading, and broad  community consensus from experienced graders familiar with CGC's grading, is the industry norm and is still very relevant to us. We don't operate in a vacuum.

For me personally, I'd be most happy with our grading if our grades relative to CGC usually fell in the range of 0.0, 0.5, or 1.0 below an accurately graded CGC. We generally have extremely few books that CGC grades lower than our grade, but I don't want to be so tight that there are many books where CGC would be 1.5+ (3 notches) higher than our grade, unless we can point to a specific defect that our standards count off for that CGC is softer against.

I acknowledge it's possible there are some books we may grade a little too tightly--if you have something you feel is a particularly extreme example, you can PM me and I'll review it with our inventory team.

And lastly, as others have said, I encourage you not to take a tight grade from us personally, but look at how much you can ultimately sell the book for. Can you sell it for more money with us, faster and easier, than with your other alternatives. If so, then it's a good option. If you think not, by all means send me a PM and I'll review it with you.

[Bird]

On 3/8/2022 at 9:28 PM, buddy2 said:

Hey Bird:   Did your book(s) with the inner well issue get sent to CGC by MCS?  If so, has CGC returned it to MCS yet?  I am asking because I have some books I sent to MCS in Nov that got sent to CGC for re-holder due to  Inner Well issue (Mechanical Error) that still have not come back from CGC. 

2 went out at the same time, one returned quite a while ago and one still out

[Axelrod]

On 3/8/2022 at 12:24 PM, shadroch said:

I finally sold a few lots of books in yesterdays auction and while the results were mixed, overall I'm happy.

Three of the lots sold for less than $48 so the minimum $12 fee applied, and the fourth sold for $63 so a $15 commision. 

Total sales were $163 so minus the $51 in fees, I recieved $112 , and it cost about $10 to ship the 34 books so I made just over $100.

I sent them ten lots total but split them up so they wouldn't all be in the same auction. 

Lot 1 was a group of ten low grade Adventures featuring the Legion, most were Fair  to Good and one was missing a centerfold

Lot 2 was Batman The Cult 1-4 in Fine.  (These were bagged up unread and I thought were harshly graded)

Lot 3 was a BA Conan run of ten in Fine 

Lot 4 was a Superboy run in the early 200s and was the surprise star of the auction, finishing up over $60.

These are all fairly slow selling books and if I had them in a $3 box at a show, I doubt I'd have sold thirty of them. 

In the end, I moved thirty four slow selling books, got over $3 each for them and did it with minimal effort.  I have a few more lots up in the next couple of weeks and just sent about ten more lots for the future. 

As an aside, I'm directing these funds to pay for two books I won at the same auction and which I'll re-consign and sell for a thirty percent profit, then rinse and repeat. 

 

 

It's cool you're posting this information.  I find it very useful and interesting.  I always browse the mycomicshop auctions, though I can never pull the trigger on anything.  I wonder if you mind saying what the books you bought were that you are confident you can instantly re-sell for 30% more (including the consignment fees?)  Identifying stuff like that seems like a key ability in this market.  

Of course, if your methods are a trade secret or something, I understand.  

[manetteska]

On 3/8/2022 at 7:21 PM, Number 6 said:

What I find concerning is two of the books are cracked-out CGC books with the labels. Both were CGC 8.5, one I downgraded to VF- the other I thought was correctly graded at VF+, maybe VF if you wanted to get super-strict about it. 
 

MCS graded the books FN- and FN+ respectively. 
 

One of the books I sent was a book graded by Bob Storms. Now Bob has a pretty good reputation for solid grading.  But, granted, even the best dealer may not get it spot-on all the time.  He had graded it as a NM-, I felt it was closer to VF+. 
 

MCS graded it as a FN

 

I also sent a book that I had purchased from Four Color Comics. I have had good and not-so-good experiences with their grading but I felt this book was solidly graded as a VF/NM 

MCS graded it as a FN+

What era/years are the books above, which were further off than anticipated?

Did MCS include any notes in the listing?

[shadroch]

1) I never said they will sell instantly but they were two slabbed books that sold poorly at the auction. I'm confident they will sell at the price I will set. You are correct that identifying these opportunities is a key ability . I won't give you the two books from this auction but I'll give you a few from past auctions.  In a December auction ,I bought a Moon Knight 29 for $160. Sold it in Feb for $219.  A $38 profit for two months. Won a Marvel Tales 1 for $185, sold it in three weeks for $240.   In the last few months, I've flipped about thirty books I bought and then consigned back. It wasn't just auction wins ,either. In one case I saw a popular book that had two copies at what I thought were low prices.  I sent them both best offers of $160. One accepted, the other countered at $169. I bought that as well, and repriced both books at $250. 

I got an almost instant offer of $225 for one of them and sold the other in two weeks for $217.  Some might think it is a lot of work to make $70 but I consider it FUN..

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by shadroch

[Number 6]

On 3/9/2022 at 8:28 AM, manetteska said:

What era/years are the books above, which were further off than anticipated?

Did MCS include any notes in the listing?

To the first part of your first question: these were all Silver Age books

To the second part of your first question:  I think that's answered in my previous post, generally, most I expected to be in the higher VF-ish range downgraded to FN

To the second question:  the only notation is on one of my books that had a cover fully attached when I sent it and now is detached at one staple after they graded it.  Stuff happens I guess.

[Timmay]

sample of 49 raw books I have sent in over the last couple of months, three of which did not have detached covers when they left:

higher than my grade: 1

same as my grade: 2

Lower than my grade:

by one grade: 10

by two grades: 13

by three grades: 12

by four grades: 4

by five grades: 5

by eight grades: 2

by nine grades: 1

And a couple of these were further downgraded between MCS initial grading and when they were scanned and ready for me to price.

I grade to what I think CGC would grade the book.

[manetteska]

Since we are all sharing, below is my comparison for mostly GA-era comics. The one copper I sent it I had as a 5.5 and MCS listed as a 6.0.

A few of the larger downgrades are due to centerfold issues, as I did not fully check some before sending in.

A couple of them I have no idea on, but admittedly (see above), most were a front/back grade.

[Ed Hanes]

On 3/9/2022 at 6:48 AM, mycomicshop said:

Some thoughts on our grading: we aren't trying to grade exactly like CGC. We have our own grading standards that are admittedly tighter than CGC, and we attempt to grade to those standards. That said, CGC's grading, and broad  community consensus from experienced graders familiar with CGC's grading, is the industry norm and is still very relevant to us. We don't operate in a vacuum.

For me personally, I'd be most happy with our grading if our grades relative to CGC usually fell in the range of 0.0, 0.5, or 1.0 below an accurately graded CGC. We generally have extremely few books that CGC grades lower than our grade, but I don't want to be so tight that there are many books where CGC would be 1.5+ (3 notches) higher than our grade, unless we can point to a specific defect that our standards count off for that CGC is softer against.

I acknowledge it's possible there are some books we may grade a little too tightly--if you have something you feel is a particularly extreme example, you can PM me and I'll review it with our inventory team.

And lastly, as others have said, I encourage you not to take a tight grade from us personally, but look at how much you can ultimately sell the book for. Can you sell it for more money with us, faster and easier, than with your other alternatives. If so, then it's a good option. If you think not, by all means send me a PM and I'll review it with you.

I like the service at MCS (it's overall a great relationship)..I have noticed that buyers seem to pay more on MCS overall, maybe from a perception that MCS undergrades.

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Ed Hanes

[sckao]

I use and like MCS too.

I've started seeing a pattern where I think the same person is making two offers on the same book I have in a psychological ploy to get me to settle for a lesser offer price. I wonder if this is a negotiation tactic or not...

 

[Ed Hanes]

On 3/9/2022 at 5:09 PM, sckao said:

I use and like MCS too.

I've started seeing a pattern where I think the same person is making two offers on the same book I have in a psychological ploy to get me to settle for a lesser offer price. I wonder if this is a negotiation tactic or not...

 

I don't see how the same person can make two offers on the same book at the same time , unless they have two different accounts with MCS

[mycomicshop]

I've seen a couple people do that. Some people have too much time on their hands.

[comicartfan]

On 3/9/2022 at 9:48 AM, mycomicshop said:

Some thoughts on our grading: we aren't trying to grade exactly like CGC. We have our own grading standards that are admittedly tighter than CGC, and we attempt to grade to those standards. That said, CGC's grading, and broad  community consensus from experienced graders familiar with CGC's grading, is the industry norm and is still very relevant to us. We don't operate in a vacuum.

For me personally, I'd be most happy with our grading if our grades relative to CGC usually fell in the range of 0.0, 0.5, or 1.0 below an accurately graded CGC. We generally have extremely few books that CGC grades lower than our grade, but I don't want to be so tight that there are many books where CGC would be 1.5+ (3 notches) higher than our grade, unless we can point to a specific defect that our standards count off for that CGC is softer against.

I acknowledge it's possible there are some books we may grade a little too tightly--if you have something you feel is a particularly extreme example, you can PM me and I'll review it with our inventory team.

And lastly, as others have said, I encourage you not to take a tight grade from us personally, but look at how much you can ultimately sell the book for. Can you sell it for more money with us, faster and easier, than with your other alternatives. If so, then it's a good option. If you think not, by all means send me a PM and I'll review it with you.

Something I have wondered about Conrad pertains to the consignment of CGC books. I recently sent in two large boxes of slabs to you guys which should be there on Monday. These are brand new from CGC and I only pulled out the books I planned on keeping, then left the rest of them. 

When my books are received and scanned, I see that there are notes of scratches, wear and scuffs. These are brand new slabs with only some rub wear along the corners and edges due to the way they are probably stored prior to slabbing. What this does though, from a buyer's perspective is "turn them off" due to their thinking that the slab is truly damaged. It costs us consigners bids. 

There is a difference between manufacturing flaws, which are unavoidable and a slab that is truly damaged.....which has happened to me when books are shipped to MCS. 

I will continue to consign with you guys, I just want this to be addressed. I have spoken to Este's assistant, but I didn't feel I got the matter settled. 

[mycomicshop]

On 3/10/2022 at 2:58 PM, comicartfan said:

Something I have wondered about Conrad pertains to the consignment of CGC books. I recently sent in two large boxes of slabs to you guys which should be there on Monday. These are brand new from CGC and I only pulled out the books I planned on keeping, then left the rest of them. 

When my books are received and scanned, I see that there are notes of scratches, wear and scuffs. These are brand new slabs with only some rub wear along the corners and edges due to the way they are probably stored prior to slabbing. What this does though, from a buyer's perspective is "turn them off" due to their thinking that the slab is truly damaged. It costs us consigners bids. 

There is a difference between manufacturing flaws, which are unavoidable and a slab that is truly damaged.....which has happened to me when books are shipped to MCS. 

I will continue to consign with you guys, I just want this to be addressed. I have spoken to Este's assistant, but I didn't feel I got the matter settled. 

I agree and have spoken about that with our department recently, and will continue to follow up on that. Some buyers are extremely picky about minor case issues, but we shouldn't be going to extremes to accommodate those people.

[jimjum12]

I haven't chimed in for a minute. I thought I'd add my take to MCS raw grading. I, too, had my feelings hurt on some of my raw grades, but as a professional back issue salesman who specializes in mail order, I DO understand the purpose. Undergraded books rarely get returned, buyers get comfortable with paying top dollar for them, and they become repeat customers. This allows MCS to pay quickly and absorb any returns (few) or problems. One thing I noticed being hammered on my books is "oxidation" aka tanning. This is a defect that CGC overlooked for years, but is a common defect that will often result in returns when the comic is sold raw. I put my raws up for auction so I will find out the "rest of the story" soon. They run a tight ship so far and I've started bidding on other people's books based on the tight grading. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Gonzimodo]

On 3/4/2022 at 5:15 PM, Gonzimodo said:

As much as I hate to admit it, I am one of those whiny customers.   I just submitted four books - two came in where I expected, one I was unsure of because of a defect for which I had no clue how it would affect the grade (and the grade they gave it seems reasonable to me), and the last one came in well below what I expected.  They have another copy of the same book in the exact same grade they gave mine, and based on the scans, it looks to be in a little worse condition than mine.  I guess it's also possible that mine was damaged during shipping, but I probably just missed something obvious.  (That seems to be the most likely reason. )

I did send a whiny email to see if they had any grader notes, and the nice lady who responded said that consignment books get a quick once-over when they're scanned and ready to go in case the assigned grade looks too low or high.  I'm not sure if that's true or if she was just appeasing yet another whiny little @#$%&, but I appreciated the quick response. 

Update time!  My books have now been scanned and are ready to go.  One book surprisingly got a slight bump up on second review, but the one I was concerned about didn't budge.  In looking at the scan, I guess the book wasn't as great as I originally thought, though.   The grade still seems a little low to me, but it looks comparable to the other one they have in stock with the same grade, so I really can't complain.  

[Gonzimodo]

On 3/11/2022 at 10:15 AM, Gonzimodo said:

Update time!  My books have now been scanned and are ready to go.  One book surprisingly got a slight bump up on second review, but the one I was concerned about didn't budge.  In looking at the scan, I guess the book wasn't as great as I originally thought, though.   The grade still seems a little low to me, but it looks comparable to the other one they have in stock with the same grade, so I really can't complain.  

Update #2 - I put three of the books in an upcoming auction, and I set a price on the fourth.  That one just sold within a few minutes of my posting it.   Thanks, MCS!