"These'll pay for my kid's college..." 5 5

[sckao]

And what does dealer overstock look like after 30 years? (Or the flotsam you pick up with a collection and have left over once you sell off what you need to sell off to make your money back?)

I’ve been trying to somewhat organize a bit and this is the latest X-Men #1 box. (Looks like some other single digit books in there as well currently.) The red band covers in the back are the ones with Wolverine, Cyclops, and Ice Man.

(This, of course, may not be typical… but it may be typical of dealer overstock.)

Edited December 22, 2021 by sckao

[KPR Comics]

That could fund all of the Octomom's kids' education

[lou_fine]

On 12/22/2021 at 10:13 AM, shadroch said:

Why does it have to be in 9.8?  Why does it have to be slabbed at all?  

Most certainly don't depending on the price point you are hoping for.  

But if you are hoping to sell a copy of Jim Lee's X-men 1 for $100 which was what we were talking about, then it most likely would have to be graded and possibly somewhere in the CGC 9.6 to 9.8 grade range, if you are even lucky enough to find an uber HG copy in the $1 BIN fodder box after all these years.  

[thehumantorch]

On 12/21/2021 at 4:02 PM, sckao said:

..And I estimate I have over 1000 copies of X-Men #1. 

You’re rich

[lou_fine]

On 12/22/2021 at 10:39 AM, thehumantorch said:

On 12/21/2021 at 3:02 PM, sckao said:

..And I estimate I have over 1000 copies of X-Men #1. 

You’re rich

Most definitely as it sounds like somebody's got over $100K right there and well on your way to a cool million if you count some of your other 90's drek books which are now also apparently worth an absolute fortune if in grade and you can time the market exactly right.    

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 12/22/2021 at 1:38 PM, lou_fine said:

Most certainly don't depending on the price point you are hoping for.  

But if you are hoping to sell a copy of Jim Lee's X-men 1 for $100 which was what we were talking about, then it most likely would have to be graded and possibly somewhere in the CGC 9.6 to 9.8 grade range, if you are even lucky enough to find an uber HG copy in the $1 BIN fodder box after all these years.  

We’re not talking about hitting other people’s dollar bins, we’re talking about hitting the long boxes of dollar books we already own.   It’s not like anyone but the owner has pawed through it. 

[shadroch]

On 12/22/2021 at 11:38 AM, lou_fine said:

Most certainly don't depending on the price point you are hoping for.  

But if you are hoping to sell a copy of Jim Lee's X-men 1 for $100 which was what we were talking about, then it most likely would have to be graded and possibly somewhere in the CGC 9.6 to 9.8 grade range, if you are even lucky enough to find an uber HG copy in the $1 BIN fodder box after all these years.  

Honestly, I have no idea what this thread is about. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 12/22/2021 at 2:06 PM, shadroch said:

Honestly, I have no idea what this thread is about. 

It was a tongue-in-cheek post about 90s spec paying your kids way through college.   It quickly turned into a meeting of curmudgeons....

[EastEnd1]

About once a year for the last two years I've pull three short boxes of pretty much unread 1990s stuff and gone through them to sell.  I've averaged about 30 9.8s worth a $100 or more.  I use CGC's prescreen service and have been pretty good at picking the 9.8s... the first year I only missed on one and this year I missed on two (CGC didn't even charge me for the misses!).  I put the 9.8s up on Ebay and they pretty much all sell over a few months.  The rest of the books, say about 350-400 books all bagged and boarded, I sell in one lot through a local auction house and both times I've gotten about $1.50 a book.  In the old days, you'd get about $.15 a piece for these, but that isn't my experience anymore... especially so long as the runs include the mainstream Marvel and DC titles... and yes you can even have some Valiants in there!  All of my 1990s stuff I bought from Westfield back then at about a 30% discount.  So my experience has been that I can make a decent amount of money on the graded 9.8s and I probably even make money on the drek (at worst break even).  Is it enough to put my kid through college?  Probably not... though maybe at a state school with a partial scholarship!!       But I do remember thinking when I was buying those books back in the 1990s that I'd never make money on them because they were so common and so unlikely to appreciate.  And I have to say, I've been VERY pleasantly surprised that that hasn't been the case so far.   

Edited December 22, 2021 by EastEnd1
spelling error and missing words

[shadroch]

That X-Men with the seven million copies is actually five different covers so I doubt any one cover got three million.

I speculated heavily on the Deluxe version and think I paid just under $3 with shipping on them. For years I couldn't sell them for much, but little by little they have moved.  I never bothered with the other versions. I have around 50-70 left. 

 

[Mike's Rack]

The comics I bought in 1990 are worthless, the comics I bought in 2012 are paying for my kid's college.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Mike's Rack

[oakman29]

On 12/21/2021 at 11:05 AM, Ablation Steve said:

I bought 51 copies of X-Men #1. Let's say $30 of that went into slabbing and ebay fees and taxes, sell for $100 and I'm making $70. $70 X 51 is $3500 just for those. Spider-Man 2099 #1 is now $250, but unfortunately I only bought five of those. 10 Spawn #1, even after fees and slabbing, can get you $2000 today. That's just a square foot of space (in unslabbed form) that got me $6500. Average college would be around $13,000 a year if it followed normal inflation, so that's not a bad chunk from 66 books.

You don't need a warehouse, I've done all this on about 2 dozen long boxes (and yes, still have a bunch of drek...but the way things are going and how Marvel is launching series, everything will be valuable eventually! Cross your fingers for X-Force for me!)

Again, I know that the entire idea of slabbing was the only thing that made this happen (i.e. it didn't go the way I planned but it still happened anyway), and while people can scoff at people paying $100 for a common 9.8, that doesn't stop it from happening.

It's certainly not the efficient way to make money, but it's been fun as part of the hobby. I guess I just like challenging the idea of the foolish early 90s speculator. (Even though, in some ways, I was one)

Thank goodness.  I work for the franchise tax bureau.  I will be getting your information in a PM shortly.  Good thing you mentioned this before the year was over, this way I can tax you on this years income as well.  

[oakman29]

On 12/22/2021 at 10:30 AM, sckao said:

And what does dealer overstock look like after 30 years? (Or the flotsam you pick up with a collection and have left over once you sell off what you need to sell off to make your money back?)

I’ve been trying to somewhat organize a bit and this is the latest X-Men #1 box. (Looks like some other single digit books in there as well currently.) The red band covers in the back are the ones with Wolverine, Cyclops, and Ice Man.

(This, of course, may not be typical… but it may be typical of dealer overstock.)

Oh my God you really do have everything! 🤣

[BigLeagueCHEW]

On 12/22/2021 at 11:06 AM, shadroch said:

Honestly, I have no idea what this thread is about. 

90s B S drek 

[lostboys]

On 12/22/2021 at 1:25 PM, MAR1979 said:

It does very much to Thanos.

 

BTW new comic sales have steadily decreased and will continue to do so.  There are less Comic Collectors now than 12,15,20,25,30 years ago. Although it's slightly more cool to do so than at any point in history - so there's that.

 

I don't buy new comics. I don't like the glossy pages, they cost too much and most of the writers are barely capable. Don't even get me started on variants. Now get off my lawn. 😆

[djzombi]

On 12/21/2021 at 3:10 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

Some of these " 90's era glut" books have done EXTREMELY WELL for me.. I purchased a ton of books from bookstores and toy stores as well as local shops. Just this year here are some of the books I have sold and prices realized..

$600

$500

$1200 also sold another at $900

$450

$600

$500

$700

$200

$1800

$300

This is not even a drop in the bucket for how many sets /singles I sold raw. I have had so many sales with books from these sets.  The beginning of this year I sold 7 books from the Death of Superman for right at $4,000 just to 1 buyer. 

$1800 for that Action issue?!  Golly.
And I'm pretty sure I have multiple high grade copies of that Legacy of Superman book.  I wasn't aware it was worth anything more than $2.00.  

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 1/12/2022 at 7:23 PM, djzombi said:

$1800 for that Action issue?!  Golly.
And I'm pretty sure I have multiple high grade copies of that Legacy of Superman book.  I wasn't aware it was worth anything more than $2.00.  

If you look closer the Action is a Second Print Logo is White and same with the Legacy also a Second Print with White Logo and both have roman numeral . These are more scarce in high grade especially 9.8 for the black covers and the Legacy for being the thicker glued spine. 

[djzombi]

Ah, thanks for pointing out those details!  

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 1/12/2022 at 7:31 PM, djzombi said:

Ah, thanks for pointing out those details!  

It is the later prints that were distributed through packs usually sold at toys r us , kay bee toys , etc that had these and do to that a lot of them are worse for wear.

Even some of the sealed packs I have you can see where they were not handled the best. Also of that the ones in boxed sets had a tendency to rub against one and other causes issues that would prevent high grade.

[The bard]

While not comics, pretty sure my magic cards would have paid for at least a few years of college now. Can’t believe I sold them for beer money in the late 90s.