Selling a Complete series at a premium or a bargain? 0

[JayBees]

What seems to be the consensus around here?  Im listing stuff online, and I am starting to get to the full series / runs of longer running books.  So my question is do you think its better to sell a complete run at a premium or a lot discount?  I know that it may depend on the series itself, however, I like to try and come up with some sort of formula.   Take Sandman for example.  75 issues, let's say all first prints.  I think selling the collection as a whole is far better than individual pieces.  But then you take Blue Beetle from 1985-ish. Sure, 26 issues in, but is it really worth a premium? Love to hear some thoughts on this.

Edited November 19, 2021 by JayBees

[William-James88]

On 11/19/2021 at 5:06 PM, JayBees said:

What seems to be the consensus around here?  Im listing stuff online, and I am starting to get to the full series / runs of longer running books.  So my question is do you think its better to sell a complete run at a premium or a lot discount?  I know that it may depend on the series itself, however, I like to try and come up with some sort of formula.   Take Sandman for example.  75 issues, let's say all first prints.  I think selling the collection as a whole is far better than individual pieces.  But then you take Blue Beetle from 1985-ish. Sure, 26 issues in, but is it really worth a premium? Love to hear some thoughts on this.

Selling a sandman series all together doesn't make much sense to me when you have some really big keys at the front end that drown out all the rest. Since those arent CGC'd, the value will be really subjective to the grade people think it is. And I can't think of anyone going for a premium. Sets always sound more like a discount, like your stuck buying all this to get those worthwhile keys. 

You are better off selling the early issues individually with clear scans. And then the rest you could sell in sets of storylines.

[KCOComics]

It generally makes more financial sense to sell books individually. 

Obviously this takes more work, so maybe just break out the keys and sell the rest in lots? 

[shadroch]

How many people are looking to buy the full Sandman series? By selling it as one lot, you are losing 98% of your potential buyers and the few who are looking for a full run would expect a discount for them. 

[MattTheDuck]

On 11/19/2021 at 3:17 PM, shadroch said:

How many people are looking to buy the full Sandman series? By selling it as one lot, you are losing 98% of your potential buyers and the few who are looking for a full run would expect a discount for them. 

To me, this is a key point in selling - you want to expand the pool of potential buyers, not make it smaller. 

 

[Fisionbomb]

On 11/19/2021 at 6:12 PM, KCOComics said:

It generally makes more financial sense to sell books individually. 

Obviously this takes more work, so maybe just break out the keys and sell the rest in lots? 

+1

On 11/19/2021 at 6:17 PM, shadroch said:

How many people are looking to buy the full Sandman series? By selling it as one lot, you are losing 98% of your potential buyers and the few who are looking for a full run would expect a discount for them. 

+1

[SOTIcollector]

In more than four decades of collecting, I don’t recall ever seeing a run sell for a premium.  You’ll make the most money breaking up the set.  But that’s also the most work for you.  

[Vixom]

I would sell them whatever method makes me the most money. I have sold many runs for full pop. Does someone working 60 80 hours a week stressed out really want to put together a run shopping for individual books? The hard part is finding someone who actually collects full runs and has the money to buy it. And having a full run. Like if you have been selling for a decade or more you miggt not have a avengers 55 57, FF 36 45  or xmen 101 221. Any series that doesn't have more than 5 keys I am selling the whole series. Sandman I know 1 and 8 and now maybe his brother or something. I would bet a lot of people who want 1 will also be interested in 8. What am I going to do with the rest of them? I don't know much a of these series but I am not listing and packing books that are worth $3 $5 $10 or even $20. I know people want saga 1, chew 1, east of west 1, they wanted that reborn 1 for like 5 days, do they still want god country 1? I dunno but I haven't heard much from the other issues so they are trash to me as a seller but I bet someone wants to read them or have them all and is willing to pay to do so.  

 

[Vixom]

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?isRefine=true&sid=neatstuffcollectibles&_sacat=259104&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_sop=16

 

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

I'm not sure if there are metrics to prove it, but I think it makes logical sense that series sell better at a discount.

[Bob Troub]

I agree with the previous posts...sell the keys first, then, since Sandman had so many multiple issue storylines, sell those...." A Dolls House", " A Game of You", "The Kindly Ones"......you could sell these as lots.....

[lostboys]

If you know you're gonna wanna sell a large run or a complete collection in the future, list it now at a way too high price.

No one will buy it but it'll be out there for all to see.

The folks who do want it will "watch" it and you can collect watchers until your actually ready to sell.

Then you send out offers and wait for counter offers and take it from there.

 

 

[PovertyRow]

Trying to sell a full run combining the keys with the common would discourage most people looking for specific issues to fill their runs. More work but breaking them out should yield the best return, providing you can sell most or all of them.

[rexinnih]

Agree on the breakup. If I see run, as a buyer, I think it's good for me as I see them sell for less. 

[Qalyar]

For a book like Sandman, where there are some single issues that have FMV way, way above the price of an arbitrarily chosen issue, I don't think full runs make a lot of sense to sell. A lot of people these days cherry-pick keys, and really do not care -- unfortunately -- about #33 or #58 or #74. For the same reason, really long runs are probably harder to move; plus, with long runs, you can really only sell the full thing to someone who wants to be a run collector but hasn't started yet. If they're just filling in holes, it doesn't make sense to buy the whole thing.

That calculus might be different for lower-demand books with shorter runs, especially if the FMV per book is uniform-ish. Especially if they're low enough print run / availability to make finding them individually annoying. That said, I'm not coming up with a good example of a 6-9 issue series with a low print run, without any standout keys, that's not hot enough to break apart but hot enough that someone might actually want to buy. I'm sure that's out there, though. Somewhere.

[William-James88]

On 11/22/2021 at 5:14 PM, Qalyar said:

That calculus might be different for lower-demand books with shorter runs, especially if the FMV per book is uniform-ish. Especially if they're low enough print run / availability to make finding them individually annoying. That said, I'm not coming up with a good example of a 6-9 issue series with a low print run, without any standout keys, that's not hot enough to break apart but hot enough that someone might actually want to buy. I'm sure that's out there, though. Somewhere.

Here are some bundles I bought in the past:

I once ought the first 10 issues of Spawn on e-bay. Didn't own any and there were several keys in there (though to this day, none of the books in that set are worth all that much unless in a CGC 9.8). I didn't buy it at a discount.

Same with the Star Slayer miniseries. I bought 1-8 because, while it was not discounted, I was able to get all the issues I wanted all at once, not needing to pay shipping more than once.

And until last year, the weapon X run was a good run to buy all at once too. None of these are low print runs, just examples of runs I have seen or bought in the past that didn't need discounts to sell.

[comicginger1789]

So with Sandman, I don't know if that lot commands a premium. I would think buyers would expect a discount.

Some series (first Punisher limited comes to mind) seem to do well when sold as a lot and sometimes sell for better money than individually. 

And then you have runs (for example let's say Spider-Woman from the 70s) where people would probably also expect a bargain simply because the only issue most people who aren't Spider-Woman diehards want is issue 1. A few go after the X-Men crossover issues as they are earlier appearances of the new team so separating those to get max value and then selling the rest as a discount, I think, would be the better route. It also depends on condition too. If the Spider-Woman 1 was low grade or even mid grade, lotting it up with the rest might yield the best result. 

[Math Teacher]

Recently, when I sold issues from my Spectacular Spider-Man run, I listed them in lots of 10 issues. They have all sold. 

Right now, I'm selling issues of my Daredevil run I am selling issues in lots of 20 - 25 issues. I pulled out the only real keys, DD #111 - #115, and sold them separately. I am listing these lots for around $1/issue, but I am prepared to go lower, as these issues are not in high demand.