Our Recent Experience Selling Comics Through Mycomicshop 23 23

[Bird]

[manetteska]

On 3/8/2022 at 7:54 PM, shadroch said:

One thing I have not seen in any of these last few posts was the prices realized.  The posters had a price in mind when they submitted.  If they thought a book was a VF and would garner $60, does it matter if they call it a Poor as long as it gets you the $60. 

I'm not hearing any stories of books bringing in a fraction of what the consigner wanted, just poor grades.  Are you happy with the money you got for the books, regardless of the grades?   I'd guess my happiness ratio is 95% per book.

 

 

 

On 3/18/2022 at 12:09 PM, shadroch said:

I just got the results of my latest batch of raw books. I have consigned hundreds of books and thought I have a very good feel for their grades but I was very disappointed in the last bunch.  Something is off.  I'm going to hit the pause button on submitting raw stuff, which sucks because I want to sell these books.

 

 

[shadroch]

I really didn't want to make that last post, but I have to be honest.  I've been selling books thru them since they first opened up for consignments and had no commission.  I praise them when they deserve it and have to call them out when they deserve it. 

[Bird]

On 3/18/2022 at 8:39 PM, shadroch said:

I really didn't want to make that last post, but I have to be honest.  I've been selling books thru them since they first opened up for consignments and had no commission.  I praise them when they deserve it and have to call them out when they deserve it. 

as well it should be

I was looking for the shot where Barry was sitting on the steps head in hand, so disappointed in John Wayne. Just messing around, I hope you understand. Your praise has been noteworthy so your criticism is worth listening to. I hope they hear it, both cgc and mcs seem major league harsh in grading right now. It should be consistent a sstated earlier, not loose just consistent. I was not aware of the ability to challenge grades and may do so should I send books in and get a major surprise in the future. But you shouldn't have to challenge challenge challenge. I had some books go much lower than graded on these boards by major sellers (who I thought were accurate)

[shadroch]

I don't believe in running to the teacher complaining about my grade.  I expect them to get in right and to be consistant.   I have a bunch of books with them and they will stay, but for now I am submitting only slabs and lots, not raw books. 

[thehumantorch]

On 3/18/2022 at 12:32 PM, manetteska said:

 

 

Troublemaker  

[Cephusdog]

I've long been a customer of MCS. I, too, just recently sent in a batch of books, mostly raws, and was in for a bit of a shock when the intial grades were revealed. I'd previously consigned about 2 dozen early Walking Dead comics several years ago, which they helped me submit to CGC (my first submission). Those all received 9.8s and I'm eternally grateful for their help. While I didn't expect that kind of result with this batch, I was initially taken aback with about 1/3 of the overall grades, especially with 3 comics that I would have had no qualms calling NM. Those 3 books received two 7s and a 5.5. Not high value books by any means, but I just couldn't believe I'd been so far off in my assessment. Most are still pending scans and surprisingly (or not) those 3 books have been raised and are now graded 8.5, 8, and 7. I don't know how many eyes see the books but obviously the first set was really undergrading these particular books. While they are processing, I've had one book downgraded by half a grade and 5 books have had grade increases -- several jumping up by at least 1.5 points. Perhaps this bodes well for some after their kneejerk reaction while witnessing their initial grades.

Luckily, i can afford to price these aggressively -- more in line with the grade I feel they capable of achieving with CGC. I do have a dollar amount In my head for each and I feel confident I can achieve those results with MCS. If i don't, well maybe CGC will have corrected its issues and their grading window, or I'll happily welcome them back in the fold. I will say I feel most would grade a full grade higher with CGC, some possibly much more than that.

 

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 have to admit I was surprised to see Conan post this. I've long suspected this was the case and have often appreciated/taken advantage of this aspect of their grading as a buyer. However, with the creation of this thread, and now as a seller, I've had to give this some more thought. I don't think the average MCS customer knows this about their standards (I know I sure didn't in the beginning), and while this may not hurt MCS (although, it does seem to affect the willingness of people to consign with them), I do believe it does trickle down and affect the hobby. The waters are difficult enough to navigate as newcomer and I feel it could really complicates something a lot of people struggle with. Wouldn't it make more sense if the comic community would try to adhere to the same set of standards? Yeah, I know, not going to happen, but I can dream.

As an aside, i wonder how frequently MCS gives out grades higher than 9.2. I know I've seen higher, but they have been rare enough for me question if they intentionally try to stay lower. It may affect the quality of books i consign with them in the future.

[Ryan.]

I swore off sending in raws for consignment until their grading was figured out. That lasted about 20 hours before I found another stack to send in. My strategy is to ignore their grades and hope for at least 2 bidders on each book that know MCS grades super mega ultra conservative. This does make me more picky as to which books do make the trip to Arlington, however. 

[Number 6]

On 3/19/2022 at 4:27 AM, Ryan. said:

I swore off sending in raws for consignment until their grading was figured out. That lasted about 20 hours before I found another stack to send in. My strategy is to ignore their grades and hope for at least 2 bidders on each book that know MCS grades super mega ultra conservative. This does make me more picky as to which books do make the trip to Arlington, however. 

I wish you luck. 
 

I tried a similar strategy with Fixed Price hoping their rep would compensate for the downgrade. 
 

So far only 2 books have sold and those were the two I was closest to their grade. 
 

Based on their own historical data moving the rest to auction would be worse so I guess I’m just going to let them sit and see what happens. 

[Ryan.]

I have my third non-paying bidder in the past few weeks. Not really digging this trend.

[shadroch]

I was doing some book keeping this morning and realized I had gone over the $100,000 mark in sales with MCS. 

I miss the days when they were doing zero percent rakes on their new consignment department.  

[manetteska]

On 3/28/2022 at 12:04 PM, shadroch said:

I was doing some book keeping this morning and realized I had gone over the $100,000 mark in sales with MCS. 

I miss the days when they were doing zero percent rakes on their new consignment department.  

So they would grade, scan, list, and ship your items for free?

How long did that last? Doesn't sound like a good business plan.

[shadroch]

On 3/28/2022 at 11:24 AM, manetteska said:

So they would grade, scan, list, and ship your items for free?

How long did that last? Doesn't sound like a good business plan.

I don't remember but it was an introduction rate, as I recall.  I closed my old account , but let me see if I can access it. to see how long it lasted.  My old account was personal, this one is 

It was a great way to make a splash when they entered the consignment business. 

Edit - Some of the books I sold in October and November 2011 were fee free, and some I paid 10% on, so I'm not clear on the details. 

It sickened me to see the prices of books in 2011. 

Edited March 28, 2022 by shadroch

[lighthouse]

We’ve done a little over $30k in consignment sales through them over the last 5 years or so. Some years not so many. Some years over $10k (this year will likely be $30k or so on its own by the time it’s done).

I find them to be a particular good outlet for “leftover” slabs. We might send five copies of a book like NM98 or Hulk340 or Batman423 through Sarasota, get back a variety of grades, and decide to keep two of them for local sale and send the other three to MyComicShop. I don’t have to wait for the fifth customer to be interested in buying a slabbed Bat 423, and I can keep my local wall display constantly rotating.

We aren’t a mail order store (I ship less than five packages a month and half of those are to CGC). I’m happy to give MyComicShop their cut knowing I don’t have to deal with that end of the business.

Like many others I was disappointed in the grades I got when trying to consign raw books. Had some hot new releases I never even put on the rack rejected as 9.4s (given grades at 8.0 and 8.5) that I then sent to CGC as a test of my sanity and got 9.4 and 9.6 on. I suspect if I sent them 2.0-5.0 gold or silver we wouldn’t differ that much. But I’m unlikely to consign any raw 9.4+ recent moderns again, because the haircut of them getting sub-9 is too high. And that’s fine. My experience with everything else has been top notch.

 

[jimjum12]

They got me a GPA high on one of mine in a weekly auction. I listed a stack of oddball books that I carried because they were cool to me and unusual.... slow sellers here, if at all, and they got me about what I had hoped for. GOD BLESS... 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

... KUDOS to mycomicshop for reporting to GPA 

Edited March 29, 2022 by jimjum12

[shadroch]

What I find strange is how many books I sell overnight.  I don't seem to get many alerts during the day, but most mornings, I wake to a sold book or two.  Monday morning, I woke to find a Detective 52 sold, with no negotiations, someone just bought it.

[Mike Bray]

Just printed off my shipment invoice for my 1`st batch of books - 33 books in total -- will pack them up and ship in the morning -- all raw - all bronze and Copper -- looking forward to this new experience ...  

[manetteska]

Personal update:

I consigned 24 raw books (mostly GA) and they were ready for pricing approx a month ago.

14 items sold as BIN; 1 sold as a Best Offer.

6 I have ready for the next auction; this will be my first time using their auction system.

3 more books I am letting sit near my original BIN price. 2 are a bronze and a modern book tied to movies; 1 is golden age which has only received a low-ball(ish) offer so far.

[shadroch]

I have better luck buying than selling at their auctions, although their premium auctions trend better.

[Beastfeast]

Just had a flake buyer who accepted an offer and ghosted me.  It's a real drag having to deal with that riff raff on Ebay but it seems even worse when it happens on MCS.